Tour 2016 Top Ten

Top 10 Things On Which You Become An Expert While On Tour (Especially If You're In A Different City Each Day)

10. Getting lost in your hotel looking for your room.

9. Remembering the city in which the show is currently playing.

8. Forgetting what city you were in 2 days ago.

7. Packing your entire life into one giant suitcase.

6. Your one giant suitcase containing your entire life being JUST under 50 pounds!

5. Seeking out the unhealthiest food in every city.

4. Judging every bus driver's driving/life skills so harshly that if they knew what you were thinking/saying, they'd probably cry until they die.

3. Making that shirt or those pants last an extra week before you HAVE to do laundry.

2. Deciding what to eat (or not eat) at the truck stop.

1. Quickly bonding with other actors you will cherish your whole life even though you may never see them again.

Traveled Out

It's been a while since I last wrote -- and that's for a very simple reason. I have had NO time or energy. 

Once I'm in a new city, I have a hard time remembering what city I've just left. The last week has especially been impossible. Newport News, Virginia to Roanoke, Virginia to Wintston Salem, North Carolina to Cincinnati, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan without stopping to breathe!

Once we hit Detroit, we got to stop and settle for a few days -- which was wonderful. But we also did 5 shows in 2 days. But we saw snow! AND it was the most beautiful theater I've ever seen! Follow my last week below:

Newport News, Virginia

We left Indianapolis last Sunday (November 27) and flew to Atlanta, had a 3 hour layover, then flew to Richmond (another capital city!), then took a bus to Newport News. We had the whole next morning/afternoon off, as we had only one show that evening, and Newport News is about 15 miles from Yorktown, Virginia. Yorktown is the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War; and I love that part of history. I posted on our cast Facebook page about going to see it during our free time, expecting 5 or so people to respond with interest -- but 18 out of our 20 cast members came along! It was awesome. 

Below I am dressed in a Continental Army uniform holding a musket. So cool.

 There was a musket demonstration outside; also very cool.

 Me holding the musket that he fired.

 The theater in Newport News at a very new university -- Christopher Newport University

Lots of people had performed at this theater/concert hall; but Michael Crawford OPENED the space back in 2005, and that's too much for me.

Roanoke, Virginia

On our way to Roanoke we stopped at a rest area, and there were some great photo opportunities.

 Berglund Center in Roanoke...looks like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise to me.

 Some famous people had played this place as well -- that's James Taylor and Amy Grant (among others).

Winston Salem, North Carolina 

I decided to walk the 3 miles from the hotel to the theater -- after sitting on a bus for so long, it's good to get out and walk. It was sunny and cool.

 The huge arena where we performed -- at Wake Forest University.

Cincinnati, Ohio

A big colorful theater in downtown Cincinnati, a beautiful city I would have liked to have spent more than a few hours in -- but that's the way it is.

 Looks like the inside of a birthday cake to me.

Detroit, Michigan

About half the cast of my current tour was on the other tour last year; and they went to Detroit, and had nothing but great things to say about it, even last year. They talked about it this year, too, but didn't even get close to describing what I saw. The Fox Theatre in Detroit has a rich history, as do many of the theaters I've played in the past 3 years, but it's second to none.

I'll let the pictures tell most of the story -- it's MUCH bigger than it seems; keep in mind that most of the spaces we play seat around 2,000; the Fox seats over 5,000.

The theater is right across the street from the Tigers ballpark, so I stopped by before our first show and took some pictures.

ABOVE - work lights on
BELOW - work lights off - show lights ON

ABOVE - work lights on
BELOW - work lights off, show lights ON

There were literally THOUSANDS of signatures in this theatre, up the stairwell to the dressing rooms, hundreds of shows as well. Here are some of the most famous things you'll ever see. Frank Sinatra below...

Comedy section apparently -- you can see Red Skelton, Bill Cosby, and Chris Rock in the center, Jay Leno to the right and Martin Short to the left. INSANE.

There were SIX Jerry Lewis signatures (along with his trademark face sticker) in this building. JERRY LEWIS!

