rehearsal....of DOOM...

Yesterday was our first Rehearsal of Doom, otherwise known as pre-tech. It was basically a watered down version of what will come next Saturday, aka Tech Rehearsal, which is the major whopping Rehearsal of Doomness.

It started out at 9:00 in the morning. For me, Emma, Balin, Jazmin, and the Ewell clan, it began at about 9:14. We were late because of Perry's (Carisa's hubby) anxiety over their four boys' lack of hair combing. The Tornado of Hair commenced, with Perry squirting down each kid with water and slashing the comb through the hair. Voila. Perfectly straight side parts, with a masculine sweep across the forehead. Very dashing.

The girls and I didn't have anything to do until the middle of the first act (except me, who isn't onstage until after intermission). We spent most of the morning laughing and shrieking hysterically about nothing. Greg did make us collapse in fits of giggles when we saw him-the whole Gonzo Tin Man thing was still fresh in our minds from last night. Brenden laughed so hard when we told him why we were laughing at Greg that he couldn't make a sound. Greg laughed at first, but after a third retelling to passerby he growled. Really. That just made us squeal louder.

Thankfully we only had to run MOLO and Jitterbug once through. Doing it twice is death times twenty. Not good. Once I got finished with all of my scenes, I pretty much did nothing. I read some of the book that I brought ("Sister to the Wolf") and just watched the run of Act II. It wasn't until dad got there with Misty that we decided to go and get food. Yay!

Wal-Mart sandwiches are truly the bestest thing ever. While mom and Misty were being filmed for a couple of the scenes (Mom as Auntie Em inside the witch's crystal ball and Misty in the Wizard chamber), dad, Sister 1, and I went to the store to pick up some lunch. Sandwiches, chips, PowerAde, and some grapes made the menu. Misty had a little bit of the meat on my sandwich, but not much. Otherwise she gets WAY picky and won't eat anything. Malteses are like that.

So, Rehearsal of Doom ended at about 3:00 for my family. Naptime commenced, with me not waking up until 9:00. Haha. Oops. Since I couldn't sleep, I watched a few episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" on my laptop. I like that show. Too much, probably.

Oh, boy, I can't WAIT for Rehearsal of Doom part two! It's going to be sooo amazing!

Not.

whack-a-mole...

Part of the stage at PCT is false, or fake, or just boards covering up a big hole where the orchestra can sit if they choose to have live music (which they generally don't; thank heavens). This works well if you want to have trap doors to make exits, like for a melting witch, or appear to have your legs removed, like for a Scarecrow Demolition Derby.

Last night was the first time they used the trap door in the front of the stage for the scene in which the Scarecrow is torn apart by the flying monkeys. As Brenden was lowering himself into the hole, Greg pulled out his axe and said, "Oh, yay! Whack-a-Mole!" He then proceeded to dance around the stage, miming smashing Brenden, Darren, and anyone else within reach on the head with his axe. It wouldn't have really mattered if he'd hit anyone; the axe is plastic.

That was definitely the highlight of last night's Act II run.

annual IHOP night...

is the best ever. From perfectly timed lemon arrivals during Greg's "Lemon Speech" to mystical water spills onto poor Brenden, it was great. I am SOOO glad that mom decided to let us go. It truly was the bomb diggety dog dot com.

There were probably 20 people there, give or take a few. There are 120 people in the cast, so not bad. About 1/6. We had an Act II run, so there weren't any Munchkins and we ran both dance numbers. Let me tell you, Jitterbug is no picnic. I am sucking wind like crazy! Bleh. I also tried on my costume for aforementioned dance, and I look hideous. I'm the only one who's saying that, but are you really going to be honest to a teenage girl wearing a skin tight unitard? Didn't think so. At least it's black this time. In CATS mine was white.

I also registered to take the ACT test. I do NOT want to take it. Do NOT. But I am, on September 12. Ew.

Anywho, IHOP was awesome. Some of us late auditorium leavers began the festivities with a rousing line dance to "Boot Scootin' Boogy" on the stage. This included a few people who didn't go to IHOP, which was fine. They helped me kick off the night and tweak my back into the proper position (being a convincing and frightening J-bug can sometimes force your muscles into odd and rather painful positions). That was so fun, it really was. I didn't even feel stupid. Yay!

