O Where O Where Did My Finale Go?

It's the end of Tech Night 2, and I'm completely at a loss.

We got to the end of the fight scene and discovered that no one knew the ending.  The final song.  The Finale.  The part where the Police tell the Pirates to "Yield in Queen Victoria's Name", and the Pirates, being dutiful subjects of Her Majest the Queen, "Yield at once, with humble mien - because, with all their faults, they Love Their Queen."  (Followed by Ruth's revelation that they are not really pirates at all, but merely noblemen who have been playing at pirates because the relative dishonesty of politics is not to their liking.)

And when I started the Finale music, nothing happened.  Crickets chirped out in the audience.  The actors stood on stage with blank expressions on their faces.  "We didn't practice this!" someone protested.

Well, actually, we DID practice it, but not on stage, and it was at least a week or two ago.  But I had neglected to take into account the fact that, unless directed specifically to go home and study their entire scripts, the cast would not take the trouble to make sure they knew not only what we had practiced on the stage, but also the parts we had not yet practiced fully.

So we stood there on the night before Dress Rehearsal and realized that we didn't have an ending.

Talk about panic in the streets!!

We still had five or six pages to go through in the script.  Five or six pages which included at least three songs (one "new", two reprises).  Songs which tied all the loose ends and bring the show to a resounding end.

But we had no time.

So what did we do?

In the spirit of true Thespianism, we did what any other self-respecting Company would do: we made up a new, shorter ending.  Taking the gist of the real ending and shortening it into a quick, five-line summation:

Pirate King: "You lied to us about being an orphan, and now you will pay!"
Sergeant: "No! We charge you yield - in Queen Victoria's name!"
Pirate King: "You do?"
Police: "We do - we charge you yield in Queen Victoria's name!"
Pirate King: "We yield at once, because with all our faults, we love our Queen."

{Pirates lay down their swords and are taken away by Police.}

And then went directly into the Curtain Calls.

Hoo, boy.  This is going to be fun.  Tomorrow is Dress Rehearsal in front of a crowd of two hundred restless elementary schoolkids. Most of them aren't going to understand any of the dialogue anyway, so I doubt we'll get much reaction from them - other than, "What are those kids doing up there?"  Unlike last year's play, Beauty and the Beast, Jr., they haven't been watching the Disney cartoon version since they were infants, so they have no idea what's going on.

I don't think I'll sleep very well tonight!

Pirates of Penzance Week

This is the schedule.

Monday - First Technical Rehearsal
Tuesday - Second Technical Rehearsal
Wednesday - 8 AM performance at the school, followed by final "clean-up" rehearsal
Thursday - Opening Night
Friday - Regular Performance
Saturday - Afternoon Matinee

Technical rehearsals involve setting up all the wireless microphones, the lights, the timing, the stage piece movements, and testing the costumes and makeup to ensure they are going to work.  Unfortunately, we're still working on the choreography for the three dance numbers, so we'll be trying to do a lot of tweaking to the show at the same time.

Have you ever tried to convince middle-school girls that they don't look silly doing a dance that does NOT involve a kick-line? For some reason, they keep bringing it up, hoping I'll let them do one (which they did last year in Beauty and the Beast Jr.)  Somehow I just can't see the prim and proper Major-General's daughters doing a kick-line.  Nope.

Then there's going to be the fun of handling the forgotten lines, the missed solo cues, and the ad libs.  I can't wait to see what the kids come up with when someone forgets their lines.

Then there's the set itself.  I'm still not happy with it, but we don't have any time left to fix it! 
I've obsessing about this show for the last three or four weeks, to the detriment of practically everything else. I hope I still have a job when it is done! 

Too Many Projects to Mention

Have you ever had so many things to do that you don't know where to begin?  That's the way it feels right now. All the time.

Let's begin with the obvious one.  The middle school musical.

Last year, I volunteered to help build a prop for the middle school musical, Beauty and the Beast Junior.  It was a privilege to be asked to help.  And it was a joy and a challenge to build the prop. And it was exhilerating to be near the stage again, even though it was mostly backstage.  All the wonderful memories of my high school musical days came back in a flood.

Some of us never lost our passion for the theater; it's just been put on the sidelines while we were pursuing more life-critical goals.  But it is always there, just under the surface: the desire to put on - or be a part of - a show!

This year, I volunteered to help with the sets, thinking to use my vast (!!) knowledge of carpentry (insert laugh track here) to ensure a good, quality production.  After all, they are doing my absolute favoritest play ever, Pirates of Penzance. Well, they're doing the Junior version of it, anyway. Which means they've removed some of the songs, shortened most of the others, and simplified the dialog to the point that middle schoolers can actually understand it.  Mostly.

