Snow Makes For Bad Traffic

Call is at 6:00 PM. The show starts at 7:00 PM. At 6:30 PM I was just merging onto 694 from 100 (as .5 mph), a good 20 minutes from the Theater...when there is NO traffic. I was screaming a lot, and weeping a little, and then praying a lot...begging the Lord who is sovereign over all - including traffic and weather - to PLEASE get me to the theater before 7. He did get me there before 7...about a minute before 7, but before 7 nonetheless. And I ran the block to the theater from where I was parked, in the snow (beautiful snow under other circumstances, but dirty, rotten, stinking, vile snow at the time), slid in the door, and promptly fell down the stairs. But I arose gloriously unscathed and, at a more gingerly pace, maneuvered my way to the dressing room where my darling family greeted me with hugs and smiles and cheers and love.

Most of the girls left the dressing room to give me space to get ready, but I asked a couple of them to stay and have a conversation in the corner to distract me from my shaking hands...and they did and I loved them for it. I managed to get my costume on and make-up and hair done in a miraculous 15 minutes, and so the curtain went up at 7:15 PM.

This was all last night (Friday night). Opening night was on Thursday, thankfully, and was absolutely spectacular. In my humble opinion. We were energized and excited and the show went really, really well. Friday night's show lacked some of that opening night magic. We missed a few lines, but covered them really well. I think the "off" bits were definitely noticed more by the cast than by the audience...at least, that is my hope. Afterwards, a couple of the girls were saying that typically, the second night of a run is the worst. So we delighted in the fact that we now have nowhere to go but up. I think it's probably good to have a little bit of an awkward performance (though not ideal by any means), to remind us that we can't stop trying and focusing and working...that the show wont perform itself...we have to invest ourselves fully in every performance. The actors carry the show...the show cannot carry the actors.