The End & The Beginning

... of the play, at least. Yes, I just finished the first performance of, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". It was for a bunch of children from... a school that I don't know the name of, at the moment. So really, it was kind of like another dress-rehearsal, which was helpful, because we were a bit discombobulated . Props missing, lines forgotten, missing characters, etc. etc. The usual stuff.

I didn't appear til the end of the first act, but I was told that the beginning looked really fantastic. Though, some of the cast members were simply shaking before they went on, but they did great, in my opinion. For a few of them, it was the first play they had been in, so it was a sort-of scary-fun for them. But I think we all enjoyed it and we all had fun.

I somehow managed to remember my lines, but (and I a not saying this judgmentally) quite a bit of improv. was required for *certain* parts. Actually, this was funny, let me tell you; This is how it was supposed to go: The Pevensies & Beavers are traveling down the aisle towards the stage. suddenly, we hear jingling bells! "Oh my! The witch!" we say, and then hide. *Spoiler* Then Mr. Beaver *ahem, me* goes to see who it is, and lo and behold, it isn't the witch but Father Christmas!! Lovely scene, right?

Well today, we traveled down the aisle, reached the stage and-- no bells. We waited a sec, then I said, "Do you hear those bells? HIDE!!" No matter that the audience couldn't hear the bells I was talking about. Eek. But wait, I'm not done yet! *grins mischievously* Our Father Christmas (who was also our director, FYI) had a bit of trouble getting into costume. He was putting it on as he walked behind the set! So he's going "Ho ho ho!" and all that behind the stage (and then he's supposed to walk into view). That's my cue to say to the Pevensies, "Oh, come out! It's not her! You'll not believe who it is!" So I said it, they came rushing out of their hiding place, and-- Father Christmas didn't appear. So we wait a minute, and he's still not there! "Hm, I wonder where he got to!" was my brilliant improvisational idea.

But really, all things considered, it went well. We had a ball! We have another show tonight, and one more tomorrow. (Thus, as the title of the post says, "The End (Of the first play) & the Beginning (of the rest)

Wish me broken limbs!!