Operation Charm City: Razing Hell

James here.

Its open.

We rained down hell upon the unsuspecting on Sept. 2nd and with 4 successively hardcore shows, I can finally look back at the first week and take a breath.

According to the song “Jet Airliner” by the Steve Miller Band, “you’ve got to get through hell before you get to heaven”.  While some might argue (and I might be one of them) that the Steve Miller Band is weak sauce at best, that line rung incredibly true in the days leading up to our opening.  It took (literally) blood, sweat and tears from all of us.

But oh, the view looks soo good from the other side.

The response has been overwhelming.  Those who sat in the audience for the first time got rocked in ways they never saw coming.  There was more than one new face who bought a ticket for the next night, ponying up cash for a second dose of Klavdiev.  Those who were lucky enough to see the show in its prior workshops agreed that it has come leaps and bounds from its previous incarnations.  Everything has gotten better, cleaner, and more precise.

From the acting moments that Dave and I have tweaked onstage to Rebecca’s foray into Punk Rock and Criminality;
from Iaeden Hovorka’s heart stopping sound design to the newspaper/propaganda-postered flats;
from Jamie Johnson’s intense lighting to the sweet lethality of the Black Widow. . .

Ah, the Black Widow.  If only I could reveal her secrets to you.  Re-imagined and reconstructed by Dutch Vandercook, she is a finely tuned engine of spectacular devastation – the aria in our symphony of unending destruction.  To say more would be to reveal too much, but I will just say that if my performance can’t get to you in our show, the Widow certainly will.

 Photo Above:  The Black Widow.  What man dares to learn her secrets?

We’ve got one more week in Baltimore before our October shows in Crystal Lake, IL.  Four more shots to raze hell in "Charm City"

Out