Flying in Philadelphia

Yesterday we left Manhattan, Kansas and flew to Philadelphia.  With all the weather out here on the east coast the talk of the tour was how we weren't going to make to Phili and would end up spending the night in the DFW airport.  Well, the Lord was good and we were able to make it here with relatively little drama.  There were a few folks who had to spend way to long sitting in airports but for the most part it was a pretty painless day.  I must say, the landing in Philadelphia was more than a little unnerving, but a safe landing is a good landing.

Have you ever noticed how we have become a very self absorbed self centered people?  At the airport I noticed that no one listens to or follows instructions, at least not on planes, and no one thinks about the other people on the plane with them, only themselves.  We must have been told at least a dozen times to only put one item in the overheads on the plane to leave room for other passengers items.  I saw at least three people who I know heard the announcements put all of their items in the overhead.  I also saw numerous people ignore the request to turn off  cell phones and other electronic devices.  I realize that there may be no substantial reason for the request.  But I also know that as a civilization we should do what is requested by people in authority and should be respectful of the people around us.  When, where, and how did we lose this basic principle of humanity?  When did we forget that everything we do effects all those around us?  Where has the basic goodness I believe all people possess gone?

The sun came out in Phili today so I went for a walk before going to the theatre.  It was amazing how quickly they cleared all the snow off the streets and sidewalks here.  I went to bed with snow covered streets and sidewalks and awoke to find all the roads and sidewalks completely cleared.  It was a good afternoon followed by a good show.  Philadelphia loves this show.  It could be partly because it is the original "Annie's" home town.  Whatever the reason, it was great to perform to a packed house and to know that all of the performances here have sold well. There were several folks at the stage door after the show and all were joyful and appreciative of our efforts.  It is really nice to be told how good you are at your job.  I will miss that most about touring.  The rest of the world could take a lesson from theatre folks on this.  Tell someone you work with or that works for you this week what a good job they do and how much you appreciate it.  It may be a coworker or a waitress or a cashier or whomever.  A little praise goes a long way in enabling people to continue to work hard and do a good job.

Cay, You are amazing at your job!  I don't tell you that enough.  Ashlea you are wonderful with kids and treat them with such love and respect.  Alayna, you are one of the most gracious, sincere, and disciplined young persons I have ever known.  I am so proud of all of you!

Annie Cast, Crew, and Orchestra; you are all the best.  Thanks for all of your hard work every day!  I am looking forward to the best two weeks of my life!

Manhattan, Kansas?

Well, we have left the sun and warmth of San Francisco and the west coast for the frigid temperatures and wide open spaces of the "Little Apple,"  Manhattan, Kansas, home to Kansas State University.  We will perform here tonight before heading in further east and into what may be a blizzard in Philadelphia, PA.

We met a professor at KSU on the flight in from Dallas last night who was very excited to meet the cast and has bought a ticket to see the show tonight.  It still amazes me as this show continues to effect people and how excited even adults get at the chance to meet the cast and see the show.  It is flattering, and humbling, and both a great priviledge and a huge responsibility.  And it has been a constant joy!

The highlight of Manhattan thus far as been a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings!  It was wing night and they had some other great specials so it was a really great night!  I tease and make fun but it really was fun.  Today I did laundry, another highlight of tour.

I am a little concerned about our flight to Philli tomorrow evening as they are forecast to get a huge snowfall.  I know that their airports are more accustomed to the in climate weather but that doesn't calm my spirit much.  My fear is we will be delayed and then have to make up the dates after tour is over.  At least that is what I think would happen.  But as my wife would tell me, no sense worrying about something that hasn't happened and that we don't have any control over anyway.

I am looking forward to the end of tour with mixed emotions.  I won't get into it yet except to say that, yes, I am looking forward to it being over and being at home, and yes, I will miss it terribly and wish it would never end.

But for today, the play will go on and the "Dream" continues.  So, I am off to "live the dream."

San Francisco

We arrived here last night after a wonderful closing performance in Modesto.  I went to dinner with our Annie and her dad.  It was nice to get to sit and talk with Madison away from the theatre and the craziness of the company.  Went back to the hotel to relax and ended up going out with a couple of friends and stayed up way to late talking but it was good to feel needed and appreciated.

