This was the reason why I was off the radar and busy as for the past couple of weeks.
It was a great show. I had heaps of fun writing it, directing it, watching it.
I guess I was just as surprised as everyone as to how funny I actually am. This sounds a little egotistical, but the show I just put on stage was quite amusing and fairly fun, and I'm still gobsmacked as to how well it went.
I was also blessed with a talented cast, crew and band.
I really loved working with Bri, one of my close friends, who seems to know how my brain works and knows how to put her opinions across so that her ideas mesh with mine. I trust her visions, and I like her aesthetics, and therefore I really enjoy collaborating with her as director and she as production designer.
Also Simon, who did the graphic design (see poster above) is one talented cookie. And Liz, the vocal director, came in and just gave the extra oopmh the cast needed. Another example of reliable and talented, and just people I love working with.
Nic (on lights) and Salima (stage managing) were fairly new to NUTS, however they were both competent and organised. They weren't afraid to ask if they were stuck with something, and were prompt and reliable. I really enjoyed working with them, and wouldn't hesitate to work with them again. :D
The band were awesome, and they somehow just meshed very well together, even though they all didn't quite know eachother. They were just as much fun as the cast, and because they were being seen on stage, they were also performers in their own right. It's wonderful to see the musicians also being performers instead of just mere backing tracks in a musical.
George was a total saviour. Not only was he willing to participate and get the band together, he also helped a lot on constructing the set and just being the handyman of the theatre. Being an engineer, he loves fixing things and making things, and therefore he had lots of fun being all Bob the Buildery and such. It was also a great excuse to see him pretty much every single day. :D
My cast - woah, my cast. All of them were great singers and performers. At first I thought that quite possibly I may have miscast it a bit, mainly because at callbacks all the people there were very talented. But I trusted my gut instinct and went with it, and by the end of show, I didn't regret casting any of them because they were all very beautiful and talented in one way or another. I also enjoyed how they took my ideas and ran with it, and had lots of fun with it too. I told them from the very beginning that all I wanted them to do was to have fun, and I think that was achieved...
But the most amazing experience I had out of all that was the amount of people who approached me after show to personally congratulate me and to tell me how impressed they were. I must admit, student theatre does have its own stigma of not being terribly good, and on occassions there have been productions where you wish you didn't go see. Most student productions, however, can be good and generally hold a lot of potential, but you can see there were setbacks and therefore are more forgiving if one aspect of the show is not as good as the other.
So for people to tell me that I should enter short play competitions, or that I should continue on with writing such plays/musicals, and that they had lots and lots of fun watching the show, and having some people even coming TWICE to see the show, I felt that directing is where I wanna be. I felt at home, being in the theatre and being creative... And seeing all the different audience reactions to my stories is quite priceless.
For those who were involved, I miss you already! For those who supported this production, thanks so very much. For those who saw the show, I really hope you enjoyed yourself.
And for those who have been part of my life for the past 25 years, thanks for being my inspiration. :D
