I'm actually writing this blog midway through my last weekend but I'll post it after the fact! Just wanted to start to get it down!
So - we opened! By the time this is posted we will have closed!
Our Thur night preview was super small but we had this rad kid there.
Video
Here's some pictures our costumer took when we started rehearsing with costumes!
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| Emily Odell as Frenchie |
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| Jackie Jacobs as Alice the Alligator |
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| Paul Knox as Lucifer Prince |
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| Thomas Areman and Jerica Borstein as Gus and Auntie Palooka |
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| Maribella Magana and Rob Young as The Scrufflepicklewickle and Rod McGirdlebutt |
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| Sally Nguyen as Ging Pao |
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| Calli Callaway as Tricia La Rue |
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| Joe Howells as Ian Sidious |
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| Emily and Jeff McGuiness as Regan and Elvis |
Opening weekend was a bit rough. I don't think I said my lines right once! One night I said "Quibbering Jov of Jelly". Right?! What?! For some reason I've having a hell of a time actually getting the damn words out of my mouth. I did go up a few times but recovered. I HATE THAT!
It was bumpy but we got through it! Opening night I made these yummy Peppermint Chocolate Muffins!
They were delish!
Another difference here at the Garage is people just stay at the theater and hang out. I'm used to going out after the show for drinks/snacks but this doesn't seem to be the case here. I know it's a bit more difficult to navigate around the LBC so it's easier to stay put I suppose. I still feel a bit like the new kid so I never stayed too late afterwards.
The gal who has previously played Dixie came and she wrote this on the wall! (There was a bucket of chalk people could write and draw on the walls with!)
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| Yay! |
Weekend two was really great up until Sat. I'll get to that in a min.
Our Thursday night back I was worried since it's usually always a bit of a rough one your 1st show back after tech/opening but I think it was our best show! Smaller crowd but still totally involved and super fun! I got all my lines out! Yay! I was also super excited that my friend Christine came. She's friends with a lot of the Garage folk.
Friday night was awesome as well. We were sold out. We had this group in the front row that apparently come every year. Jeff was explaining to me that they make their own tomatoes, get totally hammered and love the show. They were a bit much at times but were quite a hoot. They made these 2 giant tomatoes that I got hit in the face with at one point. It was a total accident and the poor kid who did it profusely apologized to me later. It was adorable. I think I played it off well though! One of the front row peeps gave me a flower and I actually did a fun little improv telling the tomato thrower to suck it! ha ha! Yay! Maybe I'm getting the hang of it! I actually knew a few peeps that came that night from the theatre community so I stayed and chatted a while which was fun.
But Saturday. Saturday I woke up with the Stomach Flu. Not any normal stomach flu - this is apparently a horrific flu that's going around and trying to kill people. I was supposed to do 2 shows that Saturday but I was so sick and pretty much barfed from noon to night. I was mortified and sick and depressed and didn't know what to do. Never in my life have I been too sick to miss a show. Luckily a friend of the theater stepped in and played my role both shows with script in hand.
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| Thank you Lis Roche! |
I still felt horrible for missing the shows but there was no way I could do it. So awful to be so sick!!! Ugh! Our rad stage manager and the entire cast was super cool and only wanted me well. It helped me to know that they didn't hate me!
Thursday night - back at it! Everyone was so sweet and glad to see me and glad I was well! My stomach was still actually pretty tore up, but it's just painful now, not expelling. Anywhoo - Thur we were sold out! My friend Taylor surprised me and showed up so that was rad! I finally have one of my peeps here! It was a great show and so fun to be back!
Friday night my whole family came!! They all loved it and it made everything awesome when I could hear my dad giggling. During one of the main Melodrama moments where the villain and I are doing separate monologues to the audience I could see my family pelting him with tomatoes. It was so hard to not laugh!
Saturday I had two shows. It was all new for me since I missed last Saturday. The matinee was awesome. Sold out and mostly kids. The best part - Hailey was there! The main reason I did the show was so Hailey could finally see me onstage. Libby, Glen and her all sat in the front row. I was so nervous! Glen got pulled up onstage at one point and near the end I could see Hailey holding a flower to give me so I worked it into my bit as I exited. It was so awesome to have her there! Mel came with Simon who was a hoot as he hurled tomatoes at the villain and Monica surprised me showing up with her family! So rad! Then I saw these on the wall and my day was made!
Here's Hailey watching me!
It actually started raining in between shows so that sort of shot the idea of walking around Long Beach so Paul and I ran across the street and had Thai. Then we all just pretty much hung around the theater until the night show.
For our closing show David came with his kiddos and my friends Holly and Roger! I was a bit off that night for some reason. I kept stumbling over my lines. At one point Jamie liked it so much he said he wished he wrote that in for me to do! Ha!
So the show closed. We took a great cast shot:
And Mari sent a fun picture of us she took backstage:
Here's a review of our show! I'm so flattered he thought I was "Underused"! I've never received that compliment before!
Review
And here's the pictures the Garage used for publicity!
All in all it was a super fun show! I really loved the fact that I did two very different shows this year. I went from a super emotional role to a comedic over the top melodramatic role! The cast was a blast to work with and all kept me on my toes. The audiences seemed to enjoy it as well.
So as the sun sets on the Cyclone Race I say Farewell and thank you for the good times!!!
