19 October 2007

It's supposed to be FUN!

That's why they call it "playing music", right? Not so, apparently. It's becoming cutthroat and kind of mean.

Every year, we have a USO show. Forties music, costumes, the whole deal. Every year, something happens to make somebody mad. Tempers flare, egos are bruised, snarls and mutters abound. Last year, two principal characters decided not to take part. No problem. I wrote a new show, a director was chosen, the whole thing went forward.

The aforementioned principal characters began showing up to rehearsals, just to "see how things are going". They ended up wangling themselves a sizeable walk-on at the end of the show. Once again, no problem. The audience, not expecting them to take part that year, were delighted to see two old favorites. Hooray and all that. Snafu solved.

This year we have the old "Hell in a handcart". Tarfu all the way to fubar. Another clash of egos, this time resulting in cancellation of the show by the principal character/director. Oh, great. Now the first ego involved is calling everyone in town, looking for a director. Including me. Oh, no. Sorry. Himself and I, after learning of the cancellation, accepted an offer of a paying gig out of state. We will be far away on the projected date.

Enter ego number two. Having scrapped the hometown edition of the show, the individual in question proposes to take the troupe to a neighboring town and perform. Same show, same day as called for in the original plan.

This strikes me as mean. No other word for it.

Himself and I like both parties involved, but this is a bit over the top, wouldn't you say? Especially considering the fact that the whole mess started because of an argument over where the show would take place. In the park? In the auditorium? Well, if I can't get my way, forget it!

Sigh.

Needless to say, we will STILL be out of state on the day in question. We are also still fond of our temperamental friends, but maybe next year will be better.

4 comments:

Lisa Marie said...

Thats a shame people get so upset over something thats done for the community =/ I think if they can't decide where to have it, why not have the community decide?

Anonymous said...

Is it more hellish if it's "hell in a handcart" as opposed to "hell in a handbasket"? I would think with the latter, there is a smaller amount of hell that would fit in, so maybe not as bad?

Anonymous said...

Sheesh!

What never ceases to amaze me is that the sponsoring organization can't put the kibosh on an individual taking the same show out on the road as an independent production, as has happened with other productions. It's something called "intellectual property."

Jen C said...

Good thing you will be gone for this mess. and TAG, check my blog :-)