ceebeegee | Antici----------PAtion

Last night went soooooo well. We had a nice big house--not full but the center section was packed and we had spillage on the side sections. It seemed loud to me (i.e., lots of callbacks) but Duncan said it was just a few people--him (of course) and 1-2 others. I wasn't fazed but then Columbia doesn't get that much yelled at her. Poor Chris (Eddie/Dr. Scott) was terribly spooked though--he went up on a lyric during the intro to "Eddie" and was muttering backstage "those fucking guys will NOT SHUT UP, I couldn't think, I just lost it!" I said to him gently "well...that's Rocky Horror. That's expected, you can't let it get to you." I mean, what did you expect? This isn't Lear! ♪ [singsong] I warned you virgins...I tried to set up a field trip to see the movie......[/singsong] ♫

Again, Steven's performance is just weird. He's a doll, I hate to dog him but he doesn't get it. He did this patented shoutback to the audience the first time someone yelled about his no-neck (for the virgins out there, the actor who played the narrator in the movie looks as though he lacks a neck--

--and audiences have riffed endlessly and hilariously on this topic. My favorite line last night--Narrator: "There are those who say that life is an illusion..." Audience: "Like your neck!" ). Steven stops and says in this yew-go-grrl voice "lissen, this is a LIVE show and I can HEAR you and I GOT a neck." Dude, it makes you sound as though you're taking it personally. You can't respond like that--you're essentially saying NO and you can't do that, If you respond, it has to be clever and build, you have to say YES. Kelly Anne (Magenta) and I were backstage for her change when we heard him do it last night, and she muttered to me "why does he do that? It isn't funny." Later on he had another laboriously unfunny bit when he commented about having to fetch a prop. Ugh, I just want to DIRECT him out of that.

Getting there was another NJT-sponsored fucking nightmare. Again with the lines going all the way down the hall and to the escalators, again with the regular 126 line going much faster than the Willow Ave spur. (We stood still, again, for 15 minutes.) When we got into the tunnel, we just inched through it. It's a miracle I didn't crash the scooter when I finally got off the bus, I was so pissed off. I got there at 7:40--you can imagine how that made me feel. Luckily Tatum preset what she could and, again, I raced through hair, makeup and costume, and the fastest dance warm up EVER. I must've looked like a rabbit backstage, rapidly batting my legs back and forth! They ended up holding for a bit because of the weather so in the end, all was well.

Duncan, Tesse and Chris were in the audience, as was a friend of mine from work It was so exciting having an audience finally, and they seemed to LOVE it! I even got applause on my tap solo! EEEEEEEHHHHH!!!! My very own applause! Am I a rock star or what?! The audience really seemed to enjoy themselves--at the risk of sounding cheesy, there was a lot of love out there, which is CRUCIAL for this show. If they don't come in wanting to have a good time, we're fucked 'cause Lord knows, the book is a joke!

Afterward some of us went out to get a quick drink--we went to the slightly-sketch-looking place on 8th St. that's a couple of blocks away from the theater. I walked in and said "oh, a honky-tonk!" It's rare to see them this far north!

Off to do two shows. "Touch-a Touch-a Touch-me" will be interesting tonight!