Sunday, June 30, 2013

6/23/13-6/30/13: Portland, OR

What a wonderful way to end the first leg of this adventure.

We flew into Portland hours after our final show in TX - well, at least we left for the airport mere hours after the curtain went down.  2 flights later, we were disembarking in Portland, OR and on our way to the hotel.  This was the best option really, since it gave us 75% of Sunday off and ALL of Monday off (and technically Tuesday until 5 off) to explore Portland and recover from the past few hectic weeks.

The hotel we stayed at wasn't awful but it wasn't great either - the beds were slightly less than comfortable but I could live with it.  What tipped the scales to the 'Don't Stay Here' side was the hotel staff 'forgetting' that most of the AC units were set up for heat only and only switching them over to the Cool side the very last night we were there.  That meant I was laying awake in a very sweaty bed every night and being utterly exhausted during the days from my lack of sleep (I just can't sleep in the heat).  It was HOT in there...hotter than outside and Portland got into the 90s by the weekend.  BUT, Mark's husband was in town visiting - as were many spouses/significant others since we head out of the country in a few days.  And that meant I got to have the room to myself from Monday-Saturday - so I dealt with the heat...

Portland (both actually - I love Portland, ME too) is now on my short-list of places I could live.  I absolutely fell in love with the town and the vibe it has going on - which is very hippy-dippy.  Everything is fresh and organic and green and served to you in a biodegradable box or paper bag.  I love it - such a bohemian town.  The one of the only things that really threw me was the number of YOUNG homeless people.  I'm talking 90% of the homeless I saw were between 18-25.  I'm not sure why that is actually - but even they seem very nice...  The other thing that got me was the humidity.  I wasn't sure what to expect seeing how much of the West coast has that dry heat going on - but Portland defiantly has more that its fair share - which makes being outside (for me) a sticky, sweaty situation - especially since most places that I visited didn't seem to believe in air conditioning.  But other than that - In Love With Portland.

Portland - if you didn't know...and I didn't till I got there - is a HUGE foodie town.  There are literally hundreds of local restaurants serving over the top/off the wall/immensely flavorful and affordable cuisine from every walk of life and part of the globe.  Here are a few of the places I got to sample (and HIGHLY recommend to anyone visiting the area):

Voodoo Doughnuts - A must do for anyone who visits Portland.  Voodoo makes some of the most delicious and creative donuts I've EVER seen.  When we walked up to the hour long line outside of the store I thought - This will never be worth it....oh was I wrong.  They actually are better than the hype even makes them out to be.  Just a sampling of what they sell: The Voodoo Doll (A voodoo doll shaped and decorated donut filled with raspberry jelly and has a pretzel stuck through its heart), Maple Bacon Bar (thats right...), Mango Tango (Filled with Mango jelly and topped with a marshmallow topping that is dipped in Tang!) and the Cock and Balls (Thats right....a HUGE phallic shaped donut that is filled with Vanilla pudding).  There are literally 100s of others and they are all good!  They only take cash though so come prepared - they also never close...I hear about 1AM is a good no-line time to go...

Hot Pot City - A really fun Taiwanese style place - kinda looks like a hole in the wall when you walk in.  But its SOOOOO good.  If you've never been to a Hot Pot restaurant, heres how it works: They bring you a large Hot Pot and burner filled with a broth (or up to 4 if theres a group)  of your choice (I recommend the spicy Thai).  As your broth comes up to a boil, you go up to the ingredient bar and choose any combo of veggies and meats to cook in the broth - and mix up some fun sauces to flavor your creations.  Its all you can eat so cook as much as you want!  Lunch is only like $9 - dinner is $14 but they break out all the seafood then. So much fun and tasty too!

Bijou Cafe - A great little Breakfast/Brunch place down in the Downtown/Chinatown area with a fun French twist on homey classics.  Lets just say that I had fresh NW Oyster hash and fresh squeezed OJ for breakfast one day - and it was one of the best breakfasts I've ever had...

Salt and Straw - Oprah listed this as one of her 'Favorite Things' one year - and I know why.  Maybe the best ice cream I've ever had.  And its not just the quality of the ingredients or that they make it fresh every day (which are top notch and which they do) - but its the creative flavors that they put out: Olive Oil, Strawberry-Honey-Balsamic-with-Cracked Pepper, IPA Upside-down Cake, Pear-and-Blue Cheese....just to name a few. And they are Incredibly nice there - will let you taste every flavor if you want...OH and don't forget that in addition to their regular flavors, they have new seasonal ones once a month...so good...


