Ewok Village, Casterland, and Bungee

I've been in Canada for nearly a month now.  I can hardly wait to return to home soil.  I'll be able to buy a replacement iPhone, for the one I lost on the second day in this country, swipe my credit card wherever I please, eat high fructose corn syrup, and have a mixed drink that isn't measured out to the milliliter.

On the plus side, Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton are quite cool cities.  When I get big and rich, and have time to travel where I want to on my own terms I think I might return to these parts.  That pertains primarily to Calgary and Vancouver.  I'd love to have had a chance to see the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Lake Louise and to explore more of cities in general.  I ate like a king in Vancouver.  Fresh, cheap, and good sushi was plentiful.  While in Vancouver we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridges.  The current bridge has been around for nearly 100 years.  There were also bridges between the trees and many pathways throughout the park.  I felt like an Ewok.

Seth and I made a trip to Casterland.  Since our entire lives and jobs have wheels attached to them in some shape, fashion, or form, this place blew my mind.  I'm always having to buy replacement casters for boxes that go onto our trucks.  When you walk into this place you can pick out frames and wheels and they guy will build them right in front of you to your liking.  My mind was blown.

Edmonton has the world's largest mall, the West Edmonton Mall.  It's so large it has an indoor wave pool, full waterpark and a 106' tall bungee platform.  When I heard about this I immediately convinced myself this was something I was going to do.  Friday morning came, we bussed out there, signed up, and we hucked ourselves off a platform over water with all the orphans watching.  Oh my, I was on one of the biggest highs I've ever felt...ever...now I want more.  I managed to blow a blood vessel in both eyes from all the pressure on my head...a minor sacrifice.  I'll do it again, definitely.  I made sure to call my mom after I lived, but not before I jumped, she could never handle the uncertainty.  Biggest...high...ever...

Rants and Raves

Rant:

As many of you may know, I spend a lot of time in hotels.  This means that I learn to hate front desk staff with passion, or, I learn to love the smart ones with all of my heart.  Last night at the Ramada, in Vancouver, BC, I asked the front desk for a new room key, as mine was not working.  They then proceeded to ask me if I was storing my key near other credit cards.  OF COURSE I DO!  It's shaped like a credit card, looks like a credit card, and stores information on it like a credit card.  Therefore, I store it in my wallet near my credit cards.  If you don't want me to keep it near my credit cards, don't build it to the same dimensions as a credit card.

Rave:

I had my first professional deep tissue massage and hour long pedicure today.  Whoa!  That's all I've got to say.  I'm seriously thinking about budgeting this expense into my life to make this a more regular occurrence.  Enjoy the picture of GM, David and myself high on life.

Annie in Minneapolis

Things haver been a bit crazy lately.  We moved the show a lot during the later part of January and the beginning of February.  We played some great venues including San Diego and even the Kodak Theatre in LA.  I must admit, I was a bit giddy during our entire run at the Kodak.  We were the last touring broadway to play there for the next 10 years as they are about to enter a contract with Cirque.  I never thought I would play a venue I grew up seeing on TV.  We also played some "challenging" venues, like Kennewick, WA and Butte, MT.  In case you were wondering, it is possible to do this show in an ice arena.

Valentines Day weekend was a blast, we were in Minneapolis for a three day run.  My parents, Godparents, Holly, Walter, and Camlla Blu came to hang out.  I also had the chance to see a few of my friends.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them for long.  Albeit, it was great to see them.  Our time at the Orpheum was sort of like a homecoming for me.  It was fun to see my family and friends since we were on the road for the holidays.  I only wish we had been there longer so thing wouldn't have been so rushed.  When we were in LA Camilla Blu called to tell me she missed me and was excited to see me and the show in Minneapolis.  She sat straight up for the whole show, got to visit backstage and meet the Orphans, Miss Hannigan, Daddy Warbucks and the dogs.  Isn't she cute?

Camilla Blu in the Orphanage.
I love this picture of is in the light on stage.
Look how excited she is.
The whole gaggle of us for dinner at the Hard Rock...If only Kari could have flown in...although, I had just seen her in Denver.

I love when my family comes to visit.

The New Year?

Holy smokes, it's 2009 already.  Where has the time gone?  I know that seems rather cliche, but it really doesn't seem like I've been on the road for more than two months already.  I guess that's a good thing.  It certainly means that I've been busy and enjoying my time out here.

