The eve of the eve

[written by Karen]

A grueling but utterly fun-tabulous day: 9 hours of intense spectacle coordination in one of the vast, empty exhibition halls of the Pomona Fairplex. Rome and I are beat beyond measure... but happy. I am amazed at the professionalism of the producers and directors. They managed to integrate three very disparate, very large groups of performers into one tightly knit, and slightly tightly packed extravaganza. After several hours of practice with the UWP cast, the hundred girl and boy scout flag troupe arrived. We worked in small groups to perfect small movements or just rested while the scouts were positioned and drilled, then returned to run the piece a couple of times.

On the last run, we struck directly to the outdoor staging area, cast members guiding the rolling pods of drums at a clip down the Fairplex runways to the back lot. It began to get cold. A few more runs, and then the Missouri State Marching Band arrived. This band had already done three gigs today. The cast and scouts took a short break inside to warm-up and snack a little as the band paced through their parts and places.

It was truly inspiring, when the cast and scouts returned to the stage area, to see the band execute their precision moves. They showed such energy and skill, after what must have been a much more grueling day than even ours. Then the entire crew--UWP cast, scouts, marching band and all, a couple hundred performers strong--hurried into their places for two dry runs before the pyro run. A fairly large crowd of host families, friends and fans had gathered now so that we had a decent sized audience. When the fireworks went off, I think I finally understood just how big a deal this is, and how much work, over many months has been packed into this 3 minutes.