A lot is going to happen before opening night.

Usually I enjoy a first night as a surgeon enjoys an operation: this time I enjoyed it as a playgoer enjoys a pleasant performance. p 267

She had a great opening act, which was [that] she had the stomach to do it and the will to do it and all that good stuff, ... I didn't expect this. I thought she'd stick it out.

They were two of the most pleasant students you ever wanted to meet. When they said last night that Damion Campbell from Forest Park had been killed, I just started screaming. I just broke down. ... I don't know how many times it has ever happened that two kids from the same high school, from the same Junior ROTC program, two young people who both wanted so much to honor their country have been lost.

We tell them to get the kids a good breakfast, and enough sleep the night before.

It was really quite moving to see all of the participants in the opening ceremony.