If we would actually start our rehearsal at 8pm, and if we'd only get notes the following night before each performance, we could be out the door at 10pm and I might get about 6 & 1/2 hours sleep.  Not my ideal 8 & 1/2, but certainly better than the 5 hours I got last night.  Thunderstorms forecast for the rest of the week, so Fazio will have to wear the Thunder Shirt each night and if he still wakes me up, he's going immediately into the next room so he can hide behind the futon. I refuse to feel guilty about it - my vet says that many owners feed into it by holding their dog and coddling them.  This is the one time I won't put up with it - when it comes to my sleep, he's going to have to buck up.

Another lousy rehearsal.  The orchestra is back to the death march tempo on almost every song.  However, on two of them, they were pretty dead on for the correct tempo.  MD said that last night she stopped playing the piano so she could just conduct, period - but that her band wasn't following her no matter how much she tried to jack the tempos.

I don't buy it.

But I also give up.  Like many things in life the older you get, there are things that you just give up hope of them ever happening. 

Other newer people who are helping with the production are asking why we have such a lousy band.  I just shake my head.  A great cast laid to waste.  Such a shame.  And even though a couple Board members watched last night's rehearsal, the Board has always been too wishy-washy to do anything about problems like this.

And now back to the reality of work.

Fazio, if you want me to have a LOT more time to spend with you, tell the Lottery Gods that your owner needs to win... NOW!!

Geez Louise - jumping on every single part of my body for the next hour, including my face.  Crying, whining, trembling, panting, drooling.  What sends an otherwise brave dog into a tizzy over thunder??  I finally put him in the other bedroom and closed the door.  He needs to hide when it thunders and I realized that he has a favorite "hiding place" behind the futon in that room.  That seemed to work, but I could NOT fall back to sleep until my alarm went off at 5:30am.  I was not about to go into work on a second night of only three hours sleep (and both times, thanks to the dog), so I called in a vacation day.

I mean, I was going to go in 30 minutes early and skip my lunch hour anyway, so that I could leave for a doctor's appt to check my knee, so I might as well waste one vacation day.  Called in, fed Fazio (since it was his usual breakfast time) and went right back to sleep.  Got about 4 more hours, thank God.  Of course, now the little boo-boo head is sound asleep at my feet as I type this.

Last night, I truly felt sorry for our music director.  She learned the hard way about the theatre's tech director.  The man is at least borderline manic-depressive, if not bi-polar (again, just my opinion).  He will have a screaming fit over the littlest, most unimportant thing - sometimes throwing or breaking things - and then walk out of the theatre, have a cigarette, and come back in and truly have NO recollection of what he has just done (or so he says).  Thank GOD I have never done anything to ever upset him and I'd like to keep it that way.

I don't know exactly how the fight started, but it had to do with our MD not having a working monitor earphone.  The orchestra (or LOO - Lack Of Orchestra, remember?) is "embedded" deep under the stage with a TV monitor to see the stage and our MD SHOULD have full headphones to listen to the sound onstage.  But she has just an earphone, which either never worked during Act I, or stopped working - don't know the full story.  But somehow, the TD tried to blame the MD, for which she had NOTHING to do with it.  It turned into a scream-fest between the two of them until she screamed "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY PIT!!!"  Unfortunately, most women have found that that is the ONLY way to get him to stop.  Pretty much a "GET THE FUCK OUT...." of my way, my face, the bathroom, the dressing room, my pit.

The point is, NOBODY should have to do that.  I don't care if he is the greatest tech director in the world, or if he is the only one who wants the job - NO ONE should have to put up with that, alleged medical condition or not.  Nobody will face up to him about it - until last night, that is. 

Our stage manager, who joined the board last year and has been helping out backstage with almost every production since, and who is a BIGGER guy than our TD, called the TD out last night - and it was about goddamned time that it was said.

Our TD, after being told to "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY PIT", went up into the booth and then at one point had the nerve to say, "I don't get what she's upset about," which caused an uproar amongst all of us backstage, but it was our SM who went out on the stage and said, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???  YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAUSED IT!!  IT'S YOUR BEHAVIOR AND SCREAMING THAT STARTED ALL OF THIS!!"

