Home Stretch- Part II: Abilene, Amarillo, Lubbock, Peoria, Champaign, Springfield

                This is it, folks- the last one!

                We only spent a day in Abilene.  But a great audience and our first taste of summer made it a pretty welcoming stop on our tour.  The weather was 80ish degrees and sunny, which was quite a change from our previous 50’s-60’s temperatures and the rain (and a bit of snow in Colorado) in the previous week.  And our audience was outstanding, giving the actors a much-needed boost on a one-nighter.

Abilene Civic Center, Abilene, Texas

                More awesome audiences in Amarillo.  And much more sun and heat.  I spent a lot of time outside, and even ran outside for the first time in eight months; some of my joints are aching pretty badly.  Still, it was a nice change of pace.

Amarillo Civic Center, Amarillo, Texas

                Okay, what’s the deal with all these fantastic audiences in Texas?  We were in three different cities in TX before Christmas, and I don’t remember them being this great.  And Lubbock is no exception.  We performed on campus at Texas Tech, and our theater, in all honesty, had some things to be desired (renovations, e.g.).  But what thrilled me is that there was a Wal-Mart Supercenter right across the street from our hotel.  Now, some people would look down on me for saying that, and part of me does, too.  But when you’re on tour and obtaining provisions to live daily life proves generally difficult, Wal-Mart is like an Oasis in the middle of the desert.

City Bank Auditorium, Lubbock, Texas

                Our last show in Lubbock, a Sunday matinee, was cancelled.  Therefore, we gained a Golden Day!  I spent mine with a friend with whom I went to grad school at Florida International University, who is also a native of Lubbock.  He showed me around Lubbock and we had a very, well, “spirited” day.  Because I wasn’t used to doing so much in a day, I was completely exhausted by the time I came back to the hotel.

                Our only flight between cities on this half of the tour occurred between Lubbock and Peoria.  The awesome thing was that we flew into Moline with buses ready to drive us to Peoria.  So what I did was stay at home and come to Peoria the next day.  It was a nice little preview of home before coming back a week later.

                Peoria- the venue that all of the Quad-Citians have been waiting for.  The first night in Peoria, there were about ten people that came from the QC.  Joe Maubach came and sat in the pit and we had a nerd-man-date the next day- lunch, comic book shop, “Cabin In The Woods”….’nuff said.

Peoria Civic Center, Peoria, Illinois

                The second night in Peoria, there were 20-25 people that came to see me- so over 30 people in all.  I had been waiting nearly eight months for our stay in Peoria in hopes of seeing a few people I know at my show.  However, the outcome was way more than I could have hoped for.  I was thrilled and humbled to see so many people there.  Definitely my favorite stop on the tour.

                Champaign was our last one-nighter of the tour.  It was also our third and final arena show.  The band likes arena shows because we feel licensed to goof off a little more than usual, given that nobody can peer over the edge and see us because we’re behind the stage.  We performed on campus at the University of Illinois.  I’d tell you how our audience was, but we don’t get much feedback behind the stage.

Assembly Hall, Champaign, Illinois

                I don’t think I need to say how energized and excited our cast was in our final city of Springfield, Missouri.  The end was near, and people were counting down by the scene.  After that last curtain on Sunday, April 29^th, the stresses just flew out of peoples’ bodies and we became high with an overall sense of relief.

Hammons Performing Arts Center, Springfield, Missouri

                The next day, we took three separate busses to St. Louis and flew home.

So here’s our brief number recap:

For This Half:

Many comic books read

5 books read

11 seasons of South Park, 1 season of Archer, complete series’ of Baccano! and Gurren Lagann (Anime), and all of the current seasons of The Office, The Big Bang Theory, South Park, and Glee watched

33 movies watched

3 videogames played (Portal, Half-Life 2, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga)

3 times doing laundry

For The Entire Tour

51 cities/theaters

57 hotels/beds

2 countries

26 states and 2 Canadian Provinces

245 shows

24,500 (est.) miles traveled

Now, you might be hearing this for the first time, or you may have heard it through some tiny grape vine somewhere, but this tour IS NOT OVER.  We’ve been extended into the summer and are going to Malaysia (one week), China (four weeks), and as of yesterday, possibly Singapore (five weeks).  I’ll get to see parts of the world I’ve not yet seen, and I’ll be getting paid to do it.  However, I also get to spend some of my summer in the Quad-Cities, making this summer pretty awesome.

