Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry

As this past weekend approached, I just felt sad about Rocky ending, of the whole crazy, fucked up thing being over. As I look back over some of my past posts, I still can't believe that this is how it all played out. The bullshit was worth the photo finish. Who would have thought...
The audition (oh my God, singing in front of John Didonna, all by myself), the call backs (who are all you people and what do they do at this building?), the movie nights (let us review: MARAT/SADE, Velvet Goldmine, and House Of 1000 Corpses), the hurricanes (Charley, Frances, and Jean), the 'dance' rehearsals (I won't waste too much time on that), meeting and becoming friends with: Jenn, Todd, Tammy, Tyler, Steve, and Kim, grope sessions and lift and falls and smoke, Heliocol (they make pillows? No, swimming pools?), The Antibabes (or Antipretties, again, won't waste too much time), Natalie stepping up to the plate, Jager shots with Steve and Todd, finally moving the show into Theatre Downtown, meeting Aaron and Fran and Frank, the set, the screen, the multimedia, the costumes, the make up, our dressing stations (me in between Todd and Jeff), Tammy helping me with my make up and geisha / Kewpie doll / Queen Amidala lips, and that last Tuesday where everything was pure chaos theory.
Then the first preview and the second, and Opening night, and Gina and Geoff and Kevin and Megan and Kevin and Marcie and Steve Miller and David and Matt and Amber and Brian and Miss Sally and Val and Fran and Alyson and J and Tony and Jeff's Dad and Sylvia and her kids and Sue and Scott and Juliette and Clay and all the people I know that came and supported the show (I realize I'm jumping around in time a bit and at the start of the weekend not all of these people had seen the show but I'm writing from this point in time so bear with me), and seeing the fun and the escape of it all, the rediscovery.
The feeling of solidarity, of helping to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat. Of helping to create something beyond myself, something that people enjoyed. Of being inside. Inside the circle, the tribe. I consider myself a hobbyist, not an actor. I don't have a craft I'm honing. I'm in this to meet people, make friends, and have fun. That and the applause of a room full of strangers and friends is always a nice sound (yes, there's some hole in me that does need that, that is filled by that). But I think that this feeling of creation, of....making, doing, being...is also why this is my hobby. I don't know if I can put it into better word for those of you reading this.
So, with all that in my mind - I went into the final weekend feeling a bit like someone who knows he's about to be exiled from OZ or Narnia or Never Never Land.
Then, I was given what we all want at the end of something....more time.
The Rocky Horror Show has been held over. Extended. Three more shows. Two this Friday. We now Close this upcoming Saturday.
Three more shows: three more times to see Todd chat people up during the preshow, to scream out, "Where's the best place to fuck?" at Natalie, to watch Jeff kill as Simon Lock, to fuck with the front row during any the songs, to wear a black bra and white wife beater, to dance the Time Warp with Tyler, to help the fierce John Didonna around during Sweet T, to slap the stairs and sing, "Hit It! Hit It!" during Sweet T, undressing Matt Majors with Jenn, the shoe on my face (Jenn knows what I'm talking about), Natalie petting us, bringing out Andy's birthing pod, helping Amanda into the box of glass, pulling Ward out of the freezer, swing dancing with Tammy, lifting Sarah up for Touch-A Touch Me, ......ONCE IN A WHILE, ONCE IN A WHILE, ONCE IN A WHILE, ONCE IN A WHILE...being in my underwear in front of that many people, helping Katrina with the chair fall, rushing Riff Raff as he points the laser at me....
And that's just the stuff on the stage. There are 1000 little rituals before any entrance or right after an exit. My favorite -- me, Todd, Tammy, and Jenn slow dancing to the Science Fiction Reprise backstage. Although, a close second would be gathering Todd, Tammy, Tyler, Jenn, and Susan together to watch Matt (Brad) as he turns on the scaffolding during Superheroes and grosses us all out by inadvertantly showing us his pasty, white ass and (almost his taint) gross bastard. It's like a gory accident, you have to watch. We all make faces like the NAZIS at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
We had a few local celebrities in the audience this past weekend as well: Rus Blackwell (more on him in a moment), Marty Stonerock (really nice woman), and Heather Leonardi (she seemd nice and cool and pretty and I could ramble on but I'll stop). There were others, it was strange to actually talk to some of these people. I'm kind of a fan from afar and wouldn't want to bug anyone or weird anyone out. So, it was odd receiving compliments from them. Nice but odd. I'm such a geek.
Speaking of Rus Blackwell, the next day, Sarah and I saw his show, So, I Killed A Few People and it was fucking amazing. Talented man. That's all you can say. It was a one man show and he had everybody in the palm of his hand start to finish. Wave after wave of energy thrown out at the audience and he still had more. It was cool. It was fun. It was powerful. And after the show, he was so cool and unaffected and nice and he complimented Rocky again (we were having none of that -- all the compliments rightly should flow from us). I was impressed. It was a nice way to close out the weekend.
Oh, and if you haven't seen The Incredibles go now! Stop reading this, leave work, skip school and go.
I put it at a solid #3 spot on my PIXAR chart. Counting Toy Story and Toy Story 2 as one long movie (if you want to be a stick in the mud and count them as two movies - which makes sense, no argument here - I would put Toy Story 2 ahead of Toy Story, bumping The Incredibles to #4)

THE PIXAR LIST
1) FINDING NEMO
2a) TOY STORY 2
2b) TOY STORY
3) THE INCREDIBLES
4) A BUG'S LIFE
5) MONSTER'S INC.

I realize there will be a little dissent over my placement of A Bug's Life over Monster's INC. But Monster's INC always left me a little cold, didn't do much for me, whereas the connections between Kurosawa and A Bug's Life are really fun.