One long Week

Sorry it has been a whole week since I have last written.

We experienced our first taste of bus and truck tour life, with our first slew 8 or 9 one nighters in a row. That's getting up, sometimes at 5am(like tomorrow) for a 530am bus call, travelling for up to 10 hrs, to get to a new city, check in the hotel have an hour or two, before we get back on the bus, and go to the theater to perform., Then we do it all again. It has been strenuous, tiring, agitating, and exhausting! We're so happy that tomorrow we get a day off, we've just done 9 shows in 8 days without one. Now a day off is only us not having to perform, we still have to travel, that would be a golden day,..ah yeah we don't have any of those. And it just so happens that again we are doing another 10 hr travel day, and we're still not getting to the city we need to be. It is kind of nice for us though, cause we'll get to spend tomorrow evening in Memphis, that will be a fun night that we need together. This kind of schedule tends to make people on edge, and short in grace, we hung out one night this past week in someones room who ended up getting a suite, and is was so cast bonding. We need more time to just enjoy each other, with nothing hindering our thoughts, or stressin us out.

Half of this time was spent in the state of Iowa, out of the 9 shows 5 of them we're in a city in Iowa. We have driven all over this state, in fact we have past the Best Western that we stayed in for opening night on the highway at least 3 times. I am so sick of that state, and was so happy to leave it today. I ended up with some weird pain from a theatre their. I thought I was bit by some spider on stage, that lodged under my skin, for i felt it a couple of times. The crazy thing is there was no mark or anything on my skin that looked like there was a bite, not a bump. But the pain came again the next day, so I went to the doctor to see what was up. He didn't really know he thinks it's some nerve thing, so He wrapped it, and said I shouldn't dance for a week. HA!

Anyway, traveling all over this state has brought by and eventually in the World's Largest Truck Stop! Besides it having 4 fast food joints inside, it had it's own restaurant, a library, arcade,dentist, theater, and make your own truck section in it. It was crazy. But you see alot of weird things at truck stops, and some weird themes, like dinosaurs.

Being on tour, you forget the world, for it's just off to one place to the next. We have no tv to watch, well when we get to the hotel, we either have to eat or work out, before we get ready for the show, the only news we get is if the hotel has a continental breakfast and the news is on. Half the time or mostly all the time, we don't even know what day it is. The only times I know are my bus calls, get on it to leave the hotel, get on it to go to the theater. Real simple. So when we drove to upper Michigan We were astounded by the beauty of fall.( half because boring old Iowa had nothing but corn fields) Pretty much the back of the bus got their cameras out and snapped like crazy. It was just so beautiful to see, and Lake Michigan was awesome, and I had never seen it before. It was a fantastic reminder that the world is still going on, which also helped to remind me that my close friend Jon Channells birthday is coming up, so the other reason why I haven;t written all week is because I was using my free time to work that out.

The shows have been going well. Of course every theatre brings about it's limitations and we have to change things, but we still put on the show we do, and continue to get standing o's. technical difficulties have been the bain of our existence, but we have just performed right thru them. Last night the curtain didn't go up, and the whole movie finished behind it, then the announcement cut in the middle, you didn't even know Eva died, it was hysterical, but nothing beats tonight so far. Out of all the small podunk towns we've played, this was the smallest. How small you asked, well we cut every stage piece, the night club stairs, all the flying banners, the video screen,the revolving door, and yes you got it, the famous Casa rosada Steps That Evita sings the famous song on, that all the pictures are taken from, hahahahah it was side splitting. We even had to skim down on costumes. It was extremely fun though, and we all felt like it was one of our best shows, and we had the audience right from the get go, bigger applause thruout the whole show( especially after dance numbers i might add), then any other place, and of course they were on their feet right in the beginning.

But it's nice to be able to re coop somewhat in the voice. I will sleep all day in the bus, I'm even thinking about staying up late tonight, and working out just so I'm really tired.

Now it's off to Memphis and then Jackson MS where hopefully I can see my brother jason whom I haven't seen in 3 years.

A Wisconsin mess

I am tired and hungry.

