No pictures to day. I didn't have a chance to even take my camera out of my pocket. I guess you would call this the 10 out of 12 days. In America that is when you are allowed to work the show for ten out of twelve hours to get it done and open. However, there really isn't anything like that over here. The unions are really not so strong and that is a union distinction. Everyone is working as hard as they can. Of course since the stage is doing double duty, there has to be time to change the set for the other show. But we are in great shape considering there are people running the show who have only seen it two times by now. The back stage is really cramped, and hard to move around. The stairs to the stage from the dressing room are dark and steep. There is no air conditioning at the theater. London never got that hot, until the last couple of years. Something like global warming has changed the summers. It has been hot and promises to get hotter. It may become an issue, but there are so many unknowns at this point that is just another on the list. However, as my friend Wylie reminds me, we have done this show under some very strange circumstances since we left Broadway. This is not even on the "difficult" radar in comparison to other venues.

My dressing room is small and they have built a make shift clothes rack in the middle of the entrance. The door hits it and won't open all the way because of it. I don't need the wardrobe space so I am getting them to take it out for my run. There is really no place to store things except my dressing room. The large pelican trunk I used to ship most of my show in has been an issue. It seems to always be in the way no matter where you try to put it. However, there is a small closet space just behind the door where the monster fits like a glove. That gave me a lot more room. Several of my smaller road cases fit in side of it so, it is all just a matter of figuring it out, and I just haven’t really had the dressing room long enough to arrange.

Tomorrow we will run the show for sound cues. Then run the show for lighting cues and then do sort of a “head to tail” run through, and set for the first public performance that evening. I am looking forward to it. The energy of this theatre seems to be good, but that will tell when we have some patrons. Because this is our first week we are not doing a matinee on Thursday, which is a good thing for me. It will give me a day to recoup before we get into the double show run.

I love London but it does not have the same creative energy for me that New York has. I seemed to find a story around every corner in New York to write about. Here it is a little more ‘calm’ and less frantic so you have to look for the stories.
I’m sure they are there and I will have a lot of time to sleuth them out, particularly when everyone goes away. My kids are coming in a few days; Sandi is here as are Murphy, Paul and Clifton. Soon everyone will have to be on his or her way and I will have much too much time to look for stories to write about.
More later.
As you were,
Jay