Road to Opening Week 16: Matt Armet on Opening A CHORUS LINE in Stratford
By: Guest Blogger: Matt Armet Jun. 08, 2016
PSYCH! Fooled ya! They asked me to write one more blog. I couldn't leave you all hanging off the cliff like that after last week's blog heading into Opening Night, so I'm back to tell you all about what happened last Tuesday when "finally, the big day came" - Val.
We started the day with an afternoon rehearsal. We danced the Opening Number all the way through to, as Donna says, get our "Yah-Yahs" out. You can always sense the difference in everyone's heightened energy on Opening Night; it starts building from the moment we get out of bed in the morning.
It was great to get a chance to do some of the numbers on stage before we had our full house of 1,831 people that evening. After we finished dancing, Donna had us all sit in a big circle on stage. I couldn't help but feel this was so reminiscent of the circle the dancers all sat in that fateful night back in the 70's in NYC at the original tape session to create A Chorus Line. Donna shared many words of wisdom and a few of us got to talk about our own experience and what we've learned about ourselves during this rehearsal process. She then handed out her opening night gifts. She got us all black t-shirts with A Chorus Line on the front and "I called Sydney Rhodes and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" on the back. It's a little inside joke for all of us, but also funny to anyone who knows that reference in the show. (Dr. Sydney Rhodes, 595-7639.)
She then asked us to run the final scene into "What I Did For Love." Well "good luck" to us. There weren't very many dry eyes at the end of that song. And then we get to eliminations and Zach says "I think you are all terrific." Well, my bottom lip was quivering uncontrollably by that point. HA! Emotions were high, but it was so cathartic to get that excited, grateful, overjoyed cry out during the afternoon. It was a beautiful moment together as a cast that I will always remember.
We all got supper and returned to prep for our Opening Night performance. I don't think any of us were prepared for the cheering that happened immediately when the lights came up on us. I'm sure I was jumping three feet higher than usual during "step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch" off the top. All I can remember was the huge smile on my face in the mirrors. And then I remembered to act and be Greg, and stop beaming at myself in the mirror like a kid who just went to Disneyland for the first time. Then the moment we all knew would be incredible happened: we faced away from the mirrors, on Zach's command, and did the whole combination facing the audience. We were rock stars at our rock concert! The blaring orchestra could barely top the screaming and applause coming from the audience. I'm sure we all levitated at that very moment. I think every small group received applause during that number. And then we hit "The Line" and we all put our headshots in front of our faces. I'm sure I'm not the only one who cracked a huge smile behind mine.
The show continued flawlessly. Every number got huge applause and we, actors and audience, were having the time of our lives. We even had a few moments of uproarious laughter that stopped the show for longer than we had ever done before. The show could not have gone better! The feeling of dancing on stage with a group of unbelievably talented friends and having that amount of energy being thrown back at us from an audience is truly indescribable. It's a drug that fuels us as performers and I will never tire of that feeling.
After the show ended, there was plenty of toasting going on in the dressing rooms while we all got gussied up to go to the party. They held our Opening Night party in the beautiful Paul D. Fleck Marquee overlooking the river. We arrived to a packed room of hundreds of people: family, friends, agents, fans, donors, all waiting to give us some love and celebrate our accomplishment with us. It was a whirlwind night, as Openings tend to be, but I will remember this one for the rest of my life. This one was truly special to all of us. Getting to celebrate the triple threat talents of the ensemble who always so graciously take a back seat to the leads is one of the glories of this show. And celebrate US we did! We are the first cast to be given permission to re-imagine this show on a thrust stage. Our Stratford Festival production of A Chorus Line is another spectacular group of dancer/singer/actors in Michael Bennett's "Kick-line that goes on forever."
Thank you all so very much for following my blog. It has truly been an honour to be the voice for our cast in this incredible experience of creating A Chorus Line here at the Stratford Festival.
Weeks ago, I wrote about how CBC recorded a 360 degree video of our Sitzprobe. Check out the link below and travel back in time with us to the first time we heard the orchestra play the Opening Number for us. Enjoy!
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