So I showed upon the first day of rehearsal, which took place in the choir room at the school, hoping to meet the choir teacher who was going to direct the show and talk to her about sets.  There were thirty of forty kids, all bunched up in a room, sitting on risers, sitting on chairs, sitting on the floor, munching snacks while awaiting direction from someone.  The choir teacher was trying to deal with various administrative details. I asked if there was anything I could do.  She asked me to get the kids started on a run-through of Scene 1.

So I put on my theater director hat and walked up to the front of the room and commanded, in a from-the-diaphragm voice that carried to the back of the room, that the children listen so that I could give them some direction.

(Those of you familair with the attention span of middle-schoolers are now laughing your heads off because you know exactly what happened next.)

Not knowing me from anyone, they looked up to see what the fuss was about, then promptly went back to whatever it was they were doing before.  Mostly talking (and texting).  So I started again.  Louder.  With a little more edge to my voice.  That started to get their attention.  A third time sufficed for them to actually do what I asked.

And so we began rehearsing.

Three weeks later, we are still rehearsing.  The choir teacher is still mostly doing administrative work, trying to keep track of all the little details which go along with making a show happen.  The volunteer coordinater began working with parent volunteers just this week, which means that we are about three weeks behind schedule on getting our volunteers in place (for things like costumes, concessions, ticket sales, advertising, etc.).  We had our first committee meeting only yesterday, and there is SO much work to do.

And I'm still coming to the school three or four days a week, right after school, rehearsing the children on their parts, both musical and non-musical.  And building sets and props on the weekends. And getting ready for our first "performance", which is taking place during a school assembly next Friday morning; we're doing an excerpt, one song.  And I'm trying to figure out how we're going to be ready for Opening Night, which takes place in less than three weeks, when the kids still haven't gotten their lines down.

So in the space of three weeks, I went from lowly set-builder to co-director.  How do these things happen?

Meanwhile, I've started a new job, going from Test Lead at GE Aviation to Project Manager at Randstad (née Technisource).  So instead of planning and managing the test activities for a software project, I'm going to be managing entire projects, including budgeting, scheduling, and staffing.  More responsibility, more pay, more new things to learn. Including a new-to-me company.

Then there's the Boy Scouts.  Our Troop has dwindled down to one Scout who has completed his Eagle Scout Project (for which I served as coach) and is now working on his final merit badges (which includes the Hiking badge, for which I am participating in all the hikes).  The Council sent someone along to help re-invigorate the Troop, and she has promised to find us some more boys, if the church (the charter organization, for which I serve as liason) is willing to continue chartering.  The staff at church is not enthused about the idea, but one of the elders has promised to support it, so there is some small hope yet.  And if it continues, I'll still be the liason.

And my car, my lovely green Subaru.  It is still sitting in the garage, waiting for the engine to be put back together and rejoined to the rest of it.  But there is no money in the budget for such things; this was a partial motivation to seek a new job (aside from the obvious kid-in-college financial motivation). I need to get that car fixed.  And the red Subaru still needs some transmission work. Which will require more money.

And winter is fast approaching.  Which will severely limit the number of things which can be accomplished here at the house, within the confines of the garage. Which means taking them to a real car shop.  Which means significant monetary commitment.

And last but not least, there is NaNoWriMo.  As a wannabe writer, it behooves me to participate in this novel-writing exercise, not particularly for the purpose of creating a real novel, but to discover if I actually have what it takes (time, brainpower, stamina, endurance) to write a novel-length work in a short amount of time. Frankly, I don't think I have the time or the brainpower this year, especially in light of what is going on in my life.  But there is no time like the frantic present to find out!

(So far, I have only gotten around 14,000 words, which means I'm about three days behind schedule. But I'm hoping to catch up soon!)

Oh, one more thing.  Christmas.  Fast approaching.  Time to write Christmas cards!  And letters!  Now where am I going to find the time to do that??
 

Long Time Coming

It was over a week ago that I finally bid my old job good-bye and began a new phase of life, switching companies without switching locations, at least from the point-of-view of the parking lot.  This was something I had been considering for a very long time; in fact, for at least three years, I had been looking for an opportunity somewhere in the area.

Well, you didn't really expect me to move away from here, did you?  This place has everything we could ever want.  A good church, good schools, good friends, and, most important, no real traffic to speak of.

It only suffered in the monetary compensation department, especially for those of us entering into the putting-kids-through-college phase.

So when I heard "through the grapevine" that this particular company was hiring, I threw my hat into the ring and took the opportunity to declare my candidacy. And it paid off.  Now I have a new job with more responsibilities (to go along with the additional compensation, which goes directly into the "college support fund").  But the commute is the same, and the building is the same, only I use a different entrance.

Unfortunately, the job change occurred at the wrong time, because there are too many other things going on at the same time.  Like trying to restart a Boy Scout Troop.  And directing a Middle School Musical.

But more on that later.  Right now, I must rest!