We are in Platteville Wisconsin right now, we performed at the University of Wis. Platte.. Let's just say this place was kind of smaller than the U of Miss. But the crew was better. Since this place was actually a concert hall, there were many things we had to cut from the show because of the lack of space, or no fly rail. Basically none of our banners were flown at all, and some of our sets were cut, like the stairs. But we of course just decided to laugh it off.
For I had a great beginning of the day, and afternoon. The drive here was only around 2 hrs, and after we got here I went to work out,( this hotel has a partnership with this 24/7 fitness club) It was fantastic! Also I have been reacquainted with my desire to be in Cirque du Soleil, so now I will be disciplining myself to get in shape again so that I can audition for them, and try and make that dream come true. So I was feelin good.

I was ready to do the show, I had sat in my splits earlier, and just felt warmed up and in a better physical shape than I had been in a couple of days. Anyway, this was our worst show so far, woo absolutely. And it all started when we opened the coffin in the first scene and ,"Oh my Gosh!! There she is, UPSIDE DOWN!" yup the crew didn't set it right so we open the coffin, that by the way is placed on center stage with one stanchion higher so it sits her up, you know what would usually be her head. yeah it was crazy. So now all of us are flabbergasted, and really trying to hold laughter in. It was just crazy! And then the curtain didn't lose at the end of Act 1 fully, but that wasn't a biggie. But during the top of act 2 I screwed up. We are all running back and forth in front of the big staircase that Evita is on singing the famous song(Don't cry for me), and we are shouting her name all frantically, and after every trumpet blast we get crazier, and start singin even harder, and it's a hot mess, choreographed kayos. Well after the bases join in there is one more trumpet blast, and we freeze. Well I was so into the scene tonight, that I was running around in places I'm not usually, and when I heard a part where I knew I should be in my ending place I tried to get there, well I was way late, ending up being the total wrong way, and almost falling out of my freeze, and I didn't cut off right away, so you hear "evit...." all by itself. OOPSIES. hahahahha, but we were crackin up about it, it's happened before to others.

But true to form we still had a great show, and were met with another standing ovation, So Praise the Lord!!!!

Tomorrow however we have a 5am bus call for about a 7or 8 hr trip, ugh, double ugh! But Chris has a swing seat tomorrow, so I will be sleeping on the floor hard core my friends. We're going to the UP of Michigan, apparently it will be even more fraught with accents as this place. So we'll see how it goes. We're on our first long stretch of about 10 or 12 shows right in a row, and all in different cities. It's grueling, so Please send me your good thoughts, and prayers, emails, and calls of encouragement!!!

Here's a little rest stop fun for ya!

The dookah

We arrive in Padukah Kentucky,

Within 20 mins of us getting off the bus, 2 guys who went to the gas station convenient store around the back of the hotel got stopped by the cops, and Id. They were interigated on the spot and asked if they knew some guy, even after they told them that they just got off of a bus from Iowa. Apparently, they fit some kind of description for some folks, ...riiighhht. City folk in a small town. Anyway, the manager of the hotel happened to be there at the same time, and he got irrate, and yelled at the cops for not welcoming the city's guest, and called the mayor, and the chief of police, so that was pretty cool.

Now since this all happened we expected this place to be as small country as could be, we were told not to go anywhere out of a group. But we were pleaseantly surprised by the staff of the hotel(which was a courtyard marriott, haleluha). They were the best staff we have delt with so far, and thats been a blessing. And the theater!!!!!

Woah Baby!! a new state of the art, absolutely beautiful theater, with space galore!!!!! an 1800 seater and we sold about 1500 each night! and again we were met at the end with standing ovations for each show, even with the massive technical problems we keep having. It was really wonderful, and our dressers were so professional, to the point where I felt uncomfortable cause he was willing and ready to do everything. I mean literally He was going to dress me, tuck me in, and button me up, so I did let him know He didn't have to totally help me, just set out my clothes. He even met me with a water bottle at the end of the act,( I must say I kind of felt weird), but it was nice to have someone who knew what they were doing.The only thing that was bad about this theater was the temperature they kept it. Man it was absolutely freezing. Next stop, back to IOWA!!

