Ah, traditions, without them we would all be as shaky as...as...as a Mouseketeer on the Roof!
During my production of Fiddler, I gained the reputation as the orgami Rabbi. For anyone not familiar with the show or Jewish traditions, the groom stomps on a glass to end the ceremony. This symbolizes the fact that even in happy times, we must not forget the pain of those who went before us. At least, in my research, that's the reason I found. Anyway, we were supposed to use sugar glass to accomplish this effect. However, the sugar glass went on back order, so I was to fudge it by folding an handkerchief like I was holding a glass. Isn't sleight of hand fun? Well, unfortunately, on opening night the handkerchief didn't make it out onto stage. Prior to the ceremony, however, we had the Motel and Tzeitel sign a marriage contract. I did some quick thinking, and while something else was going on, I grabbed the signed contract off of the table, turned around, and started crumpling. When I turned back around (accompanied by a deluge of sweat, I kind of freaked out when I realized that I didn't have a handkerchief, though I didn't show it) I had a passable lump of paper that probably looked like a glass (maybe). I also thought that it might unfold once I set it down, so when I put it down in the stage, I just stayed bent down and held it there until Motel raised his foot. It must have looked weird. The last little exccentricity of this was that instead of a satifying plink of breaking glass, we had a proud rustle of paper! Then, in the next scene, the tables at the wedding reception kept collapsing, but that's a different issue entirely. It was a fun night.
The rest of our run went well, however, and we ended up winning several local awards.
