It feels like it has been a lifetime since I have written a blog entry, so I thought I would take this opportunity to try and catch everyone up on everything that has happened.
After leaving Kentucky, we headed for Muncie, Indiana, home of Ball State University. My cousin, Anna, made it out to see the show from Indiana University (where she goes to college) which was a lot of fun! It was also particularly sweet of her to come because she had to drive a few hours one way to get there. It was great to see her and we got a chance to catch up a little bit after the show because she came out to dinner with me and a few members of the cast. Our audiences were small at that theatre and not very responsive, but I am glad that Anna got a chance to see it. However, we did run into a few dads with their children in the restaurant we ate at after the show who had seen the show, and they were very complimentary and bought us some drinks in appreciation.
After Muncie, it was on to Elyria, Ohio. This is where Melissa rejoined us and resumed her role of Mrs. Wigglesworth. I am trying to remember if anything interesting happened there, and I can’t come up with anything...ohhh, i think this was our first hotel that we stayed in that had a pool which was exciting for us all!! Oh, this is also where Laura’s parents saw the show and took the whole cast to Ruby Tuesday’s afterwards. They really enjoyed the show and it was really nice of them to buy us dinner.
We headed to Pittsburgh next and the second we arrived in the city Nellie looked up what theatre was playing there and we discovered that the national tour of “Spamalot” was also in town at the same time. We arrived at the hotel at about 6:45 and the show was at 7:30, so we immediately sprang into action and knocked on each other’s doors and rounded up a group to go see the show. It was very entertaining and I was glad for the chance to see it since I haven’t seen the Broadway production yet. Our theatre in Pittsburgh, the Byham Theatre, was a really great space, although both Marc and Melissa were not feeling very well and Nellie was just getting over something so the cast was not in particularly high spirits. The audiences were large though and extremely responsive and excited which always makes it much more enjoyable to do the show! Melissa, Jay, and I ate at a great restaurant that night called Six Penn, where I had the pumpkin bisque (mmm) and a very tasty burger. We headed for a quick drink afterwards at a bar called “Oliver or Twist” (very clever) at the suggestion of our waitress at the restaurant. We ran into Abby and Bill there who had just finished loading out our show.
After Pittsburgh, it was on to Shippensburg, PA!! This theatre and staff were truly amazing! We were treated like kings. The cast ended up having a lot of time to kill in the theatre, but that was OK because the green room had a huge big screen TV, and a stocked refridgerator and whole lunch spread out on the table for us. Laura’s parents had brought us the board game Mall Madness from their home (at our request) and we set it up in the green room and played. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any better...(Golden Girls on the TV, huge feast on the table AND Mall Madness) one of the girls on the local crew pops her head in and asks us if we have any laundry that we’d like done!! What??? We love Shippensburg! They also provided us with an amazing dinner and an array of cheesecakes for dessert. It was truly incredible.
Williamsport was next, and although the town was small and pretty dumpy, the theatre was really beautiful! My parents drove out to see the show here and had a good time. It was great to see them, and they also took the cast out for dinner afterwards. The only place in town that we could find to eat was a small family operated pizza place, but it was very tasty. After that, we headed to Colombus, Ohio where we played the Southern Theatre for two days. I found out that Ann Hampton Callaway, one of my favorite singers, had been at the theatre for the two days before us and that was really cool. I just saw her perform in New York City right before I left for the tour, and she was fantastic. Melissa is also a huge fan of hers so she and I were both particularly excited that she had just performed on the same stage that we were about to perform on. The theatre also has a book that they have all of the performers that come through sign, and we got to sign on the page directly after Ann’s!! The other thing of note in Colombus was the hotel (the Doubletree) that had amazingly comfortable beds and free cookies at the front desk that are kept in a warmer so they are always warm and gooey (mmm). Also, we headed for a bookstore (I forget the name) that had 32 rooms full of books!!! It was crazy, and Marc and I went a little nuts buying books, but we decided we are going to start a bus book club and pass around the books as we finish them! We also got recognized in the bookstore by a few people that had seen the show and they were really excited to see us which was funny. We felt like celebrities!
After the performances in Colombus, we got a few days off because we have to make the long trek out to North Dakota which is where we perform next. We were very excited though because we are stopping along the way and staying over night in Chicago one night and Minneapolis the next. Our night in Chicago was lots of fun. Most of the cast headed out for dinner in Chicago and found a place that was very tasty and then headed for a bar called Sidetrack. It is the equivalent of Splash Musical Mondays in New York City where they play clips from musicals all night long on a big screen and everyone sings along and has a great time. It was a lot of fun! Marc’s friend who does wardrobe for the Chicago production of “Spelling Bee” met us there as did some members of the cast and crew of “Spelling Bee.” It was a fun night out.
Now I have almost caught up to where we are!! We are currently in Minneapolis which is our second stop on the way out to North Dakota. Our producer, Steve, offered to buy us all dinner on his credit card while we were here which was very nice. Sara, our technical director had been to Minneapolis before and suggested a Russian restaurant called Moscow on the Hill. The food was delicious!! I had the Duck Ekaterina which was extremely tasty as well as a fun martini called the Russian Lemonade martini. After that, we headed out on the town with Melissa’s friend Andrew as our bar tour guide. These few days off from the show have been really nice and I am glad that we have stopped in large cities and had some free time to explore them. We are headed back through both Minneapolis and Chicago later this week on our way back from North Dakota which will be great as well. I think we have two full days off in Chicago coming up! YAY!
