Kaleidoscope
Friday, July 10th, 2009
I’ve named this post kaleidoscope- because that is what my life as a director feels like right now- a kaleidoscope of images, impressions, memories and emotions that keeps shifting into beautiful patterns. Preview night is the first pattern- and it includes nervous jitters, panic moments and moments of laughing out loud. Vivid pictures slide through my kaleidoscope view screen – the beauty of the ballet- a painting in gold and light thanks to our talented lighting designer Theresa Ridge- the joy of the children thanks to our dear neighbors from Country Meadows who came bearing gifts- small gold wrapped packages for our young actors. (When I told the children they literally jumped for joy) And then the children accepting their gifts- even our littlest three year olds accepted the presents with a perfect bow of respect. Then there is our Anna(Patty Cole) and the King (Roger Lentz) - a joy to watch together. They pull me into the kaleidoscope and I fall in love with this story all over again. Another image slides into view- our preview night audience spontaneously on their feet applauding the show- a standing ovation at preview night? Wow! That’s a memory I will never forget.
Next my kaleidoscope shows our opening night- a swirl of nervous energy. More jitters for my cast, exhaustion from the final polish times, sheer joy from the energy of the crowd and beautiful images from the show. What entertainment! Even our stage crew is costumed and changes the scenery in character as royal slaves.
The kaleidoscope of a musical - I see an image of the sign that says “sold out” yippee! Then I see backstage- folks lined up at makeup tables coloring their hair, chatting about their day. Funny image as well- my assistant director Megan and myself trying to paint out dark circles under our eyes so we can do our curtain speech looking bright and chipper – a steady stream of our male actors coming to us to ask “how can I get this eye liner off when I get out of here tonight?” Our fantastic stage manager Jen Feldser carrying around her emergency bag of candy…. I’m convinced our light and sound equipment runs on gummi bears- not electricity!
Then there are the joyous images again. Cast members giving each other little gifts to celebrate, laughter, hugs, and through it all our costumer Drenda and assistant Barb calmly sewing, sewing, sewing…making the endless repairs and refinements our hundreds of costumes require. All of us are busy avoiding saying what is on everyone’s mind “do you think they’ll like us?” and then the response of the crowd- they laughed, applauded, shed a tear- and lept to their feet at the end when Anna and the King bowed. They liked us!!!
Sometimes people ask me why I do this…now you know.