“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.”
The entertainment business is a funny one. I can’t think of any other business where you can become so close to other people in such a short amount of time. If your really lucky, you land a job on Broadway. Hopefully the show will be a success and you’ll get to work with the same people for a year or two or three. IF your lucky. Usually what happens are the quick gigs. Two or three months and then your off to another job. But in those few months your rehearsing 8 hours a day together, then comes the 12 hours a day of teching a show, and then the awesome high of performing it for a few weeks or months. It is amazing how close you get to other performers. Maybe because we all share the same passion, or because we were all a little “different” ie: exceptional. Whatever the reason, we are a tight knit family.
One such show for me was “A Christmas Carol” at Madison Square Garden. It was a yearly Christmas show and when I joined, it was in it’s sixth Season. Since it was seasonal, many performers came back year after year so it was hard to get hired. It was a great job that paid well and kept you in New York but most importantly, Susan Stroman was Choreographer and the late great Mike Ockrent was Director. Only 4 girl dancers where hired the year I joined: myself, Lori Alexander, Kate Levering and Yasuko Tamaki. We had to start rehearsals earlier than the rest of the cast since they already knew it, so there was a LOT of bonding time. When the rest of the cast came we were the “new kids” and although they were rediculously accepting of us, we tended to stick together more. Kate was the youngest, but the most fearless and melted into the new group the easiest. Lori, Yasuko and I were all the same age, with similar ballet back rounds and just enjoyed hanging out. We had a blast! I think it was the first big contract for all of us. We made so many new friends. Everyone spent so much time rehearsing together, but we still wanted to have lunch with each other and then go hang out at Arriba Arriba, the local theater hang out, afterwards. Once the shows started it was even more time together. We did as many as 4 shows a day there, at 11:00, 2:00, 5:00 and 8:00.
The only bummer was that we couldn’t go home for the holidays. We had shows on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I remember one Thanksgiving in particular I had a “homeless” thanksgiving for all of us who didn’t have family near by. I just told anyone who wanted to, to come over. I had 20 people show up at my tiny one bedroom apt. It was one of the best Thanksgivings ever.
The show was quite an extravaganza. The costumes where amazing! One of my favorites would be the one we called “the He-She”. There was a scene in the opening where they needed a lot of male bankers. Well we didn’t have enough men, SO that meant Lori, Yasuko and I got to put on a fat suit, don a beard and top hat and walk on stage as a man. Mind you, we still had on our bright red lipstick and eyelashes, so although the audience couldn’t see it, we looked quite rediculous. Yasuko liked to part her wig on the side and give herself a “comb over”. We use to laugh so hard tears would be rolling down our face. We would play games between shows, make up songs, exchange stories. Some times even on stage. (I think we played “pass the pancake” during the show a few times. You can get a little bored on the four show days.) I did the show for 3 years and even though I’ve lost touch with a good many of those people, I still consider them my “Christmas Carol family”.
It has
been over a year now that my good friend Yasuko died of brain cancer. I hadn’t talked to her in probably 10 years. I don’t know how it happens. One day we were performing as giant fruit and the next we’ve gotten married and had kids and lost touch. But no matter what, she will always be part of my family. I think I’ll do a comb over in her honor.