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.