This Castle Has Gone Out Of Business
Jun. 8th, 2008 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdVegging at the local Starbucks, because when I passed by yesterday it looked like the entire shopping center was being bulldozed so I came by to take a look. This is the corner of Rengstorff and (new) Middlefield, which used to have an oriental supermarket, but that store has been empty for a while. Starbucks took over the corner unit next to the supermarket, which used to be a video rental place. On closer inspection, the supermarket is being torn down, probably to be remodeled into another one, and the tops of all the businesses in the adjoining strip mall have been taken off, either for new facing or new signage. The Starbucks is missing most of its facing, but it's open for business as are most of the strip mall businesses. It looks messy, but functional.
Last night was closing for La Mancha and it was a good show with an almost full house. Very strange audience - they laughed at most of the jokes, but they didn't hardly applaud at all after some of the songs. And they were kind of quiet compared to most of the audiences we've had. But as is typical on Saturday nights, they saved it for curtain call. When Don Q came down the stairs for his final bow, the audience stood up almost as one person. It was awesome. Being closing night, the tradition at SDG is to not bring down the curtain, but to let the applause go for as long as the audience wants, and then bring up on stage the staff & crew. I think we stood through about 3 minutes of applause before Walter gestured for them to stop, and even then it took a while to peter out. And after the ceremonies were over, they applauded again for another minute or two.
Pre-show, I had posted a "proclamation" listing jokes we would not be playing on closing night. It was well-received in lieu of actually playing those tricks. I'll post it some time soon. My "wife" for the Innkeeper scenes gave me a Spanish cookbook as a goodbye gift. The Duke gave us all a particularly gaudy bottle of Sangria. And there was a card from Aldonza and somewhere there is also a card from the director, but he couldn't find it in his stash. And we signed cards for all the staff, and also signed the show banner which was taken down from the lobby. Edward Kwong delivered the official performance and publicity photos after the show last night, I'll post some of the ones of me on my web site. He did a lovely composite with a cast photo in the center surrounded by everyone's head shots, which I'll frame and hang in my office.
After we got out of costume, it was time to strike the set. Well, actually the time to strike the set was supposed to be today, but the producer decided he would hold us captive after the show instead. They made this announcement early in the run of the show, if not before, so it wasn't a surprise, but that didn't make it any less nasty. I was there till 1 am, at which point the stage was bare, even including the spike marks, and all that was left was trucking things to the warehouses and unloading them, which I left to people younger and more energetic than myself.
I won't be going to the cast party tonight for a number of reasons:
I tried real hard to sleep in this morning, but only made it to 9 am, went online and ordered vacuum cleaner bags and answered some LJ and Facebook items. At 10:30 I took myself to the local Great Clips and had my first haircut in 4 months. The verdict is I no longer look like Santa. It feels good, too. I'd never had my hair so long in the back. The beard has been grown out that much a few times before, though. I also stopped in at Piazzi's on the other side of the shopping center and snagged their last 5 82% Scharffen-Bergers.
And now I'll close because it's lunchtime & I need to use the loo.
Last night was closing for La Mancha and it was a good show with an almost full house. Very strange audience - they laughed at most of the jokes, but they didn't hardly applaud at all after some of the songs. And they were kind of quiet compared to most of the audiences we've had. But as is typical on Saturday nights, they saved it for curtain call. When Don Q came down the stairs for his final bow, the audience stood up almost as one person. It was awesome. Being closing night, the tradition at SDG is to not bring down the curtain, but to let the applause go for as long as the audience wants, and then bring up on stage the staff & crew. I think we stood through about 3 minutes of applause before Walter gestured for them to stop, and even then it took a while to peter out. And after the ceremonies were over, they applauded again for another minute or two.
Pre-show, I had posted a "proclamation" listing jokes we would not be playing on closing night. It was well-received in lieu of actually playing those tricks. I'll post it some time soon. My "wife" for the Innkeeper scenes gave me a Spanish cookbook as a goodbye gift. The Duke gave us all a particularly gaudy bottle of Sangria. And there was a card from Aldonza and somewhere there is also a card from the director, but he couldn't find it in his stash. And we signed cards for all the staff, and also signed the show banner which was taken down from the lobby. Edward Kwong delivered the official performance and publicity photos after the show last night, I'll post some of the ones of me on my web site. He did a lovely composite with a cast photo in the center surrounded by everyone's head shots, which I'll frame and hang in my office.
After we got out of costume, it was time to strike the set. Well, actually the time to strike the set was supposed to be today, but the producer decided he would hold us captive after the show instead. They made this announcement early in the run of the show, if not before, so it wasn't a surprise, but that didn't make it any less nasty. I was there till 1 am, at which point the stage was bare, even including the spike marks, and all that was left was trucking things to the warehouses and unloading them, which I left to people younger and more energetic than myself.
I won't be going to the cast party tonight for a number of reasons:
- It is being held in a sleazy part of downtown San Jose, instead of Saratoga.
- Not a nice way to thank Saratoga for hosting us in the city theater
- The welcome dinner was held at this place, and I was not impressed.
- They are charging $10 a head
- (WTF? We worked for FREE to earn SDG $25 a head x 280 heads x 10 shows plus two benefits and they won't spring for $10 for each of us? That's Just Plain Rude™)
- The time to have a cast party is after strike. The time to have strike is the morning after the show.
I tried real hard to sleep in this morning, but only made it to 9 am, went online and ordered vacuum cleaner bags and answered some LJ and Facebook items. At 10:30 I took myself to the local Great Clips and had my first haircut in 4 months. The verdict is I no longer look like Santa. It feels good, too. I'd never had my hair so long in the back. The beard has been grown out that much a few times before, though. I also stopped in at Piazzi's on the other side of the shopping center and snagged their last 5 82% Scharffen-Bergers.
And now I'll close because it's lunchtime & I need to use the loo.
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