…and that is why we all do it.
About eight weeks ago, the prospective actors showed up and auditioned for a part. Adults and kids came into the auditorium and sang a few bars and said a few lines, then were taken to the other room to try their dancing skills. And with a musical of this size, everyone is offered a part. The actors spent the next weeks learning the songs, learning the choreography, learning their blocking, and of course, learning their lines. Those weeks are over.
The cast, crew, and pit band.
Backstage the costume crew was busy creating, then sewing, glueing, and tacking. Fake feathers in neon colors littered the green room where they worked (and the stage every time the Bird Girls leave it). The glitter and buttons, ribbons and material, foo-fluff and thread that adorn the costumes has now been placed where the crew can get easy access to it should anything need repair.
The makeup person has had ideas in her head for weeks, trying them on her roommates, but not being able to see how it all looks until the dress rehearsal two days before opening. She has delegated duties to make sure everyone is ready at the appointed curtain time. Fake noses and tufts of fur have to dry on some actors before the makeup is applied. Each actor is magically transformed into their character.
The Truffala trees, and Whoville, and the backdrop and all of the other set pieces are finished but Scott and Dan and Bob are somewhere around in case something needs repair. The props master was hoping that the paint would dry on the final props before the curtain opened, after weeks of creating fanciful and wild works of art.
A few weeks ago, the pit band could be heard in the band room across the hall learning the score. A real pit band adds a dimension to the performance that no recording could ever do. And when they tune and warm up before the show, kids and adults walk to the front to take a peek.
The final two lights that the High School owns were plugged in on Friday afternoon to help smooth out a few dead spots and they were integrated into the final lighting plot. And after a few tense days, additional microphones were finally found to round out the soundscape. So Chris, our new sound guy, found himself busily repatching the amp tower and reconfiguring the microphone set up just hours before the curtain opened. (Special thanks to all of those who donated to make the extra microphones possible!)
And at 7:02 on Friday night, the stage manager said, “are we ready?” The light guy said, “house lights are down, let’s go.” JoJo came out of the wing, said his opening lines, the curtain opened and the high wire act that is live theater on opening night began. The band hit their first notes, the actors in their brightly colored and fanciful costumes appeared, the set pieces taken from the pages of a Seuss book came to life.
Two hours later, the actors had sung and danced their hearts out, the stage managers had wrestled with chaos and won, the band sounded terrific, a few late light cues and the constant concern about battery life in microphone packs were past.
The audience rose during the curtain call and showed all of us why we spent the last eight weeks making this happen!
Stagelights 
Excellent!