On August 31st we officially closed Mayhem at The Five Aces Casino. It was an exciting yet sad day I we solved this murder for the last time.
The show opened back in January of this year and ran every week until now. We had only a couple canceled shows and always had a great crowd.This was my first show with Cloak and Dagger and involved playing a somewhat rugged cowboy who dressed in black and sang songs before every act. I felt truly lucky to be working some of the C&D pros and learned a lot from interacting with them and the audience. This show also ended a non-acting period and got me back on stage. Truly grateful.
Usually, in theater, you prepare over a course of weeks or even months for a couple performances. Shows that go two weeks or more were somewhat rare. This show was almost the exact opposite. We rehearsed just a couple nights a week for about a month…then the show ran nearly 9 times as long. It’s great because you get to prolong the fun part of performing while shortening the stress of rehearsals. Of course, the show kind of takes on a life of its own, grows, and evolves as the performances pass.
It’s a good feeling, not having to worry about messing up those lines in the final act, but it’s a little sad to say goodbye to the characters who, at least once a week, were alive and working at the casino: no more fights with Bucket, no more flirting with Ms. LaRose, and no more making fun of the dumb detective. I should also point out that I am going to miss the food…that BBQ beef was fantastic, even after 9 months worth of eating leftovers.
There is the possibility that someone will want to bring a group or special event to see this show, but for now…the doors to The Five Aces are closed.
The good news, of course, is that closing one show means opening another. Look out! I’m going from playing the mean Black Mike to playing the naive Johnny White in the upcoming Soc Hop Homicides (opening end of September)!