The Wiz report for Saturday

After I call "Half hour" (30 minutes till show time) my next appointment is to check on Jay in his dressing room. I need to make sure that he is getting into make-up and then I assist in getting him into his microphone. It's during this time that we chat and make sure that we're on the same "wavelength". So today before the matinee, I am sitting in the dressing room and Jay's a little behind schedule. He hasn't quite finished the make-up process. I start to ask him a question. As I start talking, he starts his lip color. The next thing I say is "Oh I'll wait till you're done so you can talk". He looks at me in the mirror and starts to tell me that he can talk without moving his lips - without moving his lips! We laugh hysterically. He doesn't normally use his art form as a parlor trick - but I walked right into that one. How could he resist?

Ironically, there is a light cue during the final story that I call off of a line that he says. Sometimes I have difficulty hearing the words, and I have to read his lips in order to call it.

Darwin was honoring our Veterans today by singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "God Bless America" for the matinee and "Grand Ole Flag" in the evening. We got two out of three - so we're ahead!

Until the next one,
Wiz