The light at the end of the tunnel

Greetings from the belly of the beast. Cinderella is now about two thirds of the way through its run — we’ve done eight shows out of thirteen, with five remaining. But those five will go quickly, because we start another weekend marathon tonight. Five shows in 48 hours, followed immediately by strike. So Cinderella will consume my entire weekend, but then it will be over.
The run has gone well overall, considering the challenges that have faced us. One of my earlier posts stated that Sandi, who was supposed to play the Fairy Godmother, had the flu. I deleted that statement because it was incorrect (a mistake on my part). Sandi was hospitalized due to an infection that was apparently more serious than the flu, because they kept her for a week. I don’t know the details, but we were told yesterday that she had been released. We don’t know whether she’ll be returning to the play. I would be delighted to learn that she’s well enough to rejoin us, but if she’s still recuperating, a five-show marathon is probably not the best thing for her. Well, we’ll see.
Two of the Mouse Ponies were sick earlier this week, and one of the king’s pages. Fortunately, those characters only have to appear in a couple of scenes, so they were able to perform despite not feeling well. (And they’ve all recovered now.) Since I haven’t had a flu shot (and can’t get one now, because all of the doctors’ offices are out of them), I was a bit concerned about the possibility that I might pick up a bug from someone else in the play, but so far that hasn’t happened. I suspect that (with the exception of Sandi) all of these illnesses are the result of the same flu virus than hit me during Thanksgiving week, and presumably I still have antibodies for that one in my bloodstream. Not an ideal method of immunization, but if it gets me through the run I’ll be content.
In addition to helping Marie supervise the Mouse Ponies, Ruth has been busy with her own play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which opened last night. It’s a good thing yesterday was the last day of school. I’m looking forward to seeing R&G, but I won’t have a chance to do so until tomorrow, after the 5:00 performance of Cinderella. It will be nice to sit in the house for a change and watch some other member of our family perform on stage.
Next week, after Cinderella has relinquished its hold on me, I think I might like to go see The Return of the King. And perhaps The Matrix Revolutions, even though no one seems to like that film very much. I still want to see it for myself, and I haven’t had time for movies since Cinderella rehearsals began. Heck, I haven’t even seen Pirates of the Caribbean — and Ruth already has the DVD of that one.
Oops, it’s 5:00. I’d better eat my supper and head for the theater. The curtain goes up in two and a half hours. Once more into the breach, dear friends!

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