And now... it's all over.

Wednesday was our opening night, and I fussed around the dressing room slightly worried that I wouldn't get my costume and make-up done before we had to go on stage. I needn't have worried. The ladies' chorus don't appear until about half an hour into the show, and I was just putting the finishing touches to my eyebrows when the overture started up. And my, how good it sounded!

The first scenes went, as far as I could tell from the club room, without hitch, and before you could say "snickersnee" I heard Ko-Ko singing his "Little list" song. I flapped around some more, trying to round up the rest of the ladies' chorus to be ready for our cue. I held my breath as Simon indicated for us to start. Well, I didn't. One can't sing while holding one's breath. But I wanted to. We'd been coming in quite well in the last couple of rehearsals, but the ladies' chorus was still a little patchy. And I was concentrating so hard on my singing that I missed a knee-swivel movement. Still, all considered it went well.

The show seemed to go so much quicker than in the rehearsals - possibly because there was no stopping and starting. There were over 100 in the audience, I believe, an unprecidented number for a Solent G and S opening night. And they found it funny. I hadn't been sure whether the audience would notice our second verse of "Miya Sama." (Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Fuji, Nissan, Toshiba...) but they did and started laughing about two words in. We'd got used to the new words, but when the audience started laughing, it was difficult to keep a straight face.

There was one moment when some of the actors forgot their lines - in Katisha and Ko-Ko's duet, they seemed to completely blank, would attempt a few lines, make it up as they went along, then continued with "rurururururuh" and hoped the audience would interpret it as just bad diction.

Thursday, the audience were fantastic! Probably the best night, audience-wise, though Friday's was bigger. At the end, hearing their cheers and calls for encores. I'd never heard such enthusiasm from an audience, and I was almost moved to tears. Watching the other Pitti-Sing, however, I started to feel a little trepidation. She was nervous, but acting and singing so well! How could I ever hope to follow that up? I think it was this performance that, while singing "The criminal cried," she sidled up to the Mikado and "bumped" him. (The rest of the cast had great fun quoting my description of that event." I was hard pushed not to laugh. That wasn't the first time, either. In the final few seconds of the Act 1 finale, I caught Katisha's eye, and came close to giggles.

If the show wasn't sold out on the Friday, then you would have been able to count the number ofd tickets remaining on one hand. The Isle of Wight County Press had their reporter there, the news of which was leaked beforehand and making some members of the cast quite nervous. That was also the nught when an important prop was forgotten, and for a moment we couldn't see a way to carry on without it.

Ko-Ko: I am honoured in being permitted to welcome your Majesty. I guess the object of your Majesty's visit — your wishes have been attended to. The execution has taken place.
Mikado: Oh, you've had an execution, have you?
Pooh-Bah: The death certificate is off the stage.
Mikado: So you've had an execution, but you can't produce the certificate of his death.
Ko-Ko: Ye-yes.
Mikado: Are you sure you've had an execution?
Ko-Ko: I'll just go and get it.

He scampered offstage, came back with the certificate and handed it back to the Mikado, who, when Ko-Ko bowed down once more, hit him across the back with it. Well rescued, all!

On Saturday came my turn. I went from nervous, to excited, back to nervous again. I went to Judith's at eleven, and met Hannah and Paul from the boat just after twelve. We had baguettes and ice cream, before I made my way to the theatre and got into costume. Pitti-Sing-1 was waiting backstage, watching on the TV screen in the clubroom. I got into costume and watched with increasing nerves on the screen. The first half-hour seemed to go incredibly quickly and in no time at all I was in the wings waiting for the introduction of "Three Little Maids." I became terrified, and fixed a smile onto my face. In a matter of seconds the smile permeated through to the rest of me, and I was pleased to be onstage, playing a Little Maid.

I have a patchy memory of that matinee performance. I vividly remember getting my movement wrong on my second line, and then nothing until sidling up to Pooh-Bah saying, "Excuse me, but what is this? Customer come to try on?" My "Oh! It's alive!" got a laugh, much to my relief. Then, "So please you, sir," then off I went again.

I remember coming onto the stage for the end of Act 1, singing my little part, and then ending up the wrong side after circling Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, though I don’t think it mattered too much. I came in on time for that line that both me and Pitti-1 had a bit of trouble with, “A day, a week, a month, a year…” before going back around to Nanki-Poo to sing, “You’ll live at least a honeymoon.” I don’t remember if I tapped him with the fan or not that time. Then, a kind of blankness in my memory until I came to myself shielding Yum-Yum from Katisha and realised, “oh, it’s my big bit very soon!” And then, just like that, Act 1 was over! So quickly!

