By Michelle Gao
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Monday, April 3, 2006, The OG, arts

The Champaign Urbana Theatre Company's production of “The King and I” is over. Done. Finished. Yesterday I was relieved: more sleep, more time for homework, more time for friends … but now I really wish we had just one more performance.

My friends will tell you that this show, which ran at the Virginia Theatre from Thursday to Sunday, is all I've been talking about for the last two weeks. They're probably extremely annoyed with me, and I don't blame them. I hate it when people go on and on about something. But I can't help it.

Allison Grill, one of my fellow cast members, started crying yesterday after the show, because she didn't want it to end. I know exactly how she feels. So much time and effort, and excitement and frustration and anticipation, and then four performances, and it's all over.

Yesterday afternoon was bittersweet. After getting to the theater at around 1:15, there was one last time to put on makeup. One last time to jerk my hair into a high bun. One last time to eat jelly beans and Twizzlers in the kitchen (and then they ran out).

And we did some things differently, too. Since it was the afternoon and the last performance, I said, “Oh well,” and didn't use any hairspray. And guess what? It turned out fine. It didn't fall out or anything, although I had to put twice as many bobby pins in. But it held. I wish I'd have known that sooner.

“Getting to Know You” has always been a dreaded song (way too much happiness), and afterwards everyone was elated. The last time. We would never have to do that song ever again. But then later, in the ballet “The Small House of Uncle Thomas,” almost everyone was disappointed that we would never be able to perform that part of the show again. No more “Geee-ooooorge!”

I'm going to miss the show a lot. Still, I got a lot of amazing memories out of it. For instance, on Saturday night, someone missed a cue and the wives, the King (Jason Asaad), and Mrs. Anna (Libby Grill) were standing on stage going, “Ohmygoshwhatdowedo?!?!” We stood on the stage for a long period of utter silence before the next actor decided to come in and save us.

So. I guess I'm going to stop talking about “The King and I” now, before too many people get annoyed with me. Just one more thing: To all the people who didn't come, you missed a heck of a show.