The show was great! HOWEVER THE LEAD UP TO IT WAS HELL!!!!!!!
The night before the concert we had a small blizzard that dumped a fair amount of snow, nothing that would paralyze Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (any where else on the globe but not Winnipeg) but enough to make it a scary drive. I could not sleep for some reason; not nerves just a lot of details for the show. Since it’s the Winnipeg I always add a lot of new illusions. Got up at 6:00 to pick up my truck driver and head to the truck rental location.
The worst part though was that we had a 26 foot, 5 ton rental truck with bald summer tires. We were to be at the theater for the 10:00 am Union Call so that meant loading up at 8:30 am.
We arrived at the warehouse at 10:00 because we got stuck 3 times before we even got to the warehouse and through the AMAZING kindness of strangers got out.
Imagine trying to push a truck half the length of a Semi trailer, out of glare ice and snow banks 🙁
I gave out a slew of comps, to these angels of mercy (we always hold back a dozen emergency tickets for friends, family, etc.). So to say the least I was a bit stressed because dress rehearsal was at 12:00 – HA!
While the crew was unloading the dancers and I went through a dry run with whatever large scale illusions were available. The show started at 7:30, on time! and we received a standing ovation which made the effort almost worth it.
Now we still had to pack and get the truck back to the warehouse and the rental agency. The snow had slowed down and we managed to take a very long route around the area that got us stuck in the forst place, not an easy task. Finally dropped off the truck and some of the crew and crawled in to home around 3:00 am, only to be woken at 8:00 am when the client called to say how much they enjoyed the show (couldn’t wait till 9:00 ??). Unfortunately as most of you now know that I usually start earlier then 6:00 AM.
And a New day begins…