Opening night, and the critic is in the audience. What could go wrong? Right?
During his college days, my husband (the engineer) pursued his artistic self on the Showboat Majestic in Cincinnati. A favorite story (a historic event, actually) involved the production of “Little Mary Sunshine” (a musical parody) in which he was cast as the villain, an Indian (or Native American, or whatever the designation-of-the-day might be), complete with war paint (makeup shade “Texas Mud”), a headdress, a knife, and a tomahawk.
At the end of Act 1, Yellow Feather’s job was to climb behind the scenery and pop up emitting a wolf cry “to wake everyone up”. On a riverboat, with barges creating a wake in their passing, this could be a bit of a challenge. With a bit of listing and clinging, my husband survived that (Whew!)
Yellow Feather, as the villain, became a prominent character as the show went on. One scene involved his chasing the settlers and brandishing a makeshift tomahawk. Chase to stage right — swipe! Chase to stage left — swipe! Chase to — oops!— one good swipe and Yellow Feather was wielding a short stick as the top half of the tomahawk (makeshift, remember?) flew across the stage! Of course, the music (choreographed) didn’t stop, but Yellow Feather now needed to somehow retrieve the head of the weapon. A few steps left — lurch! — and the music went on without him. A few steps right — lurch! — foiled again! After an embarrassing series of missed musical cues and floundering about the stage, the scene finally, mercifully, came to an end.
Just to carry on the fun and frolic, the following scene called for Yellow Feather to capture and tie up the heroine, after which the hero would show up and a fight would ensue with the hero and Yellow Feather trading flips back and forth. A sight gag was for Yellow Feather to threaten the hero by wiggling said knife so its rubberness was obvious and comical. In keeping with the evening’s events, when the hero flipped Yellow Feather over (perhaps in sync with the boat rocking from a passing barge), the villain lost his grip, and the knife bounced off the stage and into the surprised front row of the audience. So Yellow Feather had to resort to stabbing the hero with a feather from his headdress. (If my husband was red-faced at that point, it was masked by Texas Mud. He could, however, see the director in the balcony ripping his hair out!)
In summary, my husband reports that he was forced to show up for the curtain call because Yellow Feather had to carry the flag out. The critic, of course, noted that “things did not go well” at the end. And, in the absence of the critic, the entire remainder of the show’s run went on without a hitch. And the choreographer even commended my husband for executing his part correctly.
Ah….another opening, another show….