Local, excellent, amateur company are producing Sweeney next year. I'm a full-time stage manager with a professional theatre company who have done Sweeney in the past but are very unlikely to do it in the foreseeable future, and it's the one show I have always wanted to work on above any other show. We've just completed staff scheduling for next year, and despite the best efforts of the production manager, who knows how much I want to work on this production, there is absolutely no way I can be given leave, or rostered onto days only, for the period that Sweeney is on, so I can't work on it. I'm absolutely gutted - I don't know when I'll ever get another chance to work on the show, as Sondheim is rarely done here as it's very difficult to sell. I'll get over it eventually, but right now I'm gutted beyond belief!

Interesting times. Nine months down the track, and I'd fairly much got over being gutted about this; the show was mostly packed into the theatre - and then, a week ago, the city got hit by a major earthquake. Luckily, the theatre was unharmed, but for various reasons the season has been postponed for a month - mostly due to the city having a state of emergency imposed on it and fears that people are not going to want to see a show about blood and revenge when we've just had a major natural disaster! Scheduling in my real job has not changed - the earthquake has meant that a season has been shortened, but our dates are locked in and won't change at all, and so with Sweeney being postponed for a month, the result is that I can, in fact, work on the show!! I'm absolutely delighted; it's going to mean I'm working on Cabaret during the day and Sweeney at night for ten days or so (god, what a combination!) but for those two shows, I'm prepared to work 24/7 if I have to - plenty of time to sleep later!

Everything happens for a reason - while this earthquake has been awful (fortunately, no deaths and only a few serious injuries), it's an ill wind that blows nobody good...

I'm glad you are able to work on a Sweeney Todd production.

That's great news!

YAY! (that you get to work on it, not the Earthquake. haha)