Holiday Hiatus and funky internet connection

So i received a FACEBOOK from our captain JERRY MITCHELL saying to update the blog, so this is the end of the holiday hiatus. I also spent the last two hours trying to upload what i had written and then it was all erased. SO, just know that the last two weeks have been grand and life is well. This new week brings new things and change however.

I had the weekend off, so coming in last night i learned a few things. Not only was Larry and Nell visiting, and Michelle Kitrell( original Dance Captain for the BWAY show)---but more people than just Stacey are leaving now. Amber Efe came in to start rehearsals, but Rhiannon found out some bad news. She has a small fracture in her Tibia, so she is out for a month. She will be returning in ST LOUIS. So, here is the magical understudy fandango.

Alex will be playing MARGOT for the next month. This morning, Tiffany Engen flew in. She will be playing KATE/CHUTNEY for the next month. So, we have two new people going in next week. The deal is that alot has changed from the Bway production. But, seeing as how Tiffany was the BWAY swing, i am guessing she will be our new vacation swing. It should be an interesting week!!!!! So we will just hold the PEEPSHOW T's that Jerry sent for xmas and rock back and forth to find our happy place. The only constant in life is change ( thank you greek philosophers and Frank Wildhorn), but when change happens on this tour it seems to happen on a monumental scale. TIER B TASTIC!!!!!

Wait for the epic entry that got erased earlier...

Super Swing Sundays

Well Saturday went on without a hitch.  Then yesterday, Lauren called out sick. But, because Sara Andreas was already on for Kate/Chutney, Leslie had to go on in her track. Thing is, she hasnt really been covering her thus far. THIS HAS NOW CHANGED. So, throw some greasepaint and costumes together and she was on. Then, after WHIPPED, Brian called out. His knee was in really bad shape, with him hopping around. In talking to him, I think its the high impact landing when he jumps off the table as the Karate Attacker. So, Spencer rallied and came on in everything from BEND AND SNAP on. The REMIX was a small cluster&%*$ but we all pulled it out. Thanks to the BERLONI for their sweet treats for taking such good care of the dogs. OH_____So Bill was here all weekend.

For those who dont know, he is the Dog Handler Guru. Hartford is close to his farm, so his family was in and out all week. But also, Marjorie, our chihuahua handler, had to go back to NYC to move unexpectedly, so he just so happened to be here when the ROXY swithceroo happened. Sometimes the universe makes the magic happen.

Lat night, we all went out to celebrate the weekends shinanigans. We had made friends with a local bartender, so we got a table late===just in time to see my COWBOYS wallop on the GIANTS( though in all truth I was semi scared halfway thru the 4th quarter). However, our quote unquote "friend" decided he would try to manhandle not only two of Crystals Aunties but also Coleen. So amidst our wings and SMORE-making brilliance we got a drunken bartender fired. The saddest part, other than he losing his job, may have been him riding into the cold horizon on a harley with no motorcycle. Who thinks that is a good idea? Oh gentlemen of the night......

As i sit here sipping my morning coffee, I am excited for the day. We rented a party bus to take us to PHILLY and we are going to see the EAGLES play the BROWNS. What will happen? One cannot be all that sure. But I am sure of this, with a team of 12 people its going to be hard not to have fun--especially with a 4 hour busride and blacklights. Just try and stop us Philly, you just try!!!!!!!

Proposal 8 the Musical

Thank you Marc Shaiman and friends!!!!!!  

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

TGIF and sunshine

So last night's WHIRLYBALL was amazing.  There was only one court, sadly, but the bumper cars ran at probably double the speed of the ones in Ohio. And, in order to score you actually had to hit the area in the middle of the backboard.   The highlights of the night were Sara Andreas blindly running into walls at breakneck speeds and our company manager Nathan Gehan getting so enfuriated that he started smackin' the side of his car with the stick.

Today, the monsoon rains let up and the sun came out.  With the sun came Ass. Dir. Marc Bruni straight from mounting a bazillion productions of WHITE XMAS!! He was watching understudy rehearsal today, and then the show tonite followed by a copious note session for an hour.

