Back at it!

Okay, so I have been more than a little remiss about posting new content regarding our tour adventures lately, but I promise that I have a great post from Miami beach that I will get typed up as soon as I have a chance.
After a blissful week off at home, we are all back on the road today with connecting flights from Toronto to Atlanta and Atlanta to Columbia, South Carolina to begin our 3rd and final leg of this little adventure.  Once we land in Columbia we will board a shuttle for the hour long hike to Newberry where we will perform our first show tomorrow afternoon, our first double show day in a LONG time...Life is hard.
This leg we have bid farewell to Robert and our remarkable Soul Bus, so it will be alot of flights and short shuttles on this leg.
As I write this I am camped out on the floor of Gate D36 in the Atlanta international airport awaiting our puddle jumping 61 min connection to Columbia.  Something tells me that the plane for this next flight will be smaller than the soul bus, and that likely means a rocky ride.  God, I hate flying!  Somebody better pour me a double Jack & Coke very soon!

Update: After sitting on the tarmac for an hour we were all asked to deplane due to a maintenance issue, but not until after the flight attendant rewarded all of us with free booze (JACK!) because the cast sang a couple of numbers from the show to entertain the passengers.  We were supposed to arrive at 8:15pm, but now it is 8:30pm and we are still sitting at the second gate waiting for our crew to board this new airplane...another long travel day with connecting flights.

Update the second:  We made it...90 min late, but we got to Columbia, and after a painless bus ride to Newberry, most of us made it...We may not have any lights for the show tomorrow, but we'll give them a hell of a show!

Time for me to crash.  I promise more info soon, check back when you have a chance. 

Field Trip! Wrentham Village Premium Outlets!

So, we are right in the middle of what I have been calling "Hell Week", and today we caught a little break.
Hell week consists of  9 shows in 7 venues over a span of 9 days, most of them in different states, which means that we are on the bus every morning to do a show in a new theatre pretty much every night.  On the upside, many of these cities have thus far been reasonably close  together, and to be honest it is already getting hard to keep the cities straight in my head.

Today, because we only have a 2 hour drive between New Bedford MA, and Springfield MA, Keith, our Rock star Company Manager arranged a little excursion to help pad the time between when we had to check out of one hotel and when we could check in to our next.  The tour bus dropped us for a two hour shopping trip at the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets here in Massachusetts.  Up until this point, I have always thought that Walmart trips while on tour were highly entertaining - everyone rushing off to acquire all the goodies that they need to make life on the road a little easier in a strict one hour time limit.  Today was that same sense of urgency and frantic excitement multiplied by a thousand degrees.  All most  everyone immediately scattered to scour the stores for the best deals.  Some of the cast were on personal shopping missions, snapping up great deals on hot fashions for themselves, while others, myself included, focused on early Christmas shopping for all the folks back home.  Banana Republic, Coach, Kenneth Cole, and Gap were big hits!

People were frantically bargain hunting right up to the wire, spending per diem cash hand over fist.  It was awesome. 
The best part of the entire experience was the little fashion show that happened at the back of the tour bus as we were about to hit the road.  Everyone eager to show off their new acquisitions, and see all the great finds everyone else had snapped up.

It was a fun distraction from Hell Week, but now we are back on the bus rolling through the rain for our next stop. 
Check back soon for more updates.

Oh, Canada! Godspell hits the East Coast of the Great White North.

The journey continues...when we last left our heroes, they had one final matinee to perform in New Haven Connecticut, before moving on to our first Canadian stops of the tour. 
The matinee was a success, and from what I have been told by the crew, their first load-out was relatively painless.  We were also asked to sign the wall at the historic Shubert Theatre, a tradition that I have seen a few times at various venues on the road.  Kudos to Charles for finger painting us a great piece of signage, that will now become part of the legacy of the Shubert.  At this point our Crew also moved off of our coach bus onto their sweet Rock Star sleeper bus, their new traveling home away from home.

