The Internet is a mystery to me. There is a picture I wanted to up load for you tonight. I have uploaded pictures many times as you know, but for some reason this particular picture will not be shown. The "Picture of the Day" was to be my perspective of the Arts Theater as I walked out onto the set. It really is a great picture. I took it tonight before the audience came in. I promise when I can figure out why it won't load I will include it later.

Tonight was another show, number two if you are counting. The audience was very nice and very enthusiastic. The sound was better. We discovered the reason for the odd sound last night. It seems that an hour before show time they (not sure who they are but it wasn't anyone on our team) moved the sound console from a position at the back of the theater to the booth where the lights are controlled. Besides the fact that Nathan (our sound man) could not hear the house sound in the little room, they disconnected all of his patches, and reconnected them incorrectly, so nothing was the same. Very odd.

As you know we are sharing stage with another show. Last night was the first time we had to go from our show to theirs. Our set had to be struck and theirs had to be set up. The schedule called for this to happen in 30 minutes. (We end at 9:00 and the Italian show had a curtain time of 9:30) No one thought this was possible, but it was attempted nonetheless. In reality we finished our strike at 9:45 working as fast as we could. The other crew took over and it took another thirty minutes to get their set up. They had a curtain of 10:15. The whole thing was a nightmare and no one was looking forward to having to do this routine every night.

As I came off the stage tonight my company manager Julia said that the other show, the Italian show, had been cancelled for the evening and wouldn't be performing. It was a tremendous relief, not having to do the Chinese fire drill to turn the sets. Later in my dressing room our producer Andrew told me that the Italian show had closed. I think they had a total of three performances. There is a rumor that they will do a Saturday matinee swan song, but it is all very confused right now. Based on the reviews and the disorganization of the company, I would say they are done.

No one likes to see a show close so soon. I mean there were six musicians and seven cast members who were just trying to ply their craft. They are all talented individuals who got stuck in a project that just didn't seem to have any life. The reviews were not kind and that seemed to seal the fate of the show. I have to admit it is much easier on us not to have to tear our set down every night, but we agreed to do that when we came to this theatre. I don't know if they will try to book another show into the 9:30 slot. I hope not. It just doesn't work unless you have a huge stage and a crew of hundreds.

As I left the theater tonight Andrew admonished me to "Be kind to the other show in your blog tonight". I hope I have not been unkind to them. It is no secret that we are much better off being the only show at the Arts Theatre, and it was really a hassle trying to make both our shows work in the same limited space, but I am sorry there are actors and musicians out of work through no fault of their own.

Once again I am grateful for the experience of "The Two and Only". I mean, the odds on any show running are astronomical. A show like mine must increase the odds to a factor of ten. But here we are, a Tony Award Winning show looking forward to a great run in London's West End. I am loving every minute of it. I know how lucky I am and plan to live in the moment to enjoy every second.

With humility and artistic sadness I say, "So long Italian show, we hardly knew ye."
As you were,
Jay