"Aladdin" Diary #8

   Sunday was the finale for First Stage Theatre's musical Disney's Aladdin, Jr. - and what a great experience it was!

   The week started with the move to the Renaissance Theatre, as the cast, crew and a large gathering of parents helped load up the set, props and costumes at the First Stage building. It was packed into trucks and moved to the theatre, and Monday, Sept. 22 was the beginning of what's known as "Tech Week."

   That's the name for the final days of rehearsals, as the set is assembled and the assorted tech challenges are worked out, including lighting, sound (including wireless microphones), the movement of set pieces, and special effects (this show included flash pots, confetti cannons, a star curtain and several CO2 Fire Extinguishers - oh, and a flying carpet).

   The cast of 46 young actors practiced with the band for the first time, and worked out the final details of the show.

    After a few short days, the rehearsals were over and the cast offered its first performance Thursday morning to a large gathering of students from the area.

   Then Friday night they performed their first public performance - followed by three more shows, wrapping up with Sunday afternoon's final show.

   As one of the directors, I admit prejudice, but the cast did an amazing job (even overcoming some  microphone problems in one performance). They brought the story of "Aladdin" to life, entertained huge crowds of people and demonstrated the amazing amount of talent in the Tri-State.

   Kudos to the cast, the tech crew, the parents and other volunteers, and the terrific directing team that made it all happen. Theatre is a true team effort, and it takes a lot of people (and a lot of work) to make a show like this happen, and they created an amazing show.

   After Sunday's performance wrapped and the standing ovation ended, everyone went to work again, taking down the set, cleaning the dressing rooms, folding the costumes and loading it all into the trucks and moving it back to the First Stage building.

   Now the stage is quiet and the cast (and directors) are resting up - a well-earned break from two months of hard work.

   But what fun, and what great memories!

   Now, what show shall we all tackle next?