We opened!

I haven't, um, been overly active on this blog in the last month or so. By that, of course, I mean, I've been silent but deadly. Or at least silent. Been a mite busy, though, so there's some -- not a lot, but some -- reason for it.

The (oh-so-stupid) play I'm in opened last night. Surprisingly, it came off about as good as it could have, which is better (by hectares!) than I would have ever predicted. It still wasn't, you know, in any way "good". But it managed to bubble up from suckhood through embarassing and almost all the way to merely forgettable. Not a bad improvement, all things considered.

I'm playing Santa Claus. Never played an icon before, and it's daunting. I had a bit of a hard time finding the right voice for him....I mean, everyone has their idea of Santa, and he typically booms the basso profundo "Ho ho ho!" and "Merrrrrry Christmas!" But how does one deliver a whole show in voice like that?

I finally settled on a more gnomish, old-sounding voice which would break into the stereotypical monomaniacal boom only when shouting "Merry Chistmas", et al. Feels like it works. More importantly -- to me, anyway -- it's a voice I can sustain. I'd not be able to do icon-Santa for a whole two acts.

After the show, as I was wending my way to the Green Room, a small child -- maybe 4 or 5 -- came up to me and hugged me around my knees. It was so sweet; and it told me that it must not have been >that< far off.