Fiddler in the Hizzy!

I'd better post now while I have a minute. Chances are I won't be posting again until after we close the show on Sunday. Tonight is final dress, and the improvement from last Sunday's rehearsal is nothing short of astonishing. The vocals are sounding good, the orchestra is sounding good (I'm a sucker for lots of strings), and even the shaky dance numbers are getting better. My beggar costume rocks (I'll post pics when we have them). Kayleigh looks like she could run off with Gypsies at any moment. The Dream number is really cool now that we have a rotating gobo throwing psychedelic color patterns on the cyc. UPDATE: Here's a pic of K & I from the finale, Anatevka.

No matter how the show does, this is a great crowd of people - and one with which I am proud to associate. This is also Kayleigh's second show with the Pandemonium Players (she was in one song in Bye Bye Birdie last year, but now she's on stage quite a bit - and at least 3 songs to boot!). It's a good group for her to get involved with while she hones her talent. She wants to be a performer, something Samantha and I have always encouraged.

The last week has been really difficult for me emotionally. Everything seems to trigger a memory of Sam - no doubt due to our theater history and the fact that we've been practically living at rehearsal. This will also mark the first production since 1983 in which I've been involved and she either didn't see, didn't work on or wasn't in with me. That's a rough concept to accept. I don't want to accept it.

Today consists of swimming lessons for the kids, a trip to the drugstore for makeup supplies, and a trip to the trophy shop to have the Samantha Downing Grand SPAM Award engraved. Sam was the first recipient of the award on record, and I was last year's recipient. It is given by the Pandemonium Players to the participant whom they feel has contributed most mightily to the production in time, talent and/or skill, which is no small feat. There are other awards, but the Twelfth Night artistic director and I agreed since Sam was the first to win this thing, her name should go on it as a way to keep her memory alive in this wonderful group she loved so much.

Been listening to the latest Telepopmusik CD. Probably not the best thing to be listening to, but as I said, I'm a sucker for strings. And techno. And techno with strings.

Sit still
And close your eyes
What’s behind the other door?
No more silence,
Don’t kill this thing we got called love
Just searching for the perfect drug

When Love comes calling
Don’t look back
When love comes calling
Don’t look away

And I’m standing over here
Watching you over there
Smiling, happy, unaware
Oh, life is spinning round
You’re going underground
Forgetting who we were
Let’s try and keep it just one more day

When Love comes calling
Don’t look back
When love comes calling
Don’t look away

You take your love
And throw it all around
Like it’s nothing special
Just a sound
Let me say one more thing
I don’t think you realize
That a day is like a year sometimes

When Love comes calling
Don’t look back
When love comes calling
Don’t look away

- Telepopmusik, Don't Look Back