Food Carts - Portland has over 500 food carts available throughout the city at any time.  And they cater to every kind of food you can image - salads, mexican, burgers, thai, korean bbq, american bbq, indian, bubble tea, ice cream, crepes, egyptian, scottish fish and chips - you name it and theres probably a cart within a few blocks selling whatever you are craving.

Aside from all the great things to eat...there's a lot to DO in Portland too.  A good friend of mine from NYC happened to be in town (he has a 2nd home here and used to work with the Portland Opera) and offered to take me and some of my cast-mates to Multnomah Falls to see some of the gorgeous outdoor areas in the region.  They were breathtaking.  We spent an afternoon walking around by the falls and then driving up to the 'Vista House' to get a view of the gorge that separates WA from OR - also breathtaking.  It was wonderful to be out there with so much fresh air and so much green.  Just a lovely day.  Later on, we went over to a Portland staple: Powell's Books.  Now try and imagine the largest B&N you've ever seen - and then stretch it out to an entire city block and give it 3 stories.  HUGE!  They actually have almost every book, magazine, etc you can think of.  Picked up (another) guide fro Thailand and (I know I know I have a problem) 2 new card games (but they were small....).

Show wise - our audiences here were great - I thought they might not buy into the show and see it as 'too commercial' because of the whole 'hippy' influence around - but every crowd for 8 shows seemed to love it.  And that made me happy - its always nice to go out with a bang and know that you're entertaining people.  And go out we did.  Sam Primack, one of our Pugsleys played his last performance with us - as did Jeff Katz, our trumpeter.  We also lost 3 crew members and our merch supervisor for the period while we are in Asia.  But in turn, we welcomed Conner Barth, our new Pugsley and several new crew and band members into our family.  To celebrate the end of the season and the comings and goings in the they company, Mark Minnick, one of our producers, came out to see the show and host a Bingo Night.  Bingo was one of the funniest nights we've had on tour - Mark makes one heck of a Emcee.  Now the big winner of the night was....ME!  Which is awesome since I never win at these things (lol) - but I walked out with almost $300 - not too shabby.  Half of it I used to upgrade my seat on our flight to Singapore - not to first class or anything - as that was a good $2K to upgrade too....but Economy Plus...basically a window seat and 5 inches extra of legroom for $130.  Hey on a 14 hour flight...I'll take it.

Well, its come at last -the day I knew would come at last, has come at last.  

We played our final performance of the 2012-2013 US Season on Sunday - said a tearful goodbye to those of us leaving the show and are about to spend 2 days off in San Francisco before flying out of the country on the 4th.  I'm so excited for this leg of the journey to begin!

Monday, June 24, 2013

6/21/13-6/22/13: Galveston, TX

Our last stop (for a while) in TX - AND our last stop before Portland!!

Now our Galveston time was great.  We started off by taking a ferry from mainland TX to the island (thats right...Galveston is on a fricken island...who knew TX had islands...) which was a lot of fun.  We got to see some proposes swimming out by the boats along the way and brought along some bread to feed the billions of sea gulls that were hanging out around the tail end of the boat.  And they are excellent bread catchers - LOL!

The only downside to our stop was that our hotel was 20 miles from the theatre - in an area that didn't have any late night food options...but there was plenty in the area by the theatre.  Downtown Galveston is very cute - lots and lots of fun bars and restaurants (the Gumbo Bar is really good!).  And had a very 'vacation' feel to it.  We were playing the Grand 1894 Opera House - and they were a really fun place to play.  The theatre is very intimate (and well cooled lol) and the audiences seemed to be along the for the ride with us.  Some of the most appreciative crowds we've seem yet - and we've seen some awesome crowds.