Our TD said, "Let's not go there again!"  And I thought, "You mean the SM has said it before?? GOOD FOR HIM!!!"

Yes, our TD is very good and works ridiculous hours (well, the ridiculous hours have a lot to do with our production board putting together the most ri-donk-ulous schedule which no TD should HAVE to put up with, but that's another story), but that does not excuse his destructive behavior and no one on the Big Board has ever addressed it and it's about time someone did.

So we finally started Act II somewhere close to 10pm, when we should have been DONE by 10pm.  Which is another reason I didn't get much sleep last night.  If we'd start at 7:30 without any interruptions and our director would give us notes from the night before at 7:15pm, then we could all leave by 10pm and get some decent sleep during this Hell Week.  I am telling you - the drama in drama.

Yes, even though our LOO hasn't seemed to bother to really listen to the soundtrack CD to get an idea of what the tempos should be (more than half the songs are either too fast or way too slow) and even though we've been spoken to like 3 year olds (with me even getting my own time-out at the 2nd rehearsal for trying to correct a mistake) and even though we have almost no real orchestra (although considering how late she had to step in, that's not really her fault - if the board would just ONCE pay a little more for musicians from the union in an extreme circumstance such as this) and even though the pianist sometimes sounds like she's wearing oven mitts AND has a cat walking up and down the keys at the same time, I truly felt sorry for her last night that she had to be on the brunt of the TD's wrath.

Such is the drama in drama.

Could the U.S. PLEASE grow up now and get rid of the change in time twice a year??  Could we just stay on Daylight Savings Time year round?  We are no longer a farming based society and life is pretty much 24/7 in this country now, so let's grow up and join most of the rest of the civilized world (Asia does not have Daylight Savings Time) and get rid of this old-fashioned notion.

I am sick of feeling sick & tired for at least a week after "Spring Forward."  And no, it does NOT help that this is Hell Week.

11 hours at the theatre yesterday.  Still feels like disaster.  No one is being body miked in this show.  Don't get why.  The first time our orchestra (or Lack Of Orchestra - I'll call them LOO from now on) played last week, the monitors aimed at us onstage were TOO loud and yesterday they were too low.  Everything was off.  Also, why was the band called for our cue-to-cue, resulting in half of them (read: two of them) going home before our first actual run-through?  Having the drummer for the cue-to-cue, even though we did only a few of the songs, made a huge difference.  But who calls the band for the cue-to-cue anyway?  Have them there for the actual first costumed run-through, not the cue-to-cue! 

Oy.

So after losing an hour's sleep and being at the theatre 11 hours, I had to drive out to the Giant Eagle grocery store in Bainbridge because the one right in our sleepy little town was already closed at 9pm on a Sunday night.  And what happened??  It wasn't until I got all the way to the Bainbridge store that I realized I'd left my jacket at the theatre - my jacket with my wallet inside.  It was 11:15pm.  Had to drive all the way back to the theatre - luckily someone was still there when I called to say I needed to come back.  Picked up the jacket and decided that since it was so late, I needed to get the dog.  I'd come home at dinner time to walk and feed him, but I felt like I'd really neglected him being gone so long yesterday, so I went home and got him and asked if he wanted to go for a ride, which made him very happy.  Got my groceries, drove back home, got into bed after midnight and my dog decided he had to bark at some imagined sound around 1am.  A very stern "Quiet!" was all I figured he needed, but he did it again about 2am, so I got his bark collar (sprays citronella whenever he barks).  Both times he barked, I was in that state of almost asleep.  Thanks to his barking, I got a total of about 3 hours sleep.  I am NOT happy.

So, f___ you Daylight Savings Time.

For those of you who haven't done theatre, Tech Sunday is the Sunday before your show opens.  Usually you have an afternoon call.  For some reason, our call is at noon, which means they must anticipate a very long day.  Call at noon, curtain at 1pm. 

