I SOLD OUT!
Yes, here in Vancouver I sold out my very first show on tour, and I thought that ship had long sailed after Edmonton. This was my next-to-last show and finally, FINALLY it happened! If there is one thing I learned on tour this year, it’s that you never know what’s going to happen – for better or for worse. Tonight one of the kind people who are putting me up during my stay said, “Maybe we’ll see you on Broadway.” Usually I would laugh that off, but then I thought, “Who knows?” Anything can happen, really.
Things can really turn around. And then turn back around. And then back around again, and there you are!
So how did I finally do it? My show was prime time at 9:15pm on a Saturday night. Still, this hasn’t resulted in a sell-out before for me. I was flyering a lot and some performers were mentioning my show as one of the shows to see in their end-of-show plugs. The press has been, for the most part, ignoring my show, but the reviews I had gotten have been okay.
Here’s one thing that helped: While having English tea with Fringe Queen Alex Dallas at the Cat’s Meow, “Excursionist” Jonah stopped by and told me it would be a good idea to go flyer the line-up for Colossus, since many of those people would not be getting into that 9pm show, and my show was right next door and starting at 9:15pm. Jonah is a good person to listen to because he knows how to do a successful show.
I had no more flyers, so I just talked to the people lined up to see Colossus, which was clearly going to be sold out. I convinced many of them to come see me. When it was clear that they wouldn’t be getting in, I actually walked some of them over to my venue to buy tickets. I finally had to go to my venue and saw…
A line-up…
For Rebel Without a Niche !
I took pictures. I will post them on my website when I am home and settled. The venue captain announced that “the show was officially sold out.”
I officially went upstairs to the dressing room and almost cried.
The show went very well. The only thing was that in my opening song, I somehow ended up repeating the first half over again. I guess they thought that was how the song was supposed to go, and they applauded at the end. After that the show was smooth sailing. I think I will get rid of those troublesome songs. Afterwards people told me how much they liked it and someone called it “amazing.”
Now this is a good way to end a tour! It was fun to see some performers afterwards and hear them cheer when they heard the news. There’s something very Rudy about the whole thing, you know?
One more show – Sunday at 1:15pm. Closing party that night. Then Tuesday I leave Vancouver. It was a worthwhile stop on the tour. My sixth city in Canada and my first sell-out this year.
