Final Dress

I always love final dress rehearsals. They are always so exciting for everyone innvolved. As a director I try to just sit and watch and give notes after.

For this last dress rehearsal it was no different. When my students came into rehearsal you could see the excitement behind their eyes. The techies instantly started setting the stage, lights, and sound while the actors began getting innto costume and character.

Being that our show was a dinner theatre, I had innvited the student group that was catering our dinner to see the final dress rehearsal. My students were ready, and the audience was in their seats. As the curtain opened and the lights came up I could feel the excitement in the room.

By the time the show came to a close I had taken several pages of notes. After the audience I sat down with the kids. You could tell they were upset by the run of the show. We went over what went wrong, and most of the things they had noticed, were things I had taken notes on. Knowing that they knew what the mistakes were I didn't feel it was essential to make them rehearse more.

I then told the kids that I wasn't worried in the slightest. If dress rehearsals don't go well then the show generally is flawless.

With that being said, I sent the kids home to rest, relax, and generally calm down. There is no use in a dress reharsal if you are just going to freak out the night before the show.