Tonight kicked off our second weekend of performances of “The Andrews Brothers” at the Racine Theater Guild – and there was plenty of electricity in the air, both expected and unexpected, both literally and figuratively. Let’s start with the unexpected and literal electricity. As we prepared to begin tonight’s performance, Racine County went under the Severe Thunderstorm Warning- and when director Doug Instenes went out onstage for his pre-curtain speech, he had to explain to the audience that if the sirens went off, the performance would have to be stopped. He injected just enough levity in the announcement to keep crowd from running to the exits in a panic- but it was a very real possibility that we would have to pause the performance… and essentially it would be up to each person to decide at that point if they would just remain seated in the auditorium, head for the green room, or wait out the storm in some other spot of presumed safety. The sky was certainly ominous (I took a last quick peek right before we started) and by the time we were into the second song we were hearing very loud thunder, but in fact, it really didn’t take long for the infectious music of the Andrews Sisters to chase our anxiety away, and before long we were just having a good time- and so was the audience. And as it turned out, the storm swerved just to the north of us, and not a single drop of rain fell at the theater guild throughout the performance!
Good thing, too! We had an exceptionally lively audience tonight- probably the best crowd we’ve had, in terms of liveliness and responsiveness, and it would have been such a shame for the performance to have been interrupted. They laughed at everything and rapturously received each and every song. This was also a great crowd when it came to a crucial moment in ac t two when two volunteers from the audience have to be found to come up onstage. Night after night it has been quite a struggle to find willing volunteers, and on at least one occasion, an usher had to be drafted into service. (Older guys seem to be very reluctant about this- and to be fair, they have no idea what they might be asked to do once they’re up on the stage, so I guess their reluctance should not come as a surprise.) But tonight, two volunteers were secured very quickly and easily- and one of them was Kathy’s dad, who always handles such moments with great humor and grace, and tonight was no exception. (In fact, in the green room afterwards Doug Instenes was asking Bob how much it would cost the theater guild to hire him to be in the audience for all of the remaining performances!)
What was especially exciting about tonight was that it was our first performance of the show since Sunday night, and I think all of us in the band were wondering if we would find ourselves back at square one, struggling to feel musically comfortable with ourselves and the singers. But when you work this hard on a show, I guess it’s like riding a bike- and with just a couple of little exceptions, we were purring tonight as though there had been no layoff at all – and several songs went better than they ever have before. And for that, I have to tip my hat to the wonderful musicians who comprise our little band. Anchoring the group on string bass is Mike Gudbaur, who has played for us before but who was unable to play the last couple of shows because of previous engagements. It felt SO wonderful to have him back, because a solid, assured bass player makes all the difference in the world. . . and Mike is the best. On drums was Rich Ford, whose father Brian played so well for us for last summer’s Honky Tonk Angels. I invited him back for this show but he was unavailable, but he recommended his son- and I’m glad he did. Rich is a fine young man and crackerjack percussionist (who played for several years in the 101st Airborne Division Army Band, with which he was deployed to Afghanistan) and it’s been a complete pleasure to have him in the group. You can’t do a show that includes “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” without a trumpet player, and Michael Kowbel, a student at UW-Stevens Point, has done a great job for us. I already knew Mike because I’ve hired him for the last two Easters to play trumpet at Holy Communion, and he has played spectacularly. But that really didn’t prepare me for how wonderfully he would handle all of the jazzy, swingy stuff he has to play in this show. Finally, it’s been fun to have my Carthage colleague Jane Livingston on keyboards, filling in all kinds of colors… vibraphone, xylophone, saxophone, ukulele where they are needed. Put them all together and it adds up to perhaps the finest group I’ve ever played with at the RTG – both in terms of collective talent and collective pleasantness as well. And both matter a lot. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are if you’re an insufferable creep. And it doesn’t matter how nice you are if you can’t musically deliver the goods. So to be making music with four such skilled and nice people is an amazing treat for me. Throw in our talented, lovely cast and our skillful, good-natured crew and it’s little wonder that this show has been one of the most pleasant and satisfying experiences I’ve ever had at the RTG.
*Note- Remaining performances of “The Andrews Brothers” are Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon. Call 633-4218. But don’t delay- There are not may seats left.
pictured above: left to right: trumpeter Mike Kowbel, drummer Rich Ford, and string bass player Mike Gudbaur.