Now at most theatres, you first do what is called the "cue-to-cue".  This is where you start at the top of the show and move only to the next sound or light cue.  So you go until you get to whatever the first sound or light cue is, make sure it looks good, then skip ahead to whatever is the next sound or light cue.  This usually means the actors are standing around doing a lot of nothing while lights and/or sounds are adjusted.  Sometimes it means the actors are standing there while a fight breaks out between the director and tech person.  Or if it's a musical, sometimes a fight breaks out with the choreographer and/or music director as well (in any combination with the director and tech person).  This is why we have two sayings in our circle of theatre friends:

"Oh, the drama in drama."

And

"Our drinking department has a theatre problem."

This Hell Sunday should be a real blast because we have not been told if the first rehearsal will be a cue-to-cue or not.  Because usually after the cue-to-cue, you then break for dinner and then it's a full run of the show in costume after dinner.

Problem is, many of us don't even HAVE a costume yet.  We have not been given any costume pieces.  I have tried on some shirts and a wig (I am playing an over-the-top "king of Latin lovers" believe it or not), but that is all.  And I have a very strong feeling that this director expects to run two full run-throughs both in costume, which is going to make many of the actors really grumble.  I myself am going to sweat BIG time in this show.  I'll have a cape and a wig on and I am dancing/falling/tango-ing in my big number.  So it will be sweat city.  Wish this theatre had a shower in the dressing rooms.

Then to top it off is, of course, the on-going feud between the cast and the music director and our complete lack of a real orchestra.  The biggest problem is that our director should have had the guts to go to the Board and said, "This new music director is NOT working out - I need REAL musicians and fast" and fired her and gone to the Cleveland Musicians Union for some real musicians who could play much better and right away.  But this director doesn't like to make waves and wants to appease everyone - rather than worry about how it's going to make the show look.

So we have one of the best damn casts I've ever done a show with and the worst orchestra/music director behind us.

Fan-freakin'-tastic.

My one hope is that the reviewer will say something along the lines of "A great cast is done a disservice with a lousy orchestra".

Also usually during Hell Week, to make it easier on the cast, the director will usually make Monday and Tuesday's rehearsals without costume and starting as close to 7pm as possible so that people can go home early and get some sleep.

No, this director expects full costumes with a call at 7pm every night, but curtain not until 8pm.  And this is after we lost an hour's sleep last night due to Daylight Savings Time.

This really IS going to be a Hell Week.

I'm not inviting people to come and see this show.  One of the first since I started doing shows here in Ohio.  I don't want people to come and see this.  And what's sad is that the cast is FANTASTIC!  I have a feeling that the reviews will be something along the lines of "a great cast is wasted with almost no orchestra and a horrible lack of direction."

And that's one other thing that ticks me off - a few weeks ago, I went to see friends who were in a production at CVLT's smaller "black box" theatre, River Street Playhouse (this is where I will be directing "The Gin Game" as soon as this musical opens).  While there that night, I noticed there seemed to be a group of gay men and women, which I thought odd since let's face it, Chagrin Falls is a VERY Republican little town (I've always dreamed that we gays would take over and open a bunch of B&Bs and art galleries because this place is perfect for it).  I thought maybe they were friends with the one person in the cast whom I did not know, but that turned out to not be the case.  A couple days later, I went online and searched for the play to see if I could find the review and instead came upon a Gay & Lesbian "Meetup" group that has existed in NE Ohio for about a year and they'd just had a "meetup" to go see this play.  These are men and women of all ages who don't like bars (like me) and they had weekly get-togethers such as game nights, day hikes, going to the auto show, going tobogganing, or going to see local plays, etc. 

So I signed up for the group!  Sounded like my kind of group.  And the VERY next day, the guy running the group posts, "I'm disbanding the group.  I've had a lot of fun and I started the group when I first moved here as a way of meeting people, but lately it's been taking up too much of my time to put together these outings, so thank you very much."

Of course.  Because Eric joined the group.  And people wonder why I call myself Eeyore. 

And I even messaged the guy running it with a note that said, "I hope it wasn't because I joined.  That tends to happen to me - I wait in line forever, or sign up for a group, only to have it end just before I get there.  That's why they call me Eeyore."  And I told him how I came upon his group in the first place and how I don't go out to gay bars and the fact that the only gay male friend I have is my best friend back in L.A.  And that I have no gay male friends in Ohio. 

