Opening night for The Dixie Swim Club was okay…the audience loved it and laughed liberally…my fellow actors covered my gaffes as I helped cover theirs…it felt okay, but not great. So, yesterday, before our Saturday night performance, my oh-so-patient hus held book for me. We went over the script twice, he gave me some great feedback and inspiration and I felt much stronger going in. And my performance showed it. I was strong and confident and was able to contribute to the group energy (which is what I think was lacking opening night…I didn’t contribute my share). It felt great. Still LOTS of ways to improve, but I was much happier after the show last night (and I think my onstage buddies were relieved). After the show last night, we started our party around “Lexie’s” kitchen island, with me (not Dinah ) mixing killer blood orange martinis and lemonade vodkas, moving on into the living room, complete with blazing fire, good friends and wonderful conversation. Hard to top our cast parties, I say with pride. We like each other and it makes for excellent parties.
Do you ever video rehearsals and use it as a tool? We haven’t, but I’m starting to think it would be a good idea. I have no way of knowing what I look like onstage while acting…I’ll bet I could improve if I knew what I looked like moving the way I always move…just wondering if anyone has had positive experience with it.
What a strange weather week…following a very strange winter so far…this week, we have had howling winds, pouring, pounding rain, huge and heavy snow flakes, tiny ice balls, temps in the 40s, dropping precipitously to the 20s, then bouncing back to the 40s. But we really haven’t had huge amounts of snow…baffling. I guess our weather dropped south this year. Hope it comes back next year. The only really good thing about not having snowstorms is that we have been able to hold all our rehearsals and our performances haven’t been unduly affected.
OK, call me a sap…I really love the Proctor & Gamble ads during the Olympics…the ones that highlight the role that moms have played in getting so many Olympians where they are now. No slight to the dads (and I’m sure there are plenty of dads out there who hold up their end), but it is usually the moms who keep the family calendar and are the first and last bastion of transportation and family organization. They go through all the mom moments, ending with the woman in the hat mouthing “THAT’S MY BABY!” That would be me, which is probably why it resonates.
And, as a postscript, we have just consumed probably the best pizza we have ever made. We normally make our own pizza dough from scratch…and our dough is really pretty good. We both highly favor extra thin crust pizza, so it is all in the roll-out. That said, I dropped by our local Bertucci’s and bought one of their pizza doughs. I got a small one, knowing that Bertucci’s crust is normally thicker than we like. The painstakingly rolled out dough just filled the large pizza pan we start our pizzas in. Toppings were some of the oil I soaked the sundried tomatoes in, the sundried tomatoes, carmelized onion and garlic, turkey bacon (precooked after cutting into small pieces), fresh mozzarella, tomato chutney and black olives on hus’ side with a parmesan sprinkle on top. 500 degree oven on a stone for 13 or so minutes and two people swooned as they consumed every incredibly delicious mouthful, with each proclaiming that his/hers was the best. YUM!!!!! I think that was late lunch, early dinner…or maybe not.
The pizza sounds amazing! I need to perfect my rollout – my pizza crusts always come out too thick – I like super-thin too.
Filming your rehearsals sounds like a good idea. Although it could be scary…..like the swimming pool pictures!