Closing

It’s over. After over 2 months of rehearsals and 15 shows we are done. For nearly 3 months I have spent more time with the cast and crew of Beauty and the Beast than I have spent with my own family.

We had a great final show. During ‘Be Our Guest’ our entrances and exits were as precise as a drill team. There were no traffic jams, bottle-necks or enchanted objects hanging out of the wings. When did we get so good at that?

All the wigs stayed on all the heads during the show. Lumiere’s hands remained intact. The goose landed where it was supposed to when Lefeu ran onto the stage. There were no mic issues.

The castle moved when and where it was supposed to. When Gaston died, he didn’t have to dive over a 3 foot cavern to land on the mattress for his final AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. splat moment.

The audience got a good show.

When I took my spoon off for the last time I marveled at how easily it slipped off. I recall receiving brush burns every time I tried to struggle out of the contraption. I would often hit someone with the spoon or knock something off the table as I was shrugging out of it. When did I get so smooth?

There were more of us huddled in the wings watching the show yesterday (a no-no), to see it one last time. There were a lot of tears, both off-stage and on.

It will be odd for me to come home from work on Wednesday and not have to rush back down town for a show. But I will miss it. I’ll miss all the goofiness in the green room. I’ll miss whispering with my cast mates and crew back stage. And whenever I hear ‘Be Our Guest’ I’ll most certainly giggle at the memory of Alison (the other spoon) and I tap dancing wildly backstage, while the ‘napkins’ were dancing onstage.

We took props down to the prop room as we were done yesterday- dozens of mugs from Gaston’s bar, tons (literally, it seemed) of books from the Belle scene. Costumes were returned to the costume room. Before everyone had left for the cast party the set was coming down.

Danny (the Technical Director) had constructed a miniature version of the set for ‘The King and I’ on his desk. As soon as the B&B set is down, he and his crew of volunteers will get started building this next one. And a new cast will come together. There will once again be drama on stage and back stage.

What will I do with all my free time?

I better start preparing for my next audition!