WELL Opening night was a great hit!
We brought Broadway all the way to this podunk town called Cedar Rapids Iowa. We also had a day off there, which for the most part we thought would be horrendous. Why, cause there is absolutely nothing to do in that town, absolutely boring, we paraded around town and only found these figures and our show on a rolling sign. The only reason why it was ok, was because there ended being 2 cars because our assistant production manager and her friend from Iowa was there to take us to another town that had a real mall. So we spent a fun day in the mall. Actually the hi-light to that day was going to Build a Bear store with Andrew and Brad( our company manager) and making a teddy bear,well cat, for his neice. We were excited to make it, but that excitement was quickly deflated when we found that we were just going from station to station while someone else did everything, oh well.

We actually found an adult ballet class to go to as well. In every town we are in for at least 2 days, we are trying to find a place to dance so we don't loose a whole lot of technique or form, and to get some kind of exercise. My body is so out of wack not being able to eat right, or regular, and since this isn't a dance show we have to really make sure we stay on the top of our game. Anyway, the class was fun, a little crazy, but all the elder ladies welcomed us in with open arms and were just excited to have special company, and we were just excited to have a free dance class.

Well the theater looked really small from the outside. It looked old and run down as well, but looks can be deceiving, cause it was beautiful inside. Many people said it reminded them of a Broadway theater they way the house was set up, the space inside was beautiful, and they did fill it up pretty well. It was a good show, and we got another standing Ovation, nice.

The horrible thing about that whole experience was that our bus call to leave Iowa was freakin 5am!! and Oh I had laundry to still do, so I didn't get to bed til 1:30am, it was absolutely horrible. Well lets just say more people got there issues resolved with the floor that morning. Oh it was just torture. But we survived, and we traveled to the University of Missouri for our next show.

Ok, our first college town! WOah baby are you serious!, The house was just a small lecture room stage. I thought, "man my high school theater was bigger than this." So we all decided to just laugh it off, and try to have fun with this show. They also had food for us so we were really excited to have a good time. Well..., That could only go so far. The crew were just local students, who weren't even theater majors cause they don't have a major at this school. Oh gosh. And everything went down from there. It was our worst show so far. Someone got clocked in the eye from the set breaking, another person ran into a door and jumped into my arms from a door being pre set to early, costumes moved, people getting yelled at. In one number I totally forgot to put my suspenders up, and they were hanging out of the back of my coat, well there went the military dress, and my concentration for my steps, and I flopped big. It was a bad show, everyone thought so, Well everyone accept the folks of Missouri, for we received another Standing Ovation, wow! 4-and 0. None the less we were all to happy to get out of there and back to the hotel.

It's thursday morning, the 20th, our 1 month anniversary, geesh only 9 more to go, feels like we've been with each other for a year already, hahahaha, Next Stop, Kentucky!!

by the way I heard the only bad thing in our review from Cedar rapids was that they didn't print enough programs!

Home Sweet Bus

Opening Preview nights were Great!!

Our first show went well despite the sound totally not being on it's game, but they got there act together for the 2 show, and we got standing ovations for both shows, which was such a surprise to us. The first show during my quick change from military to miner, I guess I forgot to put my mic pack on under my undershirt, so when I went to take it off, it was still attached to my cord, so I just ended up snatching it off, and running on stage without my it, which would be totally fine, but that happened to be the only number that I have a solo line in, I couldn't sing in someones elses mic cause mine was the only one on at that time, so I just stepped out and yelled at the top of my lungs. They stilled heard me.

So we were able to rest easy knowing that we are ready to go on tour.

And Troika had a fabulous party for us, and they gave us Evita traveling bags!.

