The memory of all that
Jan. 17th, 2005 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaalaCrazy for You's run is half over. On the one hand, I've been having a ball. On the other hand... it's half over.
This is possibly the best pit orchestra of my "career". It's tremendously gratifying to hear the cheer when we are acknowledged during curtain calls and to see people stay afterwards to hear all of the exit music. (I feel stupid sitting there because the flutes are the only instruments not playing the second half of the exit music, but what can you do.) There are some very good players in the pit (i.e. much better than me) but a tremendous amount of the credit goes to our music director (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sherbear82); her work ethic, discipline, and constructive criticism really brought things together.
I love Gershwin's music and the arrangements of it, I love the sense of collaboration and the challenge of the music, I love the ridiculous plot, I love the 1930s cultural references, I love the cheesy humour, I love the dancing, I love the improvs when things go wrong, I love that I'm able to see the stage--especially now that we've installed mirrors in the pit--and every time I watch the show I'm glad that I'll be able to see it n (at this point, five) more times. We've gotten some very positive reviews. It's at times like this that I feel I could happily play in pit/stage orchestras for the rest of my life.
And I love show people. After spending every day together since January 5, obviously the orchestra and music director have bonded. I've had great fun enthusing about music theatre with the vocal director as well. The cast is great too and astoundingly more appreciative of the orchestra than the previous six I've encountered. That's not to say people don't ignore us and forget our needs occasionally, but it's clearly not intentional and they make a great effort to avoid it. Sadly, I have very little contact with the crew aside from one person who was already a friend.
And with such a high percentage of geeks in QMT, I've... get this... been out socially twice in the past week and really enjoyed it. I still have an overwhelming tendency towards shyness, of course, but have been able to approach people for conversation more readily than usual. In the presence of people who will obsess with me about minute details of the show, who join me in humming the orchestral music, who welcome me as I walk in with instrument cases dripping off my arms, who don't laugh when I ask for advice about what drink to order (because I was given medical permission to drink only recently), who sing "Coney Island Baby" or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" at the drop of a hat, who like to creep out "normals" by pretending to be gay[1]... I even enjoyed going to a bar!
[1] Or creep out people who know them to be gay by pretending to be straight. Frustratingly enough for the gay member of the cast I spoke to, there are surprisingly few involved in QMT. Fortunately for people with my sensibilities, there's no shortage at all of frequently-mistaken-for-but-not-gay men. *g*
The post-show depression is going to be bad for this one. However, I may be given the opportunity to remedy that somewhat by playing in, yes, another show. (Eee!) QMT is doing William Finn's A New Brain for its spring production. I don't really know if matters are settled at all, but the music director of that show (also one of the stars of Crazy for You) spoke to me a few days ago to inquire as to whether I could cover another instrument in addition to flute and piccolo. I've signed out an oboe (I need a secondary instrument for conducting class anyhow... handy) to investigate the matter. The prospect is exciting to say the least and I really hope I get to do it. The music samples on iTunes and Amazon sound promising.
* * *
My parents came to see the evening show yesterday and really liked it. When we met up after the matinee, they also very considerately reminded me of a fact I'd forgotten--that it was my birthday. I couldn't resist telling a few people that evening, so the orchestra played "Happy Birthday to You" during warmup. It was sweet.
Mum and dad stayed in Kingston overnight in order to (once I'd recovered from the previous night at the bar) go out for lunch, eat some cake, and open my presents. Presents received were Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves. (Mum had pre-emptively also given me a Flute Flag and Thumbalina.) I started Persepolis this afternoon, or rather, I intended to start it and ended up reading the whole thing.
This is possibly the best pit orchestra of my "career". It's tremendously gratifying to hear the cheer when we are acknowledged during curtain calls and to see people stay afterwards to hear all of the exit music. (I feel stupid sitting there because the flutes are the only instruments not playing the second half of the exit music, but what can you do.) There are some very good players in the pit (i.e. much better than me) but a tremendous amount of the credit goes to our music director (
sherbear82); her work ethic, discipline, and constructive criticism really brought things together.I love Gershwin's music and the arrangements of it, I love the sense of collaboration and the challenge of the music, I love the ridiculous plot, I love the 1930s cultural references, I love the cheesy humour, I love the dancing, I love the improvs when things go wrong, I love that I'm able to see the stage--especially now that we've installed mirrors in the pit--and every time I watch the show I'm glad that I'll be able to see it n (at this point, five) more times. We've gotten some very positive reviews. It's at times like this that I feel I could happily play in pit/stage orchestras for the rest of my life.
And I love show people. After spending every day together since January 5, obviously the orchestra and music director have bonded. I've had great fun enthusing about music theatre with the vocal director as well. The cast is great too and astoundingly more appreciative of the orchestra than the previous six I've encountered. That's not to say people don't ignore us and forget our needs occasionally, but it's clearly not intentional and they make a great effort to avoid it. Sadly, I have very little contact with the crew aside from one person who was already a friend.
And with such a high percentage of geeks in QMT, I've... get this... been out socially twice in the past week and really enjoyed it. I still have an overwhelming tendency towards shyness, of course, but have been able to approach people for conversation more readily than usual. In the presence of people who will obsess with me about minute details of the show, who join me in humming the orchestral music, who welcome me as I walk in with instrument cases dripping off my arms, who don't laugh when I ask for advice about what drink to order (because I was given medical permission to drink only recently), who sing "Coney Island Baby" or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" at the drop of a hat, who like to creep out "normals" by pretending to be gay[1]... I even enjoyed going to a bar!
[1] Or creep out people who know them to be gay by pretending to be straight. Frustratingly enough for the gay member of the cast I spoke to, there are surprisingly few involved in QMT. Fortunately for people with my sensibilities, there's no shortage at all of frequently-mistaken-for-but-not-gay men. *g*
The post-show depression is going to be bad for this one. However, I may be given the opportunity to remedy that somewhat by playing in, yes, another show. (Eee!) QMT is doing William Finn's A New Brain for its spring production. I don't really know if matters are settled at all, but the music director of that show (also one of the stars of Crazy for You) spoke to me a few days ago to inquire as to whether I could cover another instrument in addition to flute and piccolo. I've signed out an oboe (I need a secondary instrument for conducting class anyhow... handy) to investigate the matter. The prospect is exciting to say the least and I really hope I get to do it. The music samples on iTunes and Amazon sound promising.
* * *
My parents came to see the evening show yesterday and really liked it. When we met up after the matinee, they also very considerately reminded me of a fact I'd forgotten--that it was my birthday. I couldn't resist telling a few people that evening, so the orchestra played "Happy Birthday to You" during warmup. It was sweet.
Mum and dad stayed in Kingston overnight in order to (once I'd recovered from the previous night at the bar) go out for lunch, eat some cake, and open my presents. Presents received were Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves. (Mum had pre-emptively also given me a Flute Flag and Thumbalina.) I started Persepolis this afternoon, or rather, I intended to start it and ended up reading the whole thing.
