"Annie" (3)

Another weekend of "Annie" finished. Sunday's show seemed like the best so far, even though Kaylynn was sniffling a little bit (allergies, bane of the Central Valley in springtime).

On Friday, we shifted standard procedure so as to start moving the Christmas Tree in the blackout following the Cabinet scene. On Friday and Sunday the move went fine, but on Saturday, the artificial tree came apart when we attempted to move it, and chaos ensued. Fortunately, other than a longer-than-usual blackout, and an awkward move behind the traveller curtain after the blackout, everything turned out OK.

It's interesting how each show seems to have a distinct personality, partly because of the day on which it falls. The Friday audience is usually quiet (people are generally tired after the work week). The Saturday audience has a partying edge to it (but not so much this week, for some reason - maybe we are pulling more of a family demographic than we did with "Evita"). The large Sunday audience is generally quiet but attentive (the post-church and senior-citizen crowd).

The Saturday show this week was like a "Show Boat" reunion: Amber and Laurent (with baby Juliette) were there, as was Tev & Erin and J.D. Diefenbacher.

Meanwhile, at Woodland Dance Academy, we are gearing up to redo "Coppelia" this May, which we last did in 1996. At that time, we had Rome Saladino from Sacramento Ballet play 'Franz.' Rome was a wonderful dancer with a fine spirit attuned to spirit of community ballet theater. This time, though, we will have to make do with my efforts, plus those of J.P. Villa. One nice perk is dancing with Leah Miller (CDF firefighter): Leah is just the best! Looking forward to it!