Father of the Bride at Kudzu Playhouse

It was an enjoyable evening and we laughed a lot and became teary-eyed at the end with the wedding. Here are our notes:

1. Once the house opens, no tech no stage, please - A technician came out onto the stage to straighten something on the set and then left. Once the audience enters the theater, the set should be in place and the mood is set for the audience to enjoy another place and time. If something needs to be straightened, there are experts called "actors" that come onto stage during a show and will gladly smooth out whatever it was on the set while they are performing something called a Character.

2. Microphones up against the lighting instruments - now, here, I'm not sure if this is a problem or not, but it was very noticeable.

3. Apples on the table still had stickers on them - There was a bowl of fruit on the table provided by props. They still had the stickers on them from Publix.

4. The curtains needed to be steamed - Go Heather for noticing set dressing that was wrinkled.

5. Kids turned up the floor rug - now, here's what happened: The set is literally at the audience's feet and there is an area rug on the set. The corner was turned up by children who entered the theater to see the show. And we sat there watching and watching and watching. Finally some goodly patron straightened it.

6. Backstage noise prior to starting the show - ok, please, no noise from backstage. The audience should not know that actors don't know their lines or what they're eating for dinner or what clothing pieces they're missing. We don't need to know anything but the world of the show, presently.

7. Unnecessary light change - Ok, the curtain speech light came on, house lights dimmed - and the audience waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And after what seemed like 10 minutes the artistic director finally came on stage to do the curtain speech. And was in the dark, not standing in the spotlight provided for him.

8. Artistic Director's cell phone went off - and it played "Seasons of Love" from "Rent" while he was giving his curtain speech. Not sure if that was intended, but by the look on his face, it didn't seem to be.

9. The theater will be moving to a new location but they're not sure where - and that's interesting news. Not good, not bad, just interesting. After seeing the show I hope they get a bigger space and a lot more audience attendence.

10. Bride had heavy make-up on at the breakfast table, diamond earrings and a wrist watch. Plus, she kept that make-up the entire show. It was...weird.

11. White socks on Buckley - which, in the course of anything a costume designer thinks about, is bad. Buckley was wearing khaki pants, blue shirt, brown shoes, and bright white socks. Heather rates this a "no."

12. Mom's robe - she is uncomfortable - it's pinned! - The actress who played the mother was wearing a very sheer purple robe and she kept clutching the top of it closed. And when she sat down it popped open at the knees.

13. Air Supply - "Two Less Lonely People in the world" - this was one of the scene change songs. We sang and adored it!

14. Brown shoes on Kaye - Gina loved them. They were heels and they were very pretty. Heather thought they were inappropriate and very loud. You could hear the actress walking more than the dialogue.

15. The father of the bride was esquisite! He appeared in Act I in a black and maroon and it was to die for! Very, very well done!

16. Tech in black, please - during the black-outs for scene changes, the pitch black came up to a blue light. Audience saw mid-drifts of pure white, white shirts, red shirts, different colored pants - could tech please be in black? If they are actors, what about a black button-up so they can throw it on and throw it off?

17. Book needs ink writing - Kudzu is a very intimate space. On the desk in Act I was a book that was supposed to have the list of presents and who they were from. Audience can clearly see all the pages in the book - and it was blank.

18. Boxes to the basement - In Act I, the door rang and two new boxes showed up. Two new presents. Near the end of the scene, the father wanted all empty boxes to the basement to be destroyed. The son took the two new un-opened boxes of presents as well. Nothing was ever said about it.

19. Reaction to Ben mentioning getting married - ok, the show is about the bride. Then, somewhere in the story, the son mentions when he gets married. Shouldn't there be a reaction? I mean, the man's son just told him he's getting married.

20. Did costume and set talk at all? - The bride and the mother came in from shopping and they sat on the sofa and the chair - and blended. When they stood up they matched the walls. I mean, really - can they not disappear into the set?

21. Heather didn't find the mom very maternal - she didn't have stockings and pumps on.

22. At the breakfast table, everyone was in PJ's except for the middle daughter: she was already fully dressed and just got out of bed.

23. Costume question: who shops in dresses now? Not real sure on that.

24. Plus - the shoes didn't match the dress. The dress of the bride was blue when she went shopping and her shoes were green.

25. Question: would parents like this let their kids plop their feet on the coffee table? In Act I.1 the middle daughter put her feet on the sofa to read a magazine and the mother told her to put her feet on the floor. Act I.2, mom, son and middle daughter all had their feet on the coffee table.

26. Thought the girlfriend of the son was a little old. Older than him, rather. And she walked in wearing a blinding white dress. Very pretty, but white on stage? Ever?

27. Mother needed a better bra - it was a bit ..well...we'd have to go into detail on this one.

28. One scene where the middle girl and her best friend came in from soccer and had dialogue at the presents' table. All the conversation was upstage to a wall.

29. Tech concern: in the black-outs -there was no glowtape. None. And furniture was being moved. Excuse me?

30. There was a light out on the chandelier - no biggie, but it was out.

31. One actor broke the 4th wall and stared at Heather. That was pretty funny.

32. One scene had the father telling the mother to get off the landline because they were waiting on a call - but the father had a cell phone attached to his hip.

And that, as they say, is that.

Until next time, enjoy theater and support theater!