Let's face it - most Ohio gay men are too mean and bitchy.  Do you watch "Glee"?  The most recent episode where Sebastian said some HORRIBLE things to Karofsky at the local gay bar?  That's how most of the gay men in Cleveland are and it's why I don't go to gay bars.

Funnily enough, Justin, the guy who ran the group, wrote back.  We exchanged a couple e-mails and he said there's a smaller group of them that is still going to get together for game nights.  And I told him about the musical I was rehearsing - and the fact that I do tons of shows at CVLT.  So he's planning on bringing a group to come and see me in this show.

And it's going to be a disaster.  Normally, if you have a lousy keyboard player, for the most part the brass instruments will cover it up.  And this is a show that can have up to 30 members in the orchestra.

We are going to have 4 - two keyboard players, a bass player and a drummer.  There will be no brass or woodwinds to cover up the bad keyboard playing.

To make matters worse last night, because our music director is also playing a keyboard herself, she spent almost all the time with her head down looking at the music.  So she is not conducting us in some of the more crucial, difficult parts of music.  And to top THAT off, she is wearing earphones to try and hear the mix of us with the music, but because we have no body mics, they are relying solely on the floor mics, which means that more than likely she is NOT going to hear us and they are NOT going to keep up with us.  They are either going to be too fast or too slow.

I'm not going to allow myself to be so embarrassed when this group comes to see the show.  I'm going to e-mail Justin and let him know how this whole rehearsal process went down so that HOPEFULLY they will have some sympathy for those of us in the cast!

Was ridiculously warm last night, so I had the windows wide open, but was awakened around 3am by monstro wind gusts and was forced to close the windows because of it, which I hated because it was still too damn warm.  Which combined to have me wake up with a migraine.  yay.

My Tempurpedic mattress is very comfortable, but I had it on a futon frame for years with no box spring underneath.  I finally decided to be an adult and buy the box Spring for it about a year and a half ago.  That also required my buying a real bed frame.  What I found out about the hard way is that Tempurpedics are known for absorbing your body heat and keeping in the mattress around you.  When I did not have the box spring, this was not an issue.  As soon as I got the box spring, I would wake up feeling like I was in an oven.  I was sleeping with the windows open in Winter.  I would still wake up with my face nice and cool but the rest of me was burning up.  So I read online about the mattress and discovered that they do this.  Wish I'd known before I'd bought what it turns out I didn't really need.  But I did find something called the "Hot Or Cold Pad".  About the size of a single bed, goes on the mattress under the sheet and you can adjust the temperature.  The one drawback is that the thermostat is in the cooling unit, so if the window's open and the thermostat is reading 65 in the room, it stops cooling me off.  Wish they had a way to instead check the temp of the water as it circulates through the pad, rather than the air.  But still, it made it so I could finally sleep.  Only it stopped working a month ago - and was just past the one year warranty, of course.  It was heating up, even though I had it set to cool.  Luckily, the manufacturer said they'd repair it free of charge since it was so close to the one-year cutoff.  But I sent it to them 4 weeks ago and haven't heard back nor gotten it back yet.  Need to contact them.  Because without it last night and with it staying in the upper 50s outside, it was miserable having to close the windows because of the ridiculous wind gusts. 

After calling in sick because of the migraine, I had to get out the fans and turn on the ceiling fan in the living room and even turn on the air conditioner for a while so that I could go back to sleep after taking my prescription meds.  My migraines have been more frequent lately and I think it may be a combination of the complete change of diet after getting the super high cholesterol diagnosis along with the almost complete NON-Winter we've had.  Four years ago yesterday I moved into my new condo at the start of a three day blizzard that left almost 3 feet of snow on the ground.  Yesterday was 70 degrees with that very warm night.  The warmest winter on record and now also one of the least snowy on record.  Not that I'm complaining, but since this is my 18th Winter, I think my body adjusted about 15 Winters ago to the cold and snow and without it, I'm tensing up - something like that to make the migraines come more like every two weeks instead of once a month.

And now that the migraine's gone, I may have another one because I'm getting ready to take Fazio to his first vet visit to get micro-chipped.  I don't think he's going to like it very much!!

