once, once more, with feeling

As I watched the musical tonight, on Comet TV, I compared it to the play on Sunday.

Held at the Trustees Theatre, that had been the first production of the year by the Savannah Repertory Theatre.

I had been a bit shocked at the cost - thirty-five bucks for a discounted senior ticket! - but I understood that they had chosen to hold it in a venue with 1200-plus seats.

I think they were hoping that a lot of tourists would choose to come as part of their Saint Patrick's Day celebrations.

I hope that worked out for them.

I, like a lot of Savannahians, waited until Sunday, when the partying crowd would have left and the parking would be free.

Ray Ellis and Randy Cannady and Beth Balance, fellow Asburians, were there.

So were Thomas and Danielle Houston, more of the thespians in town, as well as Travis Spangenburger and Erin Muller and Monica McDermott.

The fellow actors always do try to come out and support the other troupes, as long as they aren't already in a competing production that day.

For competing they certainly are, competing for those entertainment budget dollars, thinking that maybe folks had held onto them during the pandemic...

but knowing those monies had gone to streaming services, the same online platforms that they themselves had subscribed to for films and staged shows.

 

I was one of the last ones through the door.

That's because I knew the venue well and wanted to let all the strangers find their seats and get settled for this general admittance show.

Sure enough, I easily found a safe space up front, donning my mask just in case.

There were about five hundred people there.

I was in the 8th row, I think, last seat by the wall, with a clear view of the stage.

At first, I thought they'd started early...

but, no, they were jamming, giving an impromptu concert as folks came in.

They could have been an Irish band with the Savannah Music Festival, which began this week.

Very nice!

Then, "Once" began, with 'Guy' playing a melancholy tune on a guitar about the one that got away, hoping for money from passersby.

He gets more advice to add some words from 'Girl', a woman whose favorite line is "I'm always serious, I'm Czech."

(smile!)

I do believe that's my favorite part of the play.

Anyway, she and her family (mother, daughter, possible siblings) have come to Dublin hoping for a better life.

Her dream is to win the lottery so she can buy the piano in the bar she works at.

Meanwhile, her Hoover no longer sucks; but she's in luck, as 'Guy' is a vacuum cleaner fixer.

What a great coincidence!

(smile!)

The play had been billed as a musical...

and I would have liked to say it was one, as that seems to be the consensus...

however, a musical is not what it was.

As I told Beth at the WNS tonight, when she came over to our table specifically to ask what I thought about it, I replied that it was a concert play, but not a musical.

The people in it were performing songs they were recording for an album, not just bursting out in song and dance.

Any dances were in a bar setting to the music being played, not spontaneous actions in response to emotions.

She agreed, adding that she had not really cared for it.

I have to wonder if she might have liked it better if the songs had been presented in the same order as they had been in the film that inspired the play.

Perhaps she didn't like the Irish music?

I don't know, as she left the table soon after her query of me.

I do know this: I have no plans to see SavRepTh's version of "The 39 Steps", as I know from the Armstrong Masquers' production that the play has pretty much nothing in common with the Hitchcock film, being rather a send-up of it.

I'll funnel that money toward the end of month play from SavChTh.

That works!

(smile!)

Okay, the mercials have run their course.

Back I go to land of vampires and demons, "Once More, With Feeling"...

and quite gladly!!!

That is a true musical, with folks randomly breaking out in song and dance!!!

I do believe I still have a little crush on Spike...

I mean, James Marsters...

well, as long as he dresses like that rambunctious fellow!

Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I danced with him at Dragon*Con in 2008?

Remind me and I'll tell you about it sometime.

I still have the photo of me with him on the fridge.

Good times!

(smile!)