It's all over... Oh yes it is!! And I couldn't be more disappointed! I've had such a great season and it's been such a joy getting to finally play the lead comic. And hopefully it won't be my last! As it was our final show, and keeping up with my trend of altering my rhyming couplet, today I did it for the final time with "This Panto season's at an end and it's truly been a blast. So love and thanks to audience, our wonder crew and cast!"
And it wasn't just me changing it up. Will (Danidini) had said to me he wanted to try and catch Kit out and wondered if he should change his couplet. I offered up a couple of alternatives, one of which he eventually went with, along with a warning that "by the time the audience have clapped, Kit will have thought of something else." 'For six weeks I've stuck to script but this trick I cannot miss. So shimmer over here Kitty and grab yourself a kiss!" was the line he went with and it got a nice response from the audience... and Kit! he cheered and ran over for a smooch, providing him more than enough time to rearrange his couplet unscathed. When the curtain came down, a cheer went up and everyone hugged with congratualtions and some sadness. I caught Kit, who said Will had caught him off guard. "Who could've written that?" I asked him knowingly. "You! You little..." and I won't put the expletive to paper/screen.
Obviously we didn't have Bonnie for our last two shows, she was skating, so we said goodbye to her on the Saturday evening. For this occasion I'd planned to say "So the Baron's paid my wages, to be rich is rather nice. So I'm off to buy a new TV to watch my Fairy Bride on ice!" This time though, it was Kit who got there first, having a similar idea mentioning "for all of us, go get 'em on the ice!" A more fitting tribute... but I had to refer back to my scripted couplet as I couldn't rhyme "rink" or "blades" quick enough. So thanks to Bonnie for being so great during the run and good luck on the ice!
There was lots of funny goings on and mishaps for our final show... and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!! Reports just into the new year said we had a very small audience for the final show, but by the time Sunday came we had a nice crowd in, with lots of people who had come back for a second time. A friendly audience meant we got laughs in all the right places and lots of wrong places too!
Now as regular readers of the blog will know, the word 'mishap' is synonymous with PG and KHH. Following their final rendition of "Together Again" just as they were leaving the stage Kit's wig toppled off, leaving him exposed and in a fit of giggles. of course, as I've mentioned before, they enter straight away in the next scene and have econds to redress the wig, so innevitably it never looks quite right. And Sunday was no exception. Yet again we were all in a fit of giggles, only for PG's wig to come off when he fell off the bench. Dave, second in command on the crew took loads of pictures for me from the wings... unfortunately you don't see the wig off here...
I hope I've put any doubters to bed and made many people proud. I also hope that the powers that be will feel that they made the right decision in taking the gamble on an unknown. The feedbacks been positive and the reviews favourable... but you're only as good as your last job... so lets hope I'm in a similar role next season!
The Kitchen scene was lots of fun too. Knowing that Alice would have learnt my tongue twister "BFFWLYAWALYETYOLMLAB" ("best friend forever who loves you and will always love you even though you only love me like a brother!") after teasing her with last week, I'm suppose to cut her off after 5 or 6 letters, I kept silent and let her do the whole thing and take a round! S
he looked relieved!
We had numerous hecklers in again tonight.. and this scene provided thems plenty of opportunity. Thankfully as tonight was a friendly crowd the heckles were well placed and easy to handle. My favourite was the quite common "I'll marry you Buttons!" tonight yelled by a fella, to which I replied... "No thanks mate - you've got that little extra something that I just don't go for!" that got a good laugh and I looked back down to my diary... when I looked up and added "And notice the word 'little'!"
Talking of my diary... Vicky came up to me after the show and said "I know you're quite sentimental.. would you like this?!" so my diary now actually belongs to me... along with all the rude/funny messages and pictures I penned to try and make the others corpse.
Vicky and I are both big Gary Wilmot fans, and I had arranged with the blessing of Jamie barber that I would make an extra entrance on the final show. Firstly in the woods I copied his old trick of leaning up the cloth tree which not too many cottoned on to... I didn't do it for long enough! But then in Act II, just outside the ball, there is a cloth that has a fountain on it. During the blackout I rushed on before the ensemble entered and stood, hands cupped, swigging the 'water' as they came on. I wiped my mouth, looked at the audience and ran off, getting a great response... so I shall be looking to the sets for more laughs in future.
My final note in this post reverts us back to the ghost gag scene. As I was at on the bench by myself, nobody else on stage and the audince there in front of me, the realisation of this run hit me. Without trying to make this sound like a scene from a Hollywood weepy, things seemed to go into slow motion and I could see myself from behind, in silhouette doing the routine. In that instant I thought back to rehearsals, opening, the reviews, all the laughs and a sense of pride washed over me. I had done it! We usually let out a little cheer at the end of the sequence during the routine, but in this finale show, feeling as proud as I did, out came a massive roar of excitement!! This was one happy Brook!
I hope I've put any doubters to bed and made many people proud. I also hope that the powers that be will feel that they made the right decision in taking the gamble on an unknown. The feedbacks been positive and the reviews favourable... but you're only as good as your last job... so lets hope I'm in a similar role next season!
For now it's good bye, but don't worry!! There's a 'post panto post' or two to follow.
JB-BB
No comments:
Post a Comment