I still didn't go to the craft fair today, sigh. Stayed in bed again. Heard from Redhead Sarah that she didn't have the energy to go to the show today, maybe Tuesday karaoke. I said I'd poke her again about this on Tuesday, but I doubt she'll be able to do that one either. Call it a hunch because life just seems to go like that with her, sigh. I give up. Got my hopes up, blech.

Show: I am happy to report that almost everything went smoothly today, and everything I did went smoothly, no costume issues or anything else issues! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY THANK THE THEATER GODS. Which is great since Mom and Roger were there--they seemed to enjoy it, Roger said something about it being a good way to spend an afternoon. (Mom was all "Why do you and one other girl have slightly different dresses?" Me: "We got ours first." Then Jean ran out of green brocade fabric, so the rest of the A&C dresses are plain green. Of course Mom notices that.)

The only real incident was the bed breaking the last time they were trying to roll it onstage, which made quite a noise and a thunk. I guess it didn't go well going up the ramp. I asked James what happened later--I was supposed to move a flat on with Morgan and he said "never mind," so we left--and he said they just physically picked it up. Presumably they need to fix it later. I told him last night I couldn't bring the wheelbarrow on because of the bed and he said, "I get the bed." Yup. I told him the basket needs fixing too!

Also, I wasn't able to see this from stage (I was behind them), but during the Anderson family scene, apparently Alex was sticking out his tongue and trying to drink from his mom's fake alcohol glass. I did hear people cracking up though. She was all, "You can't write that stuff."

Quotes:

James on the rubber chickens: "So disappointing. We have rubber chickens." Omar: "I know, I tried to get one to make noise, but it didn't come out."

Regarding the show: Victor: "Did you practice?" Marin: "No, but you did!"

Omar to Steve: 'Good morning, beautiful!" Steve: "Hi, sweetheart."

Steve: "The fog machine, I use it as an inhaler." Sage was all, that is not a good idea.

(I did hear a story about how the fog machine was left on one night...all night...and someone opened the door and nearly called the fire department for all the smoke billowing out and the stage wetness.)

There is a line in A&C in which Present says, "I could use a Diet Coke right now!" We kind of all make fun of it and there was talk of having Kimmie come out and offer him one, which never happened (obviously, no Kimmie walking around in this show at the moment). Steve said an audience member said Diet Coke didn't exist back then and he said, "Diet Coke sponsored the show in Madison Square Garden. That's why the line is in the show."

Steve on mics: "90 percent of the time, the microphone doesn't work" and we should talk like we don't have one.

During mic check, Sage was doing lines from the Young Scrooge part about the hard working conditions. Steve: "You working for Twitter?"

I tripped and fell. I note I had come from being miced, so I had on a sweater over my boobilicious stage camisole on top. Steve: "Your breasticles almost fell out." Scrooge Scott: "Not that it matters to Danny or I." Me: "Only Jean cares about my breasts here."

Danny fake tap danced during mic check. This seems like it would be difficult?

Steve said that during auditions, the guy who got the emcee role was terrifying on the "she doesn't look Jewish at all" line, then tripped and twisted his ankle.

Virginia came out for mic check in costume but with sneakers on still. Steve: "Very period." Virginia: "I thought Jean would love them." Jean: "I love them. You can wear them any time after 5:30."

Steve to Noel: "What are you, an early Facebook and you're poking me?"

Steve said crap, apparently while Alex was onstage. Maya: "Little ears." Steve: "C-r-a-p?" At least I said t hat and not something else."

Omar: "Why does the fog smell like maple?" Steve: "I farted in it." Omar: "You fart maple? What are you sticking up there?"

Steve to Omar: "Zip up your zipper, for chrissake."

Steve: "I'm a blast to be around." Steve the Beadle: "I've enjoyed it for the last three months."

Steve: "It's so easy to do special affects now." Scrooge Scott: "I was afraid of that."

Noel on getting her kid up: "I'll give you bacon. That'll get him up."

Boris on adding a Gregorian chant to today's show: "If it's too cheesy..." Scrooge Scott: "Stilton all around."

Boris: "This is not a rock show."

