As rehearsals started for South Pacific I found myself creating a history for my character, Billis. I had read James Mitchner's "Tales Of The South Pacific" which the musical was loosely based on. I watched the movie version of the musical with Ray Walston playing the part I was going to. I tried to make the character my own while incorporating a bit of the actual Luther Billis that Mitchner recounts in his book and parts of Walston's broader portrayal. To me, Billis was a real softie at heart. He always wanted to help out anyone in need, but wanted to be seen as tough and gruff around his peers so as not to lose any stature among them. I put alot of myself into him as well, giving him a bit of a sarcastic edge. As rehearsals went on I began to find humour in the character at points that didnt strike me as being funny, but were getting laughs from the rest of the cast based on my portrayal. The only problem that I was having is that I couldnt dance during the Honey Bun number that first drew me to the role. That part was rather frustrating to me that I cant dance well, but I did the best that I could with it. The guy playing the male lead, Emile, had such a wonderful singing voice that I found myself standing offstage listening to him. He was built like a bulldozer and moved like one, but had one of the best singing voices I have ever heard.
The time came for the actual performances. I realized roughly 30 minutes before curtain time that I didnt have my carrots to give out to the lead performers after the concert. With one of the extras, I took it upon myself to literally run uphill in full stage makeup to the grocery store roughly a mile away. We made it and I found what I was looking for, a bunch of carrots with the greens still attached. As we payed I could see the cashier looking at me strangely in my costume and makeup. We were out the door and I looked at my watch, about 15 minutes until curtain. At this point, I realized how stupid of an idea this seemed and we both started running back towards the school down in the distance. (Ah to be young and in shape again!) As we got in the back doors I could hear the overature starting from the pit orchestra and I rushed on stage completely out of breath since I was in the first scene. The director looked at me exasperated, but said nothing as I found my spot and tried to catch my breath and calm down since when the curtain opened, we started right off singing "Bloody Mary". I thought that close call was going to be my signature 'screwup' for this musical as forgetting my line in the King & I was. I was wrong, but I'll get into that a bit later. The curtains opened and we started singing just fine. Everyone was hitting their marks and once in a while I would allow my character to break that 'fourth wall' that exists between the stage and the audience to see their reactions and was surprised to see nearly a full house. In the same scene we also singing the well known song "Nothing Like A Dame" which did have me singing a little bit on my own and some group choreography from the 'sailors' on stage. At the end of the song, I was out front and the guys were told to watch for me to break my end pose before they did. Well, considering the guys worked really pretty hard on it, when the song ended, I held my pose while the audience really applauded warmly. I will admit I waited a bit longer then normal, but I wanted the guys to feel that applause for their work.
The first act came to a close and things were going really well. The audience was enjoying it and we were having a lot of fun doing it. In the second act was the Honey Bun number and my hula dance in the grass skirt, coconut bra and wig that that haunts me to this day thanks to my kids finding an old photo of it. I got dressed and on my queue came out to howls of laughter from the audience. I went through the song and the routine and the following dance number while having a ball with it. Its really a great feeling to know that through your actions you can bring a smile to someone's face or make them laugh. That scene ended. The start of the next scene was supposed to have me running onstage from the wings with a group of girls yelling and throwing my wig out after me as if I had followed them back into their tent. The curtains opened and I ran out with the girls yelling in the background. Then as I hit my mark, I heard a loud BOOM! I thought that one of the pit musicians fell into the bass drum so I looked down into the pit to make sure everyone was okay. Strange, everyone there seemed to be fine. As I straightened up, I could hear the audience tittering here and there. I paused for a second and then noticed the shadow moving on the floor around me. Then I lifted my head and found what the noise was. The girl that had thrown out my wig managed to hit the hanging microphone with it dead on. Now the mic was swinging around in a lazy circle over my head as I stood there onstage watching it. I thought to reach up and stop it, in order to go on with the scene, so I started to raise my arm and then stopped with my hand about head height. I lowered my hand, then raised it again and went through those motions another two or three times never completely deciding what I wanted to do. The crowd could sense the humor in the situation and started laughing good naturedly along as I finally decided the heck with it and went on with the scene. So there was my pseudo screwup in this years show.
The show ended and when curtain call time came the applause was warm and genuine. I came out fourth from the end and was honestly surprised at the level of applause that I received. It really touched me and made me feel good. As the director was then announced and was making his remarks, I grabbed my bag of carrots and gave them out to the lead actors to some additional laughs from the audience as well.
That was the most satisfying feeling that I have ever had on stage. More so then all of the awards that I helped win as part of the band because when I came out the applause that rose in tempo was for my performance that night. That I gave those people for those few hours some enjoyment that they wouldnt have had otherwise. Thats a great feeling to know that you can erase a person's worries for a little while at least. If you dont believe me, go ahead and try it yourself.