March 24, 1999
'A Chorus Line' curtain rises opening night
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a five part series following the Old Town Playhouse's production of "A Chorus Line" from casting to final curtain call.
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
The curtain is about to open on the Old Town Playhouse's production of the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line" and producer Chris Wendel is slightly concerned. After all it is few minutes before 8 o'clock and actor Glenn Rau has yet to get sick.
"Last night (dress rehearsal) he threw up in between numbers, but tonight for some reason he's O.K. and that's worrying me a little bit," said the tuxedo-clad Wendel, glancing up at a wall clock in the "green room" area.
Upset stomachs, quirky superstitions and rituals - they are just a part of what makes opening night memorable this Friday evening for those waiting to take center stage in the Traverse City West Senior High School auditorium.
For director, Kris Hains, opening night is a mixed feeling of relief with a slight twinge of anxiety - but no nausea.
"Tonight my job is over, so I get to sit back and watch. I take so much pleasure in seeing what started out as 40 individual performers now become one performance. It makes all the sleepless nights worthwhile," Hains said.
Backstage, however, there was little room to sit down as dancers stretched their leg muscles and singers loosened their vocal chords. Out in the hallway area, some performers swapped jokes while others sought silence as they slipped into character.
While some might deny suffering from opening night jitters, Jennifer Archibald admits she gets a case of the butterflies - after the final curtain call.
"It's the strangest thing but I get nervous afterwards. Before I'm just so excited to get out on stage and then, after it's over, I analyze everything, 'How did I do on that?' 'Did I do this right?,'" said the actress who plays the part of "Sheila," as she steadily traced her eyelid with an eyeliner pencil. "That's when I get nervous."
Others, like Meredith Noller, expressed more immediate concerns. While she had a small role as a dancer, the first time OTP performer said her worst fear was making a colossally bad impression.
"My plan if I do any big wipe out is just to roll over to the side and out of the way," said the West High School pompom coach. "I always tell the girls, if you fall, lay down and don't get up."
Getting up for a show physically and emotionally, however, is not always about staying on your feet. Sometimes it's just keeping things down. For Hains, a past bout with the stomach flu called for some timely exit scenes. "I had to get my cues in sync with my trips to the rest room," she noted.
Sometimes preparing for opening night is as much what you say - or for some, what you shouldn't say. Some believe it is bad luck to say good luck. Thus was coined the saying, 'break a leg'; although even that makes some cringe.
"I don't like anyone to tell me to break a leg because I'm the kind of guy that would," said Chris Herbert, who performs the tap dance/ song number, "I Can Do That."
Another verbal no-no is uttering the word "Macbeth" - Shakespeare's tragic Scottish general - while in the theater. Many, like Hains, refer to it as simply the "M" word. "I've never said it in the theater. I think you're suppose to run around the theater three times if you do say it," noted Hains, who also eats the same type of dinner every night during the entire run of a production.
In the end, however, sour stomachs, Shakespearean superstitions and dining rituals matter little when the curtain rises and the stage lights up. Although that doesn't mean those butterflies suddenly stop fluttering.
"It's like giving up a baby for adoption after 36 hours of labor. You want to hang on to it a little longer, so you're a little bit hesitant to let it go," said Hains, before taking her seat next to the auditorium doors.
"But they are so ready to perform for an audience that I'm ready to step back and just watch."