Comedy Tonight (Hopefully...)

I read a couple of other reviews before composing my own -mostly because I wanted to read good things about myself- and a couple of people have said Comedy Tonight was three hours long. Three hours?! I know it was late when I got home, but I guess I just didn’t put two and two together. It felt shorter, probably because I was always busy. I always felt like I was doing something or getting ready to do something. The nature of this play was different from anything I’ve done before. Everyone always had something to do. It was all hands in all the time. It didn’t matter whose script it was or who was acting in it, you just helped because that was the only way it was getting done. It was a little chaotic, but I liked the feeling of having contributed to what was going on onstage, to the skit or song or dance that was making everyone in the audience laugh or clap or just smile. It was nice being stage crew and actor and director. It felt significant that not only was I all these things, but so were practically everyone else in the production.

I acted as a sort of MC for the show as well as playing some supporting roles in a couple of the skits. I’ve talked before on my blog about how awful my stage fright is, but I think I pulled it off. That was in part due to Charlotte’s pre-show hand massage, but more significantly to Amalia, who seemed unphasable- in all likelihood, she was probably just too focused on the searing pain in her throat to be nervous- which allowed me to calm down and realize I’ve done this bit a hundred times before and this was going to be no different.  I was still terrified, but adrenaline just made me look manic-y and excited which worked in my favor in the end. Any time I freaked out too much, I would just stare at the lights and forget there were people in front of me. It got easier as the show went on and people started to laugh. Hearing someone laugh was reassurance that I was doing something right.

The skits definitely went better the second night. Everything ran alot smoother and the hiccups in the bits were smaller. I am a little upset about swans just because it has been so frustrating during rehearsals, especially with Abby not there for so long, and I really wanted it to run smoothly. The first night, the lighting cues caused confusion and I forgot that the crew had to put the hot tub down and the second night, well, in the second night, there was Maddy. I was a little frustrated, but Charlie said she didn't even notice that anything went wrong, so maybe I’m getting frustrated over nothing. The beauty pageant and Morning Meeting went well both nights, which I think provided some solid bookends to the evening. I’m very happy with how well recieved Morning Meeting was and I’m going to take partial credit even though the reason it was so funny was how well each actor portrayed their character.

Comedy Tonight went well, and in times when it wasn’t, it was still funny. Though there was some overcompensating for mistakes made (the copious adlibbing was at times obvious), I think everyone had fun, whether they were in the audience or onstage. I’m sad to see it go after only two nights, but at least I won’t have to add any more bruises to me side from that goddamn door (and yes, it was me all those times.)