Opening in Portland

Our first stop on the tour.  My life as a vagabond has officially begun!  We arrived in Portland this past Sunday via charter bus.  We took two of them, so we all had room to stretch out and be selfish.  We had that night, as well as the entire next day free to roam Portland to see what all the hip is about.  I mean hype......no, I definitely mean hip.  I've never seen so many super-tight pants in my life.  I wish it were only the girls.....Anyway, once you get past the...interesting people, Portland really is a beautiful city.  The buildings are tall, everything you need is within walking distance, and there are foods of dozens of ethnicities within a half mile radius.

Last night was our opening.  According to the audience, it was our unofficial opening because they were shooting "B-roll", or media footage, during the show.  However, the cast and crew treated it as our opening.  It's amazing how many shows you can have before you're officially open.  Probably about 6,000 people have seen the show already and it's not, in the strictest sense of the word, open.

                                                           Keller Auditorium, Portland, OR

                                           

  We had a run-through during the day to make sure everything ran smoothly.....and it did....except for my stuff, I guess.  Yesterday morning, the staff realized that my Notion equipment was in the truck of stuff that was sent away because we didn't need it.  Basically, it was in Las Vegas, which prompted many jokes from the company such as: "Notion ran away to Vegas and blew its entire per diem at the table.  We had to send someone after it."  They flew somebody out to drive it back, and it returned in time for Act II of our run-through.  Just a little scary.....

Our opening was very well-received, and we got opening night swag from the higher-ups at the company.

                                                                           SWAG!!

 Then, they treated us to an amazing party on the fifteenth floor of a building, which consisted of an open bar, an array of Japanese-American hors d'oeuvres, and was largely an open patio with a 180-degree view of Portland.

It was a very classy affair, the pinnacle of which was an amazing Shrek cake.

Today, I got to play keyboard for a rehearsal in which the Dragon puppeteers fine-tuned their number.  Aaand that's the first time I've played a piano in about a week and a half.  They've just now begun understudy rehearsals, so don't you worry.  I'm sure I'll get plenty of time behind the keys.