Today I got up and walked to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I thought it would be about a 3 mile walk and it turned out to be about an 8 mile walk!  But it was well worth it.  The walk along the water front was amazing.  I saw sea lions playing in the bay and so much natural beauty.  The bridge is very inspiring.  It is amazing to me how it was built and how it continues to be maintained.  I can't imagine hanging in a basket from the cables to inspect, paint and repair them.

I spent the evening at the water front and am now getting ready to get some sleep before flying to Manhattan, Kansas tomorrow.  It is going to be a really long day of travel as we leave the hotel at 9:45 a.m. and get into Manhattan at 9:00 p.m.  Ahhhh, the joys of being a professional actor in a national tour.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the bridge, Alcatraz and more.

Good and Crazy.

Living the life of an actor has been a life long dream of mine.  As a kid my brother and sister and I would stand on the hearth in the living and sing and perform for hours, often creating our own material which our children now take great pleasure in mocking and making fun of.  Now, I get to perform virtually every night in front of hundreds of people who have payed too much money to see a show called "Annie."  And I have 24 fellow cast members who take great joy in mocking and making fun of me on a regular basis.

It sounds like a dream come true.  And it is mostly.  But as with all things in life there are things about life as an actor that aren't so good and are even a little crazy.

Riding on a bus for hours on end can be fun if done once in a while.  Riding on a bus for hours on end as part of a job, well let's just say it is not my favorite part of being an actor.

Staying in a hotel can be fun if you are with your family on vacation.  Living in a hotel is just crazy!  Living in a hotel with two other grown men as roommates, will, lets just say it is an adventure.

Eating out is fun if you are with someone special or with family or friends.  Eating out every day, two or three times a day, is just crazy!

Spending time with people who share a common interest is always fun, especially when they are a little nutty like the people on this tour.  "Living" with people who share a common interest can just be crazy!

Working with the people that you "play" with and "playing" with the people that you work with is fun.  And can make you CRAZY!

Being away from home can be fun. Living away from home can make you crazy!

There are times on tour when things get so crazy I can only think about going home to a normal wife in a normal house in a normal town with a normal schedule.

And then there are moments like I had tonight after the show in the green room when the only crazy thing would be not being on tour.

My life is filled with great joy, great sorrow, and a tremendous amount of craziness.  It seems, as in all things, that there is no one way, no simple answer, no great pearl of wisdom at the end of the journey.  There is only the journey.  And as we approach the end of this tour of "Annie" I am reminded in many special and crazy ways, that even as this is ending, another great adventure is out there waiting for us to begin.

Montana and back to California

Today we are in Modesto, California for the weekend.  Modesto is just a little east of San Francisco.  There here is amazing compared to where we came from.  Tuesday we performed in Missoula, Montana where the weather was cold but not terrible.  Wednesday we were in Great Falls, Montana where is was freezing and snowing.

Today it is overcast but warm enough to get outside and enjoy the town.

This morning I got to do one of my favorite activities on tour.  I met with a group of high school students from area schools who had come to the venue to watch load in as part of an educational partnership between the theatre and the schools.  I talked and answered questions for about 45 minutes with some of the most attentive young people I have been around in a while.  It was a lot of fun.  Even made me miss teaching a little.

We perform in Modesto this weekend before spending a day off in San Francisco.  We will then fly out to Kansas for a day before heading to Philadelphia.

Only three weeks of tour left!  

Seattle, WA

Tonight we closed here in Seattle.  It was a good weekend but rather hectic.  Seattle is home to our director and "Annie" creator Martin Charnin so everyone was a little on edge performing in the bosses hometown.  I did learn this week that I need Sun Shine.  It is cloudy and rainy here most of the time.  We haven't seen the sun since we have been in Seattle and my mood has been more than a little gloomy.

I also learned that I can relax and have a good time on stage, still do a professional job, and not take myself so seriously.  Sometimes I get so uptight about doing my part "right" that I get in my own way of doing a good job.  Thanks to Jeff for making me laugh and helping me to "get over" myself.  Thanks to Cay for putting up with my moods.  And thanks to all of my fans and all the "Annie" fans out there for your many kind words and applause night after night.

