To life, To Life, L'Chaim!

What a fun day!
Our only day off in the last two weeks and instead of sleeping, Emma and I were up and on the road to Auckland by 10am to see the legendary Topol perform in Fiddler On The Roof at the Civic.
Not only was the thought of actually SEEING a musical for a change, and one of my favourites too exciting, but it was at my favourite theatre. If you haven't been to The Civic, you have to go. It is very Paris Opera, with plush red velvet, golden statues of Buddhas and elephants, luscious, sweeping staircases, an elaborate proscenium arch, boxes and of course, my favourite part, the deep blue ceiling on which twinkling stars and floating clouds appear when the lights go down.
Emma had never been there before so she was very impressed.
So, the show.
And you know what? Our small, humble little Riverlea Theatre should be extremely proud. Our version was BETTER!!!!!!
One reason is the intimacy. Emma and I were stuck way up in the heavens in the cheap seats, so we were very removed from the action, which makes it hard to feel for the characters. Whereas Riverlea only seats about 150, so every person in the audience can be right there in Anatevka experiencing Tzarist Russia with Tevye and his family.
Then the actual acting. The cast were not a family. I'm an only child, but I have five little sisters. Everyone in our cast got along so well and you can see that in performance. We even had a Jewish lady in the cast who would bring in the special bread and hold Sabbath Prayer in the Green Room before a Friday night performance. How's that for getting into character!?
You couldn't even tell the three older girls apart. They were the same height and build and had no personality at all! And Tzeitel seemed like she could quite easilly resign herself to marrying Lazar Wolf. My Tzeitel went completely nuts, pleading with Papa. I found that quite amusing. So, yes, my Tzeitel kicked professional Tzeitel's ass!
Oh, and I won't even comment on the fact that except for Topol, the entire cast spoke with a broad Aussie accent.
Makes my Yiddish/South African accent look pretty darn good!
The dancing however was their one-up on us. Emma and I were disgusted that noone clapped after the very impressive bottle dance, so we ended up starting the applause - which in a huge theatre like that, 3/4 full, is a LOT of fun!
I was surprised that all of the dances were staright from the movie, but Emma informed me that the choreographer actually gets a handbook with dance instructions! Thank goodness, Emma ignored it and choreographed her own dances. It was so much better. Especially since, I've already seen the movie, so when I go to see a show on stage, I expect to see something different, a different interpretation, not the same routines I already know off by heart!
The set was very similar to ours, with unfolding "Polly Pocket" houses, but they had a revolving stage. Lucky buggers.
The Sabbath Prayer made me cry, it was so beautiful. It is my favourite number from the show and they did it so beautifully. Words cannot describe it.
Our Russians were also much more disruptive at the wedding, and we only had two! It sets the entire tone for the end of Act 1, and this production just didn't have the intensity. All they did was pull the tableclothes of the tables and shread the pillows.
What else can I criticise? Lol.
The end didn't mkae us bawl our eyes out either, We both sat there dabbing at our eyes, but that was because we knew what was happening and were even anticipating what would happen. But our ending at Riverlea, made so many people cry! It was great! Very, very moving. Even being onstage, my eyes often got a little moist!
Overall, we weren't overly impressed by any of the performances excpet Topol. And we were highly amused that after 30 years of playing Tevye, he still forgets some of his lines!!!! (We both know the whole show off by heart, you see. So we notice things like that!)
Now, I've critised a lot, but it was an amazing show and I am so pleased I got to see it. I'm mainly just thrilled that our little amateur theatre can hold it's own against the big flashy, huge budget shows!
Of course, credit must go to the amazing Mrs Ryan, who is an incredible director and can bring out the best in every actor. And even though she's my mentor and second mother, that's not a biased opinion! Ask anyone who's worked with her!

Ok, so the rest of our day.
Walking back to the carpark along Queen St, we passed a beauty parlour with a sign outside that said: "Waxing, 20% off." Now Emma and I are over tired, so we burst into hysterical giggles waiting at the crossing. Two snotty old ladies in front of us turned around and looked down the pointy noses at us, and then this big, scruffy Maori guy comes up behind us and says, "What's so F'n funny?" Emma turns around and says, "It's just a girly joke, you probably woulldn't get it." And then he starts hurling abuse at us, in effect calling us "F'n white honky maggots"!!!!!!
Gees, those Jafas need to get a sense of humour!
Anyway it certainly made us anxious about laughing in public again!
So we had time to kill before the ballroom showcase, so we wandered around, practised our socialite window shopping that we do in a scene from Annie, had some dinner. Had some coffee and cake. Gossiped. Talked theatre. The usual.
Then it was time to "dance with the stars". Well, just Megan friggin' Alatini, coz Frank Bunce was delayed at the tv studio, and Suzanne Paul had broken Stefano's nose that morning! (You heard it here first, folks!) Am so disappointed Suzanne wasn't there. She is so going to win. She's great.
Megan however, had to have two restarts when she and Johnny got up to dance!
Some amazing young dancers at that studio, some really young boys too, which was great to see. I expected it to be all middle aged plus people.
I wasn't wallflower all night either. Emma persuaded her friend Roz to loan me her hubby Gary for a waltz which was magic. And apparently I am very good! I got back to the table and Emma said, "Where did you learn to do a '...........' turn?" "A what?" Apparently, Gary had lead me in some sort of fancy turn (not that I even noticed!) which meant I had achieved a twelve week course in 3 minutes! See, it's true, once you've done ballet, and if your partner can lead well, you can do anything!
Fun drive home too, moccahinos and singing along to Classic Hits Jukebox Saturday Night. In bed at 1am and now a 9 hour rehearsal to go to! Fun, fun!

Happy Mother's day and text 'Suzanne' to 8981!