Grease, Night 5: A Very Interesting Matinee

Sunday was home to a first for the Colonial Theater: The first Sunday matinee in the history of Massey.

And it was interesting to say the least.

Lenny (Doody) showed up at about 10 minutes till show time. running fashionably late but still making it. In the worst case scenario, more than likely we would have called upon Jeopardy Mike to fill the role, but it didn't get to that extreme, thankfully. The show was running smoothly until intermission when a few of Kyle's (Danny) friends and family pile into the men's dressing room to say good job and such.

One superstitious rule of theater for me is to NEVER, EVER talk to audience members until after the show, Godspell being an obvious exception.

Well, it was bad luck.

During Beauty School Dropout the backdoor from the theater to the green room was left open, and the fog machine set off the fire alarm during mid song. "oh shit's" arise. panic ensues. And one lone crew member runs down the steps and yanks the battery out of the fire alarm, shutting it off. From there, the people on stage pick right back up with the song like nothing happened.

oh the joys of live theater.

and in the next scene, Kyle loses the ring he's supposed to give to Lindsay (Sandy) and falls underneath the car.

lesson of the day: keep the audience and actors separate for good luck.

Grease, Night 4: Fam, Sweat, and Cold Pills

Before we get things rolling, Doug made up quite possibly the best shirt in response to last night's cast party. T-shirt with "Yeah...about last night..." on the front. But what happened there at the party will stay there.

The theater is indeed a learning experience. Saturday I learned never to take 12 hour cold pills before a show. when I got on stage I was feeling all shaky sweaty like and wasn't exactly the best performance I've done in a while, but it was still good and the fam liked it.

Best quote of the night: "That was the easiest part you had to do, you basically had to play yourself."- My brother Chris responding to the Vince Fontaine character

Grease, Night 3: "Yeah, about last night..."

We had all the kinks worked out, we just needed a good crowd. And we got one. Friday's show eclipsed the other two nights, sans cold pills because of what was to happen afterwards.

The D5 cast party.

pictures: http://http://photos.yahoo.com/totalmayhemx2/

rather than mentionevery single detail, I'll just touch upon things:
1) Jello shots are good.
2) Katie (Frenchy) is the most fun drunk I've ever known.
3) cigarette burns hurt but go away.

Big thanks to Greg and the Phi Sigs for letting us party in their suite last night. Just hope everyone won't be too wrecked for tonight. Parents are showing up for tonight's performance, so the cold pills will be back in action.

Grease, Night 2: Crapping Bricks, literally and figuratively

I'm typing this night's episode up at 1:30 am, fighting quite possibly one of the most violent bouts of the #2's ever. As to how I got in this situation, let's backtrack and recap the show.

all the problems that happened opening night were ironed out and the show went better than last night. the blocking for Vince in the first act got changed around once more, and you'll be in for a treat tomarrow night when I'll rappel from the lights to deliver the lines. uh, no thank you.

the reason for this night's title is that after the show some of the cast went to Buffalo Wild Wings in nearby Robinson township. For those who've never been there, it's basically a sports bar/restaraunt place. It was a typical moment of cast bonding, general BS and what-have-you.

The moment the entire night went south was after eating popcorn shrimp and fries, thus leading to a protest rally in my intestines. The gross details I'll omit.

One rule of bathroom etiquette is that if you have to take a shit, always do it in the handicapped stall. The regular stall at Bw2 is so small you practically have to stand on the toilet to get in and out. So after the second bathroom run, the other cast people quickly noticed how the shade of green I was turning was borderlining between astroturf and Twin Lakes #6. Doug (who plays Kenickie in the musical) was nice enough to drive me back to campus, raging bloatedness and all.

a funny thing happened on the way back to campus, that was anything but funny. For the sake of Doug telling me "don't tell anyone about this", it involved a traffic stop and me responding to the officer asking if I've been drinking with "Yes I have not" while sober as sunshine.

great answer, Gary. take a bow, genius.

tomarrow night is Night #3, followed by the D2+3 = D5 cast party with drunken revelry and Dubs taking more pictures than a Japanese tourist.

Grease, Night 1: Operation Opening Night

I picked the wrong time to get ill.

Fighting a sinus congesting cold and popping more pills than Elvis on a Tuesday, I pulled through for the opening nighter. Granted there were a few problems but overall opening night went well and put on a good show for the crowd.

the question of the night was "where'd you get that suit?"

One last minute change that was made was that there was supposed to be a wall where I slide open a hole and say my lines. Instead, now I have to carry my late grandpa's 50's mic to every location like I'm some cartoon figure. I didn't like the idea, but both Ken and a few others in attendance liked it, so I'll go through with it.

After the show in the lobby area, still in Vincewear, I got interviewed by the campus TV station about the production, the acting, things like that which I felt really glad about. They also wanted me to cut a promo to advertise the next 4 shows, which I did as Mr. Fontaine.

So hopefully this cold won't rear its ugly head tomarrow and ended up waxing out my voice and energy. In high school I got sick the week of a performance on a two-night show and missed the first night.

and for something this big, I don't want that to happen.

Tech Sunday Madness

Tech Sunday to me in the theater on campus has always been a love/hate relationship. I love the fact that it marks the home stretch on the musical cause it's the day where everything (or in this case, almost everything) is together.

The part I hate about it? It's a whopping 10 hours long.

Yes. 10 hours of play practice.

Most of the time is spent spreading out the musical numbers, spiking set pieces (spiking is a term where you place marks on the stage for what goes where), and most importantly getting familiar with the set. To date Grease would have to be the production with the largest set I've had to deal with to date. I don't want to ruin any details since for you RMU people, it'll be pretty cool to see, but I will say that at 6 feet tall, it's fairly massive.

And to think, I originally wasn't gonna do this. what the hell was I thinking?

As a reminder, Grease tickets are still going on sale available at http://www.rmu.edu/OnTheMove/findoutmore.open_page?iPage=65902
at $10 a seat for November 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th at 8 pm; and November 14th at 2pm at Massey Theater on campus.