Saturday can really be summed up by Patti best: "Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, eat, attempt sleep, rehearse, rehearse, cosplay, rehearse, perform, die."

But, I have a lot more photos that need narration to go along with them, so I'll elaborate a little more: we had no plans aside from the show at 7 PM for Saturday. After seeing where everyone was on Friday, Patti and Steph rearranged the rehearsal schedule accordingly: people broke up into groups (pretty much the Inner Senshi in one room, and the Three Lights in another) to work on their smaller group songs together, and then agreed to meet for lunch, see where they were, and then work on the full cast songs together afterwards.

Meanwhile, I started recruiting my friends for more stage hand duties. Steph and Patti's friend, Kelly, that I had met the day before, was the stage manager. Ferio!Chris's parents were both active in theater while he was growing up, so he volunteered to help us out as well. Mario Rob had done theater all throughout high school, so he was familiar with backstage as well. But the real find turned out to be Courtney, who had experience working sound boards before! She found herself promoted VERY quickly. I've been in full-length musicals that only had one stage hand or LESS; before Saturday was even halfway over, we had FIVE, not counting Ranma who was going to be out in audience recording the performance. Fantastic!

The stage ninjas started attending more of the rehearsals, so that we could see what scenery we'd be responsible for, what sound cues Courtney would have to be aware of, and what we would need to have prepared backstage. But, in all honesty, even if we hadn't had much to do for the show, I think we would have ended up spending hours in the actresses's rooms anyway, because watching these musical pieces...coalesce, really become tight...it was truly magical.

We had time for one run-through in the parking complex, and then finally we'd have the big room with the stage that the girls would be performing on for about an hour before showtime. Things were starting to get tense, and we were all handling it in different ways: the girls just worked harder, of course, but even us stage hands either couldn't sit down, and started pacing around, or making compulsive lists, and making whispered plans with each other.

Finally it was time for the dress rehearsal on stage. I won't describe it for you; the funny thing was, if you knew us, there's a small chance you actually saw it. Ranma had set up a link where you could live stream the performance he'd be recording, and he accidentally ended up broadcasting the performance as well! My husband and in-laws tuned in thinking it was show time, and felt absolutely horrible that there was no one in the audience!

It was just before seven; the girls retreated backstage so as not to be seen, the staff opened the doors, and people began pouring in. Row...after row...after row...I don't remember what the actual number was now, but if it wasn't a full house, it was damn near. The lights went down. Mario Rob turned to me, his eyes wide and panicked, and said, "I...I think I have to go to the bathroom."

"Shut up!" I hissed back. "So do I! It's nervous bladder! Ignore it!"

What did we have to be nervous about? I have no idea. At that point, we were all Last Chance Myu. We were a team.

I won't try to describe the show, either; if you want to see it, you can view it here. Everything went wonderfully. There were some bobbles, but I believe they were only apparent to those of us who had read the script, I don't think the audience could tell at all. And our big surprise was a hit: the antagonist of the plot was none other than Ambellina as Chibiusa, singing Pinky Typhoon! The audience just about lost their minds when she came out, and she made us all so very proud.

After their last number was over, the girls came out for their curtain calls...and then did something that really startled and deeply moved me, by calling me out to join them and thanking me for everything I had done. Me? I hadn't done anything. I hadn't done nearly as much as I would have liked to. Nearly as much as they deserved. I don't think I ever can. But I sure am looking forward to trying.

The show being over, the cast answered some questions asked by the audience, gave out prizes and candy to the cosplayers who had attended in Sailor Moon costumes, and then got everyone to pose for pictures. I also got a very special picture with Morgan's fiance Owen, who was dressed as Terry Bogard...and even knowing how I feel about Terry Bogard, she still let me take a picture with him. Heh. At any rate, at last the audience started drifting away, and with them, all of the nervous tension kind of drained out of us...and turned into delayed reaction giggles. We all felt drunk! And drained. And wonderful. It was time to party!

Some of the girls changed, some of them stayed in costume, but we all headed out to the Montana Grill, plus some friends. There were too many of us to sit at one table--indeed, I think we ended up taking up half of the restaurant! But I suggested all of the stage hands camp out at one table: Kelly, who had organized all of us offstage and kept everything running so smoothly, Ranma, who made it possible to share the show across the country, Courtney, who provided the background music for the girls to sing to, and Ferio!Chris and Mario Rob, who did all of the heavy lifting and provided testosterone wherever necessary. But there was a lot of visiting back and forth, taking pictures, swapping con stories, and generally having a fantastic time.

After dinner, some of the girls decided to head up to one room for a room party, but...apparently, I'm old. All I wanted to do was take my makeup off, get out of my clothes, and get under the blankets. I think I passed out about three seconds after my head hit the pillow.

More of the Sailor Moon crowd

I tried to give out my business card to as many as I could.

Minako lost her chance with Taiki.