And with a blink of the eye, I am back in Edinburgh. And I feel energized and crazy and excited and happy and in love with theatre all over again.
It's funny. Going back to a place that was so special and magic. You hope it will be like you recall, while fearing that maybe last time was a once in a lifetime thing and never again will have anywhere close to what you had last time.
No way.
Don't even think it you greedy bastard.
So arrive at Denver International Airport with Lisa, ready to fly. I get a message from the cast, who are mostly on a different flight a little earlier than us. Their flight is delayed, and they are worried they will miss their connecting flight in Newark. Then our flight gets delayed as well.
Stay calm. Don't panic. All that.
The cast's plane finally takes off, over an hour late.
We follow suit, also over an hour late. Our connection is in Atlanta, and we originally had 45 minutes to get to a different terminal to fly on to Edinburgh. Now we have negative fifteen minutes. But the pilot says we can make up time and all shall be well.
So they say.
We land late. Very. We ask if they can call the gate and tell them we are running and will be there please don't take off.
They say they can't call between gates, which seems like bullshit but what can you do?
We run like you've never seen two people run before in an airport. We navigate the crowds, leap into the airtrain to the international terminal, and get to the gate with a minute to spare.
And it turns out that flight is delayed, and we can breathe. So we do, and then meet some folks from two different shows also on the way to the Fringe: Over Her Dead Body and Baby Likes Candy.
Finally time to board the plane, and there's something wrong with my passport and the check-in machine. It beeps at me. Many times. After what feels like an hour but is more like fifteen minutes, I am allowed to get on the plane, and off we fly.
I manage to sleep a little, maybe three hours or so, and then it's noon and we are landing and I'm in Scotland.
And I feel the magic.
It comes out of the soil. It shines from every strangers face. It's in each theatre poster.
We do our tech for the press launch. I see old friends from Fringe I met all of a year ago but feels like it was many.
Tech goes well. We have one actor down with what is hopefully food poisoning, but we persevere.
We go to a Fringe opening party at a place called Brewhemia, run into yet another old Fringe friend, the great Frankie Mack - the Vegas Show Man.
Fringe is what you make of it. Things go wrong. Flights get delayed. People get sick.
That's life.
But there is so much magic and wonder.
Onwards.
And if you want to check out our Indiegogo and all that, go here:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/banned-busted-and-beautiful/
Here's a song. It's Storms by Pink Martini with the Von Trapps
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