Quaint ramblings and occasional reflections of a journeying Aussie musician...

30 August 2009

Great Moments In Musical Theatre History

...yes yes, regular fans, it's been a while...I could possibly apologise for not writing as much lately but that'd be pointless...it's been summer holidays for E and we've been living it up as much as we can on some spectacular sunny days lately, days that make it worthwhile living in London, make you forget the nine-month winter ever happens! We've just lapsed into this timetable where I get home after the show about 11.30pm and we stay up until about 2, which is normally blogging time for me, oh well....

Just thought I'd share this one with you all...it's halfway through act 2, and I'm conducting tonight's show. Part of the set-up that surrounds my keyboard is a big round red light and an old-school black plastic telephone that's connected to most of the people backstage. Tonight the deputy stage manager has a malfunctioning something that's already made this red light flash in the first act. I've had dreams about this red light going off - it means that I have to talk to someone because something's wrong (bomb? psycho fan? actor with headache? could be anything!).

So we've just hit 'em with 'Dangerous', the powerhouse dance number, and now it's time to grab their hearts at three-quarter time with the power ballad, 'Earth Song'. The subdued synth-based intro begins, and the digital screen that hides the band for most of the show opens and reveals us to the stage, covered in a gentle blue wash of light with a little smoke machine work at the edges.
A solitary singer dressed in white walks to centre stage to take the spotlight and open the first verse.

And what do you think happens after that?

The red light goes off again!

It must have looked great from the stalls...a stage looking like that with a singer wailing about what we've done to the earth, and in the background a flashing pin-prick of red light with the MD madly trying to get someone's attention on a big black plastic phone.

Priceless!...