The Christmas Show I’ve been working on was mentioned recently on the radio station WNYC in a piece about alternative Christmas entertainment offerings around town#–I grabbed the MP3 online and edited it down to the bit about us…

MP3

Windows Media

For the full show, go here:
The Brian Lehrer Show #– Other Ways to be Merry

Opening Night

I didn’t have the opportunity to properly post about opening night, and since several shows have now passed I’m afraid the experience has dimmed a bit in my brain. Because the show was constantly evolving (all the way up to the first performance) it was a little more nerve-wracking than other performances in which I’ve been involved. I’m not usually one to have opening night jitters, stage fright, or attacks of nervousness but this show definitely gave me stomache butterflies. The first piece, Thornton Wilder’s A Long Christmas Dinner, is a classic one-act that has been performed (one is led to believe) successfully before, but the second show of the night, a mostly improvised and updated version of A Christmas Carol, is a new work#–a somewhat zany comic convolution that has never had an audience. To tell the truth, we really weren’t sure how the audience would react.

I’ve originated roles in several new plays, but never in a piece that is an adaption of a classic tale that everyone knows… the possibility of offending someone (the show takes some liberties with genre, plot, and content) or alienating the audience was very real. As a result, on opening night I found myself crossing my fingers and hoping for good luck!

Ultimately, it seemed to go over just fine.

Audiences have responded with a lot of laughter, and a lot of well wishes afterwards. We’ll have to wait and see what critics think, but I don’t really make a habit of listening to them anyhow. If even one audience member tells me they enjoyed their night in the theatre, that is enough for me. The characters I play are a bit of a stretch for me, so I’m happy to have been a part#–I play six characters throughout the night, all with vastly different backgrounds and completely unique physicalities (at least that was the attempt#–again, the critics may disagree).

The show runs one more weekend at Blue Heron Arts Center, so if you’re still looking for evening entertainment stop on by!