"Mame" Opens The New Year At DMTC

The last week has been as intense and chaotic as I can recall since - since the last time I did a musical! No, really, since at least "Victor/Victoria" at RSP, in 2005. The difficulty was I joined the cast late (on account of the Australian trip) and missed a few critical musical rehearsals, so it's been catch-up ever since. Plus, it was difficult for everyone to juggle the holidays with rehearsals, and it just seemed that adequate time just wasn't available.

On the other hand, most of the cast were quite experienced, and Ron Cisneros was succinct and efficient as director, knowing exactly what he could reasonably ask for in a hurry. So, we got the show airborne in time for the preview, and after some fine-tuning rehearsals this week, we'll be in good shape for a successful January run.

From my skewed viewpoint, the biggest problems opening night seemed to be technical: lights, cues, etc. Apparently, at one point, there was an open mike in the dressing room and the audience heard a few off-color backstage comments. The cast was running on adrenaline, and so there were fewer mistakes than I expected - the main players largely-remembered the dialogue! - but still, there were a couple of missed or delayed entrances.

Dancewise, some folks were a little out-of-position in the big dance numbers. Dancing can become bowling with people under those circumstances, but we adjusted and kept the bowling soft and easy, in order to avoid unduly alarming the audience.

I'm having some kind of an identity crisis with the Act II dance number 'That's How Young I Feel.' I'm 50 years old, but from the script, it's clear I'm supposed to be some kind of bobby-soxer - aged 17 at most. But since the time frame is roughly 1940, then I should be my mom's age. Should I be Deanna Durbin's date, or, God forbid, my mom's date? And why should I sing "I'm gonna ask my mom, can I go to the junior prom"? Who made her the boss? Am I not an adult? And who am I, exactly? How did I get here? Where am I? Who knew the Oedipal tensions of this carefree number?

I'm so tired - it'll be a long week, even without the psychoanalysis....