Reading was OK but not one of my favorite places as the area is a little rundown. It is one of those smaller older cities that has fallen on hard times and is struggling to maintain itself. The people there were great though and we had a good show.
Wilkes-Barre was much the same and we were only there for a few hours so we didn't really get a chance to experience the city. They were doing some major improvements to the river walk area and I know that it will be beautiful when completed.
Baltimore, which is home to NetWorks, Inc., the company that produces "Annie" was a lot of fun. We were playing a the Hippodrome which is a beautiful old theatre and stayed with in a few blocks of the Inner Harbor which is a great area with lots of shops and restaurants and things to do including a wonderful aquarium (Alayna and I went on Monday and had a great time, especially at the Dolphin show). Several special things happened in Baltimore. First, we got to meet some of the folks who will be joining us for next years tour. Three of our current company members are moving on to other projects. They seem to be very nice, very young people. One of them went to school at OU with a former student of mine. Small world, huh? The other thing was that we had a special guests appearance by the host of "Ace of Cakes," a reality show on TV. Chef Dunn and Mary Alice came on Saturday night and did a walk on bit in NYC. They also had a cake of the "Annie" company that was really cool. Evidently this was a huge deal as I have gotten more contacts about this than any other thing that has happened on tour. Mary Alice came back to see the show Sunday night with her niece. It was the nieces first experience with Annie and Mary Alice is apparently a huge fan of the show. She and Chef are both great people and were a lot of fun.
Of course we also had visits from lots of the "bosses" at networks. Everyone seemed pleased with the show and had only good things to say.
Monday night we did a cabaret performance at an area club to raise money for BARCS, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter. Members of the Annie Family performed favorite numbers and we all had a good time sharing our unique talents with friends, family, and locals. The best part is we raised $1,600 dollars for the shelter.
The best part of the week, however, was getting to see my oldest daughter Alayna, who now lives in NYC. She is leaving in a few weeks to spend the summer in Oregon leading a Performing Arts Camp there. She co-directs and choreographs and teaches as part of the program. Alayna saw the show Sunday night and she and I hung out together on Monday.
Today we are in Bartlesville, OK for a show tomorrow night before heading to Austin, TX for the weekend. I am looking forward to being in my home state and spending some time with my brother, sister, mom, dad and rest of the family. I don't get to see them enough so this well be a welcome treat.
We now have 12 days and 12 performances left before the end of the 2008-2009 Annie, National Tour. But who is counting
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