Back on the Road - Again

After a wonderful week off for Christmas spent with family, were I ate too much and said too much, we are back on the road in Phoenix, Arizona.  We are playing at the Arizona State University Gammage Auditorium which a very large, unique and beautiful theatre.  We opened last night and the the show was great and the audience amazing.  It is these kinds of nights that make being out on the road tolerable.

I love the desert! There is a certain majestic beauty that is unique to this part of the country.  The weather here is beautiful after having been in the snow and ice of north Texas last week.  It is sixty degrees today and the sun is shining.  It is very dry here which I can tell is effecting my voice.  I can't seem to drink enough water to keep my throat from being dry.  But it is a small price to pay for being in such a warm and wonderful place.

Tomorrow we have a show at noon and then have the rest of the day off.  The Insight Bowl is being played here tomorrow, and I have thought about seeing if I can get tickets.  I don't care anything about the teams that are playing but I have always wanted to go to a Bowl game and this would be my best opportunity.  We'll see.  I probably can't afford it.  Maybe I'll just stand outside the stadium and watch the people go in.

Tempe has one of the top ten New Year's Eve celebrations in the country and it is taking place just down the street.  I think most of the company may participate in those fesitivities.  There is lots of free music and activities and it sounds like it should be a lot of fun.  If I can't spend New Year's Eve with my family what better way to celebrate than with 150,000 loud and crazy strangers!

I hope your New Year is filled with many blessings and that all your dreams come true.

Cay, Alayna, and Ashlea, I especially pray that God blesses you all and that life is nothing but good to you.

All my love,

David

Christmas Layoff! Hooray!

Tonight we did our last performance before heading home for a week long layoff over the Christmas Holiday!  We are in Mason City, Iowa where we played to a sold out house and where I had one of my better performances thus far on this leg of our tour.  We also, said goodbye to the young lady who has been playing "Molly."  So it was a night filled with emotions and we are heavy hearted to say goodbye to "Molly" while be excited at the prospect of going home for the holidays.

Tomorrow I will fly out of Minneapolis and arrive in Nashville around 9:30 p.m.  Tuesday, Cay and I will do our last minute Christmas shopping and prepare for the trip to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to spend Christmas with our families.  Ashlea will be traveling with us and Alayna will meet us in Dallas on Wednesday.  We will celebrate the holidays with both of our extended families before I head back out on the road in Tempe, Arizona on December 29th.

I hope that this holiday season bring you all many blessings and that all of your days will be filled with Joy!

Mighty Mississippi

Tonight we played as close to the Mississippi river as you can get without being in the river.  The theatre is in Cape Girardeau, MO.  It was a beautiful space in a beautiful setting.  The lighted structure you see behind the theatre is the bridge that crosses the Mississippi River into Illinois.  It was another sold out performance which is awesome.  Almost all of our shows to this point have been sold out or very close to it.  Hopefully that is a trend that will continue after the layoff.

Most of our local helpers tonight were college students.  It was great for them, but I could tell that it made our crews job a bit more challenging.  It was a great show, though, and one of our best audiences thus far.  It is always exciting to perform for an audience that so obviously appreciates your effort

Today was our company managers birthday so we had two cakes at the theatre tonight.  One to celebrate his birthday and the other just because we were here.  The wife of the local production manager made this cake for us.  It was really sweet, in more ways than one.  It is always special to have strangers treat us in extra special ways.

Champaign

Tonight we did our first "arena" show at the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL.  It is by far the nicest arena we will play.  We were able to use most of our set including the orphanage and the stairs which is never the case in an arena.  The dressing rooms were some of the nicest we will have anywhere.   And the "green room" was top notch.  There were a few glitches in the performance including some misplaced set pieces but all in all the show went well.

This is a picture of the shows upcoming at this theater.  I think it is really cool that my friend who is one of the Oak Ridge Boys plays many of the same places that we do.  Last year we chased each other across Canada.  This year their Christmas show has either preceded or followed ours at several venues.

After the show a bunch of us went out for pizza and had a great time sitting around, talking and sharing together. They always seemed surprised when I join them.  I guess my conservative nature hides the fact that I like to have a good time as much as the next guy.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I look forward to more opportunities like tonight to just hang out and have fun.

Tomorrow we head to Missouri for another one nighter.  It should be a lot of fun!  Doing a job you love always is.  The only thing that is better is seeing family and friends.  Seven days and counting.

One really cute thing happened tonight.  At the end of the show Warbucks says the line, "We must celebrate, because it's Christmas eve..."  Tonight when I said this a little girl in the audience yelled "yeh!"  Everyone in the audience burst out in laughter and more than a few actors on stage fought back the laughter as well.  It was really cute, but I feel sorry of the parents of the little girl who had to explain that Santa won't be coming to their house tonight.