No, it was a little later when we got to the song "Toledo Surprise", which, instead of going the tempo on the CD, they decided to double the tempo and nearly killed the poor people doing the number.

I didn't say a word.

It wasn't my song, so it wasn't my place to say anything.  And I told the people in the number (quietly and offstage) that if they have a problem with the tempo, they should speak up.

BUT - just before we even got to that number - gets more interesting again. 

Our director met with the 4 people who do the main part of the song "Toledo Surprise" 30 minutes before the rest of us were supposed to be there.  And I learned about 45 minutes into rehearsal that he changed the dance to that number completely and had already taught it to anyone who was there early.  YET, when we get to that number, he hasn't yet choreographed the part with just the 4 actors!!?  Now why wouldn't you block the part with the 4 actors and teach the new dance when EVERYONE is there later?  But beyond even that - why would you entirely change a dance with only 7 rehearsals left before we have an audience???  He just ended up having to teach it all over again AND teach the part to the 4 actors during rehearsal.  Could have saved us at least 30 minutes - especially since we finished an hour and 15 minutes later than we were supposed to have finished last night.

But back to the tempo.  I'm not saying a word.  It was decided (via e-mails amongst the cast members yesterday) that I need to keep my mouth shut (which was fine with me) and the other actors needed to speak up whenever there were problems with the tempos so that it didn't end up becoming a me vs the MD problem.  So I kept smiling a big, fake, cheesy smile ALL during rehearsal yesterday.

Well, the tempo for "Toledo Surprise" that they had originally played correctly was now way too fast - and I could see the MD and pianist look at each other many times, smiling mischievous little smiles at each other, knowing full well what they were doing.  And at one point when an older actress kept getting behind the ridiculously fast tempo, the director FINALLY said, "Is there a reason we are going so incredibly fast?" I was so happy I was way off stage left where the MD and piano player couldn't see me.  The pianist said, "Well, we got yelled at yesterday because our tempos were too slow!" and the whole cast groaned and said, "OH COME ON! GROW UP! THIS IS STUPID! Etc, etc."

And the director finally slowed the tempo down.

I am hating that this has become a resentment production.  Because it's a show I've been waiting 6 years to do.  I am truly resenting being in this particular production.  Just like "Cats" six years ago.  A show I wondered if I'd ever get to be in and there I was playing Munkustrap in the first North American non-professional production.  The director and the music director both made it a living hell production.  The music director made no bones that he didn't like me and kept trying to give almost all my singing lines to another actor.  The director treated anyone who wasn't a "true" dancer as if we were something on the bottom of his shoe.  And after 4 and a 1/2 MONTHS of rehearsals, he changed the choreography to a number 15 MINUTES BEFORE CURTAIN ON OPENING NIGHT.  So at least this director gave us 7 rehearsals time, but still.

Geez I hate when I'm in a show I'd been dying to do and it becomes a miserable experience instead.

*********************************

Day 4 without alcohol or Facebook and I find it gets a little easier each day.  Need to give my liver a break, plus most alcohol now gives me migraines anyway, so that's pretty easy.  And I'm finding myself checking Facebook less and less every day and less likely to feel compelled to check it with each day (man, I've got an addictive personality).

I'm not sorry.  We had a music rehearsal last night and several times, the tempos were funeral dirges.  RIDICULOUSLY slow.  And if we tried to push the tempo, nothing happened.  One or two of the songs are correct, but most are so slow that you have to take a breath after almost every note.

Towards the end of the rehearsal, our Music Director tried to blame US for this problem.  US!?!?  She praised her piano player and how good she was - well, this piano player is a little better than me, but doesn't seem to have listened to the show at all because most of the tempos are so damn slow.  On top of that, a lot of times or Music Director doesn't even bother to count us in.  She'll sort of give the piano player a very quiet count and then expect us to jump right in.  How about a "5, 6, 7, 8" lady?  Or at least give us the pick-ups before we come in??  Geez.  So after praising the piano player, she then had the nerve to say, "You people are the ones dragging down the tempo.  We have to keep up with you and you keep slowing down - and there's only so many times we can add music before you people come in."

