skip to main |
skip to sidebar
After two pit rehearsals and a week of rehearsal for us and about six weeks for the cast, "Big River" finally closed on Sunday. Based on Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the musical follows Huck Fin and the runaway slave Jim down the Mississippi River. They meet all sorts of characters on the way until they end up in Arkansas.
(Broadway Recording Cover, thanks to Wikipedia)
The music is a little country, a little western, and a little gospel. At first I was not a fan of the music, but after playing it so much and seeing it in the context of the show, it kind of grew on me. Our pit included two guitars, a violin, a bass, percussion, clarinet/sax, flute, trumpet, trombone, piano, and me on synthesizer (covering banjo, mandolin, organ, English Horn, and some harmonica). We also had a harmonica player, but he was also in the show so sometimes he was on stage, sometimes he was in the pit.
Audrina was the sound designer for the show which was something she was not happy about considering she never did sound before. On top of that, the sound system in our auditorium sucks. Of course, the day before the first tech rehearsal she had her appendix out so the technical directors were scrambling to figure out what to do. Luckily, Dri was feeling good enough to make it to the last three rehearsals so she was able to yell at her crew. Everything with the sound was great and even though I know she's glad it's over, she's probably also happy to have a little exposure to it, even though she would never admit to that.
(Opening scene from our production thanks to Erin Thompson)
So now that "Big River" is over, I have the summer shows to look forward to. I'll post more on that a little later.
So we've had a pretty exciting week so far. Dri was feeling sick all day Tuesday and thought she was just coming down with the flu. Well after being in pain all day and it only getting worse, I took her to the ER Tuesday night around 10:30.After waiting there through tests and scans, the doctor came out around 1:30 AM and said that her appendix was inflamed and needed to be taken out. So I called Mary and told her and she started up (took her and hour and a half thanks to the fog). Around 3 AM, Dri was finally moved into her own room and Mary got here around 3:30. I dozed off and on until the nurses came in around 6 to get her vitals and everything and then the doctor finally came in around 6:15. He explained exactly what was going to happen and was very cordial and professional for it being so early.
At 6:50, they took Dri to the OR but she didn't get in until 7:30 because they had to run a final test. The doctor called her room around 8:15 and figured we'd be worried since he told us it would only be and hour total. Everything went fine and she got back in her room around 9:20 after being in recovery for an hour. She was still out of it and told Mary and I that she wanted more anesthesia because she really liked it.
After spending the day in the hospital Wednesday, she was discharged and came home Wednesday night. She didn't get a lot of sleep that night and I was awake for a while, but we both slept some today. Hopefully, she'll start feeling better and will be able to sleep better tonight.
So, I just had to rant about a couple things. I try and do this every now and then so I don't flip out on people. Normally, I like to rant face to face with people. Makes it easier I think...but since I have this blog now, I can use it.
Rant #1--Personal Music Players
Yes, I have my own personal music player. It makes it nice for walking to class and for car rides when there's nothing on the radio. A lot of people have them and I think they're a great idea. My only problem is when I can hear your music coming from your own CD player/iPod. I thought the whole point of these items was to spare those around from hearing your music. Now I understand that some people like to listen to their music loud. Occasionally I do as well. But we shouldn't be able to hear it from across the room. If you need it turned up that loud, you better start thinking about turning it down or you will go deaf. I know...I'm a music major and they warn us of these things. One more thing about personal music players, please don't sing along. If we don't want to hear your music, we certainly don't want to hear you sing it...badly. I'm not talking to everyone out there...just the people who can't sing to save their life. If you're friends with these people, please let them know. They need to know they can't sing.
Rant #2--Rude people on sidewalks
It's winter. There's snow piled on both sides of the sidewalk which makes it even smaller to walk on. You can comfortably fit two (2) people on most sidewalks. Now I understand you want to talk to your friend as you're walking to class, but if you see someone coming the other way...Get Out of the Way! It's not polite to make them walk in the snow just because you don't have the common sense and decency to take one step forward or back. Surely I was not the only one raised this way. Other people have to know this. It's simply the right thing to do. I'm beginning to think that the number of polite people in this world is dropping at an alarming rate. I must try to fix this when I'm a teacher and a parent. And for anyone reading this you can trust me, my children will be polite.
I think that's all for now. I like this whole idea of ranting on here. It's nice.