Merry Christmas.

Make it a Double

Today we performed at the "Whiting Center" in Flint, Michigan where we had our first two show day with a matinee at 2:00 and an evening show at 7:00.  We did get a free meal between the two shows which was really good!  The shows went well, but everyone was reminded of how tiring two shows in one day can be...and this year we have a THREE SHOW DAY!

Tomorrow we head to Champaign, IL for our first "arena" show this time out.  It is a seven hour drive which will be difficult but I have learned to sleep on the bus so it shouldn't be too bad.  We also be changing time zones which can mess with your body clock.  Of course, my schedule is so messed up at this point it probably won't make much difference other than I will be in the same time zone as my family which makes talking with them easier.

Several of the cast had friends and family see the show this weekend.  It is always nice to meet the families of the people I work so closely with and it is nicer having them in the audience cheering us on.

One more week and we will all be heading home for our Christmas layoff.  Have I said how much I am looking forward to being home for Christmas for the first time in three years?!

Sold out again ...and...Buffalo Wild Wings!

Tonight we played to yet another sold out audience!  It was a great evening and a wonderful audience.  Before the show "Rooster", "Lily," and I did a question and answer session with a group of local students who will be presenting the show in April.  It was a lot of fun and we had the two most unusual questions I have ever been asked on tour.  1.  "How much do you get paid?" - Answer - "Name an Occupation.  Less than that."  2.  "Is it going to be good?"  -  We were so taken aback by the question we had a hard time answering.  But we came up with "Do you want it to be?"

The show went the best it has gone this time out in my opinion.  Maybe it was just my performance but I felt really good about the show tonight.

After the show a bunch of us went out to Buffalo Wild Wings.  I sat with "Lily," one of trumpet players, "Apple Seller," and our Company Manager.  It was great to just sit and talk.  I sometimes feel a little isolated from the rest of the company, largely because of the age difference and the differences in where we are in "life" but tonight I felt like one of the gang and had a really great time.

Tomorrow we head north to Flint, Michigan.  Hopefully all the snow we will be gone as we will be walking everywhere.

Happy Hanukkah!

Golf Resort, a night of theatre, and frigid temperatures

I tried to post this yesterday but the internet at the Quality Inn was very lacking in Quality so here it is today.

Yesterday we were in Morgantown, WV for yet another one-nighter.  We stayed at a really nice golf resort in an incredibly beautiful neck of the woods.  The show was "Sold Out" which is always fun.  Another plus was that we got to use all of our set pieces.  It is amazing how having one thing missing can make the show "feel" different from onstage.  I am not sure that our audiences really ever notice the difference when just one thing is missing.  Our "Drake" was out due to illness last night so we had our first set of understudies go on.  I always marvel at these performers ability to step into a role that they seldom get to rehearse and get to perform even less and do such amazing work. In the case of one understudy it was the first time he had ever done the part and he did an awesome job.  Everyone of these young performers that work so hard in our ensemble amaze me with their talent an drive.

Today we awoke to frigid temperatures.  We are staying in Decatur, IN and performing in Van Wert, OH and the temperature is around 15 degrees with a wind chill factor at or below ZERO.  It is brutal outside so it is a good thing we get to walk from a warm hotel to a warm bus to a warm theatre.  My southern blood isn't accustomed to this cold weather.  To make things worse, all that snow you see on the news, we haven't seen!  We have been north of it and south of it but have all but missed the "Blizzard" completely.  Actually since we travel by bus this is a blessing.

Speaking of blessings, we get to go home for Christmas this year.  Please keep all of the company in your prayers as we travel home on the 21st and send out prayers that the weather cooperates and everyone gets home without any glitches.

Indiana, Pennsylvania?

Well, yesterday we survived our first really long day of bus travel.  After 11 hours we arrived in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  The bus drive wasn't really all that bad especially since we didn't have to do a show.  Tonight we performed to a near capacity crowd at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  I still can't get used to the sound of that.  We did have the orphanage tonight after several nights in a row without having it.  Still no stairs.  The show went well for the most part and the audience enjoyed it.

The best part of the evening for me was getting to do a Q&A with a group of high school students who will be presenting "Annie" at their school in the spring.  I met with them for about 40 minutes and had a great time answering questions and doing a couple of "Acting Exercises" with them.  Doing these things alway energizes me and makes that night a little more special.

I remember now how hard it is too fill your days in these little towns.  There was very little to do here and I can only watch so much day time TV and can only shop in WalMart so many times a week.  Ah well, a small price to pay to be able to "live the dream.