So we just spent the last day and a half traveling from Tn to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a stop in St. Louis MO last night. (which was fantastik by the way, we were in a marriot with fabulous beds, and an up to date fitness center with free weights! Yeah Jesus!) And I actually ate in a KFC in Kentucky! We have assigned seats on the bus, and a bus buddy who we got to pick. Well actually He picked me, his name's Chris( his father is U.S. Ambassador)!! Our seat is in the absolute back of the bus enclosed by the bathroom on the right side. At first I was like oh, and then after being there for 7 1/2 hrs got used to it, and like the hiddeness from everyone, everyone totally forgets I'm alive back there. When there's movies on I don't want to watch, I can just read, or write. We got to stop at Walmart today so I was able to get a drawing pad, and markers, and a cusion for the floor, we've already started sleeping on the floor. Our Bus drivers name is Tom, this isn't his first tour, but man it's like he's trying to make a record how early he can get us at the hotel, and we're always drifting over to the side strips. Now we're in the middle of west jablip iowa with a day off tomorrow. Now comes the challenge of figuring out what to do.

Still feeling somewhat uncool, and not wanted in a clique yet, but Learning to not let that effect who I am.

Oh to be dressed!

Sorry it has been so many days before I have written, like I said it has been a very long week of tech. We have had 10 hr days since we got here last thursday.

But, Lots of things have gone on. There was the first day we had to put our costumes on and see what problems we were going to face changing from scene to scene. Now in almost every scene we are either in a different place or different year, or some kind of different person, so in every scene we have a different costume on. Now since this is an operetta, we don't stop the music or the singing, so that means people sometimes only have one line of a song to fully change clothes, and I mean everything, down to socks and shoes and all. There are a couple poor cats who only have a black out to change clothes, which is the one scene ends, there's a blackout on stage to change the set, and then the lights are up on a new scene, and they have to be on, so those people have to under dress, which is putting on there next scene's costume on under there previous.( and there are some who under dress 3 and 4 costumes at a time.)

I however am not so unlucky. In fact I have I only one change that I come right off, and have to go right on for the next scene, but the costume i have to put on is just overalls and a tangtop, and a miners helmet.

What's really cool is the only time we're in our dressing rooms are before the show and after the show. We get into our under garments get into robes and then go on stage where the gondolas of our costumes are, and then we just leave it all there, and go back. It's pretty sweet actually. Now something in the profesional world of theater I didn't know was that we have dressers at each city. Local people who come in specifically to just dress us backstage. It's a job they get payed for, but I found that it's customary to tip if they are good, and if you have a long run at that theater with the same dresser. It works kind of like a waiter, you tip to the service. Well that was news to me!

What's real fun is there are so many styles of costumes we could do many shows, Guys and Dolls, Newsies, Titanic, and certain scenes from A League of Their Own.

The Long Road of Tech

For the last 3 days we have been toiling away thru the show with lights and sounds trying to get everything cued up just right for the show. We were suppossed to end today by dinner time, and we almost did, but not quite. It is a very long very boring , some what tedious process, but it has to be done, and all and all, it's what makes the show so good. We also got to work with the props and flags, and banners, and drops that are also apart of the show, in fact some of us(mainly myself), found out that we actually do have props. I am a stage hand for one scene, and I just have to come up with my own mimeing action of what I'm doing, so I was acting all the ways I knew how to show I had a rope, and that I was fiddlin around with it, and lo and behold, I get yelled at for not having my prop, which is actually multiple feert of rope! So my acting was so good it just came into fruition, hahahaha.

Anyway, there's alot of down time when you're not on stage, and just waiting in the house, or waiting in the wings before you have to go on stage. SO alot of the cast has decided to try and get in shape as much as they can, so they will do push ups, and pilates in the ailes, it's been quite fun to watch. One time Kim just took over and gave us this massive hard pilates ab workout. But overall, you're just standing around bored and cold, to you have to go on stage, and stand around bored and cold, but in good light.

Because of the crazines of all this, and having to eat out all the time, some of us got up early today and walked a couple miles to a grocery store, it was a nice little walk.

The coolest thing about today was the fact that we got to go to the recording studio and record some tracks for the show, and some promotional reels to send out. That was way cool! Even when we were bored and tired in rehearsal, I would turn to people and just say, I'm livin the dream! Being in the studio is just another affirmation about how cool this all is, and how much of a blessing it is that I get too live out my dreams.

It was nice that today was different because of the studio session, cause we got to go home early, and that means mad relaxin in the hot tub! and drinkin jungle juice!!!(yeah right, it's just fruit punch).