ALSO, i found out that Alex will be playing Margot all weekend. So, she will also be swung out tonite to watch some specifics. Therefor, Sara Andreas will be Kate/Chutney from tonite until we reach D.C.

And now i head to the evenings show, with a full blown headcold.  If only i can have a river of transparent slime oozing out of my nostrils during the entire beginning of WHIPPED INTO SHAPE like last night!!! I guess the first couple rows did pay a lil' extra for extreme closeups.  Be careful what you wish for!

HASTA LA VISTA PHILLY....for a week

So a week has transpired, and now my father is mad and insists that internet must exist in the NE or the grassroots campaigns would have never gotten OBAMA elected.  TO that i say" Yes true, but your hands are tied when the ethernet cable at the HAMPTON INN says too many subscribers are online and you are not allowed."  It truly feels like the fable of Mary, Jo, and the christian babe being rejected from the inn......

Well Philly was amazing!!!!!  I truly love that city.  The theatre is great, the people are great, and the food will knock your socks off!!!!!  Plus, the sights are majestic and historic. On Thursday, we had a great understudy rehearsal that consisted of all scene work.  Lauren was in all day, then Tally got added, then me, then Stacey ( which is slightly ironic which you will hear in a sec), and then Sara Andreas as Kate Chutney.  

For those of you out there actually following, Becky will be taking a one week vaca in Houston. So, Lauren and Rhiannon will be splitting the week as Elle.  I wanna say its the first week, but i dont remember. 

STAY TUNED FOR A BAR TO THE RIGHT THAT SAYS WHEN PEEPS ARE ON VACA

Also, Rhiannon is out all this weekend so if you are coming expect to see some glorious covers.

But i digress........

That night we had a tremendous show, still continuing to collect for BCEFA.  But, we actually got cheerleader outfits from the BWAY show to sell.   One did, and I dont know about the other.  They belonged to Lindsay Chambers--original company swing and petite lady.  And oddly enough, also a college friend of mine from Otterbein.

On Friday, I got a personal tour of INDEPENDENCE HALL. 

 My cousins husband JOE has been working for the Park Service for over 30 years, and has m

ore or less helped make it all work.  He even wrote all the literature and designed the models around the Liberty Bell---which was originally called the FREEDOM BELL but when it was acknowledged that the slaves were still not free they changed the name.  And here are two quick facts......#1 the crack was made on purpose and #2 in circa 2001 an ultra hippie was hanging out around the park for a week then came in with a drum mallet and hit the bell 4 times yelling FREEDOM FREEDOM FREEDOM FREEDOM before he was tackled and prosecuted because he had caused 4 chunks to fall off the bell.  And here is random fact 3-----all of the historic sites are actually owned by the city of Philly and the state of Pennsylvania. So, the national government leases the property for $1 for 100 years.  This is why the bell has stayed in Philly.....

Check out the video of my cousins hubby playing the ARMONICA---an invention of Ben Franklin that was based on wetting your fingers and playing your mammas good crystal. It was dwarfed by the invention of the HARMONICA and the modern day piano.

Later that day, we learned that Stacey Sargeant had given her four week notice.  She got a gig at the McCarter doing a great 5 person play, and couldn't get a month leave. So, maybe Amber Efe will be joining us soon.  She didnt have to do the DELTA NU scenes originally, because two tracks were combined for the tour.  But, never a dull time.  That being said, we also found out our drummer Marc Pardy will be doing LION KING in vegas. So, we lose him so he can be closer to his family.  I support but will miss our constant beat in the varying pits that we experience across this PURPLE MOUNTAINS MAJESTY.

On sunday, Josh Walden took a day off. So, amidst the ARMY-NAVY football game madness Jay Garcia became CARLOS.  It was hilarious and completely different from Walden. And, an exciting way to end the week. That night, a majority of us RAN ( literally) to the 30th street station to catch AMTRAK home.

Monday was GYPSY OF THE YEAR. THis is the annual BCEFA fundraiser endcap, which results in an ecclectic type VARIETY SHOW by the Bway shows ( with the addition of some OFF BWay shows). It was beautiful, hilarious, and sad all at the same time.  IT was inspiring to see Tyne Daly reminisce about the 80's( which i am sure most readers dont even remember because they werent born). But, LION KING did a beautiful dance, and the cast of TITLE OF SHOW wrote the final number, which curtailed on HAIRSPRAY singing I KNOW WHERE IVE BEEN with all the Motormouths to date and what castmembers were around.  I felt reinvigorated and inspired as an artist, and proud of my community of friends. 

