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August 10, 2007

42nd Street First Performance

I call this: summer stock,theatre — Posted by KP @ 2:52 pm

Last night was our first show. We were sold out, which was a little unexpected. I heard last week that the Saturday matinee is sold out, but I hadn’t heard anything else in a while, so that was a nice surprise. It was our first sold out show this season.

When I arrived the stage was still filled with sets getting their final touches, and the marquees for the ballet still being wired. Eventually I was able to bring in the curtain and open the house, but work continued behind the curtain until pretty close to show time. Nobody really saw the marquees hung and lit until 1,100 people saw them all at once, and I snapped a picture of the moment.

They looked great, although they need a little tweaking to make the heights more varied. Considering there was no way to really check that before the show, they came out pretty well. They actually look a lot better to the audience than they do from the booth because the viewing angle is different.

The first show was very smooth, and everyone was in great spirits afterward.

This is Mugsy. He belongs to one of our actors, and makes a cameo in the “Gettin’ Out of Town” scene, as the fictional cast packs up their belongings, “dogs, cats, canaries…” and heads for their out-of-town tryout. He’s doing a great job.Since we had only a matinee, the evening was taken up by a party at a local cast member’s house, which was very well attended and a great chance for cast and crew to unwind and mingle after a hectic couple weeks. The party was a fiesta, and of course it wouldn’t be complete without a pinata. Somebody got a sun pinata, because “There’s a Sunny Side to Every Situation.” Here’s me trying to hit the pinata. I got in a number of good hits, but alas I was not the one to break it.


Night Crew

I call this: summer stock,theatre — Posted by KP @ 2:32 pm

The night before opening of 42nd Street, we had our final dress, did some fixes and notes, and dismissed the cast around 11:00PM. By midnight our production meeting was over, and I was well on my way to going home. On the stage and in the shop, however, the crew had been working since the run ended, cramming in all the little details that still remained to get in shape for the first performance at 2:00PM the next day — painting, set repair, refocusing lighting instruments. They stayed until 3 or 4 in the morning, returning at around 10 to continue work and get ready for the show.

Before I left I took some portraits of our hard-working crew:

Ray touches up the paint job on one of the “Lullaby” stair units.


Christina lurks under the other stair unit, doing the same thing.


Jamie starts painting a column to match the pink marble style of the existing ones that frame the proscenium.


Who says the wardrobe crew can’t do physical labor? Joe sets up scaffolding.


Matt refurbishes the edge of the big dime to make it nice and shiny. Here he shows off a technique known in the theatre industy as “gaff-painting.”