Another Openin', Another Show...

"Tomorrow's what you're gonna have a lifetime of with me" - or so I sang today, as a part of Steven Sondheim's "Follies" which my husband and I performed in concert this weekend. After a quick sprint through a one-week rehearsal process, we rehearsed onstage for one day, and then performed Saturday and Sunday. The joke backstage was "I'll really know what I'm doing by next week..." the joke being - of course - that the show would be very much closed by then.

This little rehearsal results in a fly by the seat of your pants performance style... terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. My biggest "SHIT!" moment happened offstage- thank goodness. Right before my first entrance, I put my heel through my dress. RIGHT through my dress. As in, suddenly I was falling, caught myself on a chair (1 foot from being onstage - mind you) looked down to see what the problem was - and saw the heel of my stiletto poking through my brand-new gray jersey dress from Anthropologie. Purchased just for this occasion (the occasion of performing this concert, clearly, not for the occasion of ruining it with one fell swoop of a high heel before the dress ever got onstage.) Ah well...

The highlights of the weekend? Performing onstage with veteran Seattle actors, whom I have admired for years. Getting to sit offstage mere feet from them and watch while they bring the house down with the many beautiful showstopper songs included in the show. Being able to do one more week of rehearsal and performance with several friends from the show we JUST closed. And, as always, getting to share the stage with my husband... while I act like I am in love with someone else. :) Ah well...

My Mommy Moments this show? Well, another fun pumping in yet another dressing room... bringing the tally of Theatre's I Have Pumped My Boobs at to 3. And my Mommy Vanity Moment? In choosing my dress for the occasion I was adamant that it be form-fitting around the abdomen. I wanted to make it VERY clear that I had lost the baby weight... even though I seem to have celebrated losing the weight by eating many desserts with joyful abandon... whoops. (Momma needs to get back on the WW/Gym train pronto...)

But lastly, and my best Mommy Moment, was Elliot in the audience today. Not for the whole show, mind you, but the last half of it. He had seen his dad on stage a few times, but this was my first time having my son in the audience. I was convinced he (and my mom) hadn't made it, because I didn't hear a squeak out of him once... and I was sure that he was going to have some sort of huge vocal explosion during one of the quiet, serious parts of the show. Nope, not a peep. Well, apparently a peep or two. My director came backstage and found me after the show and said that he had been sitting in front of Elliot, and that whenever Eric or I would come onstage, Elliot would coo. That's pretty darn cute. Introducing him to many cast members and Seattle theatre people in the lobby afterwards was the cherry on top of the Awesome Sun Sundae.

Lastly, I wanted to share a few pictures of the weekend with you... but the only two I currently have access to are from cell phones. I figure, better than nothing. A photographer from the Seattle Times took pictures during our dress rehearsal Saturday, so I am hoping to have pictures of us in action sometime soon.

Tomorrow? Off to Portland to visit my In-Laws... and audition for yet another show. Which means this mama has to get to memorizing some monologues.