Chapter 30

Carol and I got to the theatre, and for the last time, she put on her black wig and olive-skin makeup, while I got into my first outfit, and got fitted with my body mike. I realized I was going to need a hairline mike for ‘Beauty’, due to the constant changing from Gaston to the Beast, and back.

A hairline mike is a microphone that is literally ‘put in your hair’, with the pickup taped to your back, and is typically used on Broadway, but they’re three times more expensive then the earpiece mikes most theatre groups use. Maybe the ‘Jeff connection’ can help me out there.

Speaking of Jeff, I just saw him walk in the theatre and he was making a beeline straight to me. This might not be good. I quickly got very nervous, until he was about five feet from me and broke into a rather interesting smile.

“Get your wife out here, I’ve got news,” said Jeff, smirking big time.

I yelled, “CAROL, get your beautiful butt out here. Mr. Calhoun has some news for us.”

My yelling got Marcus and a few of the other actors, to come around and listen. A number of them were going to be in ‘Brides’ or ‘Beauty’, so I was hoping, that this was news that all of them could hear. Finally Carol came up next to me, looking rather nervous.

“This is great news, so everybody take a breath,” Jeff said, “As you already know, the city has let both SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS as well as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST re-locate to the Santa Fe Convention Center Stage. Well, due to the overwhelming ticket sales ‘Brides’ will run a 4^th Weekend, which will push ‘Beauty’ to start a week later than originally expected.”

“And,” I said, knowingly.

“And, the first two weekends of the ‘Brides’ run are sold-out, the third weekend is more than half sold, and sales started this morning for the additional 4^th week.”

“And,” I said again, knowingly.

“They’ve already decided that ‘Beauty’ will need to have a 4^th weekend as well, the pre-sales for it have already sold out Opening Night.”

One last time I said, “And,” this time getting some laughs from the crowd of people surrounding us that had been growing.

“Your intuition has been right-on, Randall. I hope the little woman and you will be ready ... a trip to the George Gershwin Theatre, that holds 1,935 people in New York where our rehearsals and performances for the Broadway Revival of ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ will be next year. That will happen start three weeks after you close ‘Beauty’”

There was applause from all around us. Carol and I were ecstatic. I picked her up and gave her a great big kiss. After putting her down, Marcus and I hugged, with me saying, “Those shoulders look mighty broad, I hope they’re ready for me, Marcus?”

“Can you believe it, I haven’t even had my read-thru for ‘Beauty’ yet and our opening night is sold-out, already,” I said, to snickers from all around.

“That’s why I negotiated your rehearsals to not start for three weeks, in case there is an additional weekend added to the run.”

“Five weekends, at the SFCCS, that’s amazing? Has anything ever run that long on that stage?”

“From what I have heard, No,” Jeff said breaking into as big a smile as I’ve seen on the man’s face.

“I’ll alert the cast through Facebook, Jeff.”

“Yeah, Randall, make sure Hank knows how much time he has to commit to the part,” Jeff said, with a delicious grin on his face.

With the energy of the news, everybody was wired, and the Final Performance of WEST SIDE STORY was bloody fantastic. The dancing was magnificent, the supporting characters were spot on, and my Carol was better than she was on Opening Night, and that’s saying something.

She got seven bouquets of flowers, and a big kiss from me, while we were still on stage. There was applause and whistles, like I never heard before. She and I gave applause to our director, Marcus, who came out on stage and gave a bow to the audience. The moment the main curtain closed, there was a whoop from everybody.

I said, “Reminder, if you’re in ‘Beauty’, read-thru is Wednesday, here at 6pm. Nightly rehearsals start the following Monday, at 4pm on the SFCCS stage, while ‘Brides’ rehearsals will be continuing, starting at 7pm. Any questions? Yes, you in the back.”

“Will your clone be ready in time?” a disembodied voice asked. Everyone chuckled at that.

I said, “No, unfortunately, Dolly the sheep refused to give up any more DNA.” That evoked a great deal of laughter.

“Cast Party on Stage in the O’Shaughnessy Theatre in 30 minutes. Turn in your mikes and leave your costumes in the dressing rooms; on hangers this time, people. Food and Drink are being provided ... Be Responsible,” Marcus yelled.

I walked up to Marcus and said, “Isn’t that amazing about ticket sales? Selling out a house of 2,600 people is hard enough for one night, but 12 nights, what is that, 30,000 people at $45 a head ... that’s $1,350,000 in revenue, which doesn’t even count the concessions. Holy Crap! Marcus, does the director get a percentage of the gross?”

“You know better than that, Randall ... still that’s gonna to be quite the double, for the two of you, both ‘Brides’ and ‘Beauty’, think you can survive it?”

“My endorphins and those Big Blue Eyes, right there -- are gonna get me through it,” Carol had just turned around when I said that. Marcus and I cut up a little, a smile formed on Carol’s lips. She just shook her head at us.

After giving our thanks to the folks who came backstage to see us, and changing and releasing the mane of red hair down her back, Carol and I walked hand in hand over to the O’Shaughnessy Theatre.