Aussiehalley - Halley Down Under

move - the technicolor spectacular

It's a good thing one of the first moments of the piece I get to just stare out at the audience. I had a nice little moment of "ohmigoshlookatallthepeoplehere." It was wonderful that the place was pretty much sold out. It was also moderately horrifying that the place was pretty much sold out.

But it went pretty well. There was one moment of, "hmmm, I have no idea what the next section is. it's actually happening- I've forgotten what comes next." But the pause was brief and only noticeable to me. I remembered and moved on with life. On the video, you can't tell. And I'm not telling you where it was.

Actually, there were a number of moments where there were other thoughts running through my head. Yes, the sign of a focused, dedicated performer. There was, "Oh, I know her! That was nice of her to come!" and "I wonder if I skipped something. I don't think I did. Let me think back a minute on what I remember saying...No, I don't think so. Maybe I should pay full attention to what I'm saying." Oh, if only that was an exaggeration.

But it went well and I received really positive feedback. Especially about eye contact and it giving a direct connection. Apparently it freaked some people out. Go, go Gadget: I.E. eye contact.

The most amusing compliment came from the front-of-house woman who had given me all kinds of attitude before the show. Afterwards, she was all smiles and told me (a few times) that she really liked the show and that she thought it was very interesting. So now I merit being nice to...

After the show we had a booze'n'schmooze - aka wine and cheese and polite conversation. I was surprised how many people stayed after, and even more surprised at the number of people who were talking about ideas from the piece. I figure, people will stick around if you give 'em liquor, but you can't make them talk about the piece. No matter how aromatic the bouquet. So that was nice.

On Saturday morning, Christine and I are going to go back to the theatre to retape the piece. The tape came out great - except for the white lights that got put up too high and so my whole face was whited out on the tape. Just one giant glowing orb. In the rush of the opening, of course everything gets speeded up - so seeing my face is pretty important in getting what's going on. Especially for that eye contact thing.

It was an amazing opportunity, to be associated with a place that has such a history. After such a high-intensity couple of days, filled with anxiety and craziness and errands, one would think that at the end I would be filled with such relief and exhaustion that I would fall asleep in moments. I was so thrilled it was over that I was kept awake, practically buoyant, for at least an hour.

posted by Halley @ 6:05 AM