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.