That being said, i was ill on Tuesday and actually had to call out of the show---as did Leslie.  I could barely walk. So, i sat in the rain overlooking the park whilst our first show in HARTFORD happened.  It was an interesting fate seeing as how a year ago, i was here in Hartford and my life took a change i was not expecting.  Its funny how life comes around in full circle and the only constant is change and to just embrace it.

That being said----tonite we play WHIRLYBALL again!!!!!!  thats right, another hotbed of bumpercar madness.  Its a full day. I am doing a reading of a PILOT i wrote in our Bfast Buffet area, a show, and whirlyball?  It could be topped off by nothing better than Ass. Dir. Marc Bruni visiting and then us renting a party bus to PHILLY for the EAGLES vs. BROWNS game on monday........oh wait thats really happening.  Is it a dream? No, just the life of a touring gypsy!

My grandma is mad its taken so long----but welcome to PHILLY!!!

Thanks to an INCREDIBLE lack of good wireless internet i am just now chiming in.  That and the last week and a half have been chock full o' crazy!  So, grandma and dad here is what has been happening---other than my dead cellphone.

So sit back, sip a latte, and read on.....

The last thursday in Cleveland we did a cool thing called WHIRLYBALL.  We rode in two parybuses lined with blacklights to the hinterlands of CLEVELAND and embarked into what may be the most fun i have had in the sports realm in a fortnight or six. WHIRLYBALL is a sport that combines hockey/basketball/lacrosse/soccer/.  You are in what looks like an indoor hockey rink, and are riding around in bumpercars.  THATS RIGHT----bumpercars.  You are equipped with a plastic field hockey stick from high school gym class.  On teams of 5, the goal is to hit what looks like a basketball backboard at either end of the court( depending on your teams color). You can also get a massive amount of points by hitting the net behind a small circle cut into the middle of the backboard.  There are also rules about hitting an opposing member with your stick, running over the ball, etc...

You play in 15 minute increments----and i think i may now try to open one in LONG ISLAND CITY.  

( see both videos for more fun).  

That night, after rejoicing from the spectacle, most of us awoke to a beeping.  Then, Rhiannon was screaming and banging our door. THE RESERVE SQUARE WAS ON FIRE!!!!!!  Thats right....but unlike college where most of the fire alarms are fake, smoke was bellowing into the hallways. SO, i gathered what i needed( passport, cellphone, and MAC) and ran outside as quick as i could, past the naysayers that were timidly peering out their doors as SPencer and I reached the speed of sound down 8 flights of stairs.  Surprisingly slowly, people started oozing out of the building.  People in nothing but boxers, people in wheelchairs, and all walks of life appeared--including the fire department.  We tried to make sure everyone could be found, but some were in the other tower clear of harm, and other people simply didn't answer their phones.  As we all froze to the bone, we learned that there had been a fire in the trash compactor chute. It runs the height of the building.  2 hours later we were ushered back in, also after some city buses showed up to house the temporarily frostbitten folk.  In the end, everyone was allright. But, the upper levels reaked of burnt plastic, and some got a little shaken up.  I have never personally be in a fire, so I guess i can now write off one natural disaster i have been apart of.

 The rest of the weekend seems to dwindle in comparison to that event, which is probably why i cant remember anything other than my mom and brother coming to visit. and then there was the intestinal plague....

The night of AROUND THE WORLD, Sara Andreas had to be taken to the hospital due to uncontrollable vomiting. She was given 3 IV's, and then we found out that she had an intestinal disease that has been sweeping through the "Mistake on the Lake"--Cleveland.   Two days later, Courtney got the same thing.  They live together, which is how we think she got it.  She felt like crap, but Leslie got to go on for SERENA.  It was hilarious and brilliant in different ways. But, here is the most mind boggling part.  The disease is passed on through fecal matter. Thats right----the infamous POOP PLAGUE.  It gives the term CLEVELAND STEAMER a little bit of a more ominous tone.