Noel on remembering to put on the rest of her costume: "I'm much less comfortable, I guess I'm ready."

Sage: "The crackers are so interesting." Sometimes they have jokes in them, sometimes they just break streamers all over, apparently. (I don't see that scene 'cause I'm changing, but you do find the streamers and Sage and/or Maya will read the jokes to us later.)

While onstage during Money Montage, Morgan's face looked quite glittery and I was all, how the heck did you get glitter in this show? Her: "it's just sweat." Me: "If you sweat glitter, you're really special."

Oh yeah, and afterwards Steve told Mom and Roger a story about how some people from other states have come to this show. Usually while visiting relatives, but one lady from Seattle was here for some tournament or other and decided to look around, what shows were on, and came here. This reminded him of the time he had to go to Jacksonville, Florida for a training and did the same thing, where he saw a production that he thought was very bad, but they did call him out in the audience for being from California. A year or so later he ends up talking to someone from that theater and managed to not say anything to stick his foot in it!

After that, I went to the drugstore and grocery store and went home. Rae called to say she's going to Disneyland in December, and I told her all of the various theater incidents. She laughed and laughed and laughed and said, "Don't make me pee, I'm not wearing any underwear!" and "Funny things make me pee."

Because I have nothing else to do this holiday season, I think I'm gonna try to review a Christmas show a day, or at least clean through this/Netlifx/Hulu while the whole Hallmark thing gets sorted out.

This is Yet Another Christmas Carol Update, with The Musical added in. Large, large musical numbers in this. I admit I probably don't remember too many of the songs these days, but Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer are the ones who really stand out in this and did the best with theirs, I'd say. RR's opening sleazy number at a Christmas tree convention was darned good (I want that Deadpool Christmas movie now) and Octavia's song about becoming a jerk to get to the top also works. I don't think I was quite as into Will Ferrell (somewhere between Elf and Stranger Than Fiction, I guess, for him), but overall, he's not too bad.

The plot is that there's a big ol' Marley organization in heaven and Will Ferrell has been Christmas Present for 200+ years and is long overdue for retirement (i.e. come back to life), but he's got Reservations about doing that.. He's attracted to having Clint Briggs (Ryan) as their next target because he's a sleazy guy who deals in disinformation and discrediting people and has no qualms about unleashing these tactics on his niece's rival for 8th grade president. Even Kimberly (that'd be Octavia) has reservations on this one. Marley has Clint labeled as "irredeemable," but Present wants to do it anyway, because one guy (you know who) was deemed irredeemable and they got him, right?... Right....?

In the joys of "do I spoiler this or not, because you might very well be able to guess it and it's not a huge shocking twist," we'll just say that Present's reservations about going back to life and whether or not someone stays irredeemable long-term have some personal justification, and hanging out with Clint brings out a bit of the old jerkiness (this movie tells you that "Good afternoon" was the Victorian version of "Fuck you," a fact I desperately want to tell to Scrooge Scott next weekend), but Clint kinda gets into the idea of working on/helping Present retire and make a go of it with dating Kimberly, who he gets the hots for immediately. And as things go on, Clint starts having his own "oh shit" moments brought back to him, both past and future.

The ending is, for Clint, kind of a bummer, but it also works and is delightful too? Like, go figure on that one.

I will also note that Past, who's pretty dang horny, boinks Clint upon meeting him. That's certainly new. "He redeemed himself a little bit." We don't see that much of the ex-love or "the good mentor" stuff, though "dead kid" gets a fitting modern twist to it that got a bit Dear Even Hansen-ish. And Tracy Morgan as the voice of Future, desperately wishing he could talk while on the job, is also pretty funny. "I'm tired of being the guy who just points at stuff. I've got some catchphrases I want to try out. You been Christmas Caroled, bitch."

Overall, it works and is fun. I dunno if it utterly blew my mind, but I really, really enjoyed Ryan Reynolds in this, with Octavia a close second. I also enjoyed the Briggs family dynamics, with Clint's worst moment being his jerkiest and all that.

So, three and a half stars, worth viewing at least once for fun. I dunno how long it'll last in my memory, but it was a good time.

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