WHAT!>?!>!?!?!?!?

I was incredulous.  The times when we weren't coming in were because we didn't have a clue what the FUCK the piano player was playing because it sure as shit didn't sound like the soundtrack so we DIDN'T know when to come in because of her lousy playing!!  But then to blame US for the tempos???  Other people in the cast were trying to say things.  I was biting my tongue.  In fact, I'd been biting my tongue all week.  And people around me were sort of expressing the right thing, but either not stating it well, or trying to be polite and finally I spoke up from the back of the room and said,

"Excuse me.  But does the orchestra start each song?  Or do the vocalists??  Because with the exceptions of a few songs where the singer is given one chord and they start the song, the ORCHESTRA starts the song and therefore gives up the tempo and when you give us a funeral march tempo, please don't blame us.  I'll give you an example: 'Your...       *breath*    ...dress... *breath*   ...dress... *breath*   ...your fan...   cy.... dress'  You've been playing the tempo on that so slow that we sound like Stevie from Malcolm In The Middle because we're having to take a breath after after syllable and note it's so damn slow!  Stop talking to us like we're three years old!  You set the tempo for each song and most of them are nowhere near the correct tempos if you'd listen to the soundtrack.  We've TRIED to push the tempo to no avail, so PLEASE don't try and blame this cast.  This is a very capable cast and you're trying to say that 20 people are wrong and the two of you are right.  I'm sorry, but I've been biting my tongue and it needed to be said because you weren't listening to anyone else." 

We finally went back to the song we'd been doing and then our Music Director excused herself and made it sound like she had to go talk to someone while the piano player continued going over a part.

Well, I learned that she'd gone out to the lobby to cry because one of the theatre board persons walked out with me once rehearsal was done and said, "What can I do to make rehearsals easier?"  I had to say, "Well, there's nothing that can be done at this point because it's a little too late.  We've had a director that wasn't even here the first three weeks, a lunatic first music director, me trying to teach people parts and then a new music director who talks to us like we're three years old.  I bit my tongue as long as I could and now I'm being made to look like the bad guy because I'm the one who finally spoke up.  I only said what everyone else was trying to say after we'd been insulted.  She has one of the most capable casts I've ever worked with and she doesn't even realize it.  I shouldn't be the bad guy for wanting the show to be good."

And that's when I was told that she'd gone out to the lobby and cried.  I'm not sorry.  I wasn't any meaner or insulting than she'd been to us.  She keeps saying "I demand respect."  Demand it all you want, you have to earn it and if you keep talking to us like that, it ain't gonna happen.

I knew this movie would be tough at times, after all it's dealing with cancer.  There was also a LOT of comedy throughout, with Anjelica Huston, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anna Kendrick really adding to the mix.  But the thing I did not expect was the reaction I had to one part.

After watching this character go through chemotherapy and realizing my Mom went through the same, that was tough.  But then there was his father who seemed to be dealing with Alzheimer's.  They never really out and out said it, but Anjelica Huston, who played JGL's mother, was taking care of her husband diligently and driving JGL's character a little crazy with her mothering.  It was a scene near the end of the movie where JGL's character told his father he loved him that I lost it.

It reminded me of my Dad in his last stage of Parkinson's and I started sobbing - really shaking with sobs - and had to stop the movie.  What I also didn't expect was my dog's reaction to it.

Oh yes, I got a dog.  His name is Fazio.  Got him from Ohio Aussie Rescue.  They think he's half Aussie Shepherd and half Catahoula (I had to look up Catahoula, too, because I'd never heard of it).  Fazio was the name he already had and it suits him, so I kept it.  This goofball dog makes me laugh - even when he's being bad.

So I'm sitting there in my recliner just bawling my eyes out, just sobbing and Fazio comes over and puts one paw on my knee and gently reaches the other paw toward my chest and puts his forehead up against my forehead - which makes me lose it even more that he just KNEW I needed some lovin'.

So very glad I have this dog in my life!

But the rehearsals...

First of all, our director was involved with a production somewhere else and did not even join our rehearsals until the 4th week.

