Moving into the theater...

Opening night of Don Quixote is fast approaching and our cast and crew are down at McCaw Hall and hard at work, making sure everything comes together in time for Saturday, February 26. Animal lovers that we are, we headed over to the hall today to check out the arrival of horse Desperado and donkey Millie, who ventured out of the stables and began rehearsing their roles on stage. After director Linda Brovsky finished feeding Desperado and Millie a treat of organic carrots, we pulled her aside and chatted about this week's progress and what's in store for the weekend. Here's what she told us.

You moved from the rehearsal studio to McCaw Hall last weekend. What have you been up to since then?
This week we finished staging the production, and we had run-throughs where we put all the elements together. Tonight is our first night in the theater, and we'll be adding the rest of the scenery and the horse and donkey.

Any unexpected surprises or challenges this week?
We had a fire drill in the middle of Tuesday's rehearsal, so that kept things interesting! It was an accident, but everyone had to evacuate for 20 minutes, so had a quick break during Act 1 that we hadn’t planned on. And we’ve also had some illness in the cast--but better that people get sick this week rather than next week.

What's in store for the weekend?
Tonight is a cue-to-cue rehearsal, which means that we do entrances and exits and work out technical issues, and then we have a piano technical rehearsal on Sunday, with the Silver Cast in costume, where we start integrating all those elements with costumes and with the music.

Have you had any time to take a break and relax?
Oh, no! [laughs] That's not going to happen until after the show opens.

Photo by Alan Alabastro