Every once in a while, especially when we have a long stretch of hard slog sea days coming up, the shipboard HRM arranges something for the pure entertainment of the crew. This can take the form of a party of course, but sometimes even we like a change of pace from parties.
So a few days ago an email circulates stating that we are cordially invited to a midnight showing of the next production show; put on especially for the crew. This is great for the actually below-decks-working crew who, unlike the entertainment department, don’t get to ever see the production shows. Also, the cast needed to do a tech rehearsal no matter what, essentially we were invited to watch tech.
Kind of.
Y’see, when the cast does a crew showing (and I’ve heard about them but had never actually been on a ship that hosts one) they…have a little too much fun.
Think “Rocky Horror Picture Show” only with a different script 😉
Suddenly costumes get switched around, dancers get changed, male dancers (in five inch spike boots) join the sex-kitten female numbers, life jackets get worn on stage, and we won’t get into how many beach balls got spiked back and forth into the audience. And the angel wings of course, and the band member who decided he would rather play a broom than a guitar (the show is tracked, so the band is basically exceptionally obvious moving props anyway) and then when he got bored with pretending to play he would concentrate on sweeping the stage. Dialogue that cast members have always wanted to say but aren’t allowed to utter in front of guests gets yelled out over the mic…
Yeah, the video I managed to get is almost too shaky to watch because I am laughing so hard.
I’m certain that there were guests who complained, I mean after all they ran the track at full volume (which they had to do because despite the shenanigans this was a midnight tech run, and some serious stuff actually did have to be accomplished), and there’s no way the cabins directly above or below (read: mine, which is why my roomie and I attended in the first place) were not going to hear at least some of it…
But…sometimes it’s worth it even if it annoys the passengers just a fraction.
Every time I think perhaps I made a mistake by extending this contract, I am given something that reminds me that right now this is so where I belong…