Sunday night was hot! Final show sold out

Last night, our final show was probably the best. Saturday night was great - and we had it taped, so that's good, but Sunday was a home run for everyone. I think we were just so happy to have one final chance to do the show and we were sold out, people were sitting on the floor, they just wanted to get in. I think we could easily do another weekend and fill up the place. Word of mouth seemed to be really good and people were calling, asking if they could get in at the door and we had a waiting list and had to turn a few people away.

Anyway - it was one of the most challenging and scary things I've ever done and also thrilling. All day yesterday I kept thinking, "This is insane. Why am I doing this?" I kept running the lines and obsessing about how it worked so well on Thursday and Saturday, so "tonight I'm going to bomb." But then seeing the audience, so open and energized and ready to be entertained - it just felt like a wonderful exchange and I totally relaxed and let all the fears go.

And it was fantastic that so many of our friends came out to support us and that several people came up to me afterward to thank me for tackling a difficult subject with humor.

Anyway, right now my brain is fried from having gone out late with the cast and friends of Karen's (it was her birthday) so we really had to celebrate.

It was a perfect run: first night, great audience, filled with so many of my friends, cotton mouth - sheer terror.

Second night, Friday night (notoriously a bad night in theater and it was Halloween) smaller audience, less laughs, felt a big letdown, but we all did our best.

Saturday night we did really well, great crowd, Steve's friend Peter, (who he's known since 7th grade) was sitting in the front row laughing loudly and sitting next to one of my dearest friends (they are both from Northern California) - and another wonderful new friend was in the front row beaming throughout the performance.

And last night - before going on, we heard that we had a sold out crowd. Wow!

What a wonderful, abundant experience with really amazing people. Matt, Karen, John, Shawn, Garry Novikoff and his excellent music, Michael Johnz our stage manager, the box office people who came every night to help out, Michael Holmes' great design for our cards and emails, and especially the audience - who couldn't have been more supportive or laughed any harder. I think it was truly one of the high points of my life. I can't wait to do it again. (We should do it soon!) I have to talk to Matt...and Karen, Shawn and John.

And now on to November 4th!!

Cotton mouth and victory!

Well, we made it through the first show. And I would have to say it went really well. First of all we had a sold out crowd and they were fantastic. And everybody did so well - Karen, Shawn and John were all terrific. Going first is not my favorite place to be, but I did well too.

I now know what cotton mouth is, why actors put Vasoline on their teeth. When I got on-stage I could see pretty much everyone in the theater and it was a bit distracting. Usually you only see the first row, but I saw everyone...and then I got a little scared...and then my mouth went totally dry. I literally almost asked someone in the first row to let me have their water. And it felt like an out of body experience, performing while also thinking "Oh, is that Sybil and Martin? Oh, shit! They are seriously great writers...they actually came?"

But then I got into it and it was so gratifying afterwards when a few people I didn't know thanked me and said that they had had similiar experiences and really appreciated the show.

The hard part is staying up so late and trying to get going this morning. And people are calling about coming this weekend, so I have to get back to them.

Yay! Opening nights are always really scary and I'm glad that we have that one under our belt.

Be brave, be very brave

I am scared. I know that moment tonight, right before I go on, I will have to face my fear and stand in front of that audience (sold out, twenty thousand at least) and go for it. And that moment will be very very terrifying until I get my first laugh. IF I get a first laugh. What if there are no laughs and people are crying?

Okay, I'm exaggerating about the number of people by about 19,650 but still...even if it were just one person, I would be scared.

Not to mention the election. If McCain wins that would be so wrong. So absolutely horribly impossibly wrong and the only way it could happen would be widespread voter fraud. Because no one with any brains would elect this man and his idiot running mate to run this country for four minutes, let alone four years. He need to retire to one of his fourteen houses and play golf, oh, never mind, he probably can't. Checkers then. Okay, I know I'm being mean, but I am angry that really the undercurrent of this election is racism and fear and I'm angry that people buy into it. Obama is so clearly the right man to be elected - not because he's perfect, but because he's smart and so clearly a leader - and he's got incredible people supporting him who will be part of his team and we need a big change. And we need it yesterday.

I feel a hyper sensitivity to life right now - partly because of the performance, but also because of what's been happening in the world and because of the election. The other day I felt calm and the polls on threefiftyeight.com say that Obama has a really healthy lead.

But I'm not feeling so calm today.

I do love saying that Sarah Palin is a huge idiot and I despise Elisabeth Hasselbeck or whatever her name is. And McCain...well, sorry John, you and your campaign have self-destructed as far as I'm concerned.

Please let it be so....

Best,
Robin

Tomorrow night

One more night. Just came back from rehearsal. I was reading this fun blog "Margaret and Helen" which I have included on my blog list and I just had to add my agreement with Helen (who's apparently 80 something) - that yes, Sarah Palin is a bitch, McCain is a (senile) ass, Bush is a big jackass who's practically ruined this country, Elisabeth Hasselwhatever is a fucking stupid idiot and someone should definitely knock some sense into her, and if Obama doesn't win this election NY should secede and become its own country. I'm not moving, I'm just insisting we form a country of NY, Massachusetts and Vermont. Not so sure about Connecticut.

Tech rehearsals

It feels so good to be back in the world I love, theater, show business, whatever. It may be a small show, but it feels so great to be working on cues and rehearsing with an audience, instead of doing it alone.

It just feels like home to me and I'm so grateful.

Four days and eight days

If today is Monday and our show is Thursday, does that count as three days or four? Well, in any case, it's soon. And I am relatively calm-ish. I think before the Celexa, Xanax, Wellbutrin, Ambien and Klonipin, I would have been falling apart. (Just kidding.)

And then in a week and one day (makes eight to me) is the election. And I am so calm. A friend told me about an interesting website: www.fivethirtyeight.com which tracks all the polls and according to their numbers, as of this morning, Obama's lead in the electoral college is 351.2 to McCain's 186.8.


I am so calm.

Steve's in surgery now for his eye. He has a condition called Macular pucker. And it is as it sounds, a puckering of the macula, which is in the center of the retina. I think he's going to be fine. I'll be picking him up soon.

And right now, I think I need to breathe. Life is good, it's a gorgeous day here in the east, the leaves are just beginning to change in the city, the Democrats will be back in the White House soon and will have even more seats in the Congress - and do I really believe that? You betcha!

"Young at Heart"

Oh, what a fun movie! It's about a chorus of people 80 years and older and they sing really hip songs and their leader is cute. Rent it!! It's really fun and uplifting.

I can see a chorus in my old age (I hope I live that long!) "Singing and dancing, that's the key. And always try new things." (Eileen's advice.)

I'm thinking of Tai Chi.