Third Weekend

We had a great house Friday night. It must have bee close to full. They were really into Tevye. Julie says that Mike is so strong that the audience forgives the weaker parts of the show. Julie is probably right. Mike's performance is a real tour de force.
There were some bumps in the road on Friday, but, all on all, it was a pretty good show. Julie liked it and she's a legitimate critic.
On Saturday they were turning customers away and we had another full house. The show was really, really good. The audience was into it and we were feeding off of them and off of each other. I think most of the audience members were standing for the company bows.
The show was good on Sunday, too. The audience was a little smaller as it was Mothers' Day, but they gave us a standing ovation.
I think we finally know the show. It was "under-rehearsed" on opening night. The nine performances we've done have let us fine-tune it. Four more shots at it and a final chance to do Tradition at the PAGE Awards. Maybe we've got a show.
I'm glad I'm with a group that does more than two weekends of the show. You need at least six shows in front of an audience to learn about reaction, etc.
On the Tuesday after the third weekend, the Board decided to withdraw from DATA (Dearborn Area Theatre Association) because of a conflict over the adjudication of The Importance of Being Earnest. A couple of the adjudicators accused our director and producer of planting "laughers" in the audience. We don't do that kind of thing. There have been annoying laughers in the audience in most shows I've seen, and I'm probably one of them. But, I laugh at what I think is funny and well done. The folks these guys heard laughing were doing the same thing. They weren't planted. They were laughing at stuff they found funny.
This probably means that we won't do "Tradition" at the PAGE Awards next Tuesday. That's OK by me.