Oliver! Opening Night

Friday night was nice - full of strange surprises, though:

Ate dinner with Sally Forment at Morrison's in Woodland. Nice lamb sirloin. Never suspected this nice restaurant co-exists in the same town as Sonic (apologies to Sonic's ex-manager Eric - come back from Yuba City!)

The show was nice...a little ponderous at times, with some confusion in "Consider Yourself," but certainly better than many opening nights. The audience really like Brian and Monique! Blake Thomas is winning as Oliver and Chris Petersen energetically carries the show forward as The Artful Dodger.

At intermission, word came that none of the toilets worked, and indeed, no water was available in the theater at all. Trouble! So, several of us amateur sleuths spent the top of Act II staring at the befuddling circuitry for the New Theater pumps and trying to figure out why they had stopped working. Fagin himself came up and (without glasses) tried puzzling through the Owner's Manuals. Eventually, we succeeded in figuring out where the manual override switches were, and restored the water system.

Why the pumps stopped is a mystery. I suppose it's possible everyone flushed a toilet at the same instant and the pumps lost their prime, but why it hasn't happened before, I don't know.

Fred Brooks, a long-time Season Ticket holder, had a plan. Brooks, who years ago established the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department for the City of Davis, and now lives in retirement in Chico, wanted to honor Steve and Jan Isaacson for their dedication in establishing Community Theater in Davis. At the end of the show, we stopped the proceedings, and Fred Brooks presented his gorgeous plaque to honor Steve and Jan. The presentation had added impact because it was totally unexpected.

Brooks said:

It's very important to honor people for their hard work while they are still alive to appreciate it. Words of appreciation don't do much good after people die.

That's an excellent philosophy! Say "thank you" to the people around you today!