Schenectady, however, was then a horse of a different color.

Upon arrival in the burb of our states capital, we learned that Paul's dad had passed away. We knew that he wasn't well back in BOSTON, but it never makes it easy. So, we prepared for him to be gone all weekend.  Then, after tuesday nights show we learned that our head carpenter had been fired. So, Jason got to step up.  The next night was an interesting journey of slow moving pallets and odd mishaps.  One of these was the pallet moving out of HARVARD VARIATIONS too soon, while BPM was still standing upon it, and it gave him whiplash.  Then, at the end of CHIP, it wasnt out soon enough.  The girls came out and Mamie was stepping on it when it was whisked out from under her.  She flopped on her back hard, and later went to the hospital during the 2nd act---with Leslie throwing on the Mom costume for the REMIX.  This all happened while JENKINS was swung out to watch the show and make sure everything looked good from the house.  WHAT A NIGHT!!!!! That day we also found out that our head props man, Johnny, had his dad die unexpectedly.  2 in the same week---that combined with the head carp going endcapped the bad things in 3's.

First let me say that JAY STREET is adorable in downtown SCHENECTADY. There is an awesome crepe restaurant, a coffeeeeshop/grill called AMBITION, a cool head shop owned by an INDIAN national named ANDY, and a tattoo parlor/recording studio that some of us may have gotten some tats at.

Also, the theatre seems to be haunted.  PROCTOR's ghost is around-some of the girls have felt it. And, they just gave him a name---which also ended up to be his actual name and that of his 2nd wife.  CRAZY!!!  But, its an adorable theatre with a great ARCADE attached with shops and a coffee shop.  

TURKEY DAY proved beautiful. The weather was amazing----most everyone was bussed to a great restaurant called the CENTURY HOUSE.  They have stone fireplaces and is apparently fancy.  Some loved it and some said the service was slow and the food canned---but when you come together as a family for the holidays anything is better than IHOP.

I took Stacey with me to go visit my dads college roommate, who is truly an uncle and my dads doppleganger. He and his family live in QUAKER STREET--its a cute lil' hamlet on the SW side of ALBANY. It used to be a QUAKER colony starting back in the day, but has since gone into a bit of remission. They have a wee organic farm behind their 150 year old farmhouse, that they have had since they moved their in the later 60's.  It was amazing!!!!! And truly, dont know if there was a better way to spend the holiday.  Homemade grape juice and pecan pie?  I call that PARADISE!  A wee walk, and then some took a nap while I finished off the last half of the pecan pie.  What can i say, I am a glutten.  That night, the producers also paid for  a lil party at the great hotel next door to the theatre called the PARKER INN.  It was great, and I dont know the last time I saw everyone so happy.  Paul and Johnny were commiserating in the corner over the loss of their fathers, and it felt truly like a family holiday.  I am tearing up as I write this, and as Johnny walks into the cafe across the room.  I am grateful for all my friends and love the size of our companies heart.  That being said, as I weep quietly for the departure of all the people in my life, lets go to PHILLY.

OH NO-----so Leslie went on for MAMIE til saturday, when she finally came back from back recovery. She was just bruised. Also, Adam was out due to neck injuries, which have apparently been a problem for a bit. AND, Josh Campbell got to go on for Paul all weekend. It is what i like to call SUPER SWING WEEKEND!!!! It felt semi like playing dress up as a kid and doing college theatre where we are playing roles 20 years our elder.  

So after a 6 hour bus ride at 85 miles an hour, and witnessing JENKINS puppy doing a front stall whilst pooping, we arrived in the city of BROTHERLY LOVE.  I love this city, having visited it 4 times in the last two years.  I quickly hit up some of my favorite places, EL VEZ and MONKS, and we were into it.  The company is glad to be back in such a metropolitan town, and i think the trip back to NYC for alot of people was a nice recharge. Also, the crew loaded out and in in record time. SO, the whole switcheroo and Johnny being gone proved how resilient our stagehands are. SNAPS!!!  What the week will bring nobody really knows.....but the weather is brisk and the theatre is dropdead gorgeous.  I love the gas lamps out front.  ANd now, to understudy rehearsal.