Wednesday, October 18, 2006

The monkey song tonight was “Sherry”. Okay I think everyone scored on that one. I have been singing Frankie Valli songs all day. I went to see a matinee of “Jersey Boys” before my show tonight. The tickets are impossible to get but they were great seats procured by our company manager Scott as an opening night gift. It is a great show and no matter what you have heard about it you won’t be disappointed when you see it. It deserves every honor it has gotten. I can’t wait until our tickets are as hard to get.

Rick Lyons came to my show and talk back tonight. Rick is one of the stars of Avenue Q and creator of the Q puppets. We have been friends since we met years ago waiting for luggage at an Airport. He brought Trekie monster back stage and we took pictures. I became a little kid again seeing the wonderful craftsmanship of his puppet creations.
Thanks Rick and Tonya. I am so glad you came to see my show and stayed for the talk back. I swear we are going to have that dinner and talk puppets when we have the time.

Okay so here is a secret. I like to listen to the crowd as they come into the theater. I discovered a door off a backstage hall way that actually opens onto the lobby next to the box office. If I stand behind the closed door I can listen to people as they pick up their tickets. Although I have told myself I can predict what kind of crowd it will be by the chatter before hand, in reality it is impossible to draw a correlation. My hope still springs eternal that someday I will be able to predict the reactions.

So I have taken my position at the door trying to prove my theory when suddenly Dave comes out of the Box office. He doesn’t expect to see me and I don’t expect to see him. We both think we have seen a ghost. I am embarrassed and he is startled. The Wiz is passing through the wings down the hall and witnesses the entire thing so I cannot pretend it didn’t happen. Sorry Dave, I will find a new way to do my research.

Tonight was another talk back and I was asked a question I have never before been asked.
“When you dream do you dream of having puppets with you?” Interesting. The answer is no, but I do dream that I am separated from the cases that the puppets are in and I am trying to get to them. I must have that dream several times a month. One lady said later that this is an anxiety dream. No kidding… try being a ventriloquist on Broadway trying to make it in the this star driven, musical comedy franchise market.

Rosie O’Donnell, I am still stalking you. You will become the champion of our show. But don’t wait too long before Oprah beats you to it.
As you were,
Jay

2 comments:

Linda said...

I was going to ask what you do the half-hour before curtain (it's interesting to know how actors prepare for each performance)...we all know now!

Sometimes we can gauge how the audience will respond. There's an overall mood to the crowd as they come in. I love to talk and play with the patrons but I'm very careful to pick the ones I know will play along. It keeps it fun.

Speaking of fun, I can't remember when we all laughed so much during the run of a show. Thanks Jay!

-TOO

Anonymous said...

BTW - I think I have the Barney Miller theme down. The intro is not too difficult. The rest, well that's another story...

- TOO