This is our third or fourth performance over the years at Hoover Auditorium. As I’ve written before, it’s a quaint, private residential community where you can also rent lake houses. There are little boutique shops, ice cream parlors, family restaurants and more. It is the perfect idyllic spot for a family vacation. We were the entertainment last night for all the people visiting/living in Lakeside.
The day started with clearing the stage to make room for all of our stuff! Once done, Nolan and the crew started bringing it all in. There is no loading dock so cases roll down the street, across the “path,” down a ramp and through the doors onto the stage. It takes a little longer than usual but we allowed extra time for the process. Cindy did an amazing job of putting together a show here. We do almost a full show, no intermission, so it’s a lot of running backstage and on stage to make it happen!
Doors opened at 7:45pm and people started running into the Auditorium By 8:15pm (showtime), we had reached more than 2200 people of all ages waiting to see the show. They were a great audience! Lots of laughter, gasps, cheers and applause. And they were all so supportive of the volunteers who got on stage – again, cheering them as they participated in the magic. It was just a fantastic audience who were there to enjoy themselves and have a good time.
The Brick Wall got a great response as did the Newspaper, Cube Zag, and Final Destination. “No Feet” made them laugh (2200 people laughing is loud!) and the Mind Reading bit stunned them. The mind reading was a “last minute” addition to the show. As Cindy removed one prop, she told me she had the Mind Reading illusion ready to go (while Nolan had run out to the truck, unloaded and assembled the prop) if I wanted it. I said “yes” and it was there…and Keith didn’t miss a beat on the music or the light board. None of the cues were written into the show but no one would have known it (unless you’re reading this blog).
Once the show was over, I had the chance to meet hundreds of people in the back of the auditorium. I love listening to people’s comments, their favorite tricks, etc. Nolan and Keith managed tear down and (my timing was perfect) I walked onto the stage as most of the work was done!
It started to rain a bit as we went into load out and it was the same path back to the truck but everyone had a great attitude and worked hard. Shirley, our host, had a late dinner waiting for us so we all gathered in the truck and ate, talked about the night, etc. before heading back to the hotel for sleep.
It’s about 7:45am and most everyone is sleeping in. We plan to head home around 10am and make it an easy drive home. We are “officially done” until late August. Hooray!