Opening night went well. In addition to being our first official performance of this year’s run, last night’s show was also our celebration of Cinderella‘s twenty-year history. Before the performance began, director Haskell Fitz-Simons and Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker came on stage and made short speeches. Meeker announced that he had proclaimed December 12, 2003 to be Raleigh Little Theatre and Cinderella Day, and Haskell read a proclamation of his own that made the mayor an honorary member of the cast.
Sandi was still too ill to perform, so Becky joined us again as the Stepmother, and Jo continued as the Fairy Godmother. At the end of the show, over a hundred former Cinderella cast members joined us on stage to sing “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.” We then surprised Haskell with a song in his honor (“We Love You, Conrad” from Bye Bye Birdie, with Haskell’s name replacing “Conrad”), after which confetti cannons were fired over our heads. The cast and crew then adjourned to the theatre lobby for a reception to celebrate the beginning of Cinderella‘s twentieth run.
Weekends are the most grueling part of the run, because we do two performances on Saturday and Sunday. (This means that beginning at 7:30 Friday night, we perform five times in 48 hours.) The 1:00 matinee ends at about 2:30, and by the time we remove our makeup and change into street clothes, it’s 3:00. Since we have to start getting ready for the 5:00 show around 4:00, it’s not possible to go anywhere between the shows, so we don’t. A catered meal is served for the cast and crew between the shows. So I’ll be at the theatre pretty much all weekend.
I have to be at the theatre by noon, so I’d better go get ready. More later.