Acting on the Fly

OK, Thespies.  I have been requested to repeat an oft-told tale of an experience I had during the performance of 1776 several years ago.  I was playing the irrepressible Richard Henry Lee.  At one point in the show, Ben Franklin, with John Adams in tow, is manipulating RH Lee into proposing independence to the Continental Congress because John Adams is "obnoxious and disliked."  In his response, Richard sings the rousing "Lees of Old Virginia" while strutting and dancing around his companions.

We are performing this scene in front of the grand drape.  Two spotlights and full footlights and bar lights blazing.  Live orchestra (always with PCT) playing fortissimo.  I'm sing my heart out, as usual, and doing very well, I thought, when I glance down at the orchestra to see why the piano had dropped out of the mix.  There was our pianist face to me, pointing at my crotch!  ...laughing!  As casually as I can, I do a turn not in the choreo and check my fly: open all the way down with a little shirt-tail poking out.  So I throw choreography out the window and dance around behind John Adams and pull the zipper up.  No good.  It is broken, and so comes immediately back open.

Now, in my defense, I have not broken character, not broken rhythm, nor dropped a single note during this ordeal.  So I pull my topcoat over with flash, covering the offending fly, and continue the song.  Now this particular song has a gimmick.  I dance off stage as though leaving, there are a few seconds of reaction on stage, then I burst back on mid-song.  Dramatic and effective.  THIS time, when I stepped offstage, I see another actress diving for my crotch with a safety pin.  Up comes the zipper.  In goes the pin. Out I go onto stage without missing a beat.  Flourished my coat open and finished the song.

**The next week during a stunningly beautiful rendition of "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" by David Yeats, the whole back wall of the set came toppling down.  David, ever the pro, simply stepped in front of the grand drape line while the main drape closed.  Behind the drape, we repaired the set just in time to open it for the interjection "Mister Rutledge, please!".  Again all of this without missing a beat or flatting a note.**

Ghost of a Chance

Thursday February 6, 2014
Okay, kiddies, we're off again on another adventure.  This time the play is Ghost of a Chance by Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus.  It's the story of a young widow who's come to sell the hunting lodge of her very late husband along with her fiancee and mother-in-law-to-be.  Things are rocky to start with but become downright crazy-making when her late husband shows up... still dead, but back all the same in a somewhat more non-corporeal way.  And the laughter ensues, which is why in this play, timing is soooo important.  We have a good cast to whom I will introduce you in the coming weeks.

The play is directed by Jim Vincill with music by nobody.  (It ain't a musical folks.)  And that little fact makes this somewhat unusual.  Most years, the Dogwood Trails show is a large-scale musical- generally a familiar face in the entertainment crowd.  Last year we departed from that model with a brand new musical- Ghosts.  This year we stray even further, but with a hauntingly familiar plot device...a ghost.  No spoilers...I mean...it's in the title.

More on Sunday as I begin introducing you to the cast along with a "how things are going" insider's view of the production.

And don't forget:::

Coming Summer of 2014

Auditions in May TBA