Posted by Steph on January 26, 2000 at 21:21
In Reply to: Re: please elaborate posted by Mother Goose on January 25, 2000 at 05:13
OK, you asked for it!
I used to be involved in a lot of performing activities, music and theatre. One of these was an opera where I was one of the court ladies, in full court gown and petticoats and Marie Antoinette wig. We got the costumes late, and there were problems with it, so opening night they wound up sewing me in.
I didn't think it was going to be a problem, but opening night jitters must have taken its toll. Midway through the second act things started getting bad.
The whole third act seemed to go on forever. I couldn't show any of the normal signs of desperation. And I really did *not* want to be the most memorable part of the show. I had to stay in character even while all I could think about was how much longer...
I almost abandoned the curtain calls, but stayed even though I was beginning to leak. As soon as the final curtain was down, I made a mad dash downstairs to the dressing room, where a costumer was waiting for me.
I could finally give in to showing my desperation. "Hurry up" I begged her as she began to rip out the stitches that were holding the gown's back together. But you know how you get more desperate when the bathroom is "so near and yet so far?"
I was doing a major pee pee dance and whimpering as the other girls started filling the dressing room. Even with the back opened, getting out of the gown was still a major affair, and I couldn't wait any longer. As we were lifting the gown over my head, it started pouring out. I totally soaked my petticoats and made a huge puddle on the dressing room floor. All this while the rest of the cast stared in amazement or pretended not to notice. I could have died of embarrassment right there. But it did feel so good to finally let go.
By the next night, they'd fixed the dress and I'd washed all the petticoats. And the show did go on.