Danny’s Final Thoughts:

-          -Actors are great in small doses

-          -Even as an introvert, I’m not a huge fan of the limited social life that touring enforces

       -I have become accustomed to this lifestyle and would be willing to do it for a couple more years at the most

-          -The overall level of talent at home easily rivals that of this tour; it’s amazing the difference having an agent makes

-          -I am more determined than ever to move to New York City and find work there

-          -This country has become a much smaller place, and so, soon, will the world

Home Stretch- Part I: Milwaukee, Sioux Falls, Colorado Springs, Greeley

 Back in the United States!  Ah, we're so relieved.  Now begins the four-week stretch that finishes off the tour.

There were plenty of two things in Milwaukee:  Beer and sports.  One look outside the hotel made this completely evident.  Since our second and final show in London, Ontario was cancelled, we arrived a day early in Milwaukee and gained a Golden Day.  Many people toured a brewery or went to a sporting event.  The theater in which we performed was on the next block from the arena where the Milwaukee Bucks play.  It became disheartening to see so many people outside our theater, then walk right past it and go to the Bucks game.

Milwaukee Theatre, Milwakee, Wisconsin

For my Golden Day, I saw “In The Next Room, Or The Vibrator Play” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.  I’m usually not a huge fan of plays, but this one was highly exceptional.  It had a little bit of everything- comedy, drama, romance- which is what I believe makes any play/musical/movie/etc. worth seeing.  The performances and the set were stellar, and the play was written extremely well.

I also got to see and catch up with my friend Marty McNamee, with whom I performed “Plaid Tidings” at Circa ’21 Dinner Theatre.  He showed me around Milwaukee and graced me with his infinite knowledge of history, architecture, and other random factoids regarding Milwaukee.

We were only in Sioux Falls for a few days, but the audiences were quite memorable.  I don’t think I’ve seen so many kids in any previous city.  If you’re an actor reading this, then you know what an awesome audience does for your performance.  Let’s just say it’s like a Red Bull.

 Washington Pavilion of the Arts, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

                Colorado Springs was beautiful.  The weather was decent, and there’s an excellent view of Pike’s Peak from basically wherever you are.  We performed on the base of the Air Force Academy.  For the most part, our audiences seemed kind of sedated.  I’m not sure why that is, but it was quite a reversal from Sioux Falls.

 Arnold Hall- USAF Acadamy, Colorado Springs, Colorado

In the months prior to arriving in Colorado Springs, I'd maintained a correspondence with Kevin Graves, an alumnus of the University of Northern Iowa, and more importantly, the UNI Varsity Men’s Glee Club.  On our second day there, Kevin picked me up and took me to check out Garden of the Gods and Helen Hunt Falls.  Garden of the Gods is an expansive terrain with arbitrary rock formations strewn about.  And Helen Hunt Falls, named after an early settler and not the actress from “Mad About You”, was a pretty little waterfall with a small hiking trail above it.  We did a little hiking, took some pictures, and got some fresh mountain air.  After lunch at P.F. Chang’s (my first time!), Kevin came to our afternoon show on the base.  I’d like to sum up that the friends made in the UNI Varsity Men’s Glee Club can be relied upon for many years.  I was never in the group at the same time as Kevin, as he graduated before me; he went to Europe both times I went.  However, he still made the effort to connect and be hospitable to a fellow member.  I’m very proud to have been a part of that group.

                There’s not really anything I can say about Greeley.  We did only one matinee there.  Most of us just wanted to get it out of the way and have the night and the following day off.  We’re all eager to get to Texas and warm weather.

Union Colony Civic Center, Greeley, Colorado

    Oh, and I also expanded my Green Lantern Corps.  Tripled the size, actually.  They're doing a great job of helping me through the last few weeks of tour.

