Patty Thayer Uncategorized

My Fair Lady of the Van

Last evening during the rehearsal for the “Embassy Waltz,” it became necessary to time some dialogue spoken by Higgins, Pickering, Mrs. Higgins, and the show’s villain/buffoon, Zoltan Karpathy, to the accompaniment of underscored music. With the rest of the company hard at work in the fellowship hall learning to waltz as the elegant upperclass socialites they are, we had to find an alternate space to do our task. So, five of us–four actors and I–repaired to the parking lot and piled into my van, and by the glow of the roof lights and to the cheerful strains of Frederick Loewe’s waltz on my car stereo, we hunkered down and got the job done. We did have to pause to open the windows after the first couple of times through the material (with all that hot air steaming up the windows). But in spite, or maybe because, of our circumstances, this was one rehearsal I will always remember. I only wish I’d had a video camera to record it, if one could have fit.