Christmas and New Years were hard to be gone for.  The company took good care of us though. We were in Pittsburgh for Christmas and Kansas City for New Years.  I received many cards and packages at the hotel when I arrived in Pittsburgh.  Many thanks to those of you who sent me things.  It definitely made it easier to be away knowing that people were my family was all together, and that I could hang up cards in the management office.  We definitely played the game, "who knows the cutest kid."  I like to think that Camilla Blu won the bet for me.  As is typical though, everyone thinks their niece/nephew is cuter.  You all had better believe that I opened my presents in front of the 30ft tall tree in our hotel lobby.  The pictures are a little blurry because my flash wasn't working.  Perhaps I'll post them later.  Kansas City was a great time.  The theatre was a little difficult to get into, considering everything had to go up 4 stories in a 10' x 26' freight elevator.  Oh well, we made it work, like we always seem to do.  One of my good friends from home and his girlfriend came down for New Years.  Unfortunately, she got sick somehow between dinner and the show, so both of them stayed in for the evening.  On Friday of that week, my cousin came to town for a couple of days.  It was great to see friends and family while away from it all.  I only wish I had the chance to see more of you.  I can hardly wait for Minneapolis!

Currently, we're on a 3 night journey across the desert to San Diego, CA.  I've never been there, and we have a "golden day" (no work, no travel) on Monday of next week before we head to Los Angeles.  I'm planning on going to the zoo in San Diego.  I hear it's amazing.  Hopefully, I'll get to go with the orphans like I did at the aquarium in Miami.  I even got to pet and feed a manatee on that trip.

Well, it's time to pack up my bags and head to the bus.  I'm planning on getting a bite to eat before we roll out of town at 2am.

I promise to update this thing more often, my dad says my aunts enjoy it...

Opening and One-Nighters

After a quick and mostly pain-free process in tech, we moved the show to Raleigh and opened.  It was a great accomplishment on all of our parts to bring this production to fruition on all levels.  What a great success.  I'm most certainly proud of my crew and myself.  After a week in Raleigh we took on a week of one night engagements.  In one week we played Hamlet NC, Chattanooga TN, Morganton NC, flew to Boston for Thanksgiving, followed by three days of matinee (4 or 5am starts) in Lowell MA, New London CT, and New Brunswick NJ.  Our stage manager figured out that the crew worked between 50-60 hours over the weekend on 8-10 hours of sleep.  Ahh the life...  In my state of delerium Sunday between shows I took this great picture.

We load into Miami tomorrow for the week.  The space is enormous.  I'm excited to do next to nothing all week, aside from get caught up on weeks of advance work.  But my workbox is all hooked up so I'll be able to jam out and chill beverages in my office.  Also, our bus driver wants to take us to the clubs in the bus, we're not sure what our fictitious band name is going to be yet...I'll keep ya posted.

PS...I can't believe it's already December.

Annie Tech

We load in to tech tomorrow morning at 8am.  This means that we unload four trucks, two with scenery, and one each with audio and lighting equipment.  Hopefully, if the stars and planets all align, it will be a mostly painless process...hopefully...

The entire crew is new to the show, inclusive of myself.  We have two people here to help us only with the load in, one carpenter and one props person, who have both been on the show in the past.  They will be great resources for us.  This next week will be one of the slowest and potentially most difficult of all.  Once the crew knows this show, it should be a pretty easy gig.  This is the week where we have to learn it all...

Only time will tell.  Wish us well...

Beginnings and Endings

Today I began in the office prepping my next tour.  As I working, I saw my mom's name pop up on my phone.  

First, I said a little prayer, then answered.  

She had called to tell my my grandmother had passed away. 

 After 90 years of life, the last 4 or so have been in assisted living/nursing home care of some sort, this is possibly the best thing for her.  I mean that in the most well spirited of ways.  As I've told other people, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this whole deal.  Don't get me wrong, I love my grandma very much.  However, it hurt me so badly to see her lonely and depressed whenever we visited over the last year or two.  I was fortunate enough to see her twice this summer.  The first time is when my family realized that the train was on the tracks, and her time was near.  The second time, the day after her 90th birthday, she seemed a little more uppity.  She even said a few words, those being a reprise of our, "Happy Birthday!"  I got a chuckle out of her.  She always had a way of looking at me with that, "How the heck do you think I'm doing?" whenever I inquired.  God love her.  None of us will ever forget making candy cane cookies and the unnecessary stresses it caused in the kitchen.  As she would say, "Ahhh fiddlesticks!"

I love you Grandma.  I'll be by your side on Monday and Tuesday.  Worry not.

This is the hardest part of tour.