WEDNESDAY MORNING, 2:30 AM

It's 2:30 am, and here I sit: traces of make up on my face, a whiff of hairspray in my ponytail, my aching feet propped up on the desk.  But there's no way to even think about going to bed until i share the experiences of this night with you, my loyal blog readers.

Tonight we did our 6th show, three more to go; this one was in Ra'anana.  The performance was sold out, and the energy of a full house helped push us to our best show yet.  When the final curtain closed, a fellow cast member turned to me and whispered - "the show sailed tonight".  And so it did.  

The before-curtain experiences weren't exactly auspicious - Ra'anana celebrated Purim today, and our bus got tied up in traffic.  Then we discovered that we were quite close to the theater - but it was on the opposite side of multiple police barricades!  One of our veteran members (thank you, Bob) hopped off the bus and managed to sweet talk the cops into letting us through.  We arrived to find enough dressing room space for about one third of the cast; we crowded in together like passengers on the Sunday morning bus, glad that this show requires virtually no off-stage costume changes.  Then we found out that due to technical difficulties, this show would not have a cat.  Wahhhhh!  (confused?  see the blog post from March 1)  Then we discovered that our flautist was stuck on a train!!  We didn't know it at the time, but she wouldn't arrive until 20 minutes into the first act.  But you all know what we say:  the show must go on.  And so it did.

SNEAK PREVIEW HERE!!

And what a show it was!  We could hear the audience laughing out loud at the funny bits, we could hear warm applause for the songs, we could hear the hush and the stillness at the dramatic peaks. 

Dramatic peaks: not like this

 We did not hear, but were told afterwards, that the audience hummed and sang along with the most popular songs.  In the end, we heard the sweetest sound of all: cheers, and shouts, and calls of bravo, waves of applause as chorus members and each principal player come out to take a bow.  What a night!  "I don't want to leave here, ever" wailed one of our new members, as the curtain finally closed.  "It's ok, sweetie" someone consoled her. "On Thursday we'll be in Haifa, and wait til you see the show we put on for THEM!!!"  

Haifa is usually our very best audience, and they usually bring out the best in us in return.  Which is not to say that we don't LOVE performing in our home theater, that performing in the Jerusalem Theater isn't a thrilling experience, or that we don't appreciate every person in every audience in every venue.  But Haifa......  Even in the old days, before Highway Six cut hours off of our travel time, we looked forward to that trip, knowing the reception that awaited us.

And Haifa is really really NORTH, compared to Beer Sheva

We'll see you Thursday, Haifa!  Nesher theater, 8 pm.  For ticket information:  Click here . We promise an unforgettable show.  And we won't forget the cat, or the flautist.  Nothing but the best for our northern-most audience!!!