The lobby was also impressive, but no comparison to the inside of the theater itself.

I also had an entire dressing room to myself (that always makes things easier); check it out --

It snowed the night of our last day in Detroit -- right as our last show was ending. It was a terrific first time in Detroit for me.

We have had 25 shows thus far; and we have 26 more. HALFWAY THERE!

Thanks for reading.

To Thanksgiving and Beyond

Thanksgiving Day was a doozy. You may recall that I hurt my back so badly I didn't perform in the show for our Baton Rouge show (November 23). I awoke Thanksgiving morning with SUCH EXTREME PAIN. I don't remember it being this bad when I hurt my back the previous time. It took nearly 30 minutes to be able to stand upright without agony. I nearly threw up because the pain was so intense. I took it slowly, did my stretches, and did the best I could. The cast was very kind and I had help getting my bags to the bus (I couldn't even bend down and zip up my suitcase, much less pick it up and wheel it downstairs).

Aside from that, Thanksgiving itself was a doozy. We started in Baton Rouge. Traveled by bus to the airport in New Orleans (crossing the famous Lake Pontchatrain Causeway Bridge in the process, which I do not believe I've ever been on -- it's the longest over water bridge IN THE WORLD). Pretty cool.

From New Orleans we flew to Chicago O'Hare airport...where we'd been just the week before on a 4 hour layover on our way to Des Moines/Cedar Falls, Iowa. This time we'd be there for another 4.5 hours. On Thanksgiving Day.

This wasn't a surprise, we knew what our travel day would be like...so there's no reason to complain. We all headed to Chili's to have our Thanksgiving meal (paid for by the company); I had a cheeseburger. It was a nice time together.

Eventually we left Chicago and flew to Detroit and took a bus to Toledo, Ohio (a one hour trip). It doesn't matter what time we got to our hotel in Toledo that night -- I don't remember. It was a LONG LONG day.

And the next day we had 2 shows. We stayed in Toledo one more night, then left early the next day for South Bend, Indiana, a 2.5 hour trip. We went directly to the theater (rather than going to the hotel first) because we had another 2 show day.

We got up early the next morning and drove nearly 3 hours from South Bend to Indianapolis (just north of the city itself), and again headed directly to the theater for yet another 2 show day.

If you're counting at home (and I hope you're not), we've been to the airport 14 different times (11 different airports - Los Angeles, Houston IAH & Houston Hobby, Jackson, Chicago O'Hare, Des Moines, New Orleans, Detroit, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Richmond) and had only 16 performances.

THIS IS WHY I AM GOING INSANE.

TOLEDO, OH

ABOVE:  What OTHER shows go to this same theater???????????????? (Phantom arrives on the 30th, five days after we were there.)

Before I even went INSIDE the theater I found these in the lobby -- these are 6 costumes from the show. WHAT!? I promise...I didn't steal anything. I thought about it, plotted out how to escape and everything, but it would have been SO obvious who took the stuff.

SOUTH BEND, IN

Is that place amazing, or what? By far my favorite theater so far this tour. Just gorgeous.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN

 After our long 2 show day (6 shows in 3 days), we drove about 20 minutes from the theater to our hotel in downtown Indianapolis -- where I had never been.

BUT ALSO WHICH HAPPENED to have a Giordano's pizza place ACROSS the street from our hotel. If you're not aware, Giordano's is a Chicago pizza joint that is famous for it's unbelievable deep-dish pizza. I have missed it terribly since leaving Chicago in May.

Though I loudly shared my love for this place with the entire cast, only 6 people joined me for dinner. The deep dish pizza takes 45 minutes to bake -- and by this point it was nearly 8 pm, and I hadn't had lunch (because I was saving space and energy and money for GIORDANO'S); but it was well worth the wait. It was glorious.

After dinner, a few of us wandered the city, specifically to see the Capitol Building, which was right across from our hotel.

I'm writing this from ... where am I? I'm in Newport News, Virginia. That's right. We got here today from Indianapolis. Tomorrow we have one performance -- hurray!

More coming soon!