Last Garage Hurrah...night one

(PHOTO OF MATT CONNER IN FRONT OF SIGNATURE-FEBRUARY 06)
Well...we got through it. We were all scared to death (tons of difficult material) but we all warmed up to it about 15 minutes in. The audience was very loving and giving, and that always helps.

A GARAGE MEMORY:
The first show that I auditioned for at Signature was Gypsy. Baayork Lee choreographed and directed it, and was there at the auditions. I wore the same pair of pants to the audition that I am wearing for the Last Garage Hurrah, funny enough. (Sort of as a sentimental thing...those pants were on me for the first time, and they'll be on me the last time) These pants are dressy, yet flexible and funky. They are pin-striped cargo pants, and are quite thin, so they move very well.
We started learning the dance combination, and about halfway through the dance combination, the crotch ripped. As Monica (head of Wardrobe at Signature) knows, this seems to happen quite frequently to me. But what an unfortunate time for it to happen. On top I was wearing a button up shirt with a wife beater on underneath, so I thought...ok, I'll take off the button up and wrap it around my waist, then no one will be able to see. The worst part? I was wearing red, white and blue underwear.
I go on about the dance combination, and I suddenly hear Baayork say, "Stephen, could you take off that shirt that you have wrapped around your waist? I can't see your body line as you dance."
Ugh.
I meekly say..."I would, but I wrapped it because my pants ripped.."
The rehearsal room full of dancers laughs.
She says, smiling, "I know. I saw it already...nice colors...so could you take it off now?"
I did, and danced the rest of my audition with a patriotic package at the forefront.
How humiliating.
But I got the job. Hmmm...
Oh, and don't worry, these same pants that I am wearing in the concert have been sewn up and never ripped since, so hopefully we won't have a recurrence.
That's all for now. Here's to hoping I can muscle through another night's vocally grueling Hurrah. Tune in tomorrow.
Love,
Steve