!Manhattan Nites!

12/15/07

No.4

Imagine that you have been invited to meet one of your favorite performers. You arrive at the venue and your name has been given at the ticket window. You are shown to special seats reserved for guests only. Everyone is looking because you get to sit on the front row. So far, everything is magical. You have only dreamed about this forever and now you can't concentrate on the show because all you can think about is the end of the show when you get to go backstage. Finally, the show is over and you are escorted to the dressing rooms. There is a lot of hustle and bustle because the show is just ending and people are trying to go home. Your escort knocks on the stage door, and there they are. You reach out your hand and all of a sudden you realize they aren't larger than life. They are just people doing a job (one you would give your eyeteeth to have), but nonetheless they are performers doing what they have been paid to do. Have you ever wondered what it was like to be backstage at a show, or want to know what performers really do to get ready? You are about to get your first backstage pass.

It's amazing to see the total transformation that goes on behind the scenes. The singers and musicians arrive in their street clothes to do a sound check. For some reason, I thought entertainers always looked glamorous. NOT. They are just like you and me. They have days when their hair won't act right, and their clothes won't fit right because they haven't been able to eat right. The sound check is used to make sure all of the equipment is present and working. Each group or performer gets a certain amount of time to run through a couple of their songs to make sure the microphones are working and musical equipment is set up correctly. If you are unlucky enough to miss your sound check you just have to pray that everything will work out.

Once that's done, a caterer is usually brought in to feed everyone. This is the time everyone gets to catch up with each other. Many entertainers travel on the same shows and get to know each other very well. The show I attended was the 70s Soul Jam. I had the privilege of being a guest of The Manhattans. I had a blast. They are so down to earth, and unpretentious that I felt like one of the guys. For a minute, I was an entertainer too. All I needed was for someone to ask me for an autograph.  I loved seeing all the performers just hanging out, joking around and genuinely being happy to see each other. There are a few "superstars" that cannot bring themselves to mingle with the regular folk, but the rest of the performers more than make up for them.

There is a lot of activity before, during and after a show. Here is a brief breakdown. The stage crew has to set up all the equipment, including the lights, and musical instruments. They have one of the hardest jobs in the entire production because they have to set it all up and break it all down. They also have to be available to repair or replace equipment during the show.  They will then sometimes have to pack up and move to the next town before they get to go to sleep.  The sound engineers make sure everything is wired the way it should be and the monitors for the singers and musicians are in place. That means sometimes the singers have one thing coming through their monitors and each musician may require something different. Each instrument also has to be at a certain level for each group. The engineers will need to do that for each performer. So they may have five or more groups of performers they have to set up. The show coordinator makes sure the entertainers are taken care of and that they have everything they need. They make sure the performers are where they need to be, dressing rooms are assigned, guests are taken care of, and that the food arrives on time. The stage manager keeps everybody on time. They make sure the sound check is done on time and in order, and at show time they make sure each group sticks to the allotted time scheduled. That is just a sample of what it takes to put on a show.

Singers make it look easy. That's their job. It would be wonderful if singers just show up and sing, but they actually spend many hours rehearsing alone and with their bands. They have to make sure that when they are on stage they give the audience what they have come to see. We don't want to know that they were up all night with a sick child, that they have been fighting a cold and have a temperature of 102. We don't get to see the times they traveled all night to get to a show, don’t get paid, and the airport lost their luggage. Whew! They simply love what they do.

Thank God we just have to show up, find our seats and complain about the people who are standing in front of us and won't sit down for the entire show.

Sharon Ricks

Managing Editor

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