From Nappin' to Clappin': the making of a musical

The first time a show is performed for an audience is always stressful.

Even more stressful if someone falls asleep in the front row.

Even more stressful if that person is the top theatre reviewer of Dayton.

So there we were on Tuesday night for an invited dress rehearsal singing our hearts out to a small group of geriatrics (and one sleepy reviewer) who probably couldn't remember the last time they walked at a pace let alone marched in a band.

Knowing who your audience is is important...this was not our audience.

So there were were on Wednesday night for a pay-what-you-can final dress rehearsal singing our hearts out to a large group of theatre lovers who would have laughed at any joke so long as they didn't have to pay and it involved sexual innuendo or a sassy gay tone.

And BOY did they love my sassy gay tone. But surely the common audience cannot be as easily swayed by my swagger.

So here we are on Thursday for our First Preview...

and Final Preview even though technically I guess we've had two previews already so I'm very confused at how this works, but I'm sure it makes sense on Broadway.

...one DUD of a performance under our belt and one SURELY too successful of a performance.

And TODAY we're the TOP STORY on Playbill.com (for a whole 4 hours) which is sure to sell at least a few tickets to the 3 people in Ohio who have computers and read the story.

Tomorrow, we open. I'd like to say to a sold-out house but we're competing with a machine called WICKED opening across the street.

You tell me what you'd rather see:

a bunch of 20-somethings pretending they're still in high school in the late 90s marching around with instruments they haven't played in 5 years

OR

SPARKLES, GLAMOR, and FLYING.

WICKED...what a bitch.

My Mom asked how to get tickets to Wicked,

TJB: Making It