This is Community Theatre
So I just finished playing Sam Byck in the Sondheim musical "Assassins". I was also Major Rizzolli in "Passion", as our theatre (The Theatre Company of Bryan/College Station) did a never-before-attempted double billing of those 2 shows. I'm pretty sure no one will ever attempt this again. The same 15 person cast performed both 1-act musicals in their entirety back-to-back with an intermission inbetween. It was both awesome and brutal. It absolutely wore me out, and we had difficulty keeping the run time under 3.5 hrs, which is really long for an audience. Anyway that's what I've been doing for the last 10 weeks or so instead of blogging. Here's a humourous anecdote from running Passion as Major Rizzolli:
So every night in Passion (the musical) the Italian soldiers played pool and sang. We'd roll the table on with all the balls while singing, then proceed to attempt playing an actual game of pool. My 1st line in the song was calling my shot by saying "4 ball in the side". As we rolled the table on, I'd place the cue and 4 in position where I could feasibly call and make that shot. Making the shot was important bc my next line was calling the shot "6 ball in the corner". So if I missed the shot or scratched or whatever, then the next line didn't make much sense bc it wouldn't be my turn anymore. In a perfect world I'd sink the 4 ball and set up a makeable 2nd shot on the 6. Well the pool table sucked haha. The stage is uneven and the balls rolled hilariously slanted. The bumpers were wood and didn't bounce AT ALL. Bank shots were not an option. Plus even after I "set" the 4 and 6 and cue, other balls would inevitably roll in the way of my shots bc of said uneven stage. There were also large wrinkles in the green felt top. The whole thing was a comical exercise in futility that the soldiers had a really, really fun time doing. We constantly joked about it, and it will be a running joke for a long time. When you saw us laughing on stage it was not really acting, we were *actually* laughing at the situation every performance. I thought it made for some pretty realistic and humorous theatre. Another actor had the line "GOOD SHOT!" right after I shot the 4 ball. If I made it he'd exclaim his line with raised eyebrows like he was impressed. When I missed (which was often bc of aforementioned hindrances) he'd very sarcastically say the line, which would break me every time. Then they'd all have to stand there and watch helplessly while I called and attempted the next shot after digging the cue ball out of the pocket or whatever haha. One performance I missed the 4 ball and scratched on the 1st shot, dug the cue out of the pocket, called the 6 ball and promptly sank the 8 instead. It was a big old bag of fail and I'm pretty sure all of the soldiers were laughing aloud. I was. I'll laugh about it for years!
So every night in Passion (the musical) the Italian soldiers played pool and sang. We'd roll the table on with all the balls while singing, then proceed to attempt playing an actual game of pool. My 1st line in the song was calling my shot by saying "4 ball in the side". As we rolled the table on, I'd place the cue and 4 in position where I could feasibly call and make that shot. Making the shot was important bc my next line was calling the shot "6 ball in the corner". So if I missed the shot or scratched or whatever, then the next line didn't make much sense bc it wouldn't be my turn anymore. In a perfect world I'd sink the 4 ball and set up a makeable 2nd shot on the 6. Well the pool table sucked haha. The stage is uneven and the balls rolled hilariously slanted. The bumpers were wood and didn't bounce AT ALL. Bank shots were not an option. Plus even after I "set" the 4 and 6 and cue, other balls would inevitably roll in the way of my shots bc of said uneven stage. There were also large wrinkles in the green felt top. The whole thing was a comical exercise in futility that the soldiers had a really, really fun time doing. We constantly joked about it, and it will be a running joke for a long time. When you saw us laughing on stage it was not really acting, we were *actually* laughing at the situation every performance. I thought it made for some pretty realistic and humorous theatre. Another actor had the line "GOOD SHOT!" right after I shot the 4 ball. If I made it he'd exclaim his line with raised eyebrows like he was impressed. When I missed (which was often bc of aforementioned hindrances) he'd very sarcastically say the line, which would break me every time. Then they'd all have to stand there and watch helplessly while I called and attempted the next shot after digging the cue ball out of the pocket or whatever haha. One performance I missed the 4 ball and scratched on the 1st shot, dug the cue out of the pocket, called the 6 ball and promptly sank the 8 instead. It was a big old bag of fail and I'm pretty sure all of the soldiers were laughing aloud. I was. I'll laugh about it for years!
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