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Yarn: RC's South Pacific

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    Sorry for muddling up a couple of other threads with play stuff so here's a separate thread so that y'all can just skip by! ;)

    First of all, this is more than just a high school production. It's conducted by the Housatonic Musical Theatre Society that was created 9 years ago. Our director is a professional Director named Michael Berkeley who draws a salary. He's supported by a volunteer productuion manager whom I graduated with from this school 34 years ago and she does a terrific job. The music is performed by an 11 piece professional orchestra.....including a giant harp that's amazing. Our two leads are remarkable young actors. Emile is played by Myles Clohessy, son of actor Robert Clohessy and Nellie is played by an equally strong young actress named Jill Cannon.

    This morning I awoke to a full night's rest for the first time in weeks so I have a minute here. While Yarn's on stage in Texas, I'm on stage in Connecticut ;)

    Opening night was just amazing with the energy and excitement going through the roof. There was a tremendous buzz all around the school on Friday and so last night's house was packed and really exuberant. There's always the risk of a second night let-down....that's where the mistakes come but not for this troup. We absolutely killed it again...even better perhaps. Huge standing ovation and everyone's saying that this is the best play the HMTS has ever done.

    I'm off soon for back to back performances at 1:00 and then the finale at 7:30 and then a cast party at a local restaurant owned by the father of a a production assistant so the tired part ain't over yet. I am so fucking excited about all of this.....I can't wait to go lay it down big for two more performances. It's gonna be sad when it's over but it truly has been one of the most cherished experiences of my life. I have such a strong bond with the student actors and my own performance has netted great accolades....esp for a first timer old dude like me. I was very pleased, that the make-up folks had to grey my hair because it's still too dark; now if they could just do something about the thinning part!

    Although there's really no capturing the magic of live theatre, both previous nights have been flimed multi-camera and so there will soon be a really HQ DVD of it all for anyone who would care to see it.

    .....wish me luck!
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    It's so uplifting to be part of something magical, isn't it!? I'm so glad to hear it's going well, RC! Keep knocking 'em dead! :)
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    Whew!

    Well it all wrapped up last evening in fine style with the house packed, in fact, they had to open the balcony and we killed the final performance to end on a high note. Now, the mid-day mattinee not so much. We fought so hard and successfully to not have a second show let down that we had it the third show. That one saw the smallest crowd and it consisted largely of folks who couldn't get evening sitters for the kids and older folks both bussed from a nearby facility and those who only roam the daytime so if it had to happen, at least it was there. Jill's bathing suit fell off in the shower scene (behind the shower door) so she had to come out in her shirt which caused a little lapse in logic, Sophie lost her voice a tad, I stammered one line and flat out dropped another....I was so pissed at myself but I guess three out of four ain't bad. We nailed all three evening performances.

    The after party at the restaurant was a terrific icing on the cake. The entire cast and families gathered for a buffet and open bar. All the cast kids joined Michael around the piano and we all sang every song in the play. Tangled got to meet all my kids and Michael payed me a fine compliment when he told tangled that he didn't realize that day in the hallway that he had found a pile of gold in me. That really felt good and I will say that I gave it 110% the whole way through. Robert Clohessy couldn't believe that I had never done this before so that too was a nice nod.

    On my way in today to help strike the stage and then we'll finally be able to get some rest and get to bunch of stuff I've been neglecting. So that's that~
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      CommentAuthorhoppedup
    • CommentTimeMar 18th 2012
     
    Yarn covers we'd like to see at Hiro - "Some Enchanted Evening" with RC guest vocals.

    Congrats on your theatrical success, RC. Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

    See you next Friday!
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      CommentAuthorbadlab
    • CommentTimeMar 18th 2012
     
    Well I sure do hope that is is Some Enchanted Evening, one way or the other. Can't wait to meet some of you folks.
    • CommentAuthorStoney
    • CommentTimeMar 18th 2012
     
    So glad it was such a great experience for you and the entire cast & crew, RC... Call me a "cockeyed optimist," but I had a feeling it would be. Congratulations that all your hard work payed off.
    I bet you're glad you've got the NYC show coming up so you can get all those South Pacific songs "washed out of your hair."

    From the sound of things, we may be reading threads about what plays you are in for years to come... So happy that it was such a positive and rewarding experience. Congratulations.
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    Thanks for the congrats...who knows? Michael asked me if I'd be interested in a project he's doing this summer.
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      CommentAuthortous
    • CommentTimeMar 19th 2012
     
    Mowing lawns?

    :-)
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    Lol!
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    RC--cool to read about this!!
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    Thanks naive~

    Well as promised, the DVD is finished. There's really no capturing theatre and it's a movie of a high school play so I won't oversell it but it is multi-camera. The sound is an issue because the orchestra is so much louder and I also wish he'd kept the cameras back a little more so as not to lose the stage but it is very well done. If anyone would like to chuckle at me, just drop a mailing addy to johnchristinat@yahoo.com and I'll send you a copy.

    The summer project that Michael had in mind was a run of The Sound Of Music. When I went to the tri-arts website and discovered that it will run 18 dates in August though, I had to decline.....that's the whole F'in summer and the playhouse is an hour from my home.

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