There was also a really cool store just down the street from the theatre called The Witchery that I stepped into.  Lately, I've decided to up my spiritual exploration and started a course in First Degree Wiccan Education - its something that I've wanted to do for a while but the timing was never right.  Well, now that I've committed to it - I thought I'd stop in and see if they had any supplementary reading for me to pick up.  The course I'm taking is called Wicca Revealed through the Magicka Online school - an online school is really the only way for me to be able to take any kind of course seeing as I travel all the time...  And they list a number of texts in the course book both as further reading or just in a historically relevant sense so I kind of knew what I was looking for.  And I found almost every book mentioned in my first lesson here (lol).  I picked up The Witches Bible by Stewart and Jane Farrar so I could read up on the Gardenarian/Alexandrian traditions on the plane to Asia.  The lady running the counter was very nice as well - and excited to have an Addams in the shoppe (lol).  It wasn't until later that I realized that tonight was the night of the Supermoon and the beginning of Midsummer!  So things seem to be falling into alignment spiritually - which I'm happy about at the ending of this leg of the tour.

Speaking of which - we are leaving at 3AM to catch a flight (well 2) to Portland, so we can pretty much have Monday (since we get in at 10:30A) AND Tuesday off before we start our shows....and I can't wait!

Friday, June 21, 2013

6/19/13-6/20/13: Orange, TX

Back in Texas - though its kinda hard to tell this time.  Orange, TX (at least from where we are staying - and there doesn't seem to be much else) resembles a large truck stop.  Literally.  There are 4 hotels within 2 blocks - as well as a Sonic, Whataburger, Dennys, Pilot, Churches and another gas station.  And that's it.

By the way - don't stay at the Sleep Inn in Orange - lots and I mean LOTS of bug and a moldy smell throughout the place.  Also try to avoid the Dennys which also seems to have more roaches than employees.

With 2 days in Orange, and obviously nothing to do, I thought that this would be (finally) the perfect place for me to go to the doctors and see if I can't get my ears sorted out.  I found a great little family clinic about 4 miles from the the hotel and made an appointment for Thursday morning - bright and early.  As it turns out, Blair and Dan - who've both been sick with other ailments for as long if not longer than I have came along too.  Once I was inside, it was a quick lookover and prescription for some meds to help bring the swelling down in my ears and drain whatever is clogging them up.  The visit only cost $100 - which was one of my draws to them since I don't have insurance.  See folks, when you are a 'glamorous' actor, you can't afford luxuries like health insurance or permanent places to live..so I have to pick and choose my doctor's visits very carefully - which is not the easiest or best way to have to do things on the road.  But this one was a win - 7 or less days and I should be ship shape again (which will be right in time for Asia...)

Now the theatre itself in Orange is very nice - and the staff and locals there are very sweet.  They catered us both shows with some great home cooking - for which we were all very appreciative since its been AGES since our food wasn't delivered by Dominoes or a waitress...I also found out that How The Grinch Stole Christmas will be there this October to do their Tech process.  They should have a great time at the theatre - but man, I wouldn't want to be in Orange for a week or TWO.  We were incredibly lucky to be in New Haven for ours - so much to see/do.  Whoville - Don't let the sign fool you!!


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

6/18/13: Shreveport, LA

The last One Nighter is over!!  Woot Woot!  Just a couple of doubles and then a week sit down to go.

I know that TECHNICALLY - the show is continuing straight through to Asia and we are really only about a 1/3 through the tour as a whole.  But in my mind, Portland signifies a big ending of a chapter - it being the end of the first US leg.  So it feel very momentous to be approaching that city.

But I digress....Shreveport.  In true one-nighter fashion, I didn't get to experience it much - though I've been here twice before... The one thing that everyone experienced was Louisiana pacing (lol) - which, outside of New Orleans, is slow enough to see a snail leave you in the dust. Several stories came back from castmates going to different restaurants or cafes for diner - and waiting over an hour for their food and then waiting over half an hour for the check to arrive, then waiting another 30 or so for the change to come back.  And no one who lives there seems to be phased by this - since they are all just slugging along in that heat and humidity.

Now off to TX - again (lol)!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

6/16/13: Morgantown, WV

Lucky show 13 in a row!

Its been a long 13 too - I'll be ready for the 'break' tomorrow - even if it is just riding on the bus all day.

Well, on our way to Morgantown - we happened to stop for lunch in Pittsburgh today.  And they happened to be having their Gay Pride Parade during the hour that we were there - incredible timing huh?  LOL  So that's pretty much what we did - and to tell you the absolute truth... It was the first pride parade that I've really been to.  I always seem to be out of town when they are in NYC or the Tampa/St Petersburg.  Didn't get to see too much but it was cool to see everyone all gathered together like that - men, women, kids, gay, straight, transgendered, drag queens, dogs, you name it.  The Addams got their pride on in the rain that day too!


