Opening night

We spent rehearsal on friday working acting notes- the intent was to sort of soften hally who in the transition from the rehearsal room to the stage was coming off a little too pouty and bratty at times. Was hard to see the genuine affection between hally and sam. Clifton is a real pro and made these adjustments easily.

And we also worked on teching the rain - sound and set. The rain looks ok from up close - but its hard to sell the "raining cats and dogs" with a little mist on the windows. I understand there are limitations. I just wish I hadn't been promised rain. A gobo - though awful - might have done the job but alas it was too late.

The sound fix was simple - increase the rain sound just the two times when the doors open and close. Done. Add better thunder to the blackout. Done.

And finally - trying to get the end moment right. In the preview something went oddly wrong with the sound of the jukebox - it repeated twice before it was supposed to come on. Turns out it had to do with the ipod playlist being paused and restarted. But I wanted the last moment just right. And I think its almost there - not quite. And again a limitation that I was outside my control. I wanted the song to come to a definitive end, but the song that the sound designer came up with continued - and when she edited it to give me that definitive ending, the tempo change made it seem like the two guys were lousy dancers. So, I relented and had the sound and lights fade together. Its all right - but the way the song continues isn't quite the right feel.

In performance, hally was definitelly much more soft and as a result his relationship with sam really seemed special and genuine.

But all that work we did techwise was gone and I was furious. The thunder sound seemed like a toilet being flushed. The first rain cue was nonexistent. I could not for the life og me perceive that there was physical rain on the windows. Ah well.
Turns out that the two people operating sound and light in tech became a new one person that night. For the first time. On opening night. There are some things that you can never account for, some questions you can never anticipate.

Huge standing o - and two bows.