2000 Screaming Kids

Well, I have returned to New York in one piece, bid farewell to our vans at the Upper West Side garage and returned safely to my Brooklyn apartment. Today marked our final out-of-town performance, and leaves us with one show left before the adventures of Max & Ruby-Red are finished for this spring. However, today's show in Providence, RI, prompted a scene (of sorts) that I'd like to share. It may wind up being one of my favorite memories of the tour.

Remember this whole Blue Tarantula scene I've been talking about? Well, it all surrounds Ruby trying to get Max to take a nap, in order to calm him down, so that she can finish writing the show for Grandma. Max is riled up because his favorite radio program, SuperBunny, is on. He runs around, wearing a cape, shouting "SuperBunny" and doing the Superman flying-off-to-adventure arm thing. This repeats itself after the Blue Tarantula number and leads into a scene change. Our audiences being mostly of the six-and-under ilk, they like to chime in on this second "SuperBunny"-a-thon. And today's performance was one for the record books.

Two thousand Rhode Island children, screaming "SuperBunny" at the top of their lungs, doing the hand motions and nearly jumping out of their seats with excitement. Ben knew what he was doing, and milked it for all it was worth, while we watched from the wings, stunned. It stopped the show.

There has been some drama of late within the company, the kind of strife you'd expect from people who've been living and working together 24/7 for four months. None of which is worth reflecting on here. What we needed was a good ending to our run, something we could feel really happy with, something that would remind us why we have indeed dedicated nearly half a year to this show, and these kids, and this company. What we got today was as good a final "show in a theater" as anyone could have hoped. And, as we rolled into NYC for the last time, Sara Bareilles's "Love Song" (which has become the anthem of our company) blasting on the van stereo, I was overcome by a sense of pride in what we have accomplished. Amid the broken mini-disk players, too-small stages, car breakdowns, crappy hotel rooms, early wake-ups and long drives, we created something magical that can get 2000 kids to jump out of their seats with joy and wonder. We did it, together, without killing each other, in the most unusual of circumstances, and showed a whole new generation how amazing live theater can be. And when we officially close Max & Ruby tomorrow on Manhattan's Lower East Side, it is that sense of pride that I will take away from these months. I truly couldn't have asked for anything better.

Kid quote of the day: "SUPERBUNNY!"

Call tomorrow: 1:30pm, PS 42 Benjamin Altman School. It's time to put this show to bed.

(P.S. Exciting news! Ben, our amazing Max, was contacted by Nickelodeon to come in for a general audition. Turns out, somebody heard about/saw his great performance in our show and referred him to the people at Nick. WAY TO GO BEN!!)