Why Am I Feeling So Good?

The first weekend of the show is over and we are off and running! We had such a great opening! The show had been going well in rehearsal -- very well -- but the Final Dress Rehearsal on Weds. night just suddenly exploded with energy and emotion and my favorite thing of all... wait for it, wait for it... Truth.

Overnight, the show went from really good to Totally Fucking Amazing. Everybody in the cast is doing such a strong job, and poor Jeff Wright, who literally only gets to leave the stage at intermission, is just On Fire for two hours and fifteen minutes every night, both in terms of energy and joy, but also in the depth of his acting. I just can't imagine a better Rob.

And everybody who's seen the show just seems to fall in love with it. My parents, who I thought would enjoy it but wouldn't really relate to it, likewise fell in love with the show and with Jeff and Kimi and Aaron. Which makes me think maybe the show's target audience isn't an narrow as I thought it would be... Which also means we're gonna get boffo word-of-mouth for this show of ours... Opening Night brought us an almost full house and a rousing standing ovation. What more could we want?

We got a slightly odd but very nice review in the Post-Dispatch today, and the other reviews will be rolling in over the next week or so.

And lest we forget, we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Tom Kitt, Amanda Green, and David Lindsay-Abaire for creating this beautiful, quirky piece of work, and for allowing us the first production after Broadway.

I could not be prouder of this show. It's an absolute joy to watch every night. And I'm extremely grateful to this wonderful cast. People kept saying to me after performances this weekend that every single performer in the show was "so perfect" for their part, and it's really true. We didn't have the biggest turn-out at auditions, which sometimes scares me (and in fact scared me this time as well -- this show has really specific casting requirements), but holy shit, did it turn out great! It's like every single actor was just born to play these roles -- Jeff, Kimi, Aaron, Zak, Margeau, Nikki, Robb, Todd (as a frighteningly authentic Springsteen), and everyone! We're often very lucky about finding the right people for our shows, against seemingly gigantic odds sometimes, but we really hit the Big Fucking Actor Jackpot this time.

I love us!

Long Live the Musical!
Scott