April 8. Day 98. What a difference a day makes ... Part 2

The saying goes "nothing good ever happens after 2am".  My experience tends to back that up. And by 4am, things become really, really untidy. It's been a very long time since I've seen 4am as the morning after the night before but bad singing, worse dancing and fry ups are part of the hazy formula.
This morning was the same but very, very different.
Eggs and bacon were on the barbecue and people in PJs were singing and dancing. But these people are anything but sloppy. They are running lines and perfecting choreography. One, two, three, four and head roll. Charleston kick, jazz hands, step, step, step touch. It's half time in the 24 hour musical project - 12 hours down and 12 to go. Musical director Kym Brown says now everything has been "learnt", well sort of. The good news is there are still 12 hours to go and if worse comes to worse there are tele prompters on the night. Of course, technology isn't fool proof. In the first Brisbane 24 hour Musical Project when Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella was performed the autocue on one side of the stage failed. Producer Miranda Selwood said this resulted in performers keeping the blocking as best they could while engineering a way to get to a position where they could see the screen. But it's 12 hours before the performers have to worry about that.
Right now, it's breakfast, a shower or Pilate's to greet the sun.
Some people are heading down to the library for a quick nap. One or two are just dropping where they are.
Then at 6am, it's game back on... for the performers. For me, it's back to bed to be well rested for the 5pm curtain opening.The result was hilarious, surprising and in many ways incredibly polished. You don't

 get actual perfection in 24 hours but there's a real joy in watching people find themselves in slightly the wrong place on stage or in the wrong place in the script and engineering a way out of it. Plus there were really impressive special effects, far beyond what you would expect in the available time. I've seen fully rehearsed productions fall much flatter. And as Miranda pointed out, this project is about a lot more than just what you see on stage on the night.
It's as much about bringing together performers from across theatre companies across the city to work together. And it's a charity project. All profits were divided between The Actors and Performers Benevolent Fund and Music for Refugees.
And the joy in the faces of the cast and crew screamed that the sleeplessness was all worth it
So it was a win, win, win. To hear our review listen here