Opening night

Are there any two sexier words for the actor? Okay, maybe "You're hired." Or perhaps "open bar." Okay, all three of them are sexy. Last night we opened "The Spitfire Grill" to great success. Posted below is a nice little cast photo of all of us.

We hit the ground running, even though a group of 50 people cancelled their tickets and rescheduled for Sunday afternoon. So Sunday is now just about sold out, and we had a good-sized but not huge crowd last night. They were responding to the show right away, listening to the story and laughing at the jokes. Sometimes, audiences will be very vocal with laughter and applause, and other times they will be rather silent in the instant feedback, but then you receive a standing ovation at the curtain call. Last night's crowd was a nice mix of both types of audience, and a great crowd to "warm up" on. We were still having our fair share of music and sound troubles, but we once again made the show our own by taking charge right out of the gate. My first song had a very bizarre introduction, which forced me to just start singing, hope I was on pitch, and pray that the orchestra found and kept up with me. But by the time I got to my second (and better) song, I nailed it. It was probably the best that I have ever sung the song, and I was thrilled because of my friends in the audience. Also, that was the performance that was taped, so my performance is on film. Awesome.

After the show and the pizza and cake party provided by the school, we headed out to the local dive bar for some karaoke and drinking. But not in that order. When we went out to celebrate "Big Love," I tried so hard to get our director to sing a song. He agreed, but we hit last call before he got a chance to perform. So he was first under the mic when we got there last night. And I'm sorry, Tim, but pictures of the triumphant debut of The Spittles have to be posted here, singing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." I think we're both just lucky that no one was taping us with any sort of video recorder. Because in these still shots, we sound fantastic. The night was not over, since we also sang "Man of Constant Sorrow," and were entertained by many other songs from our castmates. You'd think we were in a musical or something.

A snowbound drive home followed after last call at the bar, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was a great show, a great night, and a great time. Even though the paycheck is always low, it's nights like this that really remind me why I'm doing theatre. People were singing the songs at the reception after the show, everybody was having a great time, and people I worked with on "Big Love" were coming up to me, saying that they knew I could act but had no idea I was such a good singer. A total success. And more than the audience reaction, I feel great about this show. I did the best job with it that I could, and nothing makes me more satisfied than that.