OOTI Happenings

Theatre people will understand when I say this:
For Saturday’s mattinee we videotaped the show (for archival purposes) and NOTHING BAD HAPPENED.
Other than some schmacting, no technical difficulties were had in anyone’s department. This might be a record.

I asked Timothy what he yells during the “Pray” dance break. He said it was the second line in a voodoo chant. The first line isn’t said because the chant is suppose to open up the Gates of Hell. I have my suspicions that it still is doing something…


There were silly things that have happened. Someone – not naming who – managed to sneak in a modified “YMCA” in the drum dance. It was only noticeable to those of us who knew it was coming and were highly entertained by it.

One of our Young Ti Moune’s kept looking up at the lights and spotlights in the catwalks during the show. Even when it was her turn to sing her eyes would wander up. When asked why she was doing it, she replied, “I wanted to see if the lights would follow me.” She is 6.

For Old School Rapper Night I was Madam Mix-a-Plenty.
And in this show, boy do I ever! I am constantly mixing. This was the first Mainstage show that I had to look at the script as well as taking cues. I was finally off book about a week and a half after we opened. Now I barely even look at my cue sheet. This show has only one very brief book scene. Wandel Probe was actually our first run thru. The book scene is so short, they included it in the rehearsal.
It seems like the newer a musical is, the more busy I am at the board. The writers know we have the technology and use it to full advantage. Old shows are a lot easier. Rogers & Hammerstein and the like are a lot easier to run.

Last week I went to JR Sprints Café for lunch in downtown Seattle (killer egg salad sandwiches). As I was looking at the walls covered in posters of shows around town, I started to pout because I didn't see one for my show. It wasn't until I was halfway through my sandwich that I realized that one of the larger posters above my right shoulder was the one for OOTI.