What we need now, is an audience. And we got it. Bus loads of it: 450 people sitting in the seats for our final dress rehearsal. That's quite a crowd for a rehearsal. My, my, are we ready?

They saw dresses pop open, actors enter late, heard the orchestra squawk, too. But that's what we needed, I know. I said it two days ago when emotions were worn and feelings were hurt backstage left and right; "we could take an hour of notes and improve a bit each time, or we could just have an audience and get exponentially better in 15 minutes."

Thank you, 15.

What a talented and experienced family of professionals I am amongst. I love dancers whom can learn a whole number by watching it once. I love music directors who rehearse you morning and night and when they get home, record and email you a track to practice with. I love light crew, dressers, directors, actors who listen with a "yes" always on their lips; Yes, I can try it a new way. Yes, I can change what I was doing. Yes, I can take in massive amounts of information because I know, like you, that we all only have 13 rehearsals to put this up in and "no" ain't gonna get us a show when the audience arrives on the 14th rehearsal.

450 audience members watched our last dress rehearsal tonite. And oh, they whistled, they hollared, surely they sang the lyrics to these favorite songs under their breath. They ate us with spoons, as my choreographer would say. Yet the production still had it's hiccups. And honestly, maybe that's why the crowd was so overwhelmingly LOVING the show: they got to see us - real performers giving all we got of our highly trained instruments and still not knowing how the heck we are going to possibly have this come together - maybe they like to see the unperfected show … the unperfected human being. The process of perfection is so much more accessible and relatable than perfection itself.

Oh that, and invited dress rehearsal is a free ticket.

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