We had out very first show day yesterday, at Floral Park Bellerose School in Floral Park, NY (in Queens), at 10a and 1p, for an estimated 500 kids (?) and teachers. Let me begin this post by saying that I am grateful for this job, and it is a truly rewarding experience to share what I love with The New Generation, many of whom have never seen live musical theatre before. I know--and love, may I add--that in the life of a theatre performer, there will always be uncertainties and surprises. That being said, I find it therapeutic to share not all only the good and brilliant, but the frustrating and ugly bits of my strange and beautiful life.
So.
I was up at 5, to make it to the parking garage in Harlem at 7. We were running a little late, but the commute to the school was pretty uneventful (although I did have my first run-in with NYC toll booths. Who knew you had to STOP for the arm to come down in the FASTPASS lane? Not me, as it turned out. I didn't hit it, but it was an adventure for everyone in my van!). When we got to the school, we discovered that the theatre (which is beautiful, btw) was only accessible through a series of hallways, stairs, and one (much appreciated) elevator. So our load-in became an episode of Legend of the Hidden Temple, only with big/cumbersome/numerous set pieces. This being our first show, we haven't quite gotten our set-up down to a fine art, so it was a little rough, plus we were on a time crunch from leaving later. We pulled it together like the champs we are, and the first show was a lot of fun, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. It was a new experience having the sound system set up in a real hall, and it turns out we were WAY oversinging, thinking that we weren't coming through the system as well as we actually were. *learning experience!*
Tony's mic and my mic both cut out intermittently through the end of the first show, so when we came back from lunch (at a very tasty local pizza joint!), McBee got to work on fixing our mic packs. Tony's was a quick fix, but mine was a whole different matter. A bum cable, as it turned out, and all our replacement cables were duds as well. We kept my shaky cable in, and I proceeded to do the entire show singing as close to people's faces (and mics) as possible, to pick up off their microphones. With my garlic breath from lunch, I'm so grateful for their fortitude. :) I missed my quick change with Melissa (Dora) in the opening scene, while I was doing pre-sets and preparing for my scene after the scramble to get my mic fixed. Not an excuse, but DAMN did I feel stupid, and Melissa was a true pro and made it work. I owe that girl a beer. Or twelve! The show was hectic, but I think we did a great job, and the kids responded pretty well.
It had started raining at lunch, and it didn't let up by the time we had to load our set back into the van. So, back through the Hidden Temple, then waiting for the kids to be released from school, then loading the van was a long process. BUT! While toting our peices through the hallways, tons of kids kept waving to us, clapping, and just wanting to talk to us. The best was when we were in the theater, toward the end up breaking everything down, and a whole horde of kids were released into the theater to wait for their parents, and they EXPLODED into applause, chanting our (character's) names. What a great feeling. Hopefully some of these kids will remember us fondly and maybe even a few will pursue the arts, the way I did after seeing Les Mis when I was four. Not that I'm necessarily comparing a Broadway touring company of Les Miserables to our rag-tag bunch of artists, but even so...
We finally got back to the Harlem garage at 5:30p, exhausted (but revived from our gas station ice cream!), but happy. We tried to hop on the 1 train, but it stopped at 92nd street (probably because of the UN conferences going on downtown. The jerks.), so we found other ways of getting home, which for me involved walking through Central Park with Carl Michael and Carolina, catching a cab to Grand Central, and finally getting home on the 7. I. Was. POOPED.
Best night of sleep, EVER.
Travel day tomorrow, to Olean, NY, then three shows in the area Mon-Wed!! Bring on the free continental breakfasts!
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