I could not have asked for a better evening!

Things are always busy at Ohlook PAC. I went with James to a 1030am performance of The Secret Garden. It's the children's show. By a mix of kids and adults and for kids. HUGE highschool auditorium but not a huge audience. Then over to Plano to see the garden and out to Grapevine for the opening of Little Shop of Horrors and the late night show of [title of show].

Little Shop has come together much faster than it should have and everything felt as though it waited until the last minute to settle. Tonight was wild. I have stepped in at the last minute to play the voice of Audrey II which is no big deal. I have listened to the cast album since I was about twelve so it's safe to say I am familiar with the part. I have a music stand and a stand light tucked away in the crawl space behind the set but I was not prepared for the doo-wap girls when they also had to be crawling around back there! It's already a tight space and they didn't help! Anyway, I think I finally found a spot to stand that's out of the way but I can do what I have to do.

It's such fun playing this part! It is a role I've never gotten to do and, frankly, never thought I'd get to do. AND there is no pressure because I'm never on stage! I have a freedom I don't usually experience when performing. YAY!!!

As soon as we were done with our Little Shop performance the turn around had to happen so we could do [title of show]. I thought it was going to be a nightmare but amazingly everyone was able to get all the accoutrament including the plants moved out so that our little show could move in. A lot of the Ohlook kids hung around but we had a lot of folks just coming to the show. So much so that the show was sold out!!!!

I had pretty much given up on Alexandra Binfield coming to review the show. She said she might but I hadn't heard anything else from her so I assumed she wasn't coming. Just as I was about to go make the curtain speech Jill came and found me and said, "the critic is here!" I went outside, shook her hand, welcomed her and ushered her into the theater. Of course, she managed to find a seat on the front row where the actors could see her plain as day. I made a point of not telling anyone she was there so they wouldn't be nervous. I gave my curtain speech and we started the show. I noticed that the Ms. Benifield never cracked a smile. Not once! I was later told she chuckled a time or two but I didn't see it.

The audience LOVED the show!!! They didn't just laugh, they HOWLED, and a couple of times there was seriously prolonged laughter. When Jeff asked Hunter if he had his hands down the back of his pants and Hunter replied no I thought the audience would never stop laughing! I think there were three rolls of laughter but it was hard to tell because the audience didn't want to stop! Of course, it was a fantastic performance. How could it not be? What I loved about the show tonight was that it really felt like an event and the actors really rose to the occasion. I must say, I can't imagine doing this show with anyone else. The cast is so connected and is having such fun! I couldn't have asked for more! I hope next weekend goes even better and we have big audiences again!

More to come!