Hey BroadwaySpacers! Another week of pre-Tony madness has passed. You’d think rehearsing a number for the Tonys would be easy – I mean we do the same show every night – but one little-known secret is that performances on the actual awards show are usually different than those seen eight times a week.

Sometimes the changes are significant, (i.e. doing a medley of songs from a show as opposed to doing just one song), other times the changes are relatively minor. In any case, time restrictions and the mammoth-ness of the Radio City Music Hall stage mean that there are always some differences.

And that is what is driving me absolutely bonkers this week.

As I mentioned last week, because of time restrictions, we have had to cut about 24 seconds from the number we are doing on the Tonys. These cuts have caused us to alter our regular choreography ever so slightly. Now for the amazing dancers in our show, cutting out three counts of eight is something they can do in their sleep. And while I can move well enough to get by, I’m more of an “actor who moves” and it has always taken me a while to learn choreography. Now I’m learning that it takes me even longer to FORGET choreography. I can just imagine myself this Sunday, on national television, doing a full turn when the rest of the cast is pivot stepping. THE SHAME! And what’s worse, after obsessing all day long about the new choreography, we have to do the original version every night. Don’t think that I haven’t stepped on a few cast-mates’ toes this week.

This cast could not be more lovely and professional. Anyone who has done Guys and Dolls knows that some of the characters spend a lot of time off-stage. A few are only really on stage for about 10 minutes. If we were doing a limited run of a weekend or two, the actors playing those roles could entertain themselves by watching the show. But after 100 performances, you need to find some way to use your backstage time constructively.

Mary Testa, who plays General Cartwright, spends her down time using the Nederlander Theatre’s architecture to get a good cardio work-out. After her First Act scene, Mary takes off her costume and wig and begins climbing the five flights of stairs backstage. When we began, she would do seven laps and now I think she’s up to 13 or 14. When she’s not climbing stairs, she and Adam LeFevre, who plays Lt. Brannigan, compare notes on the day’s New York Times Crossword Puzzle. Isn’t it nice to see two characters on the right side of the law working together?

Craig Bierko who plays Sky Masterson uses his downtime to draw. The man is an incredibly gifted visual artist. He has drawn a mural on a wall of his dressing room that depicts a bunch of us gamblers from the show mixed in with some of his other favorite characters like Moe from “The Three Stooges.” Every night he draws an incredibly complicated caricature of Oliver Platt doing something outrageous. They make you not only laugh, but marvel at how crazy-talented this dude is. I’ve always admired visual artists. I have absolutely no skill when it comes to creating art with my hands. Growing up, every project I ever made in art class blew up in the kiln. Paintings included.

I spend my downtime at the show reading and writing. When I’m not writing this column for BroadwaySpace, I’m working on sketches for Don’t Quit Your Night Job or reading a script for an audition. But my favorite activity backstage is hanging out with my fellow actors. Our most popular hang-out spot is in the stage managers office where there is a television monitor showing the action on stage. We spend time talking to the characters on the screen or just clowning around. Most nights, Lauren Graham will walk in to the stage management office and ask us what we’re watching?

Oliver Platt, will invariably respond, ”The Guys and Dolls Channel,” to which Lauren replies, “Is it a new one or a repeat?”

It’s become a custom. And, as I’m sure anyone out there who’s ever done a show before understands, these little customs and superstitions give you a sense of security amongst the controlled chaos that is a live performance.

Oh, and speaking of Don’t Quit Your Night Job, I’m happy to announce that David Rossmer, Sarah Saltzberg, Dan Lipton and I will be bringing our show back for the first time since the demise of The Zipper Theatre on Thursday July 9th at The Julia Miles Theatre on 55th Street and 9th Avenue, across from the Alvin Ailey Building. We are very excited to bring the show back and I hope that you can all come check it out. In the meantime, you can see some clips from past shows at www.dontquitnyc.com.

I hope you are all very well and make sure to watch the Tonys this Sunday at 8PM on CBS and check out BroadwaySpace at the same time for live-chatting with Ryan O’Connor who will be backstage blogging!

Next week we will try to get back to eating and interviewing!