Playing Against Type

I. Am. A. Pansy. I started crying today during Circle before the show even started. The parents came to the show, and knowing they were out there, stopping by quite literally on their way permanently out of state, really messed with my head - I had to finally face it.

So the girls of the Whorehouse, thanks largely to my massive contagious waterworks, will be receiving the Dolly Award for worst rendition of a show tune ever in the history of the Historic State Theatre. I think between all of us, we maybe got four coherent words out during Hard Candy Christmas. The rest of it was just sobbing. It took Stephanie a good three minutes to deliver four lines - and they all blame me! (I did manage to hold it together all the way through No Lies, then started up again upon exit, at which point Sara offered to let me call her and we could sing it over the phone - she probably doesn't think I'll actually do it - just wait.)

24 Hours was awesome tonight - until I attempted to exit and ran into the wall by the door. Oops. So I backed up. And ran into the wall again. I wasn't the only one. Bethaney made a flying face-first floor dive entrance Saturday night, Stephanie did a face-plant going up the stairs, Mariah and Holly did butt-plants going down the stairs, Shawn made a face-plant entrance on flat ground...we were not probably at our most graceful for closing. But we can cry true enough to bring down an entire audience with us.

I emerged after strike (I was about as useless as always, but at least I brought a drill this time) with three bracelets, two scarves, one cowboy hat, a wooden picket sign instructing the reader to "close the chicken ranch!", and a 15 foot long Texas Aggies banner. Why did I require all this stuff, you may ask? Because, again, I am a pansy. But I have a piece of my favorites - the 24 Hours with my girls, my duet with Mona, the Aggie boys, the Dogettes, the picket line....

Speaking of picket line, Ashley was good enough to agree to don my red siren dress for the purpose of destroying any attempt by the picketers to remain stoic onstage. I love him so much.

It was a gloomy cloudy evening, as all closing evenings are, and we hung around too long, as we always do. Alison was good enough to hang out at the piano and let us vamp for a while (Beautiful Heather will forever be my Glinda). And James of Back Room Bluz in Eustis, in addition to being good enough to open for us on Sunday night for a private party, has expressed interest in having me perform with one of their blues bands - how cool is that right there?

Straining for it, because between closing and the additional seven hours being added to my drive to visit the folks....my happy is that Mom, Ken, Jessi, and Jimmy all came to closing weekend and I love them so much for it.