Blog Installment November 10, 2010

12 shows, 10 days, 8 cities, 5 states

How about that? This was the plan last Tuesday when we started our evening performance in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We knew that we would have that schedule to look forward to….Our next stop on Wednesday was Tyler, Texas. Then on to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Thursday. Friday we stopped in Birmingham, Alabama for a 5 show weekend! This means we had a show Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Monday we departed to perform in Montgomery, Alabama. Here our spot light operator had a hand injury and had to be taken to the emergency room. This meant we had a new person doing the follow spot for the first time. It was very interesting to watch the spot moving all over the stage looking for the actors! Luckily, the  guy was a quick study and before too long, things were back to normal onstage. At the same time, we had no pit, so our wonderful conductor and orchestra were in a remote location meaning we had monitors on stage left and stage right and up on the balcony railing. This was most traumatic for our conductor as his monitor feed kept breaking down and he couldn’t see us!!! Many of his musical cues are based on our staging and what we are doing at a particular time. So to say the least, this raised his stress level; as well our sound guy and head carpenter were tireless throughout the show in trying to get a monitor down in the remote location to function. Needless to say, the performance went off without any glitches and the audience gave us a huge standing ovation!!! Everyone in the cast was really on their toes and watching the monitors like crazy. The audience didn’t realize anything unusual was going on!!

This issue also made our sound check before the show longer as we had to make sure monitors were working as well as microphones.   Thankfully our spot guy just sprained a finger or two and was back with us for the next night which was Tuesday in Oxford, Mississippi at Mississippi University or “Ole Miss” as they like to call the school. We had a sell out crowd that was just amazing. In fact, all of our audiences this week have been terrific!! Of course, we again had some excitement onstage as one of the scenery fly –ins literally flew in and kept dropping down. Dancers had to bend down to go under and luckily our Fruma Sarah, who is on another actor’s shoulders reaching almost 12 feet, was in front of all of this!! So thank goodness no injuries, just lots of excitement!! We are presently on the bus; our bus call this morning was 6:30am for luggage and wheels up at 7am!! We are presently heading back to Lafayette, Louisiana for a show tonight. Tomorrow is Shreveport and then we are through with this segment of performances!! We get a day off to travel; we stop in Biloxi, MS then head over to Pensacola, FL where we will stay on the beach. We have a show Saturday there and then Sunday it is Panama City, Tuesday and Wednesday we perform in Melbourne, FL, then on to Huntsville, Alabama for another 5 show weekend. However, we are all very excited as after this madness we fly up to Ottawa, Canada where we will have 8 shows. However, we will be staying in one place for 6 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No early morning bus calls, no packing and repacking, no lugging and schlepping. We cannot wait! It is so interesting that the performances have become the constant in our lives. Actors sometimes get nervous before a show as they don’t know what to expect from the theater, audience, stage crew….we are so delighted to just be back onstage and not on the bus or lugging suitcases or worrying about where we will find food or when to do our laundry, that our shows continue to be joyous and full of energy and good fun!!!

I realized when I was talking about our extended sound check that I have never talked about that part of our process. Every time we get to a new city, which of course has been practically every day, we need to have our sound man, Deniz, make sure our sound system is working and appropriately acoustic for each venue. Many a time we wait onstage silently and patiently for him to get rid of the “ring” or “feedback” which can cause untold problems if not addressed before an audience gets there. The sound check starts with each individual member of the orchestra, then various combinations until they are all playing together. We also have a clarinet and mandolin onstage during the wedding, so they put on their mikes and head up to the stage for their sound check there. Once that is complete, Deniz starts working with the various actor solo numbers, moving toward the big group numbers, “Sunrise, Sunset”, “Sabbath Prayer” and ending with “Tradition”. All of this takes about an hour. My husband Peter was at our opening show in Detroit and he couldn’t get over how great the sound system was!! Everyone sounds super and Deniz and his assistant, Chrystal are top notch!!!! This is also a great time for the cast to be doing stretches and sit-ups and our arm lifts!! We have been complimented several times on our sound check etiquette. Some casts find it difficult to stand still and silent for the five minutes or so it takes the sound man to adjust the system. Every time we rock.

On that note, I must compliment the cast and orchestra. Our conductor got a message from Harvey Fierstein. He had worked with our conductor on the National Tour last year and had friends who saw our show and reported back to him that we are wonderful!!! He wanted to call and congratulate us and let us know. What a huge compliment! We are all so happy about this. We work very hard so it is super that people are recognizing the talent and camaraderie that has been established among us. Our chemistry onstage is electric and we are now functioning like a village and a family! Quite extraordinary. Our conductor who has worked with lots of different casts in lots of different productions is constantly telling us how unique we are in our ability to not only get along with each other, but how we bring that wonderful closeness onstage and no matter what gets thrown at us, we are always up to the challenge. Fiddler Cast of 2010-2011: I salute you!!!!!!!!!