CHICAGO starring John Davidson as Billy Flynn
DAY 1: Woo hoo! It was our last �10 of 12� today! One last time to climb those stairs to sit for hours and hours! Now, if John Davidson had only treated tech as a tech and not his personal rehearsal�life would be great! Jimmy said we were going to be working our tails off during this show! Boy, he didn�t lie!
As of 12 midnight, I had 40 spot cues throughout the run of the show! Rest during this show is NOT an option! Ah! But it�s beautiful! Mitzi Hamilton, the Director, used to dance with Bob Fosse, the creator of Chicago. And it SO majorly shows! The choreography is stunning! I wanted to weep with joy when I watched Corrine strut out from behind the clamshell doors at upstage center. She is the epitome of Velma Kelly!
Every dance move, every �strut� is so �Fosse�. When the audience sees this, they�ll understand exactly how horrible the movie really was!
DAY 2: Dress & Opening
What a crappy day! We worked up until the very last minute before opening the house to get the d***ed Chicago and Roxie signs up and running. Just when we thought we had CHICAGO, the friggin� �O� goes out! UGH! It was real fun watching C...H�I�C�A�G� go as the show went up. Then! Horror of horrors! When the sign came down for the intermission, we had lost not only �O� but also the stupid �I�! Man! What a pain! During intermission, the whole thing read C�H� �C�A�G� !!!! URGH! That means another early day tomorrow!
After the show, we had the Cast Party at the Holiday Inn across the street. Everyone showed up, including John Davidson! And I love that the President bought the first round�(hint: Always get the biggest drink possible when someone else is buying!). After most of the cast was happily sloshed at the Holiday Inn, most of us went over to the �Non-Eq� house. Gregory invited me to come over and imbibe in something called an Irish Car Bomb. Oye!
When I got to the house, the place was crawling with people. Mitzi and Pam were happily drunk and congratulating each other. All the �big wigs� were there as well. It was quite a loud party!
Gregory introduced me to the Irish Car bomb� � shot Irish Whiskey, � shot Irish Cream dropped into a � pint of Guinness Stout. First of all, let me say that Guinness Stout has the nickname of �The Beer You Can Chew� for a reason. Not being a beer drinker of any sort, I was rather hesitant, but I had been invited to try and try I would! Gregory and I toasted some crazy Irish toast (apparently an Irish tradition), dropped the shot glasses into the stout and chugged! I was about ready to stop because the stout tasted too gross when, suddenly I tasted the Irish Cream�.and continued to down the entire thing as per instructions. It didn�t hit me until about 10 minutes later when I suddenly had a really difficult time standing up!
Gregory, being the very sweet darling that he is, gently guided me to the front porch for some fresh air and a chair. There I sat, his hand on my shoulder, my head on his for about two hours. I was truly drunk, but not incoherent. He continually told me that it would wear off, but it took a lot longer than I ever thought it would. When I could hold my head up without feeling nauseous, Gregory gave me a kiss on the cheek and went in to the house to have another Irish Car Bomb with someone else.
Around 2 am, I went into the house and sat on the couch with Andrew and Antoine (yes, the names have been changed). Gregory was on the opposite couch watching television and zoning out. Andrew and Antoine were cuddling each other whilst Antoine cuddled and laughed at me and my drunkenness. Andrew pounced on Gregory long enough to wake the poor man up and send him to bed, then he came back to the couch. As drunk as I was, I didn�t relish the idea of watching Antoine and Andrew having sex in front of me, so I sobered myself up with a bit of Mountain Dew and left.
DAY 3: One Show day
We were called at 4:30 to come in and fix the blasted Chicago sign. Finally, about 10 minutes before we were to open the house, it worked! And not only did it work, EVERYTHING worked! I�m so glad�it�s definitely a problem I don�t want to deal with again!