So yesterday was the last show of Singphony.

Went to ATC because I was going to be picked up by our fearless director at McDo. I went there a little early so I could look around. When I arrived, the first familiar face I saw was Kris along with her sister, my former Playshop student, Nikki. Man, I haven’t seen those girls in such a long time. Still the perky duo, though.

Jun and Ecel were almost an hour late, per usual, but hey, I’m not complaining, because he’s the choirmaster anyway. When we arrived at the Herrera Hall, some of the girls were already having their makeup done. I sat around in the audience area with the rest of the people.

When almost everyone was done (except for the guys, though Chayay volunteered to do the guys’ makeup), we all sat around the audience area while Jun sat at the edge of the stage to give the choir their notes, including the ones I gave him. Most important note was the energy, of course. Plus some of their smiles were fading halfway through songs. Sheena and I was already getting them to loosen up during the last couple of songs the night before while we were in the tech booth. So Jun said, “Tumingin lang kayo sa tech booth. Pag nakita nyo nang nagwawala sila Hogi and Sheena, ibig sabihin kulang pa energy nyo.” Hahaha. Nyak, and when someone complained about the cellphones ringing and beeping all over the place the night before, I was told to do an announcement about it before the national anthem. Oh well.

There was less work done yesterday before the show because we had already set up everything the night before for the first show. Spent most of my time hanging out by the dressing rooms while they were all having photo-ops. Hahaha, I kept avoiding the camera, but when Otap insisted that the production crew must have a picture together, that’s when I agreed.

Sheena and the kids’ choir arrived a little later, because they heard Mass first. Man, those kids are pretty hard to control backstage. It was tempting to look for the leftover nylon strings and tie them up, hahaha. But Jun joked that we could fit them all in the huge “toy box” set piece to shut them up, wehehehehe.

Before the prayer, I got a text from Ate Tere. She was asking if I was in Bene that time, so I said yes. As it turned out, she happened to be the godsister of Happy, and she was there to watch the show! She called me up while I was amidst the flurry backstage to tell me. Woohoo! A familiar face in the audience! Yay!

At five minutes before show time, I wished the choir good luck, checked my walkie-talkie, and went to the tech booth. Hahaha, Ate Tere just had to turn around to look, and I was waving back crazily behind the glass window. I must’ve looked like a psychotic, hehehe.

When Sheena gave me the cue for the cellphone announcement, I rang my phone into the mic and spoke. Nyak, immediately after that, I get a text from Ate Tere: “Ang liit ng voice mo!” Hahaha! Sorry po, I’m not used to doing voice overs. So there, I was laughing at the text message that I got bulol when I announced the national anthem. Igh.

Showtime! It was noticeable for me that the choir was more crowded last night, because Mari and Denise have joined in. I had to ask Sheena to open the curtains more, but I doubt it helped that much, because some of the people on extreme right and left were still masked in the U-formation. Oh well.

Had a bit more simple goofs during the show that night, such as forgetting to dim the lights so the follow-spot can focus on one solo, and not turning the master switch on after intermission, so the lights suddenly snapped on for “Seasons of Love”.

Energy-wise, the choir was better than the first time, but it wasn’t 100%. Hahaha, Sheena and Jun had to radio me just to ask about it when they exited. During the 3rd part of the show, Sheena and I had to draw a huge smiley face on a piece of paper to get them to smile then we flashed it a lot. “Joyful Joyful” was a big improvement. Most of them loosened up, but not all. It actually feels contagious, because when I looked at someone who’s really dancing, my hands danced all over the lights. But when I look at someone who has less energy, my hands get lazy. Oh well.

On the whole, it was pretty much a good show. A lot more people came compared to the first one. Yas, Ecel’s best friend was there, but I didn’t get to see her because of the huge crowd in the lobby, darn.

And huwaw, when I looked outside, no wonder it was crowded. It was raining! Thank you, Lord! Man, it hasn’t rained in the area all summer, so it felt great. But when we were fixing everything up backstage, suddenly there was a power failure! Nyak. But at least the timing was good. Imagine how crazy I’d go if it had happened during the show. I forgot to bring my flashlight, so we all had to rely on our phones’ backlights. Thank goodness for my “flashlight phone”, hahaha, because it was super bright.

The choir had plans of going out to San Mig after the show, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. I rode with Jun back to their house so he could switch cars to give me time to decide, and by the time we got inside, I finally decided to just go home and rest. So he drove me home. Hahaha, of course, he still wanted to collect the dues that I owe him, and because I was ever so hesitant, we did the usual drive around the block. Several times, hahaha. Fine, so I had to give him my dues. I already got my check anyway, hehehe.