The music director was a lunatic who tried to teach us the parts on guitar after his accompanist got bit on her right wrist by a dog (not my Fazio!).  I kept offering to play piano to help, but he kept turning me down.  The other problem was that about 1/3 of the roles did not get cast until 3 weeks in as well. 

One night, someone came to audition for the role of Robert.  I offered several times to play piano for his audition.  I guess I haven't really played the piano around my current circle of friends.  They don't know that I took accordion lessons way back in first grade (I STILL have that accordion!) and continued with piano lessons after that.  I am not the greatest piano play in the world, but I play pretty damn well and I've written almost 200 songs since about the 8th grade.  But I haven't made much use of it lately.  Really wish I'd sit down with the headphones at my electric piano more and just go to town.  Also wish I had someone to teach me how to use some recording software so I can start really recording my music.

Anyway, I finally insisted that he let me play so he could listen to the guy sing.  And surprise, surprise, "You really can play!"  Duh.  What do you think I'd been telling you for over a week, guy?  This guy dismissed the kid who'd sung (pretty damn well I thought) and I thought he was crazy.  Luckily, that guy is now our romantic lead and doing a pretty damn good job I think!

The very next day, our lunatic music director (who'd come on to one of our actresses and whom I'd found out was banned from being anywhere near the women's dressing room during the last show he was involved in) resigned from our show.

To his credit, yes, it was very frustrating having about 1/3 of the roles not cast and almost another 1/3 involved in other shows, so we weren't getting shit done (sorry, but since this is my blog, I'm going to start using whatever the hell language I want and talk about people - I may not mention names, but I'm gonna be damn honest with my feelings and opinion here - and that's just what this blog is - opinion, not fact, and nothing more).

I then had to volunteer to teach people the music.  I had about one week with everyone.  I am not a music director.  The only reason I was able to be music director for "Scream Queens" last year was because I didn't have to put together a band/orchestra - all the music was pre-recorded.  But I can play accompaniment fairly well - especially if the chords are listed (which unfortunately they were not for this show) and I can plunk out the individual parts for everyone.  We stayed on some of the more difficult songs a little longer and we touched on at least every song in the show at least once.  It was still very difficult to do some songs since people involved with those songs were still not there.

Then we finally get a new music director.  A young lady who it turns out has pretty much only done children's productions.  Right off the bat, she seemed damned skeptical of what I'd done.  And she seemed more concerned what our breathing techniques were and how our "blend" was than with actually continuing to teach us the damned parts.

Her second rehearsal, just 10 minutes in and the new accompanist was screwing up.  During a big change midway through a song, she suddenly jumped to cut time, when it should have been 4/4.  After the third time of her screwing up and the music director accusing US of being at fault (yes, 17 people are wrong and the one person playing piano is correct), I finally spoke up.  Yes, I was insulted that she thinks I couldn't teach people the parts.  Yes, I was insulted that she thought I was incompetent.  But to accuse all the people in this cast - one of the MOST capable casts I've ever been on stage with - that was the last straw for me.  I said, "I'm sorry, but the accompanist is jumping to cut time during that section." 

The music director said, "No she isn't.  You people are getting ahead of her."  Then she started with her favorite phrase: "I DEMAND respect."  No, you don't... bitch.  You earn it.  You can say that all you want, but you are NOT earning respect from me.

She then had the nerve to give me what equated to a "time out" after we went back and forth on this several times (and the accompanist then played it correctly finally and she STILL had the nerve to say we were wrong all that time), she told me to "take 5 minutes to cool off in the hall."

I'm not some fucking 5 year old.  Fuck you uppity wench.  I left the theatre and did not come back for the rest of the rehearsal.  I was TOO livid to come back.  Had I come back that night, there would have been words and I probably would have caused her to walk and I knew how desperate we were for a Music Director at that point.

So ever since I have tried to not communicate with her unless absolutely necessary.

My hope is that this show will be like a couple others I've done.  "Urinetown: The Musical" comes to mind.  We had a damned good show DESPITE the horrible director and once the show opened, we FINALLY had a great time onstage.  One of the best times I've had doing a show because the cast was so good in spite of Herr Direktor. 

I'm thinking this show may end up being the same.