Being Bad is Good

Ok, so I must admit. I thoroughly enjoyed being booed. In fact, I'll have to rank Queen Evilynn as my second favorite role behind Rizzo from Grease. I felt a little pang of guilt when I made several small children scream in fear, but that feeling dissipated quickly enough.

The show was a success and everyone did a super job. Katie played her bit as a sausage with as much veracity as she does with everything. Every performance had their own small hiccups, like opening night. Muddles, the silly son (played by a woman) of Queen Evilynn's cook, Clarissa (played by a man), enters the stage on a child's scooter. She is supposed to ride around stage then pretend to crash backstage. She slipped off the scooter and really crashed into the curtain. The audience wasn't sure if it was part of the play. I was standing backstage and saw the entire accident. When she stood up, I knew she was hurt. She held her jaw for a few seconds, shook the stars from her vision and proceeded with the scene. The show must go on. Thankfully, the enormous bruise on her chin, which swelled up right away, wasn't visible to the audience.

Of course, a show of this type has a pie-in-the-face routine. Muddles is on the receiving end, but had been plotting to even the score with Clarissa. Saturday night's show, we all knew it was coming, even Clarissa. The timing had to be perfect or Clarissa could dodge it. The timing was perfect and Muddles nailed Clarissa. Again, the audience wasn't sure if that was part of the script or not. I dodged a misshap of my own making. During my song, I jump onto a couch and sing a verse. It started out as a 'Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch' kind of jump. However, when I put on the dress and heels during the final dress rehearsal then attempted the jump I just about went bass-ackwards over the back of the couch. I opted for a safer mount.

We had a cast party at a local restaurant, Blue Marlin, which is frequented by most expats. I'd never seen it so crowded. Everyone from the show was still in their stage makeup and costumes. I'd been warned I would have to sing again. Sure enough, I hear the opening chords of my song and my name being shouted. For those few moments, I felt like Lady Gaga. The place was crazy loud with cheers and my ego was seriously inflated. But, Larry smiling at me was what I'd been waiting see and I saw it.

The costumes have now been packed away and my girls are glad to have "mommy" back. Even after a sixteen year hiatus from it, though, I do love the stage. Back to reality...