"Into the Woods" Part 1

Man, this has been such a great experience!  Not going to lie though, if you had asked me a week ago if we were ready I would have said a big, fat NO!  Some people still weren’t memorized, we were still learning dances, and we were working on blocking a few of the scenes as well!  No, one week ago we were totally not ready!  And, you know what, I don’t think we were ready opening night.  There were a lot of technical things that had we hadn’t worked out and we just, again, weren’t very confident on notes, entrances, etc.  But, after we had that completely bomb performance Friday night, we started picking it up!
Not going to lie though, tonight (March 17th) has been the best performance by far! It is the fundraiser so it is the dinner theater. We have such a wonderful audience! They laugh at everything. That isn't an exaggeration either! Even things that we didn't find funny, as a cast, the audience would laugh at! It was incredible! Their energy is so easy to feed off of, it is absolutely wonderful!

A few of the funny moments that has happened since the first performance:

• Christie (Lucinda) and I (Florinda) were tying ourselves together during the second act (we are blind and led by a rope). Natalie (Cinderella) was running back to change for her next scene. Christie and I were standing far enough apart that Natalie (Cinderella) thought she could run between us. Well, she did and we totally clotheslined her!  We also made her late for her entrance. Oops! :)
• Seeing Mr. Reynolds as the Mysterious Man . . . he is freaky!  I knew there was a reason I was scared of him in high school!
• “Nailed it!” has become the theme of this musical! Whether it has been sarcastic or sincere awesomeness.

L to R: Cinderella (Natalie), Florinda (me), and Lucinda (Christie).
Our opening scene!

Here is one of the "Nailed" it things I was talking about.
L: Professional make-up artist
R: My poor attempt at recreating that make-up! A sarcastic "nailed it"

L to R: Lucinda (Christie), Stepmother (DeAnna), Florinda (Me)
Second Act, "Children Won't Listen"

We only have a few performances left. It is really quite bitter-sweet to see it all end! I have loved so much working with this wonderful cast, crew, and musicians! They have become such dear friends of mine. We are going to have an awesome few days of rest before our final two performances and then it's back to the wolves, giants, and "dragons"! ;)