Brenden, Kaila, Kara, Erica, Necia, Greg, Celena (sorry if I spelled it wrong), Ramona, Laura, me, Meghan, Amanda, Michelle, Megan, mom, Miranda, and seven or eight other people I don't remember the names of (SORRY!!!) were at the restaurant when we arrived (we were the last ones there). Our waiter, Nic, was extremely friendly and put up with our ridiculous drama-ness. We're weird, and we know it, so deal. I mean, you cannot keep from busting up with laughter while watching Brenden run to the bathroom twice in an hour and a half after downing perhaps a gallon of Dr. Pepper, or fall off of your chair when ice is placed down your back, or lose your head when Kara tells you stories of Darren during her and her husband's dating years, or when Kaila grabs the waiter saying "Look what I've got! He's the bestest friend ever!". You can't help it. It's just too funny. Or do those fall into the category of you had to be there to appreciate it? Hm...

I was the only one who didn't order some sort of breakfast food. People got pancakes, omelets, crepes, sausage, bacon, eggs, hot chocolate, more lemons...but not me. Nope. I had a giant, beautiful, creamy, strawberry and vanilla delight of a Sundae. And it was truly fantabularifical (my word, you canNOT have it :D ). I want another one.

Another great thing about Annual IHOP Night was catching a glimpse of a late night Scrabble game over pancakes at one of the tables. I think that is a phenomenal idea, and I am so using it when I get older. Or at least if I ever have a later curfew.

OH BOY!!! ANNUAL IHOP NIGHT ROCKS MY SOCKS! Even though I wasn't wearing any at the time...

Let's do it again next year!

Uh, oh. I forgot I have work in the morning. *shrug* Oh well!

are you sure that's a munchkin?

Rehearsal yesterday was absolutely great. For once nothing went wrong, and no new problems were brought to Steve, Our Fearless Leader. That is, except for a couple of Munchkin costumes, aka Sexy Rainbow Brite and Miss Tie-Dye Flower Child. But those were taken care of. I hope.

Misty is doing a great job as Toto. She's learned to bark on command (I helped teach that one) and she's learned that baskets aren't so scary to get into because...there's ham hiding on the bottom! And you get some more when you jump out! Sweet deal, no?

I had a great time watching the rollerskating flying monkeys try and get enough speed to roll up the ramps to get onstage (long sentence and lots of prepositions...wow). Necia, one of my friends, tried first and sort of, well not even kind of, failed. She got about halfway up then began to slide backwards, resorting to crawling on her knees. Then two boys skated up to the top of the auditorium seats and came down the sloping aisles, aimed for the ramps, and whoosh! Up they went. I'm too scared to try it; I also don't own rollerblades/skates.

Posters are finished! I'll take a picture of one and post it on here so you can see. They look fantastic!

droppin' like flies...

Okay, so who was it who forgot to allow the Jitterbugs a drink break sometime during our two hour rehearsal period? Hm? HMM???

Oh. We all did. That's the problem with us. We get working and just don't stop, director, dancers, actors, all of us. Tonight it finally came back to bite us.

One of our J-bugs (we'll call her Coral) ended up collapsing last night after rehearsal. It was a good thing there were so many people there to help; she was found on the floor in the bathroom and we needed several people to help get her out. I really didn't do much; I made sure that Misty stayed out of the way and was quiet. Puppy knew something was wrong with Coral and wanted to help make it better. She's a good therapy dog.

Coral told us that she has low-blood sugar at times, and we could all tell that she was dehydrated. Mom got her some juice, Darren let us put his lion costume under Coral's legs (treatment for shock-face is red, raise her head. pale in face, raise her legs.), Roger brought a blanket from his car, Brendon donated his Dr. Pepper just in case, Miranda brought a towel in to use as a pillow-there were so many people ready to help. Steve, Darren, and Greg all helped get Coral onto the bench, and Miranda called Coral's husband (we'll call him John). My mom felt that Coral needed to get to the ER fast, but waited for John because Coral started to panic about insurance and stuff. It's so dumb how people can be seriously hurt or sick and they can't be taken care of because they can't afford it. Ugh.

After John left with Coral, my mom, sisters, and I went to the ER to make sure that she was going to be okay. They let us go into her room to see her, and mom filled them in on the information that Miranda hadn't known. Everything worked out, and I hope she's doing better today.

So, word to the wise-if you have any health problems whatsoever, or even if you think that you're healthy, you MUST DRINK WATER. Or something with electrolytes and sugar in it to keep you hydrated and from wearing out, like Gatorade, Powerade, or some sort of juice. I mean, it's a no-brainer to drink something when you're thirsty, but don't wait till you're thirsty. All of you in the cast, and all of the rest of you out there, don't be dumb like we were. J-bugs are not invincible, and neither are you.

And just for the record, you don't give milk to someone who has low blood sugar and is dehydrated and in shock. Don't do it, even if someone who thinks that the way it is says to. :P