Act 2 started with my least favourite song, “Braid the Raven Hair.” I think it went OK but I was not sure if I was working with the orchestra. When watching the other Pitti in previous shows it was clear that they were going at her speed, but it was scary to be standing up there taking the lead. I think I avoided going too slow in that song, but did I go too fast? Simon, conductor, said I was watching him perfectly, so I must have been OK, but I was glad when it was over. This was followed with Yum-Yum’s beautiful, gorgeous solo, and then Peep-Bo and I were on again, debating whether Nanki-Poo’s imminent beheading would be a drawback to the perfection of the couple’s married happiness. Then - the Madrigal. That was a very difficult song to learn, with all its harmonies and exactly how the “fa-la-las” go. It’s hard to count “las,” fit them to music and not get distracted by what everyone else was doing, but I think that was the best we had done the Madrigal. I remember that clearly.

Offstage for a while, for “Here’s a how-de-do,” which is absolutely hilarious, the way we did it. The nice thing was, being Pitti, I had a later entrance after that, than the chorus (three more songs before Ko-Ko, Pitti and Pooh-Bah come grovelling before the Mikado. Anyway, “Here’s a how-de-do” was sung through three times, with Ko-Ko doing various actions. First time, he played it straight… ish… for him… until he opened his fan and it fell to pieces. Second run through, he came across the stage in a top hat and jacket… on a mini-scooter! He proceeded to woo Yum-Yum with a bouquet of flowers before opening a very little fan. The third time across was the best part of the whole show. This time Ko-Ko crossed the stage wearing an undertaker’s hat and coat (I think I recognised the hat from Oliver!) carrying a shovel across his shoulder. Then, he reappeared - with a gravestone reading “Yum-Yum, R.I.P.” He set that up, started digging, to which Yum-Yum fell in a swoon in the background and Nanki-Poo had to rush over to tend to her. When it came to opening the fans, this time it was as big as Ko-Ko himself. I loved to watch that part. The first time they did that scene with all the props, I was waiting in the wings, and heard the laughter from the auditiorium, but could not see what was so funny. I didn’t understand why they were singing the song three times when it didn’t seem to be going wrong. I’d have loved to have seen it as the audience did.

And then… we were on again. What I thought of as “the big scene,” the one I most enjoyed, trying to convince the Mikado that we had slain Nanki-Poo, and then, upon hearing that Nanki was his son, trying to wriggle out of all responsibility. I didn’t notice, but when I stood up to sing my verse in “The criminal cried,” my hair-pin fell out. That aside, it went well. I used the other Pitti’s trick of “bumping” the Mikado, before scampering back to the others. I remember frantically whispering with Ko-Ko about how Pooh-Bah was dooming us all to death by his “corroborative detail” about a “nodding head and the deference due to a man of pedigree.” The acting after that, I don’t much remember. When Katisha was talking about the beauty of her left shoulder-blade, Ko-Ko sent me over to examine it. I remember nearly forgetting to say “much obliged, your majesty,” and then, before I'd realised I was off the hook, I was on it once more, sentenced to death by "boiling oil... or melted lead, something humorous, but lingering..." for, though the Mikado was "not a bit angry," the law was the law and it made no allowances:

Mikado: There’s nothing about a mistake…
Ko-Ko, Pitti and Pooh: No!
Mikado: …or not knowing…
Ko-Ko: No.
Mikado: …or having no notion…
Pitti: No.
Mikado: …or not being there…
Pooh: No.
Mikado: I mean, there should be…
Ko-Ko, Pitti and Pooh: (eagerly) Yes!
Mikado: … but there isn’t.
Ko-Ko, Pitti and Pooh: (despairing) Oh!

Then we were in another song, I got to say my “and your snickersnee!” line, and we were onto “The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra-la)” which Pooh-Bah messed up the dance of. I think we concealed it OK though.

At the end, I was quite pleased to hear loud cheers as I came on to do my bow, but wasn’t sure if they were for me or Pooh-Bah, or whether they were from the people who knew me, or others as well. Still, I was pleased, though sorry I wouldn’t be doing that part.

At the end of the final show, on the Saturday night, the principal men went off after the bows, and presented the principal ladies with a bouquet of flowers. I then saw Pooh-Bah, scanning the ladies’ chorus before dragging me out to the front and unceremoniously dumping the flowers on me. I must have looked somewhat bewildered, and I wasn’t sure that the audience weren’t looking at me thinking, “why have they singled out that girl of the chorus for flowers?” Some of them may have read the programme though and put two and two together.

Then, the curtain went across for the final time, and everyone was hugging. Back in the changing rooms, various cast members were exchanging cards and even presents. I had bought a couple of keyrings for the other three little maids, but wasn’t expecting it to be done on such a large scale, and felt quite overwhelmed. After getting changed into civvies, and taking down the dressing room walls (they were corners of the clubroom screened off for privacy, so it wasn’t as drastic as it sounded,) we got down to the most serious business of it all… the after-show party.