Summing Up...

It took me nearly a week to gather my thoughts, but here they finally are. Maybe not so eloquent, but y'all get the point...

Saturday was the final (and, in my opinion, by far the best) performance of “The Baker’s Wife”. Before the show, and even before warm ups, Leibrecht gathered all of us on stage for the usual closing night speech. No matter how many times I’ve done a show with / for him, that speech is always special and just plain neat to hear. (I’ve even been known to tear up…once or twice…) He & Sandy both said some very nice things about all of us in the cast, and praised the show & our collective efforts. Teri & Debi also presented gifts (from the cast) to the crew heads, Christian, and the Leibrechts.

Sunday was the strike and potluck supper. Leibrecht had requested all of us be there between 3 and 3:30. Strike was estimated to take 2 to 2 ½ hours to complete, and then it would be time for supper. To be honest, I think strike itself took all of an hour and a half. It was relatively simple, and things seemed to go smoothly. The potluck had anything and everything you could imagine, from sandwiches to pizza, chips and dip, to cookies, ice cream, and cake. Thinking back, I wish I would have taken a picture of the spread. It was incredible, the amount of food! I hung around as long as I could, until I was ready to literally drop from exhaustion. Finally, about 7 p.m., Jeremy & I said our goodbyes and headed out.

With all that being said, I have to admit, this show was somewhat difficult for me. There were even times I thought about giving up.

I had surgery 4 weeks before the show and, in turn, missed a lot of rehearsals. That didn’t throw me off, necessarily, but made me feel disconnected more than anything. Being in the chorus, I didn’t have a lot to learn / remember – we had learned songs months before hand, and the blocking was very simple. I can’t even really explain it. It was just “different”. Maybe because I worked the entire week of tech / performances and dragged ass all day, or maybe because we didn’t have much “going out” time as a group during the rehearsal process. Or maybe a combination of both, I’m not sure.

Now that’s not to say this experience was different bad. Just. Different. Hard to explain, really. Trust me on this one, though.

My mom, as usual, was right. “By the end, you’ll be in tears and not wanting it to end…” In tears? Check. (By the beginning of the final song Saturday night!) Not wanting it to end? Not so check. I’m glad it’s over, in a sense – it’s nice not to have to rush rush rush somewhere every night straight after work, and it’s nice to get to bed before 1 or 1:30 a.m. on a work night. But, of course, there’s always that sense of, “NOW what do I do???” once a show is over.

Dad came to the show Saturday night, which floored me. You see, my dad is NOT the theatre type. Total opposite, really. In turn, he's not one to very willingly come see my shows. That's not to say he hasn't been to any, because he has been to lots of them. But still, just knowing how NOT into theatre he is, his presence at my shows means more to me than I could EVER possibly begin to explain. And Monday morning, when I emailed him and thanked him for coming, his response made me cry. "sorry i wasn't more enthusiastic, pretty worn out by the end of the show. i am proud of you for being able to get up on stage, not something i could do. luv, dad." The man doesn't give out "I'm proud of you" or "I love you" very often (which I've FINALLY grown to accept), but when he does, damnit, I know he MEANS IT.

So all in all, I am (of course) sad to see it all come to an end. I do have to say that getting back to a "normal" schedule / life has actually been kind of boring for me. I live for the rush rush rush - as much as I may bitch about it at times.

Congrats to the cast & crew of "The Baker's Wife"!!! Good show!!!