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.

New York State of Mind

We've been in New York for the past 2.5 weeks.  During this time, we've been in three cities: Schenectady, Rochester, and Utica.

Our stay in Schenectady was my first time in New York, it was very welcoming.  Restaurants and bars, all in a very charming part of the city near the theater, celebrated our arrival with discounts and parties.  The theater supporters even held a luncheon for us one day with the Mayor of Schenectady.  During the intermission of our last show there, he gave Shrek the key to the city.  Yeah, we’re celebrities.

Proctor's Theatre, Schenectady, NY

Awesome Staircase

Shrek receiving the key to the city

from the mayor during intermission

That week, we also introduced a new cast member.  She started rehearsing in New York City a week before she was thrown into our cast.  Her transition was very painless and professional.  She took the place of our ensemble member Baby Bear.

Aside from the internet problems and the mile plus distance to the theater, our stay in Rochester was pretty smooth.  One of the best parts was getting to see my longtime friend Mike Conrad who now attends the Eastman School of Music.  Mike and I went to high school and did most of our undergrad together.  We’ve had a ton of classes together and performed with each other a lot.  So, we caught up over lunch and he came and sat in the orchestra pit for one of our last shows.  As you can imagine, life on the road becomes easier when you run into people you know.

Auditorium Theatre, Rochester, NY

(clever name, I know)

We were only in Utica for four days and it was okay.  There wasn’t too much to do, but I got some playing and composing in.  Also, the theater houses the biggest chandelier in the country- third largest in the world.

Stanley Theater, Utica, NY

Largest chandelier in the country

These past few weeks I’ve been giving piano lessons to the young girls in our cast, and they’re picking up pretty quickly.  These lessons are benefitting me as well- I’m writing all of my own materials and putting the girls through a course of my own devising that I feel will help them excel.  Just hope it works….

I’ve been having some help with Notion as of late.  I’ve recruited the Green Lanterns of space sector 2814 for assistance.  They’ve been with me since Columbus, and they’ve made my job a lot easier.

John Stewart, Hal Jordan, & Guy Gardner

Green Lanterns of Space Sector 2814

Wabash, Morgantown, Scranton, or, a looooong week

I'm not sure why this week seemed so long.  Probably because it was our first split week since we've been back and included a lot of traveling.  Fortunately, we a have a few week sit-downs ahead of us.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Wabash, Indiana for a one-nighter.  I was surprised to learn that Wabash was the first city in the world to be electrically-lit.  Or in the country.  I don't know- I can't remember.  Despite this fact, the parking lot to our hotel didn't seem lit at all.  We stayed overnight at the Knights Inn, which, at first sight, looks like the set of a horror movie.  All of the fixtures in the room looked as if they'd been there since the 80's.  I'm sooo glad we were only there for a night.  The theater, on the other hand, was very nice.  It was located in the quaint downtown area.

Honeywell Center, Wabash, Indiana

The next day, we headed for Morgantown, West Virginia.  We played the theater on campus at West Virginia University- our second campus visit on tour (the first being Indiana University in November).  The greatest thing about many college towns is that there are plenty of things available within walking distance.  The most exciting this about this visit, however, was our first big snowfall.  Winter finally seems to be catching up with us.

Creative Arts Center, WVU, Morgantown, West Virginia

SNOW!

On Friday, we left WV for Scranton, Pennsylvania.  For those of you that don't watch The Office on NBC, Scranton is the setting for the show.  The show is actually filmed in California, but they make references to a lot of real-life places in Scranton, such as Lackawana Steel and Poor Richard's Bar.  I didn't actually go to these places, but it was fun to think about, being a big fan of the show.  The town itself was full of historical buildings, including the theater.

Cultural Center, Scranton. Pennsylvania

Backstage cables!  Aaahhh!

I actually don't mind all of the traveling.  One of my Christmas gifts to myself was a Nook Tablet and I've slowly been falling in love with it.  The traveling just allows us time to get closer.  I plan on reading a ton during this leg of the tour.  Watch out- I'm gonna come back so much more smarter.

This week: Schenectady, New York.

Providence/Columbus, Open For Business

I'm getting a little behind here- so I'll try and fit the past 2 weeks into this hour before bus call.  Ready, go.

Two weeks ago we were in Providence, Rhode Island.  It quickly became one of my favorite places on tour so far strictly because of its location.  We stayed in a hotel in the cute downtown area about 8 blocks or so from the theater.  Across the street from our hotel was an ice skating rink, and caddy-corner to our hotel was a pretty big mall which housed a movie theater and a comic book shop.  Most astonishing, though, was that it seemed Providence had the most Dunkin' Donuts' per square mile than any city I've seen.  There were at least 3 on the way to the theater.

Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, RI

This half of the tour, there are many occasions where we'll travel a large distance, but instead of flying on a travel day (Monday), we'll drive Monday, stop over in some random city for the night, and drive into a show on Tuesday.  Leaving Providence for Columbus was the first instance of this.  We stopped over in Somerset, PA.  Our hotel was a bit scary, but luckily we were there for all of 12 hours or so.