 

Oh, Canada...

I have to admit that I was pretty excited to go into Canada.  I’ve been to other countries in Europe and Central America, but never on my own continent.  Now, there are different, very diverse parts of Canada, and none of them could be further from the U.S. (culturally speaking) than Montreal, Quebec.  It.  Was.  FRENCH!  About 95% of people around you speak French.  Ads, billboards, street signs, banners, etc. are all in French.  Restaurant menus are in French with the English translation in a smaller text below.  Because the citizens of Montreal also speak English, it made some of the cast feel ignorant.  I consoled them by saying that they didn’t go out of the way to learn two languages- they’re surrounded by it.  If we’re immersed in eight languages as we mature from children into young adults, we learn all eight of them.  It’s just how their culture works.  We don’t quite find it necessary to learn more than one language, so most of us don’t.

The French thing also prevented our audiences from understanding some of the more subtle jokes in the show- those that are either cultural or are hidden in the lyrics or subtext.  This, along with lower ticket sales, made some of our Montreal audiences somewhat drab.

Pelletier-Place des Arts, Montreal, Quebec, CAN

I didn’t get too much of a chance to go out and explore Montreal.  I mostly just walked over to the theater to play piano and compose.  I was also a little preoccupied with how much money I was spending- our hotel, the most expensive hotel on our tour, was slightly over a hundred dollars per night.  Everything’s a little more expensive in Canada, but as far as how their society works, there may be something to that- they’ve really got it together.

Canadian Money (or, as I refer to it, Play Money)

Our 200^th show occurred in Montreal.  It didn’t seem to be as much of a feat as when we reached our 100^th show in Miami in December, however.  I guess the tour has just been going on so long that people are numbed to it.

I wasn’t planning on doing much for St. Patrick’s Day.  The day became even less celebratory when I learned of the death of my friend and beloved Quad-Citian Brian Nelson.  I had done a few shows with him, culminating in our performance of Jesus Christ Superstar in July/August.  One day after a rehearsal, he had told me that out of the many times he had performed the show over the previous decades, mine was the band/orchestra that best captured the flavor of the show.  Compliments are a wonderful thing, but are made more precious coming from someone so talented and respected.  It pained me not to be there for his funeral, but from all of the comments I saw/heard about it, there probably wouldn’t have been room for me anyways.  He will be missed by so many.

Our third and final two-week stay was in Toronto.  Toronto was quite a change from Montreal.  It felt much more like the U.S.  I heard a lot of comments from the cast comparing it to New York City.  And aside from Times Square and Central Park, nothing makes you feel like you’re in New York more than the subway.  Our travel to and from the theater was by subway.  It was about a 20 minute ride each way.  It was sometimes tedious, but I’ll admit that it was a nice way to mellow down after the show.  If/when I do live in New York City, I’ll be anxious to use the subway in lieu of a car, saving me SO much money on gas, parking, insurance, etc.

Toronto Centre for the Arts, Toronto, Ontario, CAN

I love a mall.  Our first night there I happened to stumble upon what I understand is the biggest mall in Toronto.  In urban areas, the malls blend into the scenery a lot more than what I’m used to, so I just kind of walked inside off of the street and wound up in the Eaton Centre Mall.  I returned here at least three or four times throughout the two weeks.

                Our second Monday there was a Golden Day (no travel, no shows), and a group of fourteen of us went to Niagara Falls.  A tour van picked us up from the hotel and the driver familiarized us with a few things in Toronto.  On the way to the falls, we stopped at a winery for a tasting- if you haven’t tried ice wine, I highly recommend it.  Then we strolled around the small town of Niagara on the Lake, perusing boutique and specialty shops.  The falls were beautiful- so much so that I hardly minded the temperature being in the 30’s, feeling even colder with the mists.  We arrived in time to see the falls in the daylight with its many rainbows, and after dinner got to see them lit up with spotlights.  This is a place I probably wouldn’t have gone to any other time, so I’m glad I got to see it on tour.

