Ease On Down The Road

Well yesterday marked closing day of The Wiz at Runaway Stage, and also essentially the end of a very busy time with chunks of concerts and festivals and marching band and so forth. The Wiz was my second career directorial job, after having completed my rookie show with Meet Me In St. Louis last November. And it was good! I have to say, coming into October I was not at all excited about doing this show. I had seen two productions previously from different community theatres, and it was always just a bland slanted retelling of the Wizard of Oz. 

 But for this production, we were blessed to have a top notch cast and orchestra, which together made the show really shine. Or so I think. When you get so invested in a project and have it ingrained in your mind for weeks on end, it does tend to grow on you. It was a little odd this time; with most shows you see reviews from various sources, including audience reviews submitted to SeeAPlay.com. For this production: nothing. Not a single one. There was one brief snippet in the Sacramento News and Review, mostly a calendar listing really, which just mentioned the "impressive orchestra". I guess I'll just have to take that. It's better than what the orchestra usually gets, which is usually a mention about how it's too loud... But it's all done now, and time to move on. To what? Well, who knows really. Sac State is doing this same musical in April, and their music director did say off the cuff at one point that I should play bass for it. My wrist is still fairly shot from Rent in September, but it is getting better, so maybe I can play again. Well, as usual, time will tell....for the moment the calendar is free and clear for the foreseeable future, and with it being Thanksgiving week now I'm looking forward to some time off!