PA, MA, PA, MA, PA

Thursday we did the show in Pennsylvania.  Friday in Massachusetts.  Saturday in Pennsylvania.  Sunday in Massahchusetts.  Tomorrow we will drive to Pennsylvania AGAIN!  You would think they could work it out to where we didn't have to drive in and out of the same states over and over again.  But alas, we must go to where th audience is.

OK, now that that is over, tonight we did the show in Lowell, MA.  It was a tiny theatre where we were unable to use any of our set.  All we used were the props, and we didn't even use all of them.  And the audience loved the show.  It was one of those weird experencies where you couldn't really tell if the audience was with until the curtain call where they stood and cheered.  I have given up trying to figure out audiences other than I depend upon them for feedback and letting me know if I am doing a good job as an actor.  I depend upon their responses to let me know if I am fulfilling my role and doing my job well.  Sometimes I hit a home run and some times I ground out, but I always go out there and do my best.  Like any other job I have good days and bad days.  But unlike other jobs I get applauded at the end of the day regardless.  I truly am one of the "luckiest men in the world."

Tomorrow we will spend 10 hours on the bus driving to Indiana, PA.  We perform there on Tuesday.  While I don't relish the idea of spending the day on the bus it will be nice to have a day off from performing.  I will probably spend the morning sleeping on the bus.  After lunch I plan on watching the movie "Up."  I am still trying to get back into the swing of touring.  It does take a certain toil physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I also find I am still trying to figure out my relationships with the new cast members both onstage and off.

Two more weeks until our layoff for Christmas!  It will be the first time in three years that I get to celebrate Christmas with my entire family.  I am really looking forward to that.

Springfield, MA - A Night to Remember?

Tonight we played Springfield, MA.  It was my second time to do "Annie" in this venue.  It is a beautiful older theater, however, the stage is a little small for all of our set pieces so we didn't have a "full show."  This doesn't really seem to effect the quality of the production or the audiences enjoyment of the show as they genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves.

As is often the case with "live theater" tonight's performance was filled with lots of little things that will make this performance one that we will all remember for a long time.  Drops that traveled at super slow speed, props knocked over, sprinting down stairs, under the stage, and back upstairs to make an entrance on the other side of the stage because there wasn't room backstage to cross from one side of the stage to the other.  All of these are things that as actors we are aware of and they effect the "how" of our performance.  Hopefully, they don't effect what the audience experiences.

Springfield is a beautiful town.  The church pictured here is across the street from the hotel.  Seeing the church with the nativity reminded me that we are in the midst of the holiday season!  Sometimes being on the road and living in hotels you forget to stop and take time to celebrate the season.  So to all my Christian friends out there, "Merry Christmas."  To my Jewish friends, "Happy Hanukkah."  And to all others, "Happy Holidays."   However you celebrate this magical season, may it be filled with many blessings.

Easton, PA - Home of Crayola

Last night we performed to a sold out crowd in Easton, PA, home of the Crayola Crayon Factory!  It was a beautiful, older theatre in the old downtown area of Easton.  The show went well and seems to be beginning to settle in.  I still feel a little "off" in my performance as I strive to incorporate all of the input from rehearsals into my character as well as figure out the relationships with the new cast members.

Today was a "Golden Day" which means we didn't have a show and didn't have to travel to a new city.  These are rare on the road, especially this early in the run of show.  I spent the day relaxing, doing laundry and catching up on personal business.  Most of the cast went into NYC to see friends, family and shows.  I thought of going to see Alayna but the expense wasn't worth the little time I would actually get to see her.  I would rather use that money to help her come home for Christmas.

Tomorrow we travel to Springfield, MA for one performance.  We will then travel pack to Pennsylvania for a performance in Bloomsburg on Saturday and then back to Massachusetts for a performance on Sunday in Lowell.  Seems like a lot of back forth but that is how this show biz stuff works.

Burlington, VT

Yesterday we had our official opening in Burlington, Vermont.  The city is beautiful and we had a great time visiting the downtown area and eating some rather unique biscuits and gravy at one of the local eating establishments.  Burlington is home one of our cast members (she plays Mrs. Pugh).  We had a great time meeting her family and they gave her a great reception at the show which was sold out!  Burlington is also the home of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  We were in one of the Ben and Jeffy shops and in walks "Jerry" one of the founders.  It was pretty cool and some of us got a little silly meeting this famous man.

The show went really well.  The audience was great and really loved it.  Afterward, Madison (Annie), Mickey (Sandy) and I got to go to a meet-n-greet and see some of the kids who came to the show and sign autographs. This is always one of my favorite things to do.

Tonight we are in Easton, PA for one performance which is also sold out.  We had our first long bus ride today and it wasn't too bad.  It takes some time to get used to being on the bus, but once we got off the twisting Vermont roads all went well.

Well, time to catch the bus to the venue for the show.  Thanks for reading and keep in touch