Kings Playhouse
Georgetown, Prince Edward Island

Hard to believe it was a month ago tonight we took to the stage. Even harder to believe I haven’t had a chance to blog since then! I’ve really kind of fallen off the wagon with documenting the show, ironically, right when there’s the most to document. As we speak, Haley (Batchilder, Ingenue Maud) is on stage performing An Orphan No More. During shows is sometimes the only chance I get to sit for a while, so I thought tonight I would take advantage of the time and tap out a few words to y’all! Especially since I’m not up until I Am A Newspaper Woman! Yes, I ended up being in the show – OK, deep down I really wanted that, but once we got everyone cast I thought it wasn’t really my place to snag a role. Turns out I have four of them!

Anyway, it’s been one heckuva ride, and it’s hard to believe we close two weeks from tonight. In so many ways, it feels like the show is out of my hands – taken on a life of its own. That’s only right, I suppose, and I don’t think about it much at this point, but at times it’s still weird considering it was just something of mine and Leo’s for so long. Now thoughts of what comes next keep coming up, and I get very attached when I’m doing a show – I find myself not wanting to think of what happens when we say good-bye to the cast I’ve gotten very used to having around on an almost daily basis.

Over the last month, a production company that’s producing a documentary about Maud and the 100th anniversary of Anne followed us around with cameras for a while, the Japanese network NHK also followed us around with cameras (the piece aired 4 July; I can’t wait to see it even though I won’t be able to understand it!)…what else…well, there was the L.M. Montgomery Conference, where I spoke, and also where a bunch of us from the show performed An Epoch In My Life and Maud Meets Her Public. And then the apparently inevitable time came where we’d gotten the show up on stage in full only to find out certain things didn’t work, so we ended up trimming off close to 20 minutes to make it even tighter, and not as dark. I don’t think we realized it had gotten as dark as it did. But we fixed it, and we’re pretty pleased with the show the way it is now. Then there’s been the bit about getting out and promoting the show. We didn’t have a show last night, and my fellow cast members keep asking me “Did you have a good day off?” Pshaw! AMJ does not get days off! :)

Now Maud is finishing up More Important Things. You know what’s weird? I’ve been mentioning these titles in this journal for close to 2 years – now people are downstairs performing them!

Now Maud and Ewan are asking What Do You Propose. I just got done with Publishers’ Relay (an instrumental where us four publishers unilaterally reject Anne of Green Gables – curs, ain’t we!). It’s my understanding that there are some folks from The Confederation Centre in the audience tonight, which could mean that some of the actors that were in our workshop last September (was that 10 months ago? Dang!) are here. Boy, has the show changed since then!

Gotta go do Maud Meets Her Public. Plus I like to listen to An Epoch In My Life first. Shame I don’t get a chance to see it, though!

Well, that’s it for me until the top of Act II. Which isn’t long from now! Maud Meets Her Public is my favourite number to perform. What I also enjoy is being down there during certain visuals – even though I can only see them backwards because of the rear-projection! And hey – how many people do you know who get to hug Anne every night? :) I get to dance with her, too, sometimes, during Folly In Love. I rather like our Anne!

I really forget most of the time now that I wrote all of this. That’s probably the trippiest part.

I think I’ll just journal periodically through the to the end of the show. Give y’all a chance to know what it’s like during a show – and maybe it’ll make up for my lack of posting! Right now, Ingenue Maud is getting married for the end of Act I and discovering it’s Too Late. Adult Maud takes over for her from there.

I still can’t believe how fast we were able to pull this off. Some say it takes 10 years to put a show like this together. And here 5 months ago we didn’t even know for sure if we’d be able to do a show this summer. I forget that tiny detail more often than not. It hits me once in a while during the show, at random times. “Wow, this was just in our heads not that long ago.” But I’m sure that’s not the first time I’ve expressed a sentiment like that!

Well, before I forget, I have to change my vest for the top of Act II. Congregation Man doesn’t do much except stand there with his hands behind his back trying to look serious, but he must look right. Although there have been times where Michael Farrell (Ewan) and I whisper silly comments to each other and almost start to laugh!

OK, just did 1917. I found out who a couple of the people are who are here from the workshop. I just think back to that workshop version…it’ll be interesting to hear what they think!

Gotta get back down to do “backing vocals” for Eternally Lost!

Well, that’s it for me! Got through The Dream Life Waltz, and now no more Congregation Man until the curtain call. But I usually hang out backstage through most of this Act after I’m done for some reason. One night last week I took the video camera back there to get some documentary footage, but it was just too dark to get anything. Even after I tried this trick of shooting it at 4 frames per second, which I discovered lets you “see in the dark”, essentially. The only down side is that it looks like a slow-motion security camera – or at least the way it used to be when you looked at videos on-line in the late ‘90s!

Ah, yes…Character Analysis…we usually get a little silly down there. Can’t resist doing it again!

I guess this is long enough for now – not really telling you much at this point! Besides, Adult Maud (Lori Linkletter) is down there doing the “new and improved” Where Is My Happy Ending? Which, aside from The Alpine Path reprise, is our happy ending for the night. So I guess I’ll pop back on here the next time I get a moment – hopefully it won’t take a whole month to do it!

This is over in two weeks already? Lord, that was fast.