...or every once in a while.
Fall Break is a random day off in the fall -- but just one. We all agree that the label is a bit of a misnomer, but a day off is a day off. For the first evening of Fall Break this year I went with two friends (one fellow stage manager and one actor) to see Mary Poppins in Dallas. It was not the best adaptation as Mary became unlikeable and the mother, the only character without depth in the movie, became the only character with depth in the play with the exception of Bert who was just as charming as ever. The production however is filled to the brim with what we call "flash-and-trash" -- essentially a lot of technical tricks and treats with only a fluffy plot to support it.
After the show, we went to the stage door and asked for one of the stage managers. We chatted with him for a while and asked if we could see the arrangement backstage. We mentioned that we could come to Houston and he invited us to meet them there and watch a full show from backstage.
Two weeks later, Cynthia and I ventured to Houston, stopped by my sister's, went to my nephew's t-ball game, then made our way to the Hobby Center. Both of us sat on headset the entire time and I spent the first act sitting stage left behind the stage manager who was calling the show. I looked over his shoulder at the calling book and he showed me the screens he watched from a deck of TV monitors that he used to call his cues. For the second act, Cynthia sat there while I shadowed the stage manager stage right. He took me through all the checks he has to perform and he showed me a lot of the mechanics for what happens stage right. In fact, I stood on stage (behind the nursery) during one of the songs.
It was a priceless experience, following the professionals, asking questions, and seeing what it's really like backstage (not that different than us except much more high-tech). So while the plot may not have been what I was looking for, my Mary Poppins excursion was practically perfect in every way.
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