After the show and dinner in New Haven,  the cast and band piled onto the coach for what I think was an amazing night drive up to Portsmouth New Hampshire, our stopping point before crossing back into Canada.  Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I had a wicked time on this bus ride because I snagged one of the rear "lounge" spots for the ride: to clarify, we have removed some seats from the coach, and at the very back we have two sets of seats that have been turned 180 degrees, and installed collapsible tables to form what I loving refer to as "the lounges".  They are perfect spots for someone to work on lines, write show reports, have a group card game, or just stretch out.

 Initially I set up my laptop to write my matinee show reports and then once they were sent, I settled in and relaxed for what was one of my favourite rides thus far of any tour.  I watched about 6 episodes of Parks and Rec, and then when that got old, just set my music collection to shuffle and watched the world flow by.  It was a very Zen happy little bubble.

Upon arrival at our hotel most people promptly made their way to our very first hot tub of the tour! Any hotel with a hot tub and a pool is always a hit after a long day on a tour bus.

The next day we had a full day of travel to Fredericton New Brunswick, where we had the evening off.  Our company manager and I promptly found a great spot to have a wonderful meal in town.  Brewbaker's was magnificent.
Our two  shows in Fredericton at The Playhouse were well received, and I met some great people on the local crew who are friends of friends that work out here fairly regularly.  We swapped a few war stories and shared some laughs.  It was a not so subtle reminder of exactly how small this industry really is.

After our Wednesday evening show, the touring company organized an impromptu pre-Halloween party in one of the banquet rooms of our hotel.  Hilarity ensued, and I don't know that many people got much sleep.

We also had the next day (which coincidently, happened to be Halloween) off in Fredericton, so many of us took the opportunity to see the sights, sample the local micro brews, and experience some of the local culture.

 I explored the banks of the St. John River, following a great hiking trail along the shore of the downtown core, before staring a little pub crawl, and eventually having another fantastic meal, this time at The Blue Door.  Some of the cast caught an evening movie at the mall by our hotel, but I opted for something a little more daring and caught the opening night performance of a local community theatre groups production of Evil Dead: The Musical.  My thoughts on this production are also available here in a previous post.

Friday we had a leisurely 90 minute ride down the highway to our next stop: St. John New Brunswick - NOT to be confused with St. John's Newfoundland - Ivan.  

The Imperial Theatre here in St. John is a beautiful space that celebrated its centennial this year.  A gorgeous venue with another fantastic local crew, both of our shows here went off without a hitch.  Many of us took advantage of our free time in town to take in the local attractions, like the famous -  if wildly misnamed - reversing falls, the local brew pubs (Like the High Tide and The St. John Ale House), and many of us decided to do the Maritimes right and had a big Lobster & seafood dinner at Steamers Lobster Company down by the Wharf.  Dinner was a huge, butter smeared, success.

Tomorrow we bid farewell to Atlantic Canada, as we continue our journey back into the US with a matinee performance in Orono, Maine. 

Tomorrow also marks the beginning of what I have come to think of as our first hell week - 7 different venues in 8 days.  I am sure we will all come out the other side unscathed, but it will be a shock to the system after such a smooth, sedate first few stops.

Check back soon for more updates!

Evil Dead: The Musical

While I was looking for a way to fill a Halloween evening off here in Fredericton NB I stumbled across a poster advertising a local community theatre production of Evil Dead: The Musical.  I have heard a lot about this show over the years, and friends of mine were actually in the original Toronto production, but I had never seen it.  I thought it would be a hoot to score a $20 ticket, and I wasn't disappointed.  Presented at a cute little theatre at the local francophone community center, the show featured a quirky local cast, that may not have had professional talent, but they certainly had a lot of heart. 

With its very own blood splash zone in the front row, this show focused on the gory, campy off beat humour that made Bruce Campbell and The Evil Dead trilogy of movies cult classics.  Blood packets and Hudson sprayers full of fake blood doused the audience throughout the show, much to their obvious delight.

