Gallow Green Gal

Some bullets for a series of five visits, after being away for a year:

The Manderley no longer takes cash, boo.

Running into regulars at the front of the line, yay. Saw some old friends, made some new friends. Had some fine times at Gallow Green to end the nights. It was great to see y'all. You know who you are, I hope.

Great to see some faves on: JWW as Duncan and Porter. Evan Fisk and Jeff Docimo as Macbeth. Always nice to run into Elizabeth Lindsay and Hazel in the bar.

Fun surprise: Paul Z. on as Porter!

New fave: Thryn Saxon, intense as both Danvers and Bald. I followed her Bald Witch in a fairly empty first loop, and I really like her interpretation. Less bestial, more like evil power and grace personified.

Another new fave: Audrey Rachelle, also super intense and graceful even while running at top speed in the dark. After being really impressed w/ her Nurse a year ago, this time I managed to catch her on as Agnes, Lady M, and the 6th Floor Nurse. She’s the perfect match for Jeff Docimo’s Macbeth, the violence and the passion coming through loud and clear. But by the tub room even in first loop, it was getting painfully crowded around her Lady M., so I left and wandered over to the hut…

…and got the most intense experience I’ve ever had inside the hotel, Mallory’s Matron. It was so sad and so wonderful that I don’t think I’m going to talk about it any more here. I am reminded of the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel: “these go to eleven.” That 1:1 went to eleven.

Also really really good: Bostyn Ashjian’s Nurse, but I didn’t get a chance to do a full loop.

An embarrassing incident: in the Agnes 1:1, somehow our feet got tangled up and I almost fell and in doing so I managed to snap the locket thread. I’m sure stuff like this happens all the time but that doesn’t mean I won’t torture myself about it for years to come, adding it to the list of all the other things to regret while lying awake at 3am.

Lots of wandering, besides the loops mentioned previously. I think I’ve essentially seen all of the show now, for some definition of “all.” Still need to think of things to do third loop when it’s crowded. This time it was watching Bald’s and Banquo’s solos in the ballroom from the mezzanine. Also a lot of time spent at the low wall near the dining room in the lobby.

Crowds/lines: There were lots of Max’s List people for the weekend shows, and they’d show up really late in clumps, which meant it took a long time to get inside. But once in, the show was relatively empty. Whereas Monday was packed with tourists, pretty much from the start because the Manderley had been pre-loaded for happy hour. They were using the stairs, not the elevator, and the first group they called was aces and twos. Monday crowds are weird, but the band was great. Django on drums, Karen Marie singing. The solos were pretty way out and they played for a good while after the show ended. Always good to see Django.