They Have Scorched The Snake

Feb. 15, 2012 at 3:46pm with 10 notes

Hecate’s Valentine at Sleep No More was a fantastic party. Compared with the Halloween events and New Year’s Eve, it was a modest affair, and that worked in every way to its advantage. The performance didn’t feel stuffed to the gills, and the afterparty also had breathing room, which made for a much more pleasant experience. As always the music and drinks were great. The gala events were fine but I would be delighted if special parties at the McKittrick were more like this one than not.

THE SHOW

This was #18 for me. There were a couple of nice treats in the show last night: Isadora Wolfe and Stephanie Eaton, who I haven’t seen in quite some time, were back as Lady Macduff and Sexy Witch, respectively. This was also the first time I’ve seen Nick Bruder as the Boy Witch.

MY 1:1s

First up was Hecate, or so I thought; when the door to her lair reopened a different face greeted me: Dita von Teese. I just need to say that photos, videos, all of it, do not do her justice. She is quite possibly the most lovely woman I’ve ever met. She glows. Additionally, she’s very kind and I got to chat with her when she returned to the afterparty.

As an aside, if NPH ever comes back, please hook me up; if he were to ever lay a finger on me I think I’d drop dead on the spot.

Also saw Malcolm (William Popp) which is a scene I’ve seen many times but is always full of little differences and changes.

Lastly, I got to see Zach McNally in a 1:1 for the first time as the Porter. I haven’t had the scene since June with Nick Bruder and Zach did a fantastic job with it (note to other patrons: it really sucks when you’re pounding on the locked doors). His porter is strikingly placid, so watching him transform in the 1:1 was a delight.

THE SHOW-END ADDITIONS

There’s always some additional material tacked on to transition over to the party. This time it was Hecate, with a large paper boat, directing attention first to Boy Witch, up on the mezzanine balcony, lip-syncing My Funny Valentine (anyone know whose performance it was?). The spotlight changed to strobes, and Boy Witch and Bald Witch got freaky before the banquet table lights came up and Sexy Witch performed a solo there before being joined by the rest of the triumvirate, who then ventured into the audience to unmask, as Hecate tossed the boat at the crowd, splashing everyone with red glitter.

THE AFTERPARTY

Open spaces were the ballroom, lobby, Manderley, and around midnight, for the first time, the Rep Bar, which was badass (no goat masks, sorry). Hecate and coven held court near her table, doing “1:1s” which in my case consisted of a shot of whiskey with Kelly Bartnik. Major highlight of the night was having Zebra Katz and Njema Reddd Foxxx on hand to perform “Ima Read” which the cast of SNM are obsessed with. It was brilliant, and I’ll share a video of it eventually.

SHOUTOUTS

Hello, Sleep No More Marketing! Glad to know you read this Tumblr. Also, it was very cool to get to see so many fellow fans (are we Sleepalos? Did anyone settle on the name for fandom?), including folks who follow this blog and have chatted on Twitter, or were at the Gossip Girl party back in November.

As I’ve said before it’s more than just the imagination of the show and the intensity of the performance, the personal generosity of everyone in the company is really remarkable and has built a great community around the show. The party really let that feeling come through in a way it probably couldn’t on the other nights.

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Next up: SNM19 on Monday (2/20) - I’m taking my parents! My dad’s got new knees and new eyes so this will be the best chance for him to experience this show. As the stage management and costumer of my high school’s musicals, I think they’ll really enjoy the design in particular.

If I’m lucky, I should get to see Paul Zivkovich performing. Looking forward to it.