Smokey Joe’s was the second show in the summer season at CPCC. It was a nice break actually because being a review there wasn’t a ton of work coming right off the previous show, and a little breather before the next few shows really hit us. I was the prop mistress for the show, but it was easy to pick up a flask and propeller hat. I was also the ASM, but I wasn’t needed to sit during rehearsals while they learned to dance so needless too say I some extra time. But when it came to show time it turned out that the costume crew was short a dresser – so I volunteered. I had never been a dresser before and I thought it was a good time to learn. It was one of the best crew positions I had ever worked on. It has such a different feel of adrenaline when you know you only have 15 seconds to change a cummerbund, jacket, and bow tie into a vest, neck tie, and hat. I learned a lot about how to do quick changes and learned some tips from pros. It was one of my best times that whole summer.
The set for the show required five sliding panels that were 16 feet tall. They were assembled as studio flats, painted, and then hung on tracks. They touched the ground, so with technicians behind them moving them around almost seemed like magic. They revealed actors and then concealed them again for the next song. It was a simplistic idea, but certainly the best I’ve seen for this show. The designs on the front were magical themselves; a pink, blue, purple palate of musicians playing jazz instruments to capture the essence of the revue. Scenic charge, Carly Todd, was a genius with her painting techniques and understanding what the designer wanted for the flats. After the run of the show, patrons were offering to buy the panels for $2500 a piece. There was no sale, though; because they were sure they could think of something to use them for again.
I was given a very big job for the run of the show on top of managing clothes. I was given the key that ran the orchestra pit. There were only two in existence, and since the key panel was on my side, I would be in charge of it. The band was on stage for the whole show leaving the pit usable space. Choreographer, Eddie Mabry, thought it would look cool if the cast were lifted up by the pit to the stage at the top of the show. And that’s what we did. At the top of the show, key turned on, and my finger poised, I waited for my call to press the button to bring the cast up. I would get nervous double and triple checking to make sure every knob and button was in the right place to secure their reveal. It was such a neat affect, and the audience was surprised by it, not even realizing that the band wasn’t down there but awaiting actors.
