Top 5

We had our first two sell-outs this weekend! People continue to fall madly in love with our little show, and we're all happy as hell about that.

So we're at a cast party Saturday night at Jeff's (a big shout-out to Jeff's awesome dog Roxie!), and I asked Aaron, then later Jeff, what their Top 5 Moments in the show are. And they both asked for 10 slots instead of 5. It was really hard for both of them to narrow it down. Like most of the cast, they just love every second on stage -- even the moments they aren't directly involved in.

So, now here are my Top 5 Hi-Fi Moments...

1. All of "Last Real Record Store on Earth" (which is now on my list of Top 5 Coolest Theatre Songs Ever).

2. This little word-less mini-scene we created late in the show -- after Rob loses Dick, Barry, TMPTITW, and Liz, he is left alone in his empty record store. It's the first time it's been empty the whole show, and there's this beautiful, sad instrumental underscoring that quotes "Terrible Things" (this music shows up frequently in the show each time Rob gains a little self-knowledge -- very cool!). We really sense the emptiness of Rob's life at that moment. He has hit Rock Bottom. He has lost everything (or at least it feels that way to him). He pulls out The Mother Lode and he can't even find comfort there. Jeff's playing of that scene is fucking powerful.

3. The guys doing the Four Seasons slides in "9% Chance of Your Love."

4. The scene in which Dick rejects Anna's gift of a John Tesh CD. It's such a sad, tense scene, and even if the audience is laughing about John Tesh at the beginning, they shut up fast when they see the struggle that Dick goes through. Aaron handles some long, heavy pauses with real skill, and he just breaks your heart (as do Jeff and Kimi, also with weighty pauses galore, in their break-up scene early in the show).

5. maybe my favorite of all, Rob's Top 5 Things He Misses About Laura. Late in rehearsals, we decided to leave Laura on stage while Rob talks about her, then during Hell Week, I asked Jeff to play almost the whole monologue directly to Laura, and Jeff absolutely nails it. There is such love and pain and loss in that monologue and Jeffrey holds the audience in the palm of his hand every night. Great writing and a great performance. Bravo, dude!

6. If you'll indulge me... I can't help myself. Who the hell says you have to limit yourself to only five, after all? Huh??? So... 6. When Barry is cock-blocking Rob from talking to Marie, Dick steps in with a Clever Ruse and says "Hey, corn nuts!" which sends Barry off in search of said corn nuts, we get a laugh from the audience, and then as Dick walks away, he gives Rob this subtle but hilarious "You're welcome" look... Utterly priceless.

I'm sure I could keep listing more of them, but I'd end up listing everything and you might as well just come see the show, right? So if you haven't already, come see us -- I promise you'll have a blast!

And oh, by the way, we're already half done with the run! Holy Shit!!

Long Live the Musical!
Scott