Performance Week.

Tomorrow I go into the theatre for "performance week." I always get excited to get into the dressing room and go through my theatre rituals. I have a suitcase that serves as my "theatre case." In it I have my tackle box of stage makeup of course, but I have memorabilia that goes back the length of my career. There are trinkets and worthless pieces of stuff without which I couldn't function-the show simply wouldn't go on-HA!

The superstitions that go with performing are funny. Everyone is different in their traditions. I'm not a superstitious guy to the point where I completely freak out if everything is not in place, but I have always held to certain traditions. I am proud to be a link in the great chain of artists who have been adhering these traditions for years-i.e. no whistling in the theatre, not saying the name of the "Scottish Play," etc.

I am holding my breath as to how this last fall theatre week will go. I don't think I'll be a complete weepy mess, but I am prepared in case I am wrong. I am excited to be back on stage because this has been the longest time I have been off of it for a while. It's been about five months. I can't wait to hear the applause-even knowing it doesn't belong to me individually. I can't wait to feel the lights and sense the energy from the audience to the dancers and then back out to the audience. There is an electrifying love affair between the audience and the performer that I cannot explain. I'm thrilled to feel it again.