My granddaughter (12-year-old 7th-grader) is performing in her very first play next weekend. I'll be going up to see it, of course...but in the process of thinking about her opening night jitters and excitement, memories of my own theatrical "career" come flooding in. Here are some of them. (I will omit things I have written about before.)
In my years as singer/performer, I did one big public solo (and several private ones for weddings and funerals), four musicals, and three plays. Anyone who knows anything about theater understands that there are superstitions...for instance, one never tells a performer "Good Luck"...because that is considered BAD luck. Instead, we wish each other, "Break a leg!" See what I mean?
My first big public solo was at my high school's spring concert my sophomore year. I had to audition for that in a school population of probably 3,400 students, so it was a big deal to get a solo spot. I had to provide my own accompanist (which my voice teacher provided--all we had to do was pay him), and the whole experience went well. I was told that the music director listened to my solo and commented, "Such breath control!" And I was very, very proud. My voice teacher was in the audience. Prior to the performance, she gave me a pin...a clover for luck. Thereafter, I wore it under my costumes. (Superstition!) I think I still have that pin.
Thereafter, I had many performances as a singer and actress. Opening night was always on a Friday after school. I had to be at school early in the evening for make-up, etc., and needed to eat something that would stick with me all night. Before the first performance, Mom offered me a plate of scrambled eggs...and it worked. I never got hungry during the whole long evening, so every performance after that, I ate scrambled eggs as my performance meal. My personal superstition.
Before any entrance on stage for any performance, I would isolate myself. I paced backstage, reviewing my lines and making sure that other people didn't break my concentration. The minute I got onstage, however, I was fine. I was on it, performing as whoever I was at the moment, and happy to be doing what I was doing. Interestingly, I missed one entrance cue because of that. One. I was prepping myself backstage but heard words coming from the other actors on stage that weren't in the script...and I realized that I'd messed up. We covered for it, and I'm not sure that the audience even knew!
At OP-RF HS, there was a sort of tradition that people close to the actors sent Western Union Telegrams to wish us the best. I wanted one of those! I talked about it enough that I think my boyfriend in Wisconsin sent one...or did I imagine that? Does Western Union even do telegrams anymore? It's a different world now.
I would love to share this stuff with Robin, but I'm not totally sure that she has been bitten by the bug yet. If I make a big deal about her play, will she just hear "blah, blah, blah"? She could very well decide not to do another play ever again. And you know what? That will be okay, too. This baby has come a LONG way since six months ago when her whole world changed. But just in case she wants to continue on her own short (but illustrious) career, I want to say:
BREAK A LEG, ROBBIE!
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