Sky’s Musical Corner – The Performances of CHESS

Friday, September 16, the premiere of CHESS in the theatre of my hometown. I had a lot of friends and family members coming that day and yes I was nervous, but I was even more excited. The premiere was awesome! And actually I wasn’t even that nervous. People ask me that all the time, but as soon as I step on stage it’s all gone and I just enjoy. The opening night went really well, everything worked. Yes, there might have been some small technical things, but all in all. That’s things the audience doesn’t even realise, because they don’t know how it’s supposed to be. My family and friends LOVED the show and it was so fab to hear their feedback. There were also lots of colleagues of our choir in the audience and some of them are not big on musicals, but even they said that it was very professional and almost ready for Broadway. It’s great to hear that, because we all worked so hard. I even had some of my students come see the show. Sadly, they had to leave early and we saw them walking down the stairs during the last song, they really enjoyed it though and that’s the main thing.

The second night always tends to be a bit of a more relaxing show, with the actors not focusing that much, but that wasn’t the case at all. I even think that it was better than the premiere. Some people always seem surprised to see me on stage as well, because they know my mum and they remember me as the shy little girl. Well I’ve grown up, I’m not shy anymore and the stage is like my second home.

On the Sunday we had a different cast for the two women: Florence and Svetlana. It’s also special for use, because we get to see someone else backstage and the atmosphere is also different, not in a negative way ;). It felt that day that we were all a bit tired and didn’t have as much energy on stage. I think the audience didn’t notice, but we did.

So, it was good we had a few days of just nothing in the evening. Yes, I had to work, but I was able to go to bed early.

Then there came Thursday, the day of the private performance. The audience was very different that day. Not that many people and it was a very different ambiance. They still really enjoyed it, the CEO came on stage in the end and you could really feel their excitement then. For us it was more of a dress rehearsal, but it still went really well.

Friday it was finally time again to rock the stage and once again it was fab! I love watching the show from the different angles backstage and then I’m ready to rock Chess. It’s still just a great feeling to perform these songs and the reaction of the audience makes it even better. We had a full house that evening and we got another Standing Ovation (the 5^th already). This time I had my old drama teacher in the audience and he said that he’d never seen something that professional from an amateur group.

I was really excited for the Saturday show, because we had a lot of people come to that one and of course I had coughing fit during one of the songs. The performance still went really well and people absolutely LOVED it, also my music teacher colleague from school, which was so fab to hear. 

Then it was already time for the last show :(. This was very special in several ways. During every songs all that went through our heads, was that we just sang them for the very last time. I had to cry during the last song of the first act (Anthem), but I was backstage. I felt exactly the same during the second act and I really had to stay strong. This performance went really really well and it was definitely a brilliant ending. 

Seven performances later it was time to say goodbye. The performances, and I mean every single one of them have been great. We ended the last one with a fab cast party. It’s not only the singing and performing I have to say goodbye to, but also all these amazing people from the cast. Of course we’ll see each other again, but not that often. We are like a big family now and it’s been great being a part of it. I will miss everything.