Home Stretch

For the life of me, I thought I had posted about last week's matinee, but I hadn't. And now here I am only a few hours from this week's matinee closer.

Like last week's, today is sold out. It proved a plus, as usual for a full house last week. They crowd was really quite into singing at the opening of the show, and they gave us a nice ovation at the end. Though to be honest, neither they nor any of the audiences so far have laughed at some of the things I thought they might laugh at. True, it is not a comedy per se, but there are still moments of humor that haven't translated in this production like I thought they might.

Still, the full house on last Sunday was our largest crowd in the small intimate space so far for this production. Just having that many people present is helpful for a show like this.

I also knew several people in the audience that day. The sad truth is that most people I know locally do not see my shows, so I usually know people when they are there for others in the play as well. Always adds a little something when you know someone out there in the audience is a friend of yours. (Even though often you cannot see them.

As for this weekend so far, Friday was tough. Not terrible,but it was our smallest crowd. I think 15 total, which even in a house that small looks, well, small. And they were quiet.

Last night was I think our second largest crowd,and I had family in that one. They enjoyed it. I fumbled a bit in one part of my performance, but I covered well and I don't think anybody noticed.

I'd say that last night's audience, though not a full house might have laughed more than any of the others have. Still not as much as I might have thought, and I don't mean gut busting here. But from my own angle, I think someone laughed at something more often last night than the previous nights.

A friend of mind was in the front row, and I knew I had to mess with him at least once. (Our director said we could sometimes interact with the audience if we wanted.) I had only one real chance. As Topper, announcing he is a bachelor, I sort of play that to the audience. I addressed it last night to my friend in particular, partly because he is married, so I emphasized "bachelor" and pointed at home laughing. (Little did I know, Scrooge later patted him on the head at the end of the show.)

A fun evening overall, I suppose.

Now, one more full house, and we close this production, which in  many ways seems to have hardly started. I'll update that, and  give overall thoughts on the show, later tonight when I get home from the cast party.