October 5 – Day 29: First (and Only!) Preview—Or Is It?

Between the acupuncture and a good night’s sleep, I actually felt pretty good when I woke up. Our call was 1:30, which meant I had time to stop and get a bagel before leaving for the theatre. (I’ve been having breakfast at the apartment to save money, but had run out of peanut butter, and while there’s nothing wrong with buttered toast, it’s not exactly exciting—or filling, given the day we had in store.)

When I got to the theatre, we finished the last bits of tech we had to mop up, then had a bit of a rush to get ready in advance of our one-and-only tech run-through. Brian rushed us through the curtain call (which he doesn’t like to block before the final rehearsal, though no director I know likes to direct them at all; when I observed/assisted on The Three Sisters at ACT, I had to block that curtain call for Carey Perloff), we took a break, and it was suddenly half-hour. Because of the fear of going over our union hours for the week (and to get the legal dinner break in), we had to finish by 4:30.

As with the photo call Thursday, everyone was rushing around, trying to get everything together in just thirty minutes. (Some actors show up at half-hour [that is, thirty minutes before curtain] and are fine. I prefer to get to the theatre at least ninety minutes early so I can relax, go over my lines, and settle in.) Despite the rush, we were all good to go by 2:15—and then had to hold for a sound glitch.

We finally started at about 2:30 and it went pretty well. The plan was that, unless there was a safety issue, we weren’t going to stop, and we didn’t. There were some hesitations and pauses, but it was mostly good. I won’t say it was flawless, but it gave everyone a sense of what was happening, where we could stand (and not be seen), and how much time we had to make changes or use the bathroom. One thing about the bathroom in the dressing room. I noticed pretty quickly that there was a shower and, seeing as how I haven’t had a real shower since I got here (I’ve gotten into a routine with the hand-held shower here, but it’s not the same), I was tempted.

One of the oddest things for me was performing for an empty house. Not that I haven’t worked in an empty theatre before, but it had been so chaotic with tech paraphernalia up until now that the combination of the black seats and the steep rake of the house felt like a blank wall.

 

Our view from the stage

As we got into Act Two during the run, it became obvious that there was no way we were going to finish by 4:30, so the stage managers called us together and asked if we would be agree to go until 5:00, giving us a 90-minute, rather than a two-hour, dinner break. Even if anyone had objected (and no one did), the idea of getting a run in far outweighed that of taking an extra 30 minutes to eat. We finished at 5:00 and were given our break immediately.

For as well as I felt most of the day, I was still a little tired and fuzzy, so I decided to try to take a nap. The problem with that was that there was really nowhere to lie down. Equity requires a cot of some kind in the dressing room, and we have one, but unfolding it in the dressing room would mean no one would be able to get past it. There is almost literally no room outside of the dressing room (the spiral staircase empties right into it), and dragging it upstairs would be more trouble that it was worth. There’s a bed unit for the show, but it’s basically a wooden pallet (and a not very comfortable pallet, at that), so that was out (and lying on it would prevent the staff from doing any work on the set). I ended up stretching out in the second row of the audience seats. The carpet is probably disgusting from people’s shoes, but I really didn’t care; I just wanted to lie down.

It felt like I laid there for only about twenty minutes, but when I looked at my phone, almost an hour had passed, so I’d obviously gotten some sleep. I still felt a little hazy, so I did the Epley Maneuver (which is a series of movements designed to shake up the crystals in the ear that, when they get locked into place in the ear canals, cause vertigo), and felt kind of better. Whether I felt better or not, it was nearly time for the house to open and the show to start, so I didn’t have much choice.

I made my way down to the dressing room (that spiral staircase was a challenge), refreshed my hair gel (I have four different hair looks for this show; straight back and slicked down for Goebbels, as messy as I can make it for George Kraft, neatened for ensemble stuff, and wearing a hat for Gutman, the prison guard), put on my costume, and we began.

 Goebbels ...

 ... and Kraft. (Pictures from the original

production, natch.)

I felt okay with the performance. As always, there were moments that felt fine and played like they should, and there were others where it was hard to know exactly where we were at. As for myself, I feel like I have to walk a fine line between being real and being a cartoon, and sometimes I go a little too far, letting the accent and my gravelly voice do the work of actual acting as Kraft. I realize that, in some sense, I’m comic relief at times, so I know that that calls for a certain type of playing, but my other roles—especially Gutman, the Auschwitz survivor—need to be deadly serious and not commented on. I felt like I hit most of the right notes, but was far from perfect.

After the performance, I expected we’d be getting notes, but Brian decided to email them to us and give us an early night. He could have kept us until 11:00, but we must have been out by 10:15.

I took the train to Union Square. I had planned on taking it to Astor Place, but the conductor announced that the train wouldn’t be stopping before Brooklyn Bridge (it’s really a crapshoot as to whether or not the train will make all its stops). Since I wanted to do some grocery shopping, it was a lucky break (I was still out of peanut butter). I stopped at the Westside Market, which is on 12^th and 2^nd, and remembered that Sauce (the pizzeria from the other night that regular readers will remember had run out of dough before 10:00) was also on 12^th, and thought that I should give it another shot. I approached it, saw that it was open, and went in.

I ordered three slices (I was hungry; sue me): one plain, one pepperoni, and one “upside-down” (what they do with that one, apparently, is put the cheese on before the sauce, unlike the usual arrangement). All three slices were excellent, especially the upside-down. Ingredients were very fresh (especially the pepperoni), crust was just right. It’s really a great piece of pizza.

 Right-side up, upside-down, right-side up.

Since I still hungry (I hadn’t really eaten since my bagel in the morning) and had some calories left, I decided to get some of their soft serve. It’s Van Leeuwen’s ice cream (which I’ve really gotten to like), and available in vanilla, chocolate, or twist. I had the last, which was also very good, and had an interestingly gritty texture (which sounds unpleasant, but was quite nice). From there, it was only a few blocks home to some television and bed.