My laptop has been between repairs for a few weeks, and it’s kept me from blogging about my time rehearsing “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure”. That, a confidentiality agreement, respect for the director’s wishes, and a love of surprise. But Tuesday night was our preview, tomorrow night is our opening night, and I feel like blogging about it.
I have itching to talk about it and share experiences from it with friends. I’m going to wait until after opening weekend before sharing anything spoilery. Still, I have to talk about how great Tuesday night was.
I was wearing my first costume for the show, ready and waiting. Well, not waiting. I was so excited that preview night had finally come. I was happy for the cast and crew in finally getting to share our awesome show with everyone. I was elated. In general. I was walking around too happy and eager to be nervous or anxious that I was about to perform in the most fast-paced, specifically blocked, arena-audienced, dance-number-infused show I’ve ever been in. Still, I forced myself to sit and calm down. So, I take a spare seat on a very comfortable couch that just happens to be facing the largest of our backstage monitors. I find myself relaxing and watching television, and what I’m watching is the opening number for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure”. I’m watching the show. But I’m also in the show. This is surreal. This is awesome! This show is so awesome! I had the unique pleasure of watching the highly anticipated premiere of a show that I have an absurd love for, while also knowing that in mere moments I get to go out and be a part of that show.
The incredibly spectacular and perfect opening number ends, so I get up and do last looks before making my way to the stage. Now I’m on stage. I’m concealed in shadow, my head is down hiding the audience from me, I’m just feeling the energy. It’s great. Suddenly I hear the entrance theme for Bill and Ted. And thank the director that I’m blocked to do so; I turn my head, look up, and above me is a smoking phone booth, out of which step Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan. I can hardly contain my excitement. The audience is roaring, and I just want to roar with them. However, grinning from ear to ear is perfectly acceptable for me to do onstage, and I am. Right now I’m the fanboy I always have been, except now I just happen to have a pretty cool seat onstage. They come down to the stage, strolling around some of us characters, but Ted (the role I’ve always been after) turns to me and gives me a look that says “oh hey, it’s you!” I give the look back, as is perfectly in character. So that’s the moment I switch from being Kevin Allen (in a costume) to the character whose costume I’m wearing.
After that I stayed in character. I still am a professional after all.
The shows were great. We had three magnificent crowds of friends, peers, and well-wishers. They energy was more than we asked for, the response was so much more than we had hoped for. It was outstanding. The shows themselves weren’t perfect, as is to be expected. Technically we are still rehearsing. This is just the run through that incorporates the audience, the last element of the production, and the one that will change things the most. And due to the oh so unique and specific nature of this theme park stage production, we were still new to a lot of these show elements. So of course not everything went smoothly. I myself fell victim to some technical cues being missed, faulted with one of my quick changes, smacked my head on stone steps, and was almost engulfed in fire. And that was all in the second show. Each show had it’s on little bumps, and there were some things which repeated for all three. I messed up my… shall we call it, combat demonstration… in all three of the shows despite having little issues with it in rehearsal. But that’s just how it is. So none of the shows were perfect, but they were still amazing.
Even so, even through technical hiccups or fumbled stage directions, we were making adjustments that made the show even better. Some great moments came out of what should have been some bad ones. And then we take a step back and say, why didn’t we do that the first time! There were so many new moments that made the show crazy awesome. By the end of the third show, when we fixed our little mess-ups and those new discoveries were incorporated in, the show felt flawless. It wasn’t. But it sure felt like it! I know it was for me, I was having the time of my life!
Back to the first show for a moment. My first show. My first, long awaited performance in the ‘Bill & Ted show’. I got to watch the opening number as Kevin Allen, the fan. I performed in the show as Kevin Allen, the actor. The book portion of the show had wrapped. Then came the closing number. I rushed backstage for my last quick change, and someone had moved the wig for the final character I played. I’m wearing his ratty, grunge-era jeans, a t-shirt, suspenders, and hi-top Converse All-Stars. My cue finally comes, the wig is nowhere to be found, so I go out anyway. I ran out, hit my mark, and started rocking out. Okay, one spoiler, the final number is a rock anthem. So I went out there and did everything as rehearsed, but to me, I was just rocking out. And I happened to be wearing outfit that wasn’t mine, but is something I’d go to a concert in. (I used to wear suspenders every once in a while.) So for that closing number, I was Kevin Allen, the rocker. And all I was doing was rocking out on stage with Bill and Ted. It was the perfect and totally unexpected moment that every fanboy dreams of. After years of being a fan and wanting to hang out with the band, they pull me on stage and let me rock out with them. It was most surreal. And way awesome. And still I was having too much fun to notice. I was too busy having the time of my life.
When we all finally came down from our euphoria, and gathered for notes, cuz there were notes, we were still all very happy. The show was a success. The audience loved it. The technical crew made magic. The costuming crew performed miracles. The cast got cheers. The writer got laughs. The choreographer blew the roof off. The director put on one hell of a show. And the producers made it possible. We all were so happy for each other, and so proud of each other. I can’t say much about the show yet, but I can say this: I am so fortunate to get to work with such excellent teams of outstanding individuals who came together to pull off an unbelievable show. I kept saying if there was ever a year for me to finally be part of the show, I’m glad it’s this one. At first I said that because of the characters and the music were right up my alley. But now I’m saying because I got to work with so many talented people who believed in me when I showed up, supported me when I slipped, and praised me when I pulled it off. I am so very fortunate to be doing what I love with these people. The show really is outstanding, and it’s because of all the people involved. We have been most excellent to each other, and now we get to party on.