                With a few members of the band, I attended a rehearsal of the Toronto Symphony on one of our last days there.  It was so refreshing to hear classical music again- I feel like it’s been forever.  Sometimes I need a little Brahms/Mahler/Prokofiev to cleanse my palette.

Toronto Symphony Building

                Our third and final Canadian city was London.  And for the first time, one of our shows was cancelled.  We originally had two shows in London, but we knew a few weeks ahead of time that our second show would be cancelled.  We therefore travelled back to the U.S. a day early and enjoyed a Golden Day in Milwaukee.  Our show in London was our second venue in an arena (the first being in Tallahassee at Florida State University).  We did the show on a hockey rink with plastic tiles covering the ice.  The orchestra was on the floor behind the stage and it was pretty chilly.

LaBatt Centre, London, Ontario, CAN

                Well, the entire cast is relieved to be back in the U.S.- using our own currency, our cell phones, banks, certain restaurants, etc.  And now we’re on the home stretch.  It won’t be long until I’m back in the Quad-Cities!

Detroit Rock City

After about three weeks of split weeks, I speak for the entire cast when I say that we were thrilled to be staying in one spot for two weeks.  And more than that, we were staying in an awesome hotel.  It was a Hilton Doubletree Suites.  Our room had a living room, bathroom, and bedroom.  The rooms were quite inexpensive due to Networks’ good standing with Hilton.  We were in a good downtown location.  The front desk was always stocked with amazing fresh cookies for guests.  The fitness center, business center, elevators, etc. were all in great shape.  This may end up being my favorite hotel on tour.

Fisher Theatre, Detroit, MI

On our first Thursday in Detroit, the cast of another Networks touring show, South Pacific, came to see our show.  As you may have guessed, they made for an outstanding audience.  And in the words of many of our cast members, they ruined the rest of Detroit for us.  After the show, we had a little mixer at our hotel bar.  As this is my first tour, it was interesting getting to see and talk to the cast of another touring production.

I had a friend come and meet me in Detroit.  His name is Flat Stanley, and he’s the project of Harper, the daughter of my friend Melissa.  I took pictures of our adventures in Detroit and sent a letter back to her second grade class.  Good times.

The best thing about Detroit was that my sister lives about 25 miles away.  She came to the show on the first Sunday night with my niece and nephew, and I went home with them afterward.  We spent the next day together going to the mall and Dave and Buster’s, where I didn’t even get caught cheating at the games this time.  I had an awesome time with them, and only wish that I could have spent a few days with them.

The big cabaret, titled “What Makes Us Special Makes Us Strong” (lyrics from the show) finally happened.  As music director and accompanist, I had been stressing out a little bit over it and putting many hours into rehearsing.  But after we got to the venue, I was considerably less stressed.  We performed in a pretty spacious bar.  There were silent auctions going on, raffles, free Shrek ice cream, and many other AIDS charities.  I was more tired after the show than I’d ever been in my life.  I slept like a rock.

Since the cabaret was over, I figured I owed it to myself to go get a massage.  I went to a massage therapist about six blocks away from the hotel for 60 minutes of awesomeness.

Our last weekend in Detroit, we said goodbye to our guitar player Austin and welcomed Mike.  Mike had play guitar in Hairspray with a few of our company members before, so he had no trouble integrating into the group.  Even I get pretty good vibes from him.  We’re happy to have him.

And on to Canada for 3.5 weeks….

We/eks (Split Weeks)

Between our few weeks in New York and our 2-week stay in Detroit coming up, we had a few weeks of split weeks, which can get pretty tiring.  And it has- especially with these 2-day road trips to get to some of the cities.  It’s about over, so I thought I’d group all of these cities into one big, busy chunk.

Waterbury was alright.  The biggest event of note that took place was that we said goodbye to our French horn player Ami and welcomed our new player Everett.  And now there’s an even balance of X and Y chromosomes in the pit.

(Note: Due to an iPodic mishap, the pictures of the first two theaters were taken from the internet and not taken by me.)

