Opening, Instagram and Friendship

Hi! 

I’m Brian, I play the Proprietor and I’m taking a break from live-instagramming the trip to belatedly blog about Monday, a.k.a ~*~OPENING DAY!*~~

My photo map is blowing up! Clockwise from Brian: Alex, Maeve, Lily

How it works is basically we split up into publicity groups with different shifts; Pat, Casey, Matt, Ari and I comprise the 9:30am team, which I LOVE because I can wake up and vocalize a bit after my morning tea in the garden.  Handing out flyers is at once interesting and dehumanizing—Scottish people are not so into my casual Uncle Sam outfit at 9:30am even though it’s surprisingly classy and velvety to the touch. 

Evan and Adam flyering!

My current publicity strategy is just to walk up to either extremely old people who physically can’t run away from me OR young people that accidentally make eye contact with me. I’m too terrified of rejection to go for anyone else ever.

At 12:30pm we all met up outside the venue, which casually overlooks a cliff and a castle. 

View from our venue. Casual.

Chris was about to PEE himself from excitement—as were we all—and we kept being shushed by the production lad.  He then sent us to the “green room” which is really just a fun bar upstairs!  We double-checked props, did a hands-in-hail-to-the-bang and headed downstairs, nervously atwitter.

When 1pm hit, we were let into the space and we sprinted to load our set in.  Both Maeve and I made the huge mistake of doing this in our respectively leather and velvet costumes and thus we were literally sweating our faces off before the show even started.  Since load-in already kind of feels like that scene from Miracle in which that grumpy coach keeps telling the hockey players to sprint “again!” (for the two of you that get that) constrictive clothing didn’t really help things.

HOWEVER despite a few quick change hiccups our opening performance went really well!  I was pretty nervous for the show—partly because I’m onstage 95% of the time and partly because one guy sat in the front row with his arms crossed and a super dubious look on his face—but thankfully we got a really nice audience review by our new mate Gary Stark (we don’t actually know him so it counts)!

After the performance we all split up—some to afternoon publicity slots and others (like me) to relax and unwind at home and listen to Chris and my favorite belting video of Stephanie J. Block ("an E doesn't scare me"). My family came into town in the afternoon so I went up to get some really yummy Thai food around the corner. I literally wanted to bathe in the sauciness of my Panang chicken.  

Me & my dad at the Tattoo (explained later)

A cute side-bar: my parents have used my being in this production as an excuse to tour Europe, and they just got back from Paris where they met up with very old friends, the Momonts.  Context: 20 years ago my parents went to Europe and left their car parked.  When they returned some terrible person had thrown a rock through their car window and stolen their passports and credit cards—that whole smorgasbord of things you are not supposed to lose.  Even as they proceeded to freak out, this random French couple—the Momonts—walked by and despite not speaking any English invited my parents to their home for dinner and put them up in a hotel for a week while my parents figured out how to get back to the US.  Since, my family and the Momonts have exchanged Xmas cards and kept correspondence, and so they met up now.  Needless to say everyone was crying and when the Momonts were sending my parents off at the train station, Mr. Momont had learned one English phrase—"we hold you in our hearts."  Literal tears.

The Momonts

Also of huge note was that Emily Whitaker—our beloved Assistant Musical Director—came to visit for two days! She arrived ~5pm and was attacked with hugs. She is so talented. I hear she does car commercials in Japan.

I'm being rushed to finish this, but other things that happened:

—Some of the cast went to a late-night Shakespeare production of Midsummer, which they apparently liked!

—My family and I went to see the Tattoo, a kind of military display that included both a performance of "Highway to Hell" and a royal crown processional in only 90 min. Great stuff.  There was a moment when I thought the Queen was at that evening's performance and I lost my mind for a bit.

—We met up later at the house and took a series of pictures called "Things Casey and Pat Can Do In Their Kilts."

Another instagram!

Peace,

Brian