In Columbus, we also stayed downtown.  However, this downtown area had huge, newer buildings, unlike Providence.  We stayed in a Doubletree (Hilton), and I discovered that they'll give you a cookie every time you visit the front desk.  Luckily for me, they also had a really nice gym.  We also got our first "big" snowfall of tour.  It didn't accumulate much and got washed away with the rain a few days later, but it was nice seeing some white.

Ohio Theatre, Columbus, OH

A pretty park out behind the theater....

All of our shows in these cities went well, and everybody's been enjoying themselves.  The biggest news, though, is this:  I've begun giving piano lessons to our 2 young girls in the cast.  Some of you may already be aware that I don't really give lessons.  In fact, in my entire life I've given less than 5 piano lessons.  But, these girls want to learn, and I'm tired of meeting singers who can't play the notes they sing on the piano.  Therefore, the Danny White Piano Studio is now open for business.

We have three cities this week: Wabash, IN, Morgantown, WV, and Scranton, PA.  Busy, busy!!

On The Road Again- Hershey!

Let me start off by saying that my holiday lay-off was far too short.  Nine days to try to see and hang out with everyone?  Nonsense.  I'm grateful that we got the break we did, but another week would have been appreciated.

We just left Hershey, Pennsylvania.  It was a cute little place.  The street lights are Hershey kisses, and sometimes the entire town smells like chocolate.  It rained a lot and snowed very little, depriving me of even a wintry end-cap to the holidays.  At this point I'm skeptical as to whether or not we'll see the ground covered in snow at all.

Hershey Theatre, Hershey, PA

Just a cool pic I took one day during a show

It was an interesting week.  Before layoff, the longest we'd gone without doing the show is one day.  That being said, the first few shows of the new half of the tour provided some entertaining issues.  We also said goodbye to Alexa and Rachel, the two girls who alternate playing Young Fiona and Young Shrek/Grumpy.  They went back home to go to school and be with their families and we got two new girls to fill those roles.  They've done five shows so far and they rock.

While in Hershey, I visited Hershey's Chocolate World, where I took a virtual tour of the factory and made my own chocolate bar.  The tour was similar to a Disneyland ride, where you hop into a moving car on a track and look at all these fake machines of real machines and listen to how chocolate is made.  Making my own chocolate bar was a little less interactive than I'd hoped, but was still fun and delicious.  And for your information, that was pretty much the only chocolate I ate during the week- you know, new year's diet and all....

Overall, it was a slow start to this half of the tour (which will undoubtedly pick up speed soon), but I'm back on the job and ready to see parts of the continent that I've never seen before.  This week: Providence, Rhode Island.

Florida Pt. 2: Melbourne, Sarasota, St. Pete/ RECAP

As I said in the previous entry, the last leg of the tour had been going severely slowly due to my anticipation of being home.  That was all cured during this past week of tour, however, when our first two hotels of the week were right on the beach.  The days just seemed to disappear….

Arriving at the hotel in Melbourne/Indialantic was quite a refreshing shift from Miami.  Even though I had been to the beach in Miami, this town was a lot smaller, with a much less-populated beach.  There was strong wind and the waves were huge, allowing for a pretty good workout trying to fight against them.  I later found out that section of beach was one of the most dangerous in the country due to the unclear, choppy waters; sharks often misinterpret humans for other animals in their diets.  I got to experience the beach in the morning, all day, and at night after the show.  It was beautiful.

King Center, Melbourne, FL

I hadn’t thought it possible while in Melbourne, but our digs in Sarasota were even more awesome than Melbourne.  The beach was more expansive with white sand and calm, crystal waters.  When I went looking for shells, I found a hermit crab and a sea slug and made them race.  They were totally against that, however.  Some of the cast/musicians played a game of beach volleyball, which was a blast- I’m actually still sore.

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota, FL

Our last day in St. Petersburg was pretty exciting just for the fact that it was the last show we’d have to do in 10 days.  I had my own hotel room with a king-size bed, giving me plenty of space to practice my karate-  you know, just in case I’m greeted by hordes of zombies upon my return to the QC (a lot can happen in 3.5 months).  I was greeted at the show by Adam Lounsberry’s parents with tidings of Christmas cookies.  It was really nice to see familiar faces; they had a blast at the show.

Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, FL

And now, I’m on the plane home (via Detroit).  So, I thought it would be interesting to throw out some random facts to recap the first half of the tour.

# of cities, theaters, hotels, beds:  22

# of states:  12

# of shows:  107

# of miles traveled:  about 12,000 (including to and from home)

# of comic books read: 26 individual, 21.5 graphic novels- or 181 individual comic books

# of TV shows watched:  8 seasons of scrubs, 4 seasons of South Park, 1 season of The Office, 1 season of True Blood, and all of the current seasons of The Office, Big Bang Theory, and Glee

# of movies watched:  40 (13 of them were X-Mas movies)

# of times doing laundry:  3 (and I didn’t even smell that bad….)

# of major bodies of water experienced:  3- Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico

# of times ill:  1 (not including many random sinus issues- really acts up going from place to place....)

# of hangovers:  2 (I partied, but usually not very hard)

# of haircuts: 2

The list just gets less interesting from there…..So that’s the first half of the tour!  Merry X-Mas, everyone, and I’ll be back on the road in about 9 days.