I was wearing my first costume for the show, ready and waiting. Well, not waiting. I was so excited that preview night had finally come. I was happy for the cast and crew in finally getting to share our awesome show with everyone. I was elated. In general. I was walking around too happy and eager to be nervous or anxious that I was about to perform in the most fast-paced, specifically blocked, arena-audienced, dance-number-infused show I’ve ever been in. Still, I forced myself to sit and calm down. So, I take a spare seat on a very comfortable couch that just happens to be facing the largest of our backstage monitors. I find myself relaxing and watching television, and what I’m watching is the opening number for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure”. I’m watching the show. But I’m also in the show. This is surreal. This is awesome! This show is so awesome! I had the unique pleasure of watching the highly anticipated premiere of a show that I have an absurd love for, while also knowing that in mere moments I get to go out and be a part of that show.
The incredibly spectacular and perfect opening number ends, so I get up and do last looks before making my way to the stage. Now I’m on stage. I’m concealed in shadow, my head is down hiding the audience from me, I’m just feeling the energy. It’s great. Suddenly I hear the entrance theme for Bill and Ted. And thank the director that I’m blocked to do so; I turn my head, look up, and above me is a smoking phone booth, out of which step Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan. I can hardly contain my excitement. The audience is roaring, and I just want to roar with them. However, grinning from ear to ear is perfectly acceptable for me to do onstage, and I am. Right now I’m the fanboy I always have been, except now I just happen to have a pretty cool seat onstage. They come down to the stage, strolling around some of us characters, but Ted (the role I’ve always been after) turns to me and gives me a look that says “oh hey, it’s you!” I give the look back, as is perfectly in character. So that’s the moment I switch from being Kevin Allen (in a costume) to the character whose costume I’m wearing.
After that I stayed in character. I still am a professional after all.
The shows were great. We had three magnificent crowds of friends, peers, and well-wishers. They energy was more than we asked for, the response was so much more than we had hoped for. It was outstanding. The shows themselves weren’t perfect, as is to be expected. Technically we are still rehearsing. This is just the run through that incorporates the audience, the last element of the production, and the one that will change things the most. And due to the oh so unique and specific nature of this theme park stage production, we were still new to a lot of these show elements. So of course not everything went smoothly. I myself fell victim to some technical cues being missed, faulted with one of my quick changes, smacked my head on stone steps, and was almost engulfed in fire. And that was all in the second show. Each show had it’s on little bumps, and there were some things which repeated for all three. I messed up my… shall we call it, combat demonstration… in all three of the shows despite having little issues with it in rehearsal. But that’s just how it is. So none of the shows were perfect, but they were still amazing.
Even so, even through technical hiccups or fumbled stage directions, we were making adjustments that made the show even better. Some great moments came out of what should have been some bad ones. And then we take a step back and say, why didn’t we do that the first time! There were so many new moments that made the show crazy awesome. By the end of the third show, when we fixed our little mess-ups and those new discoveries were incorporated in, the show felt flawless. It wasn’t. But it sure felt like it! I know it was for me, I was having the time of my life!
Back to the first show for a moment. My first show. My first, long awaited performance in the ‘Bill & Ted show’. I got to watch the opening number as Kevin Allen, the fan. I performed in the show as Kevin Allen, the actor. The book portion of the show had wrapped. Then came the closing number. I rushed backstage for my last quick change, and someone had moved the wig for the final character I played. I’m wearing his ratty, grunge-era jeans, a t-shirt, suspenders, and hi-top Converse All-Stars. My cue finally comes, the wig is nowhere to be found, so I go out anyway. I ran out, hit my mark, and started rocking out. Okay, one spoiler, the final number is a rock anthem. So I went out there and did everything as rehearsed, but to me, I was just rocking out. And I happened to be wearing outfit that wasn’t mine, but is something I’d go to a concert in. (I used to wear suspenders every once in a while.) So for that closing number, I was Kevin Allen, the rocker. And all I was doing was rocking out on stage with Bill and Ted. It was the perfect and totally unexpected moment that every fanboy dreams of. After years of being a fan and wanting to hang out with the band, they pull me on stage and let me rock out with them. It was most surreal. And way awesome. And still I was having too much fun to notice. I was too busy having the time of my life.
When we all finally came down from our euphoria, and gathered for notes, cuz there were notes, we were still all very happy. The show was a success. The audience loved it. The technical crew made magic. The costuming crew performed miracles. The cast got cheers. The writer got laughs. The choreographer blew the roof off. The director put on one hell of a show. And the producers made it possible. We all were so happy for each other, and so proud of each other. I can’t say much about the show yet, but I can say this: I am so fortunate to get to work with such excellent teams of outstanding individuals who came together to pull off an unbelievable show. I kept saying if there was ever a year for me to finally be part of the show, I’m glad it’s this one. At first I said that because of the characters and the music were right up my alley. But now I’m saying because I got to work with so many talented people who believed in me when I showed up, supported me when I slipped, and praised me when I pulled it off. I am so very fortunate to be doing what I love with these people. The show really is outstanding, and it’s because of all the people involved. We have been most excellent to each other, and now we get to party on.
Sorry for the lame closing line, I can’t help being a fan.
