"Oklahoma!" - Final Weekend

Finally now, Sooner territory can join the Union!

Bethany and Claire apparently saw a midnight preview of "Pirates of the Caribbean II" in the wee hours of Friday morning, and so when they arrived at the theater Friday night, they came decked out in the cutest pirate gear. They waved plastic scabbards at everyone and said 'Aaarrggghhhh!" a lot.

On Friday, I had trouble mounting Ryan Adame's back for the mini-pyramid in 'Kansas City' (I swear, his back seemed lubricated with butter, or Crisco or something). It's fun to be spread-eagled by surprise for the audience's examination and entertainment. Ryan's been complaining about a back ache during the last half of the run - are my 180 lbs. to blame?????

On Friday, the men's ensemble nearly missed its entrance for 'It's a Scandal, It's A Outrage.' I felt superior on Saturday night, and chastised the men's ensemble with my superior punctuality, but, sadly, joined the almost-missers on Sunday afternoon, when we were nearly all late for the entrance.

Georgette Robin came to the show on Friday night and Monica Parisi came on Saturday night.

There was weird music stuff Saturday night - transposed notes at the start of 'Kansas City,' problems with 'Oklahoma,' etc. I blame gremlins for Bushy Head and leprauchans from Missouri.

On Saturday, in the 'Farmer and the Cowman' dance lift, Chelsea Beatty and I miscommunicated. Her leg buckled early and it was nearly a dead-weight lift for me. It could have been worse, but we recovered OK.

On Saturday night, Jaimie Tvrdik crushed the blood capsule as he normally did every night (playing Jud accidentally stabbing himself), but the bloody mess seemed unusually coherent as it exitted the corner of his mouth and went splat! onto the stage. As we lifted him Jaimie, the bloody strand elongated and broke under the tension, like chewing gum, forcing Steve to hastily leave the stage as he burst into barely-concealed laughter. On Sunday, we nearly dropped Jud as we carried him offstage (the lift was nearly beyond my left forearm strength - I was the only one supporting his spine and we began moving him before my arm was in position). Jaimie giggled a lot through the stabbing scene aftermath, all weekend long.

MikeMac chuckled inadvertently in 'Oklahoma,' in the 'pasture for your cattle' line, when he glommed a pine-sap covered palm onto Steve's shoulder. Pine sap and fake blood are both funny substances - not quite liquid, not entirely elastic!

After strike, at Andy Hyun's invitation, some of us went to Woodland for Ludy's Barbeque. Saw Jason Hammond and Deborah Douglass there too ('Godspell' at Garbeau's just closed, and they were apparently returning items to the adjacent Woodland Opera House). Discovered that Tomas Casillas used to do a lot of soccer. Interesting!