The Actor Diaries

10/31 Winding Down The Fun
by Kelly Knight

As an actor, the last half of a 7-week show run is a mixture of emotions. You are completely comfortable with your character, so the stage becomes your playground for living in the moment. But with each passing performance, a bittersweet taste builds when you know you are counting down to the last day that you’ll get to greet your fellow actors, put on your costume, set your props, and embark on a fun two-hour routine that has become so familiar that for a split second you can’t imagine your life without it.

As I prepare for my last two weeks of playing Elle Woods, I like to pinpoint my favorite parts of the show so I can remember to enjoy them as the show winds down:

1. The enormous boo of the crowd when the ever-sleazy villain Melvin Farkas tells our pianist to “shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhUT UP!”

2. The visible dust rising from the not-too-hygienic Detective Lenny Brillo’s suit every time someone pats him on the shoulder.

3. Judge Judy breaking into an unexpected rap song when the crazies of the court start to make her “lose her mind up in here, up in here…”

4. Giving the nearly hopeless Marsha Clunk a "makeover" (that results in a "makeout!")

5. And of course, my personal favorite, all twenty minutes of the Zombie Jamboree Olio.

With just two more weeks of fun in Legally Brunette, I am ever grateful for the new friends and colleagues I’ve acquired at DSP. Each time I get dressed up for “my first day of my first lawyer job,” I get a little nostalgic knowing I’ll only be taking Elle Woods out on stage a few more times. Lucky for me, I got cast in It's a Wonderful Life, so my fun at Desert Star won’t come screeching to a halt when Legally Brunette closes. With my early-onset Elle Woods nostalgia comes excitement looking to the future with my new family here at Desert Star.