Meet the Cast!

Back to rehearsal today after The Great Virus of '08. Still fevered and unable to keep food down but able to stand up and that's good enough for today. We, thankfully, had a very light day of blocking a scene of mine I missed Saturday, tweaking a couple of other scenes, and music review/fine-tuning. I was only on for 1-6 and was SO grateful for that! Everyone was so nice about me being out that it seems my fear was for nothing. They were all very understanding and concerned about how I was feeling. Clayton said "Hey, if you're sick you're sick. We dealt with it, no big deal!". My basic paranoia on illnesses during shows comes from one horrendous experience about 15 years ago. I was doing "Nunsense" and got very ill. I was running a fever near 104 and literally could not stand up without passing out and I had a show that night. Being the trooper I am, I made my mother come get me (as I couldn't even drive but I was gonna tap dance by god!) and she took me to the theatre. Sitting in the dressing room I really didn't think I was going to make it and the stage manager started cramming on the script to go on for me and it would have worked. But my castmates got so mad at me at just the idea I might somehow mess up their performance that they wouldn't even speak to me. Ridiculous right!? My actor friends are always amazed at this story but it was so awful and made such an impression that it now governs my fear of illness during any show. To this date I still have never missed a show, thank you.

We can get pretty silly in rehearsals. Here Zac (Fagin) is nodding off and Melissa (Bet/Charlotte) is, I dunno, attacking him? I need a new camera something awful!

So now begins a new feature for you, my fabu readers, I like to call Meet the Cast. I'll introduce you to everyone one at a time so you can see who I'm talking about and basically living with! First up is Will Harrell since you've seen my extole his virtues here already. Will plays Mr. Sowerberry and Dr. Grimwig. Will's gotta be 6'3 I think and is 25. He just finished up a run of West Side Story at the Candlelight Dinner Theatre in Delaware. He spent the last couple of years living in Philly. He's a sweetheart. Quiet and unassuming. Then he warms up and you start to get the real Will. He's very funny. This kid is a brilliant character actor at a young age and I can't wait to see where his career takes him. I think he'll go far.