With songs like "What the fuck was that?" and "Do the Necronomicon" the show kept tonights small audience laughing throughout.  Some of the cast may not have had the vocal range to belt these rollicking tunes the way they were written, but I will give them credit for their attempt.  They certainly were committed.

The show certainly had its share of technical difficulties, missed mic pick up, miss-cued sound effects, wigs falling from cast members heads, lighting levels that left the cast in near total darkness...the list goes on.  It was a little bit like being forced to watch the final performance of Waiting for Guffman.

Despite the technical elements of the show being a propper Tour De Farce I want to give full kudos to the 2 young ladies who played Cheryl and Shelly, as both of them had the pipes to sing their respective roles, and knew how to act their way out of a wet paper bag, qualities unfortunately not shared by the rest of the cast. 

Regardless, I laughed pretty hard both with, and at, the cast, and the show provided a solid two hours of entertainment.

Opening Night!

Hard at work, now calling the show from backstage!

Our adventure continues!  After an easy travel day that included our first meal stop at a Walmart so that everyone could stock up on food and supplies, we arrived at our first performance destination, New Haven, Connecticut, home of Yale, on Thursday night, and quickly settled in to our luxurious suites.   Life on the road is always easier with nice hotel rooms, especially ones that have full kitchen facilities. 

The cast and band immediately arranged a pot luck dinner, because they are just that sweet.  A little later on Charles and I headed downtown with Kirsten, our swing tech, and John, our audio tech to the Theatre district for a substantial meal.  As the crew had to do their first load in call at 7am Friday morning, it was an early night.

Friday morning at 10am four of the cast and myself were scheduled to appear for a Q & A session at a local performing arts high school, arranged by the educational outreach division of the Shubert Theatre.  The five of us had an absolute blast sharing our stories with the students and faculty. They were such an engaged, generous audience that I sense all of us came away from it feeling even more pumped about our Opening Night performance that night. The local media was also in attendance, and we actually made the local paper & online section of their website.  Here's the link: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/the_downbeat_and_the_lowdown_delivered_to_co-0p_actors/

After the Q & A session I caught a ride over to the historic Shubert Theatre to see how the load-in was going, and see if I could be of any assistance.  The remainder of the cast had the afternoon free to explore the town and rest up for our big night.

The view from the 2nd balcony! 
There were a lot of stairs to climb to get this shot!

The crew has just about finished the load in
at this point.

The view from the stage.
I couldn't get the 2nd balcony
in the shot.

 The Shubert Theatre here in New Haven Connecticut was built in 1914, and has hosted premiers of many landmark American plays including Oklahoma and A Streetcar Named Desire.  It really is a beautiful space with a wonderful staff, and a great local crew.  By the time I arrived on Friday afternoon, our touring crew was pretty much done load in, so I helped out where I could, mapping out dressing room signage, and prepping the space for the casts arrival. 

We got our very first on the road sound check, all 15 minutes of it, and then it was the cast's 1/2 hour call.  On the road you almost never get a lot of extra time to prep for a show...it's just a fact of life, and we all have to work within our limitations, while striving to deliver the absolute best possible show to each and every audience.

Our Opening Night performance had it's share of minor technical bumps and hiccups, but the cast were on fire!  The zeal and energy that they bring to this show every night truly is inspiring, and the audience loved it.  We received an immediate standing ovation for the curtain call.
Post show our producers had arranged an after party for us at a local pub, and I can guarantee that a good time was had by all. 

Saturday was a double show day, and I took the time to explore the Yale Campus between shows.  What an incredible experience!  The campus is simply breath taking, and I wish I had had more time to explore all of the nooks and cranny's of this stunning educational institution. 
  It really was something worth seeing.  I also hit the campus bookstore and picked up a wicked new Yale sweater that immediately makes me look smarter :)

Here's a few of the photo's I snapped of the campus, they hardly do it justice!

