Wild Party Preview 2?

Well, the excitement and the thrill of the THEATAH! Tonight the worst happened....our beloved Queenie lost her voice. Before the show, she said that she was feeling hoarse and that things sounded "iffy" vocally. We weren't sure what was going to happen. Poor Marla. Poor Aimee (Marla's u/s). She was standing there, lookin calm as can be, puttin on her make up, going over lyrics-just in case. Making sure that Marla didn't feel bad about the fact that she (Aimee) might have to go on without a put in (that's the rehearsal where the u/s walks the show with the cast, so she knows where to go!). And Poor Marla not wanting to let anyone down....Ulitmately, after a call to my ENT -the godly Tim Anderson-(and his saintly resident Jen Chin), Marla decided to give it a go. The show opened fine and the first number went well, although we could tell that Marla didn't feel good, I'm sure the audience had no idea. She was a trooper. But right after my number, literally just seconds after belting my face off, I hear-HOLD PLEASE!. Now, I wish I could say that this was the first time this had happened to me after my big number on the New Rep stage but alas, no. During Ragtime, I had literally just sung ".....back to before!"......I hear HOLD PLEASE!. house lights up. I'm like what? I get off stage to find that the Brockton middle schoolers (i don't really remember where they were from ) had to catch their bus! (their bus ended up leaving w/o them! so they came back for the talk back), So when it happened again, I'm like WHAT?! seriously. I should tell you that this was all an elaborate set up by my crazed fans cuz I don't do enuf in the show. (lol) Rick made the announcement to the audience that because of Marla's illness it would be better to refund tix and offer more to come back to see the show on another night. The cast then changed and got ready to do Aimee's put in. God Bless that Aimee. She did amazingly well! Being an understudy is, In my opinion, one of the hardest and most thankless jobs around. It's completely under appreciated. Well not in this case. Aimee totally rocked and will be fabulous. Not Marla, no one is Marla-she's fantastic of course. But Aimee brings her own flavor to the role and can and will more than hold her own out there tomorrow night. I'm so proud of her and the rest of the cast the way they step up to the plate. See the situation, and don't ask "what about me? " But what can I do to help make this work. We wish Marla the best, our hearts go out to her. Having just spent a week on vocal rest, I understand only too well, how freaking scary and terrifying the possibility of being without your voice is. It's who we are, whether you're a singer or just a regular person (ha), our voices give us expression, a way to communicate certainly but it's so much more than that. Often it's what defines us and makes us feel a part of what is going on around us. Without it, we feel helpless, hopeless and lost. We love you Marla-be quiet and get better! What a Party! What a Night! (now I get to make out with Betsy!) xx, Li