The Quick Change That Kills

Paolo Salinas and I had a problem staging a scene for “Urinetown”: he was playing two characters: Hot Blades Harry and Mr. McQueen.

The issue? One of them had to kill the other… onstage.

Here’s a photo — thanks to a little Photoshop magic — of Harry killing McQueen.

Obviously impossible. As much as I’d love to, I can’t clone Paolo on stage...

The solution? Pause the show — and do a full costume change live, right in front of the audience. 210 people watching. 20 seconds on the clock.

No blackout. No hiding. Just pure theatrical chaos:

Every movement was rehearsed — down to the second. Most nights, it went perfectly. A couple of nights? Total disaster. We’d get stuck, fumble, panic.

Try to catch me smiling in panic the exact moment I realized…

It’s one of those wild ideas that hits you in the middle of the night brainstorming with Paolo Salinas -

One for the books.

Theatre isn’t about avoiding problems, it’s about surviving them with style.

More stories soon.