25 years of vaudeville

FANTASTIC! We had our first preview tonight, and it just incredible. The audience was laughing at everything, as if they really wanted to laugh and be entertained by us. They were with us from the beginning. We also started cracking each other up, and as unprofessional as it may be, there were several moments onstage where David and I were just losing it. It was all we could do to bite our cheeks and continue. The audience loved these moments too, and when we came out for a curtain call, the entire audience rose up as one to give us a standing ovation.

Dom smiled during notes at me, saying that there was one moment where I showed my 25 years of vaudville, as I "played them like a violin" for the perfect amount of laughter following a very funny exit. I let the moment hang, letting the laughter ride over the audience before I continued. Dom loved the moment, and he said he could literally see me feeling the wave of laughter, trying to find that perfect moment to cut them off. I'm glad he noticed how I was really working the timing - I feel that comic timing is one of my strengths as an actor, but it's something that is so hard to find without an entire crowd there to laugh. Each crowd and each joke is different, so I'm glad that my director (and the artistic director) noticed what I can do.

We open tomorrow night, and the show is going to be incredible. We got such a great confidence boost from tonight, and then tomorrow will have even more people, and many friends of the theatre. It's going to be incredible!