Greetings!
My name is Andrew Heinrich and if you've seen the show, I am the tall guy that plays Shere Khan.
On of the things I love about live theate is that it really keeps you on your toes as an actor. In live theatre, anything can happen and the show really must go on. As an actor you have to be able to qwuickly adapt to everything from crying kids to prop or set issues.
A great deal of work goes into mitigating those issues on the front end of production. Sets and props are built to endure, lines music and blocking are rehearsed and every aspect of the show is highly organized. Everything has its place.
This weekend is an excellent example of how a show reaps the benfits of hard work. Kelly Petlin had a wedding to attend in Alabama and so we had to bring in a replacement for two shows in Glendora CA at the Citrus College PAC.
Abby Hankins is an old friend of Kelly's,a San Antonio native and a fantastic actor, singer and dancer. Happily she also attends school in California and was avaliable to step in. Abby got a script, a DVD of our performance and an audio CD well before we arrived in California. The script had to highlight more than just her lines. Kelly did a great job of outlining all of her complicated blocking, costume changes, exits and enterances and backstage responsibilites. Kelly and Shelley made sure that Abby would have everything she needed to do her job.
When Abby arrived to rehearse she has already memorized her lines, her music and and her blocking. However we still needed rehearse as a group. Sadly, we don't carry a nice portable space in which to practice. Enter the Comfort Inn parking lot.
It must have been odd for the other guests to see people singing and dancing in their parking lot, but that's theatre. I was terribly impressed with Abby's command of the script. It was a lots of fun to run through the show like that. Many laughs were had.
The next day we arrived at Citrus College early and had another parking lot rehearsal. Then it was time to do our thing. Abby had never run the show in costume. She has several quick changes during the show. However, because of Kelly and Shelley's hard work and organization we didn't miss a beat. She made every change and did a great job.
When you mix talented people with excellent organizers and hard work you can tackle anything. And... it definitely keeps you on your toes.
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