Amy would never forget how John, Eve and Mona helped her through the severe case of Opening Night jitters that enveloped her before she left for the theatre. Having her parents and a multitude of other family and friends in town was wonderful, but only added to the mounting tension.
Mona for once was not at all sexual and gave her a relaxing massage.
Eve helped her with her hair. It was Amy's first really bad hair day, coupled with getting dressed, which almost proved her undoing. Although she would usually don casual attire prior to a performance, this was opening night and she and the other cast members would be interviewed and photographed incessantly before and after the show itself.
John was everywhere, greeting the relatives and friends, ushering them around town when needed and making arrangements for those unacquainted with the mechanizations of the great city; finding them acceptable hotel accommodations, guiding them to better restaurants; and always seeming to be at Amy's side when needed.
The show was scheduled to begin at 6:45 so Amy was almost giddy telling everyone that they would have plenty of time to party after the show and not to start before and risk missing her performance.
She caught brief glimpses of her father talking with John, her mother had been concerned when she saw exactly how Amy was living, but John had demonstrated the accommodations of his penthouse lent themselves to allow both Amy and he to lead almost separate lives. "She even has Eve, our maid, as a close female friend. Of course the rehearsals and training classes consume the brunt of her time . . ." She heard him say, and saw her father nodding understandingly.
"Than God for John," she thought and then found herself besieged by an Aunt from Cleveland who insisted on giving her advice on walking the streets of New York. Amy considered herself a veteran New Yorker after three months in the city --- although most of the time had been spent in the rather restricted area around mid-town. But that was New York to Amy, the 'District' as she called it.
When Amy dashed out of John's building to catch a cab, she was stunned to find traffic at a standstill. In her mind, she envisioned each and every car enroute to the theatre and was terrified that she wouldn't make her call time of 5:45.
As it was, she came screaming into the theatre at 6:15. She had called ahead, of course, and kept in touch with the West Side Story's production manager the entire time on her cell. What she feared most was that the Stage manger had the right to refuse her to go on if she was late! That they would simply tell her to go home; no argument, no second opinion, just bye-bye! Obviously, this would be a short sighted decision on opening night, and she had kept them informed, so it didn't happen.
Anyway, there were a pile of gifts, flowers and cards awaiting Amy in her dressing room upon arriving, but she had to slide everything out of the way and get into her makeup and costume. The truth of the matter was that Amy didn't have time to look over the gifts until the following afternoon.
In the old days, opening night was the night when your family and friends and, of course, the critics were invited. In these days of megabuck productions, opening night is used for the producers to make sure that all the right people see the show. Critics have come and gone in the days preceding this night, so there's not that pressure, just a glittering, boisterous crowd who have come to have a great time, support the effort, dress to the nines and be seen. But the cast had managed to inveigle tickets for some friends and family and several gave Amy a pair of tickets for her out-of-town relatives and friends.
Amy was enthralled, for from the moment the onstage orchestra started to wail, the crowd roared in anticipation. Anna, who would be playing Maria, laughed excitedly and confided to Amy that, "There's nothing we do tonight that won't receive immediate and immense response, and that includes gaffs as well as great performances. But hey! It's the nature of the business and besides, we've got a great show going for us. A great show," she added happily.
"I know," Amy replied. "I can feel the exhilaration all around me. I don't think I've ever been this excited!"
"Right, Amy, there's nothing like it."
The cast nailed their respective performances and they a long, standing, screaming ovation at the end and even more screaming backstage as everyone hugged and kissed before preparing to be limoed to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which overlooks Central Park for the gala celebration party.
On arriving at the hotel, Amy found herself bedazzled by a host of security, publicity and reporter types. Everybody who was anyone was present.
Amy was photographed thousands of times and happily posed in her stunningly beautiful black and silver taffeta skirt that swept out to the ground and a silver and black bustier.
She overhead more than one woman remark, Doesn't she look great?" And preened happily, signing as many autographs as she could before another limo pulled up and discharged yet more celebrities.
Finally she managed to allow herself to be whisked off in an elevator to the party itself on the 36th floor; and an expansive, oval shaped room overlooking the park.
She looked around and noted the beautiful chandeliers, and thought the room had a lovely glow to it. All around the room were trays and trays of great food (tortellini, steak, pasta, and veggies) wandering folks with huge platters of appetizers --- but most remarkably --- a bar that was easy to get to. And, there was no live music so the cast members could actually talk to people.
People! There were hordes of people! The Mayor, the Secretary of Defense, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Lauren Bacall, Sarah Michelle Gella, Sigourney Weaver and many, many others. All in all about 500 personages were on hand, most of whom Amy had never heard of. With the astronomical amount of monies that are thrown around to put the show on the celebration is more about the producers using the party to acknowledge their own community of people.
No music!
Conversations!
It couldn't have been better!
People flowed around the room all night and it was relatively easy to move and talk to everyone! Everybody looked absolutely gorgeous and the mood was joyous and even better when the reviews started to arrive with a consensus of glowing approval! The first show this year with across the board great reviews!
Even more cause for Celebration.
*****
Amy drank lightly but still had a buzz going went she toppled into a cab that took her back to John's apartment around one in the morning. There was no performance scheduled for that night and with the entire day free Amy was in a euphoric mood.
