Muttering

[mrdreamjeans]

Illness is really taking a toll on the show. We’re up to 12 out of 29 people in the cast with some kind of upper respiratory virus. Only two people can be out at a time, so many of my peers are performing sick. Kathy, who plays Eva, was out tonight, so Kate (who usually plays the mistress) was on for her and Brianna was on for Kate. We’ve already been put on alert that Joel might debut as Peron tomorrow afternoon because Phillip is sick ... so is Mark, the other understudy for the role. The score card keeps changing.

We had a four-hour rehearsal this afternoon. The first hour was to be vocals, but for many in the cast, the choice was - you can have me sing now or in the show tonight. The conductor decided we’d sit down and discuss changes he wanted made, instead of singing them. It worked well. We then spent an hour polishing the choreography for the Aristos and another hour on the Military in “Peron’s Latest Flame”. With the show tonight and the difficulties in having time to get back and forth from the theater to the hotel in traffic, many of us wound up being at the theater from 1:30pm to 10:30pm. A long day.....

Our dance captain, conductor and director held replacement auditions at the Debbie Reynolds Studios on Wednesday and Thursday. They saw over 70 dancers and more than 200 singers in the two days. The large numbers were in part due to making the morning of the second day an Open Call where they saw non-union performers. You can tell how few jobs there are out there when so many people show up when there are no known openings. Almost 300 singers and dancers working hard just for the possibility of being a future replacement. It makes me reflect on how fortunate I am.

A couple of interesting bits:

We’ve been told that the first week of June is no longer an open week on our schedule. We will know in a few days if we will be extended a sixth week in Toronto or play a week in Washington, DC. It will be one or the other for sure.

Our lobby was deserted last night when we returned from the show. Five minutes after I dropped my stuff in my room and headed out for breakfast at IHOP, 80+ musicians comprising the China Philharmonic Orchestra checked into the Ramada. The first person I spotted was the company manager from the last tour of “Evita” in 1998-99. Chris was tour manager for the orchestra. Small world.....

Finally, Donna who dresses Chris and Halden here in Los Angeles (and who I know from previous gigs at the Pantages) told us an amazing story. Donna has three children from her first marriage. They are 36, 35 and 15. She and her second husband decided to have a family by in-vitro. They have a 19-month old and twins who are 6 months old. Donna is 58 years old!!!!! She's in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest woman in the United States to give birth to twins. Simply amazing!