This past weekend we had a tour production of "It's a Wonderful Life" come in. It was a show within a show with the actors pretending to be putting on a radio show broadcast of the classic "It's a Wonderful Life" tale- complete with radio sound stage. The frame story is that there is a terrible winter keeping all the actors from getting to the studio, so only the four currently there must convincingly put on the whole show (splitting all the voices for the whole town between them!). Saturday went well. My job was to help the actors get on from stage right, and, since they stayed on stage the whole time, I actually got to go out into the audience and watch most of the show! Getting to see how they made radio sound effects and watching four people pull off all the characters is definitely what made the show (four people playing everyone reminded me a lot of "The 39 Steps"). And now, with no elegant transition at all (and believe me, I tried to think of one for grand total of less than a minute), let's talk about Sunday. Ahhhh…Sunday (that "Ahhhh" by the way was me sighing, not screaming… although the screaming pronunciation may be appropriate too). What can I say? How about crazy blizzard that I was in no way prepared for? Yeah, that sounds good! It snowed. And snowed. And snowed. And snowed some more (and fyi, it was probably the most unsafe I have ever felt while driving. That includes monsoon after Hairspray). Get the picture? When I drove up to church in the morning I made up a game called "Guess-where-a-parking-space-is!" Nah, let's call it "Kerri-decides-where-a-parking-space-is!" Yeah, that makes me feel more powerful. Let's go with that! So, I decided where the parking lot and space was going to be and everyone else went along with it (wasn't that nice of them?). Back to the theatre. Now I am wondering if anyone would even show up, but to save you the nail biting drama, I'll just tell you that they did (though not as many as the night before). I am manning my station in the wings of stage right waiting for…. ahhhhh, another sigh, I hate to say names and I actually tried to think of a substitute for this one for a long time. Let's call him….hmmm… Batman. So I was waiting for Batman in the wings. Batman was supposed to go on stage and welcome everybody and basically start off the evening. Batman rounds the corner looking smashing in his cape (does Batman have a cape? Well, he does when he goes to the theatre anyway) and I get his mic switched on and ready. I hand it to him, hear the cue to start, and---wait for it--- my cell phone blares on at full volume. WHAT?!? My phone is never on and/or heard when it needs to be, but now? Really? Oh well. Batman didn't seem to notice and took off to conquer the stage (PS: I am really liking the name I chose, I should do this more often!). The show went off without a hitch. We even had a little celebration during intermission for a lady's 100th birthday with cake for the whole audience (I was surprised that they braved the weather. Good for them!). After the show, we fought our way through the blizzard for some giant cookies (well, dinner with the cast too. I love getting to talk with them!). I made it back home and spent the next half hour thawing out. I was happy to be home, warm, and safe. It is a wonderful, albeit chilly, life.
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