Loving the show

Have I mentioned how much I love doing this show nearly every night? What a wonderful, lucky life we all lead here! We had a 2-show day on Saturday, and Elita, our girl swing, was going in as Gretl for the matinee. This made the show so much fun, and such high energy, not only because she is good, but because there was a change that made things seem fresh and new. It was also probably the hottest day, at least inside the theatre, that we have experienced so far in China. My costumes now smell, thanks to our Saturday matinee performance.

Although we were all caricatures of the Wicked Witch of the West ("I'm mellllllting!!!"), the show was amazing! The kids all had extremely high energy, which rubbed off on other cast members, and it all came together perfectly. Everyone was just so happy! Between shows, a few of us decided to eat at the KFC (I know, shame on us) across the park from the theatre.

After we sat down with our food, three young Chinese girls came up to our table. Analisa, who has actually learned quite a few Chinese phrases, said to them, "Ni hao ma," which means "How are you?" The girls answered, and laughed, and said something back, and Analisa said in Chinese, "I don't understand." One of the girls scowled, and Analisa scowled back, and they walked away. But they kept coming back to our table, and Analisa kept practicing her phrases on them, which they would either answer (we couldn't understand), or repeat what she had said to them, laughing, or scowl. Then I said "Wuo ai ni" (I love you) to them, and another of the girls started laughing and said in a thick accent back to us, "I laff yoo! I laff yoo!" I remembered that I do know a few choice phrases in Chinese, taught to me by my beloved Chinese-speaking friends, Reed and Shuo, so I practiced them. I said, "You are sweet, like juice," and they repeated it back to me. Then I said to the scowling girl, "You are salty, like an elephant," and she knuckled me on the head with her fist. I guess I got that one right! Then I said, "Watch the ghost defeat you. Who is that ghost? I am that ghost!" And I don't think they understood it, because they just repeated it back to me, wonderingly.

Meanwhile, Analisa was practicing her (actually useful) Chinese phrases with them and trying to have a conversation. All of the other patrons in the restaurant were turned toward us, laughing, and some were sending their kids over to wave at us and say, "Ni hao!" It was a lot of fun. Also, I ordered the coffee sundae, which is not a sundae at all, but unsweetened coffee with soft serve ice cream in it, and it was soooo good. I was in a great mood, and wide awake, after that!

We had the second show that night, and we were determined to recreate the positive, high energy performance that we had had in the daytime -- and we did! I don't know what did it. Once again, it was sweltering backstage, and we were all sticking to our costumes and having trouble with quick changes because sleeves would stick to our arms, and so on.

The next day was Sunday, and we only had an evening show. There was a press conference in the morning for the seven von Trapp kids, two swings, and Captain and Maria. We were bused at 9:40 a.m. (ouch!) to an outdoor place, where a clown on stilts held a basket for us to shoot a basketball into, then another clown gave us balloon animals when we made the shot. We went inside and sat down for a bit, and autographed some CDs of the Sound of Music soundtrack, to give as gifts. Then we went back outside and sat in chairs. There was a dance performance - three little girls and three little boys, all about 8 years old, did a rather ... "mature" ... dance to the song, "She bangs." I think a dance teacher in the U.S. would be condemned for letting a child that young dance in that way -- but it was cute, in a strange way! The girls were dressed in flashy, tiny miniskirts, and halter tops or little tube tops, with lots of makeup, glitter, sequins, and glittery foil false eyelashes. The boys wore tight shiny pants and loose shirts with low, open necks. After that dance performance, we came up onstage and we sang Do Re Mi along with the movie soundtrack (which was quite funny), while children presented us with flower bouquets. Then we saw a family presentation: a man whistled songs with his fingers in his mouth, while his wife played the accordion, his adult daughter sang, and her 2-yr-old boy looked around in wonder. It was so cute! I wanted to take the little boy home. Then they asked Michael (Captain von Trapp) if he would like to learn to whistle like that. He said sure, put some Purell on his hands, and climbed onto the stage. The announcer said something in Chinese, and then the translator said, "You will sing Edelweiss, while he whistles -- with YOUR finger." Michael looked shocked, but being a good sport, he offered up his finger. The whistling man put Michael's finger in his mouth, and Michael attempted to sing Edelweiss and not be distracted by the fact that his finger was in another man's mouth. The whistler then whistled along to the song, in an entirely different key. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time, and I couldn't stop laughing! Afterwards, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. Then, Michael shook off his hand, came offstage, and applied more Purell. There was another dance performance -- a little girl and boy performing to Latin music. Then we all went back up for the gift exchange: boys and girls brought us stuffed animals of the Olympic mascots, and we gave them our signed CDs (of the movie cast). Then we had a strange event: the Chinese kids tried to teach us all phrases, and we were supposed to act out a scene of children going off to school, leaving their parents. We learned "Mama," "Daddy," "Goodbye," and a few other phrases that weren't actually translated for us. We sang Do Re Mi with these kids, then grouped together for a big photo, and finally, the bus brought us back to our hotel.

Once we were back, I went upstairs to Skype-chat with my parents for a while, and I managed to get Oleg (our Ukrainian clarinetist) and Christine (Maria) on to meet them for a bit. That was quite fun. Then I had some time alone in the room -- my roommate was still upstairs using internet -- so I turned on some music and started making lists of things to do and think about -- the kinds of silly things that I think about late at night when I should be falling asleep, but am not falling asleep because I am thinking about things. Ah, insomnia, my friend. I was lazy in the room for the afternoon, which was quite nice, and then went to the evening show.

It hit me, during Do Re Mi last night, how much I enjoy doing The Sound of Music six million times. It never gets tired or old for me. This is my third time doing the show, and certainly the longest run, and I just love it. It puts me in a good mood, I love the cast, both onstage and off, and I feel so lucky to have this lifestyle for the next seven months!