two weeks passed by in a wink of an eye.
i had gotten so used to the routine that seemed to to be the reason for my existence - jumping into my car at 4.30pm and snaking my way out of the winding roads of the Back of Beyond praying for good weather and good traffic to get me into town before 6.00pm; darting from a hurried gobbling of salads and sandwiches to sweaty warm-ups on stage to rushing out to get miked-up in the middle of applying the third shade of eye shadow on the left eye; belting the instrumental parts to Miss Saigon in the dressing room with the superstars; lending cast members white eyeliner and mascara; taking in spurts of Sore Throat Spray - the elixir of life that was a panacea for symptoms ranging from parched throats to endless dust-allergy coughs; handing my locker key to our dear pianist for safekeeping; standing on stage taking in the view of the hundreds of brightly-coloured seats which would be filled with people within 45 minutes while taking in the Overture that would lead on to chorus after soaring chorus of Ipoh town; hearing what Joe/Faridah/Mervyn had to say to us for the night; returning backstage for the crucial session of vocal warm-ups while staring at the mirror patting on last-minute dashes of eyeliner; listening out for the announcements over the PA system (which wackiness went up several notches on Sunday Sept 3rd); and finally making my way out to join the Stage Left family - the schoolboys, office guys, beggar, fellow pseudo-40-something aunt, coffeeshop owner, char siew pau kid and superstar, watching the screens, exchanging break-a-leg hugs and pacing the floor; and finally, the band would strike up the familiar oriental melody of the first few bars of the Overture.. and after countless nights, the rest of the next 2 hours would run almost like clockwork.
Sunday, 3rd Sept, finally arrived. it was amazing to say the least.. we had come so far. we were passing programme books around for autographs and snapping photos at every opportunity. after messing up my eyeliner tearing up during the warm-ups due mostly to a huge surge of 'this is the last time i'll be [insert every detail of the pre-performance preparations]' (knew that would happen, being the hopelessly sentimental fool i am) i willed myself not to choke up on stage at curtain call (and even took a few extra snorts of the anti-cough sore-throat-spray before going on for whatever it was worth) but that was hard too..
and Sunday marked the curtain on two weeks of unrelenting energy on stage, equally unrelenting wackiness off-stage, the warming-up to the glare of spotlights on the stage where you take on the personality of the simple small-town character that had essentially become your alter ego, watching the screens for the 'usual' laughter-triggering sections of the show, hoping nobody would leave any more footwear or spherical pieces of processed meat on the stage, waiting eagerly for the infamous Stage Right Sideshows during Act 2 Scenes 5 and 7, running to the sound crew for mike adjustments after every other scene, running into the dressing rooms for makeup touch-ups, watching the 15-minute interval fly past, not believing the night has already progressed to "white coffee doesn't taste the same anymore", the mad rush to get de-miked after the curtain call (especially for the superstars who exit from the vormitory!), and of course supper thereafter..
the cast party had a sober feel about it. it wasn't exactly a "we'll be going our own ways now" thing (as many were people i knew i would see in future productions... and others online thanks to the Internet!) but there we were - 4 months ago we were just learning the songs, wondering if we'd remember the choreography, and freaking out over memorizing lines (with me making feeble attempts at doing it while falling asleep in the sweltering Californian summer and then in the heart of the Southern hemisphere winter). now we were holding our cheques and slowly realizing that the next day we would NOT be doing our usual thing at 6pm.. almost as if a fantasy we had been living in was over. back to reality.
i've been having a rather dreadful week at the office clearing up work built up over the last 3 weeks or so AND trying to mask the post-performance withdrawal symptoms with office routine (it doesn't help that my neighbouring colleague bought our Original Cast Soundtrack CD and plays it almost every other hour of the day!).
but it's been worth it.
and yep, i would do it all over again.
(photos in next post. haven't figured out how to distribute the infamous Stage Right videos..)