Palace Theater, Waterbury, CT

New London was probably the roughest stop on our tour so far, and most likely the roughest it’ll get.  We were only there for one day, thank [insert deity here].  But we traveled in the morning into a two-show day.  Before we arrived, we were warned that all of the actors’ quick changes would occur outside in a truck because there’s no room behind the main scrim where they usually occur.  We also had to cut a lot of set pieces and drops because there was just no room for them.  I kind of felt sorry for the audience because they had to see such a watered-down version of the show- and all of the shows that come through there, for that matter.  And the pit, as you can guess, NO ROOM!  I was squeezed into the far corner of the pit with barely enough room to be comfortable.  However, the lack of room wasn’t the main reason to be uncomfortable- because the quick changes took place outside, the backstage doors were always open.  And because it’s February and New London is right by the water, it was really, really cold.  So we did two shows under these conditions and had no trouble falling asleep, which was good because we needed to get up early to travel the next day anyway.  So now I’m finally aware of why people were dreading that stop so much.

Garde Arts Center, New London, CT

Now don’t tell anybody, but I actually enjoyed Knoxville quite a bit.  It could have been because the weather was super nice, it being sunny and in the upper 50’s/lower 60’s the entire time we were there.  Or it could have been the beautiful  .6 mile walk to the theater from the hotel.  Or maybe it was that I went to the theater early a few days in a row to compose and ended up composing a 3.5 minute choral piece in two days.  Yeah, that’s probably it.  Next to our hotel was the women’s basketball hall of fame or museum or something of that nature, marked by the world’s largest basketball on top of the building.  Looking into the city from the hotel, you can see the Sun Sphere from the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair (you know, the one from the Simpsons).  Any way you look at it, Knoxville’s got some big balls.

Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, TN

Balls!

Okay, I’ll admit that I enjoyed Lexington quite a bit also.  The location of the hotel didn’t hurt; being so close to so much, especially the theater, was pretty great.  The weather was pretty decent there as well.  By this point, I’d sort of given up on winter, after a few months of wishing for snow.  There was also this bomb pizza place where I got probably the best calzone I’d ever had.  And my, what a cute little opera house.

Lexington Opera House, Lexington, KY

For our shows in Easton, we stayed about 15 miles away from the theater in Bethlehem.  This wasn’t as annoying as I thought it’d be.  Easton was, however, a milestone for me; it was the first time I was remoted.  While the rest of the orchestra (except our drummer) was playing in the pit, I was playing in a small room reminiscent of a supply closet behind the pit; our conductor is on a video monitor that I use even when I’m in the pit.  Our drummer is remoted about two-thirds of the time because his set and “cage” can’t fit, but it finally got small enough for them to kick me out.  I actually kind of liked it, which, when you think about my preference for being alone a lot of the time, makes total sense.

State Theatre, Easton, PA

My little nook.

Another notable event in Easton- we got a new Dragon/Mama Bear/Mama Ogre.  Erin Edelle is an awesome vocalist and she’s a lot of fun.  I look forward to sharing the rest of the tour with her.

I’ll start off by saying that Worcester is deceptively difficult to pronounce.  This may be due to the New England accents of the people from there.  So, it ends up sounding like “Woostah” (“oo” as in book).  The best thing about this city is the Chinese restaurant around the corner from the theater- it’s the best Chinese food I’ve had so far on tour.  It’s nice to get that in before the month of Canadian Chinese food….no idea what to expect……Anyway, I was super busy in Worcester rehearsing for the Cabaret.  While the cast is in Detroit, we’re putting on a benefit concert which I’m music directing and accompanying.  We have about 20 songs, so I’ve been pretty tied up trying to coordinate everybody’s songs and rehearsals.  Nevertheless, I’m super excited to perform on the piano again.  It’s been far too long.

Hanover Theatre, Worcester, MA

And this is the reason that even though I’m sitting 15 feet away from the conductor and facing him, I watch him on a video monitor.  Some of the effect fog is super-cooled so that it remains heavy enough as to not float.  Therefore, it rolls over the lip of the stage and into the pit, filling it up and severely altering our visibility.  It’s not a picnic breathing that stuff in, but at least I don’t work in a coal mine.

And now we begin our two-week stay in Detroit, Michigan.  Needless to say, we're all super excited.