No Dice (or cards for that matter)

Well no word on if Paige got the job. Desiree was going to call during the first show, but total bedlam ensued. Firstly, security decided to run a routine fire protocal check, but a wire got crossed somewhere and ended up bringing down these fire walls in the lobby. Fortunatly, everyone was in the show and couldn't see it, but the first show was spent dealing with that. Then there were some special arangements for some VIPs in the second, so by the time all of our brushfires were put out, it was near 11:30 and much to late to be calling.
Then I tried afterwards to get some info, but we ended up at Theatro and it was much too loud to get anything, so I settled for hanging out watching the dancers. Hopefully tommorow.

Oh, by the way, It turns out I was right about the RAM, or would have been normally, mine is just one of the five odd processers that doesn't follow the rules. Jerk.

Who's a nerd?

So last night I decided it was time to upgrade the RAM on my computer. I've got too many programs running silently to leave it any more. I got my manual, checked and double checked which type of RAM my system uses, then headed to Best Buy. They had exactly what I was looking for. At home I popped my little card into the motherboard and fired it up. 1280MB of Ram, muahaha!!!

.........system failure.

"What!!!!"

.........not enough memory to run this progam........failed to read to drive.........critical failure in.......

There goes my complementary bow tie and pocket protector. Now I have to trudge back to the store with my manuel and the RAM card to see what I did wrong. ~whimper~

Rough week

Good Lord!!! My feet have been killing me. Paige found this foot soaker for $15 so I'm hoping that helps, but man.... Otherwise it's been fairly quiet. Unless you're a KA castmember. Lots of 'em out with injuries right now. I really feel for them, it's a rough show and some people really don't give them the credit they deserve. We had a pair of drucken sots last week tell us we should be ashamed to be associated with this show and that Cirque had really gone down. Whatever!! Some people thought Picasso was a hack and that Shakespeare had no talent, too. On the upside, the vast majority walk out happy, even if they don't get it. And those that do are usually ecstatic.
Recap of last week, we must be hitting tourist season again, because it's sold out every night. We had Tom Cruise stop in, whom I found to be very friendly and down to earth. Also Kiss lead singer Paul Stanley, who went the extra mile to greet fans and take pictures. We were impressed with his easy going nature. I'd be glad to have both of these guys back.
No word yet on if Paige will be hired. She made it past the drug test faze and are waiting for the interview. Since she was home all week we got to spend a lot of time together. It rocked.

May I borrow that soapbox?

I realize that UNR's theatre program may not be very prestigious. It's facilities were not the "top of the line" and they only had a pittence of classes on acting. Compared to Juliard or NYU, it's kind of a laughable degree. But UNR had one thing down very well, what I think may be the most important tools that could be passed on to a future generation of theatre folk... the art of the theatre.
By this I mean the understanding of what theatre is truely all about. It is about creating an experience for the audience that they will remember, in some way, for the rest of their lives.. With luck, that means an experience that gives them knowledge, or insight, or humor, or something.
The one thing I truly got from UNR was that, regardless of the level at which you were working, that must be the goal or else you just have a vanity troupe. And also, that goal must be universal for every member of that company, from the producers to the performers, back stage to front of house. Everyone must be on the same page and working toward the common, overall goal. Anyone just killing time is in fact killing the art.
Long story short, we must respect and support each other in theatre. We are a family. We live and die as a team. So imagine the biterness in me now as I write this, because you know I wouldn't mention it unless someone in my "family" betrayed me.
It was a little thing really. A bit of confusion about when we needed to meet in the lobby to perform our opening march. About half of us though that we we to delay it about ten minutes. We were wrong. Here's where the betrayal part comes in. Half of the crew was in place and as we all have radios, it would have been a simple matter to call the rest of us down. Instead a conscious decision was made to not do that, but instead to procede with only half of the gatekeepers and present a rather crappy, half-assed opening. The response when asked why we weren't called? "It's not MY responsibility."
Of course!!! How silly of me. It is certainly not OUR job to try and make the audience's expierence as nice as possible. Nor is it OUR job to try and look out for each other and help when given the chance. I suppose it is OUR job to take any opportunity to make ourselves look good at the expense of others.
The only good to report at the end of this is that the bosses look toward the true goal. They want what I want. What true theatre folk want. They recognize the deeper problem and work to eliminate it. It gives me hope.

Thanks Paige, here's your box back.

That party was off the hook!!!!!!!!!

Ugh. I am finally awake now after last nights opening gala. I'll begin at the red carpet. Instead of the standard long run of carpet, like you see at Oscar night. It was more of a wall to wall style out in front of the lobby. They had a short catwalk with a vert attractive display behind it, with curtains and KA or MGM signs. We had pressed our uniforms and were waiting for the guests. When the time came, we did our march, opened the doors and....

Nothing.

We waited for twenty minutes for people to start rolling in. I guess everyone wanted to be fashionably late. So the crowd arrives about ten minutes before the show is supposed to start. And Chaos ensues... We get the whole crowd in at last twenty ninutes late, when the show begins. And guess what, we did it again the second time. Wheeee!

I was a little disappointed by the celeb turn-out. They had made it sound like a big hollywood gala. Still there were a few, and they were nice. Especially Robin Leech. He was all kinds of fun.

Afterwards I got all gussied up with a tuxedo I rented. I met Paige over at Diego, who was gorgeous looking in the new dress she bought. When we entered the party it was like falling down the rabbit hole. The center had a giant multi-level stage with Fire jugglers and dancers. One side had a huge stage where a live band was rocking out. The perimeter had bars and food stalls (Though most of the food was gone by that time) with seating above them. (We couldn't go up though because the fire marshall came in and put an end to it). I never sat once through the entire party. Above that there was a series of screens that circled the whole thing, giving it a very Europian Discotheque feel. It was loud and it was wild.

We had a pretty good time. We left around 4am and came home. Exhausted.

Nearly there

Well, tommorow is the big day. Our gala opening.

We got a few words from Guy Carone, who is one of the big wigs of all Cirque. He was very supportive of everything we were doing, he just wanted to emphasize how important tommorow is and that we should "keep it cool." In other words, not to go over the top or do anything that might freak out the big bosses. Which is understandable as they have been working toward this for a long time and don't want any hitches.
On the bummer side, the news from the top says no cameras at the party. I'll just have to do my best to remember. I'll tell you all about it.