Am I doing something wrong?

It happened again.  I did my show for a small crowd, and it was tough.  My leading lady Darian told me that on those nights, it is best to do the show as best you can and take the time to refine acting moments, patter between songs, and other technical stuff instead of dwelling on whether or not the people in the audience are enjoying it.  The ones that are there are there to enjoy themselves.

So yesterday I had a really good day with a couple of the dancers, Brandi and Lisa.  They had asked me to take their new headshots, and so in Akaroa we spent the better part of the day doing just that.  Akaroa is full of wonderful backdrops with which to stage photos, and hopefully (I haven't looked at them yet) we got some useable shots.  In the meantime, I was getting a horrible sunburn, but more on that later...

I was in line to get back on the tenders, and a gentleman (I use the word loosely) tapped me on the shoulder.  I turned around, and this was the conversation:

HIM:  Are you the singer from last night?
ME: Yes.
HIM: I am sure you noticed all the people leaving your show?
ME: Uh...
HIM:  You know why they left?  You should have sung songs that cater to your audience.
ME:  Uh...
HIM:  You need to sing songs with more melody.  You have a great voice for those big numbers, but you need to sing those pop songs that people like. 
ME:  I was hoping that with my show being called "Broadway Dreams" people would know that they were going to hear Broadway songs.
HIM:  They didn't know the songs.  Where were the pop songs?
ME:  Can you give me an example of what you mean?  I'm confused.
HIM:  You know, songs with more melody. 
ME:  Can you give me an example?
HIM:  Oh, you know... songs like... "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"  like the ones you did from Shimmy.  The good songs.  Carousel!  There are some good songs there.
ME: Uh...
HIM:  Don't get me wrong, I liked your show, but there were a lot of people who didn't.  You should be singing the songs that we want to hear.
ME:  Uh... okay... I thought that with the songs from Gypsy, Brigadoon and My Fair Lady... Those are classics...
HIM:  I'm just trying to explain why people got up and left.
ME:  Uh... Thank you.

So that put me in a really foul mood.  I had spent months putting together my show, trying to find songs that highlighted my own personal career, as well as some new ones that people may not know.  I felt that I had a nice balance of the two.  Out of the 13 songs I sing, only three are ones the audience may not know.  And I thought I did a good job of introducing them, explaining where they came from, why they mean a lot to me, and they are some of the most melodic songs I have heard in a long time.  The entire ride back, there I was second guessing my repertoire.  Should I be singing more of the "same old" songs that every male singer sings and everyone is tired of hearing?  I can't wait until I get the charts for "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel so the guy can say "I told you so."  Sheesh.

Basically, I think I need to take a vacation.  I was hoping to go to New York City to see some shows during my time off, but I don't think that is going to happen.  I have a lot of irons in the fire for the time I am off until I have to go back into rehearsals.

I've been rewriting some of the score to my musical, which is a good thing.  I am going to be in talks with a theatre in Texas who wants to hire me for a teaching/directing/writing position.  I am going to be meeting with some folks about a full time teaching position at a middle school in Raleigh starting in August.  And then I start rehearsals for the Sea Princess on March 28th.  Time is going to fly.

There has been a lot of other stuff happening on board as well.  I don't really want to go into detail, but there is a reason why the saying "loose lips sink ships" is true.  Folks just don't know how to mind their own business, do they?  I guess when there is nothing else to talk about, the fact that you have to talk about others behind their back is the way to go.  I admit, I have been guilty of this, but I always try to put a positive spin on it.  I will try to do better.

Today we are in Wellington, and I stayed aboard all day.  I had a little too much to drink last night, and decided to sleep it off today.  Tonight is a big party the dancers and singers are throwing, where you have to show up in someone else's uniform.  A uniform swap party!  We have one show of Save the Last Dance tonight, and afterward it is on to the party.  I will not be drinking tonight.  Last night was a fluke, and I was feeling sorry for myself because of the conversation with the idiot.  But there were a lot of positive things on my facebook page, so I am feeling better.

My Dad is calling me on e the phone, so I am going to go... more later.