Mason with Scary Scrooge
Saturday night was our final performance of the musical, A Christmas Carol. Mason, Max, and I had a fantastic time working on that from late August through last weekend! There was a cast of more than 40 people, and a couple dozen more folks backstage (lights, sound, sets, costume design, etc.).
The Friday night and Saturday matinee performances went off without a hitch. After the Saturday afternoon performance, we all received a surprise catered lunch, thanks to Faith Covenant Church here in St. Pete. I won’t tell you the restaurant because I really like it and, well, these things do happen on occasion, especially with catering.
About an hour after lunch, one of our lead actors was puking. A few minutes later, one of our actresses was. The actor was sitting in the hallway looking like he was dying…and I’m sure he wanted to at that moment. The play had just begun and he had several scenes, including a solo and a fast and challenging dance number. He wasn’t backstage when he should have been. I had go find him to tell him his scene was coming up and, when on stage, to bring me the cup with the WHITE confetti (not the red). I felt sooooo bad needing to interrupt his nausea episode to do that.
By the way, the white confetti, thrown on audience members by me as part of a “spilled drink” scene, was necessary because it was more visible, when flying through the air, than the red confetti.
It was a small production and there were no understudies. Everybody had to be there and everybody had to play their parts. Just moments before his solo, the actor appeared backstage, went on stage, sang with gusto, and later danced, and I was amazed!!!
I had a small scene with the actress who also fell ill. She was literally doubled over outside the theater doors (we had to walk down the aisle through the audience) and I was trying to figure out if I could say both of our lines, even planning to pretend to be talking to myself during the funeral scene (with my weird character, that probably would have worked). However, on our cue, she stood up, walked in with me, stood there, said her lines with gusto, and without a hitch, just like she’s been saying them for the past three months, walked back out, and raced down the hallway. I called after her, “You are the best actor I have ever met in my life!”
So, what lesson did we all learn from this?
DO NOT FEED ACTORS CATERED CHICKEN BEFORE A BIG SHOW!
I am SO thankful that Mason and Max didn’t get sick. They both did a FANTASTIC job and our pastor said he loved watching Mason sing Christian songs on stage with a huge, happy smile on his face. He said, “THAT is who I want to be!” Everyone appreciated Max’s talents with sets and props, set-ups, tear-downs, and running here, there, and everywhere whenever anyone needed anything. And, everyone LOVED working with him because he’s just so darned nice! 🙂
We are already missing the camaraderie and the fun rehearsals and we will DEFINITELY be signing up to participate again next year! 🙂
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Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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The show must go on! I wonder if the author of that quote experienced lukewarm catered chicken an hour before a curtain call? Wow! I was wondering how the play went. I was NOT expecting this. But then, you always have interesting twists and turns in your life that keep us reading. Cheers!