North Pole Visitors and Naughty Children

This weekend marks weekend number three for "Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer." We've been selling out and playing to packed houses, which is great for obvious reasons, although somewhat treacherous, since the theatre puts out extra chairs for sold-out performances, and several of us make entrances and exits through the house. This means we have to start our entrances extra early before our lines so as not to have to run and trip over someone's feet and fall on our faces (and let's face it, THIS face can't stand any extra injuries!).

But it's been lots of fun, and this weekend, my mother attended, along with several of my friends. They all enjoyed it immensely. My own performance could have been a little better, but when is it ever perfect? This time, I kept forgetting to snatch the booze bottle out of the way when Ed Jones (Mrs. Claus) lunges for it. There's only one time when I actually have to, and that's at the very beginning of our scene--the rest of the time, Mrs. Claus wheedles and cajoles for it, but only gets it after she--er--"performs" for Santa. Other than that, the scene went swell--still no more splashes from the bottle! The cork is holding.

I also fucked up a line during a scene with Rudolph when I tell him "Christmas is coming and without your father, I don't have enough reindeer to pull my sleigh." For some reason, I couldn't get hold of the word "reindeer," and hemmed and hawed through the whole fucking line. I exited through the house as usual and mouthed the word "fuck" to Dan Hickey (Herbie the Elf) on my way into the dressing room. My flopsweat was for good and real after that scene--and not just from the acrylic-fur costume!

Nevertheless, it's still running smoothly, and we have two more weekends left. Come and see us! (Here's a tip: the Friday shows are a little easier to get tickets for since the Saturday ones sell out faster.)

Today, I went to see "The Children's Hour" at Timeline Theatre. One of my bosses is a board member, and normally, we find a night that several of us from the office can go and make an evening of it. This time, I couldn't go with the folks from the office, since I had "Rudolph" tech, so I got a ticket for today, which was the very last performance. My friend Michael, who's done a few shows with them (and turned in very strong performances, too!) was there, so we sat together.

All I can say is that the show, like all Timeline shows, was stellar. There are several child actors in the show (since it takes place in a girls' boarding school), and the two principal child actresses were amazing. A-maz-ing. And of course, the actresses playing Karen Wright and Martha Dobie were beyond incredible. The gentleman who plays Joe Cardin (Karen's fiance) was one I've seen in several Chicago shows this year, and is a terrific actor (not to mention damned easy on the eyes). Timeline shows are always very serious (no comedies, although they do some musicals), and leave me feeling like I've been punched in the gut--they're that powerful. This one left me feeling like I'd been kicked in the balls, too. It was mesmerizing. I never saw the entire movie with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn, but the bits that I did see weren't any better (or even as good) as the ones I saw today. I left in tears.

And what better way for a gay boy to salve his psyche than with shopping? I went to Target afterwards to do a little Christmas shopping and got one present bought, then went for a drink at Touche. (I hardly need an excuse.)

Now I'll finish watching my DVD of "Twister" (not the Helen Hunt movie, but an independent comedy from 1989 starring Harry Dean Stanton and Crispin Glover). So far, it's more "independent" than "comedic." If they'd released it today under a different name, it would have been a much bigger hit...

That's all for now...how boring my life would be if it weren't for other people's events...!