Here is a real-time description of what I saw when I followed them behind the scenes.

4:36: We arrive at the Doubletree Hotel in Omaha. We are given a spot behind the hotel to park and we get great treatment from the staff. They even put orange cones around The Mary Augusta for extra protection.

4:55: After searching the hotel for where the show would be, we find that it is 11 blocks away from the hotel and we decide to walk.

5:05: Rain comes down in cats and dogs, and we stop under a building when the rain starts, and dart out when it lets up. We try our best to keep the cameras from getting wet.

5:06: We arrive at the Witherspoon Concert Hall but with our luck, we get locked out. We huddle under an awning while we wait for someone to come help us.

5:12: A woman who has been on the phone looking at us through the window smiling for the last six minutes finally gets off and unlocks the door.

5:16: We navigate the labyrinth and finally find the huge auditorium where Rathskellar is rehearsing. Nobody seems to even need the rehearsals, as they go through their routines flawlessly. The only difference is Flash, who has only has two days of practice behind him. Everyone is working hectically to get flash up to speed, and Flash has no problem learning the routine and dances with ease.

5:25: Rathskellar starts their show from the top.

5:43: My favorite dance, the Tequila dance, is being rehearsed!

6:23: Rehearsals finally finish and the performers clear the stage. Flash still seems two steps behind the rest of the group. He wastes no time asking the other performers for help and questions to get himself caught up for the show which is scheduled to start in just one hour and 37 minutes.

6:30: Three Godfather’s Pizzas arrives for the cast to eat in their dressing rooms. We opt to walk to a nearby McDonald’s for a quick dinner before the show.

7:00: The doors open and the stage is vacated. It’s behind the curtains the rest of the way.

7:30: Everyone is in full costume by now. Jonathan Kovacs is running around catering to the individual needs of his crew and discussing logistics with the performance hosts.

7:40: Jessica vonGarrel helps her dance partner, Flash, go through several dances.

7:41: Chris DeSouza is fast asleep with his head down on a table.

7:44: The crew meets to decide on some dance changes to compensate for some limitations Flash has in knowing some routines. I ask Flash how he feels and he says he’s very nervous but, “It’s good to be back.”

7:49: With everyone upstairs backstage, Krystina Adkins is down in her dressing room doing 50 sit ups before the show. It’s a routine she says she picked up recently in Germany when there was so much downtime between shows she started doing sit ups to pass the time. I volunteer to count and make her do 60, and she doesn’t even notice.

7:59: Just one minute before the show is scheduled to actually start. Jessica is drifting in her own world reading the novel Sundowners. It’s a wonder how calm she could be just minutes before stepping on stage in front of 250 people. Jessica laughs when I tell her this, and she says that her only wish is that the audience could wait until she finishes her chapter sometimes.

8:02: Jenica vonGarrel and Mark Cole, both responsible for the lights, go up to their perch in the sky and get themselves set for the show.

8:16: A lamp is finally brought backstage so that the performers can actually see when they change costumes and prepare themselves between scenes.

8:18: While Krystina and Jessica are just sitting and chatting, Branic and Flash talking about computers, and DeSouza just sitting staring blankly in space, Kovacs is running around. He is making hectic last minute preparations in his role as the producer of the show, rather than even giving a thought to his upcoming role as a performer.

8:20: The house lights go down. All six performers huddle together, and Jonathan tells Flash, “it’s good to have you back.” They chant 1-2-3-Rathskellar! and without hesitation, start their performance. Once they begin, I soon find that backstage is anything but silent.

8:27: Jessica redoes her hair and her hairclip falls behind the barrier and onstage in plain view of the audience. She gets on her knees and struggles to get it back without drawing any attention.

8:36: The first costume change of the night takes place and DeSouza barely makes it on stage in time still tucking in his shirt.

8:37: Krystina, still changing, is shocked when Flash is already done changing. “That’s why they call me Flash,” he grins.

8:44: There’s a small problem with the amp before one of the dances is scheduled to start. Jessica smoothly ad libs her way off stage and back on, taking care of the problem in the five seconds she was off stage. The audience never missed a beat.

9:04: Eight of 12 Dasani bottles are now empty.

9:08: In moving a table off stage, the speaker wires are tripped. Thank god for Krystina’s flexibility because she painfully reattached them without drawing a single spectator’s attention.

9:39: Curtains. A near flawless performance from my view was capped and they are rewarded with a standing ovation. A question and answer session initiates and they field questions about how long they’ve been touring and practicing.

9:47: They finally walk off stage and collapse. They each take a deeeeep breath before starting to clean up and put away their props. They put things away with routine and precision, loading things as quick as could be.

9:59: While the rest of the crew is cleaning up, Jenica and Chris are up front handling the massive crowd of people who want to buy Rathskellar t-shirts and photographs.

10:05: The last of the equipment and speakers are loaded in the van.

10:12: The entire cast joins Jenica and Chris, only this time signing autographs for the people who bought the glossy photos.

10:48: Jessica stops signing autographs for a minute for a brief interview with Jed.

10:56: The booth is finally closed, one hour and 17 minutes after their performance ends. Flash did a great job all things considered, and has a huge grin of relief on his face. The show, while filled with several blunders from my point of view, never lost its poise on stage and the audience was totally immersed in them. Rathskellar can finally call it a night. They have to leave first thing in the morning for a three hour drive to Madison, South Dakota for another performance.