August
1 , 2005
It's
been nearly a year since I first began this journey, and the greatest lesson
that I've learned from the whole mindblowing thing is this:
Never expect, and always prepare.
It's a rule that I live by these days. It just makes sense. I performed Sunday's show without expecting to go on again, but without expecting not to, either. It's the life of a swing, and all of us have experienced it over the past few days. Ironically, I ended up being the anchor amongst a group of New York actors whose resumes all exceed mine by a couple of pages. But that didn't last long. Each of my fellow swings are really good at what they do. Being onstage with them feels just like it did back in the dressing rooms in San Francisco, when we used to run the show by ourselves.
But each time we perform on the real stage, there's a certain state of mind we have to get into. We can't assume we'll be doing it again the next night, so we have to make it as good as it can be. But we can't assume it's going to be our last performance, because the mind gets preoccupied with that thought and one can't fully concentrate. That's when dumb mistakes happen. And God knows I've made plenty of those already. So I just get up there and do my best and forget about doing a perfect show. There's no such thing.
Today is usually our day off, but with opening looming ever closer, we're cramming in rehearsals and performances when we can. And since most of the other shows are closed on Mondays, we had a pretty full house tonight. I took my old place up in the Crow's Nest and watched. It was my first time to do this since all the big changes happened and I was anxious to see it from the house. There were some sound problems, which occur now and then. But in spite of those technical glitches I can usually still feel the magic on a good night. I left the theatre during curtain call and waited outside for Will.
It wasn't until I headed back to the bus with Will that I got the latest news. Apparently, I'm going to be on yet again, for at least two more nights. I didn't expect it, but I'm prepared.