#1
Posted: 9/6/04 at 1:16am
Wow. It's been gone for 6 hours now, and I'm still at a huge loss for words. I still don't know what to say, but perhaps posting my thoughts will help me. I went out for a little while to clear my head and get my mind off of this. It worked, but now I find myself back here with this sense of impending doom (similar to that which I felt late last night) and a feeling like I need to get a bunch of things out. I just don't know where to begin; that said, this may be rather incoherent. Please bear with me.
I guess I'll start by "reviewing" the only thing that was new for me today: Deborah Cox. I tried to go into this open, because I was a devoted fan of the show. I'm happy to say that I was very impressed. Her acting wasn't perfect, but she was decent. Her chemistry with Adam nowhere near rivaled what he had with some other Aidas, but it was there. Her vocals on the other hand were really great. I think she and Adam sounded wonderful together. Their voices really blended VERY well.
Everything today was right on. All of the actors, the entire ensemble. The show as a whole was simply the best I have ever, ever seen it. You could tell that everyone up there was putting everything they had into really rising to the occasion tonight. It was a beautiful thing... really something else. The audience was incredible. You could tell that most of the people there were devoted fans of the show, and they were so wonderfully enthusiastic. It helped me a lot to see that the show was at least getting a good sendoff. I just keep thinking that come Tuesday, it's still going to be there.
The whole thing was really emotional for me... the entire time I was there, I kept flashing back to four years ago, on Adam Pascal's 30th birthday. It was the first time I had really fallen in love with a show, and now I was here to see it close... to say one true, final goodbye. I remember marking my calendar for this day months ago with no intention of actually going, and now here I was. I'm at the point where I know the entire show by heart - all of the dialogue and all of the music, down to every last beat of ever drum, but I tried to take in everything as if for the first time. I made a point to observe every single little nuance of the show: to look up at the lights, to commit the sets to memory and just to listen. There would be certain point where I'd think to myself "Oh no. This is the last time ____," but that wasn't a good wayt to approach it. I started to cry at the end of Act I, but was then able to get through most of Act II alright. I think I had to bascially shut down my emotions... I guess it seemed that at least that way, it wouldn't hurt so much. I think it hit me that is was really over when I saw all of the cameras flashing at the end. I cried at the final curtain call, and during the producer's speech at the end. It was so surreal to me to be there, and I really felt honored to be there. I really was speechless. I just stared into space for a pretty good amount of time, silent.
After the show, the stagedoor was crazy. There were TV cameras and police officers and an enormous crowd. Adam had been running late going in (he didn't come until 10 after 2) so he couldn't sign. I did meet Eric before the show, and Adam, Deborah and Cheyenne after, but you couldn't really talk to them at all. They were swamped. They all signed my big AIDA book, though.
Undiscovered, QM, TGITF and I went out to get Chinese food after, and we had a really great time. We spent a few minutes gazing at the AIDA billboards and such from across the street, feeling like we should be making speeches or something. At that point, I was still pretty much devoid of emotion and my head was basically spinning. It hadn't hit me yet - it did when I got home. I was on the phone with my mom and then with TM Cara telling them all about it, and I just started to cry. A lot. It's kind of silly to me that I'm putting myself through all of this over a musical, but I'd hope that some of you understand.
I'm ranting - I know I'll have more deep thoughts at some point, but I'm going to stop for now......
AIDA, I'll never forget you. Thanks for all of the wonderful memories.
<3
Emcee
A work of art is an invitation to love.
I guess I'll start by "reviewing" the only thing that was new for me today: Deborah Cox. I tried to go into this open, because I was a devoted fan of the show. I'm happy to say that I was very impressed. Her acting wasn't perfect, but she was decent. Her chemistry with Adam nowhere near rivaled what he had with some other Aidas, but it was there. Her vocals on the other hand were really great. I think she and Adam sounded wonderful together. Their voices really blended VERY well.
Everything today was right on. All of the actors, the entire ensemble. The show as a whole was simply the best I have ever, ever seen it. You could tell that everyone up there was putting everything they had into really rising to the occasion tonight. It was a beautiful thing... really something else. The audience was incredible. You could tell that most of the people there were devoted fans of the show, and they were so wonderfully enthusiastic. It helped me a lot to see that the show was at least getting a good sendoff. I just keep thinking that come Tuesday, it's still going to be there.
The whole thing was really emotional for me... the entire time I was there, I kept flashing back to four years ago, on Adam Pascal's 30th birthday. It was the first time I had really fallen in love with a show, and now I was here to see it close... to say one true, final goodbye. I remember marking my calendar for this day months ago with no intention of actually going, and now here I was. I'm at the point where I know the entire show by heart - all of the dialogue and all of the music, down to every last beat of ever drum, but I tried to take in everything as if for the first time. I made a point to observe every single little nuance of the show: to look up at the lights, to commit the sets to memory and just to listen. There would be certain point where I'd think to myself "Oh no. This is the last time ____," but that wasn't a good wayt to approach it. I started to cry at the end of Act I, but was then able to get through most of Act II alright. I think I had to bascially shut down my emotions... I guess it seemed that at least that way, it wouldn't hurt so much. I think it hit me that is was really over when I saw all of the cameras flashing at the end. I cried at the final curtain call, and during the producer's speech at the end. It was so surreal to me to be there, and I really felt honored to be there. I really was speechless. I just stared into space for a pretty good amount of time, silent.
After the show, the stagedoor was crazy. There were TV cameras and police officers and an enormous crowd. Adam had been running late going in (he didn't come until 10 after 2) so he couldn't sign. I did meet Eric before the show, and Adam, Deborah and Cheyenne after, but you couldn't really talk to them at all. They were swamped. They all signed my big AIDA book, though.
Undiscovered, QM, TGITF and I went out to get Chinese food after, and we had a really great time. We spent a few minutes gazing at the AIDA billboards and such from across the street, feeling like we should be making speeches or something. At that point, I was still pretty much devoid of emotion and my head was basically spinning. It hadn't hit me yet - it did when I got home. I was on the phone with my mom and then with TM Cara telling them all about it, and I just started to cry. A lot. It's kind of silly to me that I'm putting myself through all of this over a musical, but I'd hope that some of you understand.
I'm ranting - I know I'll have more deep thoughts at some point, but I'm going to stop for now......
AIDA, I'll never forget you. Thanks for all of the wonderful memories.
<3
Emcee
Updated On: 9/6/04 at 01:16 AM