 

 

I have also started uploading some of my tour shots to my Facebook Photo Album, which is a tradition I started the last time I went out on the road - They should be accessible under the Godspell Tour Album.  Enjoy!
Tomorrow we perform our final matinee here in New Haven, before rolling out for our next destination - Fredericton New Brunswick.  Check back in a few days for another update!

I Blame Charles...

So the big day has finally arrived.  Day one of our 13 week North American tour of the Drayton Entertainment Production of Godspell.  The Tour is being produced by TMA/ Moonglow Productions out of NYC, headed by the same people who produced the tour of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels that I had the opportunity to go out on a few years back.

This time around it is 11 Canadian Cast Members, 2 Canadian Stage Managers, 5 American Crew, and our American Company Manager who I am hoping will keep us "between the mailboxes".

We boarded the bus at 9:45am in Cambridge ON, and after what was a teary goodbye for some of our cast, we set out on our very first travel day.  Our only real goal today was to make it across the border into the U.S. and then travel about 50 percent of the way to our first venue - New Haven Connecticut.  It was smooth sailing the entire way to our first stop.  We breezed through customs in record time - 40 min from arrival at the border to departure.  Not too shabby for a bus filled with a mixed production company of Canadian Cast and American Crew.  No fuss, no muss, no worries, and no delays.  It was pretty slick.

As far as being out on the road, I was actually surprised at how quickly I found myself falling into my old touring habits.  I grabbed the same seat on the coach that I had the last time I went out (It really is all about being at the back of the bus), and settled in very quickly.  I have found that on the road you have to rely on technology to keep you entertained...tablets, e-readers, laptops, and portable gaming systems are your best friends, and keeping them charged is a primary concern!  My tablet and PS Vita got a solid work out today, as we passed through Ontario's wine country, and down into New York State.  The number of sets of headphones in use on the bus is very encouraging.  This group has already figured out that it is up to them to keep themselves entertained while they are on the bus.  We also put on our first group movie after the lunch break, but to be honest, I have no idea what it was because I was deep into Uncharted: The Golden Abyss on my PS Vita at the time.

I was also amused by a few of the casts ability to nap on the bus on day one.  Regardless of all of the excitement and energy that they had when we left Cambridge, a few were able to stretch out and catch a few z's before we even hit the border.  No question, they will adapt just fine to life on the bus.

We arrived in Syracuse NY in time for dinner and didn't waste any time making plans.  After a healthy stop at the hotel bar, the majority of us wound up catching a free shuttle down to Syracuse Suds, in the market district for dinner.  While the craft beer was far from stellar, the food was decent, the live jazz was fun, and the company was second to none.   From there, small groups peeled off to do whatever they wanted, but the gang I was with, which included my unflappable ASM Charles,  started a little pub crawl that took us to four or five local establishments, every one of which was more interesting than the last.  After sampling more than our share of the local craft brews, and some fresh mussels, We ended our evening at a fantastic hole in the wall bar called Al's which had the biggest wall of liquor that I have ever seen... which was impressive in and of itself.  (We're talking 15' high x 36' long folks!) Also, when I asked the bartender if they had a bottle of  Crown Royal Cask #16 on hand, he readily acknowledged that they had it, and was happy to pour me a $15 ounce.  HEAVEN. 

(I really do need to pick up another bottle of that while I am out on tour to bring home as a special treat for myself.)   On top of the great bourbon/scotch selection, there was also a hip trio playing at Al's and we stuck around to hear them play for a good 35 min... reminded me a lot of Death Cab For Cutie.  A very mellow sound with lot's of interesting instrumental combinations.
After walking home - about 1.54 miles - BTW a big Thank-you to iphones for keeping us from getting totally lost in strange new cities - we went our separate ways.

Tomorrow is another straight travel day before we load in for our first show on Friday night.  I smell a friendly poker game in my future.