Tomorrow we head to Montana for three days before driving back to California for another weekend.  Our travel schedule is about to get crazy again but it should prove to be a lot of fun!

Four weeks from tonight the "Annie" dream will come to an end for me.  I am looking forward to celebrating a fantastic four weeks with this amazing company and I have promised myself that my sole focus for these remaining weeks is going to be having FUN while putting on the best shows of my life.

I hope to see you all in these final few weeks as we zigzag across the county.  But if I have seen you in person for the last time, please know what a joy it has been for me to share this dream with all of you.  It has been everything I had hoped for and more.

Yakima, WA

Monday we arrived in beautiful Yakima, WA where we opened last night at the Capitol Theatre.  It is an old Vaudville House built in the 1920's.  It is a beautiful house and a nice stage.  Everyone here has been super nice. The show went well dispite a few distractions and the audience really seemed to enjoy the show.  We had a reception after the show and then everyone went to the Sports Center, a local bar and grill, for food.  Jeff and I went there Monday night and met two of the waitresses and had a great time since we were the only two people in the place.  I guess people in Yakima don't go out on Monday nights.

I am reminded again of how difficult it is to be away from home and away from family.  My 90+ year old grandmother fell yesterday and broke her femur.  She is having surgery today to repair the bones and have a plate and pins inserted into the leg.  I know there is nothing more that I could do for her if I were there than I am doing now, but somehow the distance is troubling.  Please keep her and my family in your prayers as they care for her in the difficult recovery that lies ahead.

We will be in Yakima for two more nights before heading north to Seattle for the weekend.  After that we will have only 4 more weeks to live this dream called "Annie."

Sunny California

For the past week and a half we have been playing in the Los Angeles area.  Last weekend we played in Costa Mesa, CA at the the Orange County Performing Arts Center.  It was a very unusual space in its design but we did have a great time while we were there.  The best part was being out of the cold weather for a while.  The days saw highs in the low 60's and there was mostly sun.

The show was well received and continues to get favorable revues.  Monday my roommate on tour this year left to join the Beauty and the Beast Tour so I have had a room to myself this week.  The privacy has been nice but the hotel bill has been a little overwhelming.  Not to worry though, as next week I will be tripling with Jeff and Ricky so I should make it up.

Monday the entire company was treated to a trip to Disneyland!  We had complementary tickets and we all had a great time.  I spent most of the day with two of the girls who play orphans and their moms.  One of the girls had never been to a Disney park before so it was a lot of fun experiencing the park with her.  I have been to the Florida park several times and must say I prefer it to the one here in California.  It was neat to get to go to the "original" Disney theme park and experience a few of the original rides.

Afterwards, Jeff and I drove to Riverside ahead of the rest of the company to do a couple of press events.  We had a Q and A at an area Barnes and Noble store which was a lot of fun but not highly attended.  The next morning (Wednesday) we did a live, in studio radio interview.  It too was fun and it was nice to be settled in to the hotel for the week.

We have been performing at the newly renovated Fox Theatre in Riverside, CA.  It was originally built in the 1920's and hadn't seen a live theatre event in many years.  We were the first "Broadway" show to appear here and they had a lot of hype and special events surrounding our performance.  Wednesday night we opened and they had a really nice party afterwards for us and the donors to the new space.  Everyone here has been super friendly and we have had a great time.

Watched the Super Bowl tonight with the cast at a local restaurant.  It was a LOT of fun.  Our "Annie" is from New Orleans and her dad was here with her so they, and most everyone else, were pulling for the Saints.  "Annie's" dad even brought his trumpet and played all the Saints fight songs after they scored!  Everyone in the restaurant really seemed to have a great time.

We leave tomorrow to travel north to the state of Washington.  We will be in Yakima, Washington through Thursday and then in Seattle for the weekend.  Martin Charnin, our director, lives in Seattle so I am sure we will see him and more importantly, he will see us.  I will also be meeting some family relatives that I have never met.  One of the joys of having such and large, diverse family is that you are always meeting new people.

Only five weeks of Annie left!  Then I will be unemployed.  One of the ten percent of our population to be without a job.  If any one needs an out-of-work actor/teacher/youth director/ a whole bunch of other stuff give me a call.  I am available.

PS.  The picture of the hotel above is New York, New York in Las Vegas