The show was fun - even though I still cant hear anything... and playing Morgantown is also nice since the theatre is at the college - and they always offer up some snacks and soda to the actors and crew.  Nothing too spectacular except that I'm super excited to have the day off...with that said - up at 4AM for my day off bus load tomorrow...ho hum...

6/14/13-6/15/13: Detroit, MI

Ah, Detroit...What can I say that hasn't been said about you already.

I was very surprised to be back in Detroit so soon.  I closed HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS last year for 2 weeks at the Detroit Opera House.  Now I'm back for me 5th Detroit show (4th time at the fabulous Fox Theatre).  And its still a place that I'd rather not spend alot of time in.  Funny how I've performed more times in Detroit than any other city in the country (professionally at least).

Last time I was here I learned the hard way about the city.  I was walking around (middle of the day mind you) by myself.  Just sort of exploring the city - and stopped in at a Thai place for lunch.  A homeless man saw me go into the restaurant and noticed that I was sitting at a table by a window that faced the street.  He perched outside of the building and stared at me ominously - when my food came out - he started banging (not tapping) on the window and demanding that I bring him the food and 'anything else I got'.  I tried to ignore him until a cop came and escorted him away.  I hightailed it outta there and back to my hotel...2 blocks away.  This time, I was approached in my hotel's breakfast area by a woman begging for food and money before the hotel manager escorted her out. Yeah, its that kind of town.


But there are some nice things, like Greektown - the Greek restaurant area and home of the Greektown Casino.  I frequented there a lot in my 2 week stint here last time.  This time Mark and I grabbed a little bite at Santorini - a really really good lamb sandwich.   The other really nice thing about Detroit is, of course, the Fox Theatre.  It is probably the most beautiful and most famous of all the places I've ever played.  We were offered a tour of the theatre and even though I've taken it before, I hopped on that train again.  It was one of 5 big movie house built by the Fox family (from 20th Century Fox) - only 3 remain. The other two are in Atlanta (which I've also played) and St. Louis - which is the sister to the Detroit theatre.  They are identical in all ways except for the carpeting in the lobby of the St. Louis (apparently Mrs. Fox didn't like how the terrazzo flooring in the Detroit turned out).  The entire auditorium was built to look as if you were in a huge tent with the sunshine pouring in from the hole in the top.  The style of the artwork within is a mix of Egyptian and different Asian cultures - and uses alot of figures of elephants.  If you ever get a chance to see something there - or even if you're just in town - take a quick tour... Its incredibly gorgeous and almost impossible to think of going to see a movie there.  Definitely an experience.

The shows we did there were fun - and it was fun to add our names to the all of the other famous ones on the walls (Dean Martin, Jerry Louis, Red Skeleton, Rosemary Clooney - just to name a few).  But what I remember most about this trip is how almost impossible it was to do the shows with this cold.  It has crept almost entirely into my head and my ears.  My left ear has only about 20% hearing in it - making hearing the music AND myself almost impossible.  Somehow I got through them though - and without the audience knowing (I hope).  We are also all pretty much worn out.  Our last show here was #12 in a row without a break - and we still have tomorrow...number lucky 13.  Then our 'day off' is a 14 hour drive to the overnight stop we're taking on our way to our next stop.  Tired Tired Tired - and hoping to heal soon....

Friday, June 14, 2013

6/12/13-6/13/13: Akron, OH

I know we were just there - but to tell you the truth, I don't remember much about Akron, OH.


And that's not the city's fault or the venues...You see my cold continues and has gotten worse - so even though I'm still performing every day, I'm spending my non performing time lying in bed and blowing my nose...

I do remember that this is the 3rd time we've been to Akron on this tour - twice we stopped for lunch here at the Akron mall (once on my birthday when our bus broke down).   But this time we were more downtown.  It seems like its a very nice city - lots of public art everywhere.  And I can tell you that the venue is nice.  I've actually seen a show here before.  A few years ago we were in Cleveland with Curious George and heard that Avenue Q was playing Akron.  Some of the cast had friends in the show and got a bunch of us comp tickets, so we drove over for the evening.  

This time a group of our cast went over to Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - a venture headed up by Jesse, our Gomez (seen here in his bus 'office' setting up the tour).  That's one that I wish I'd been able to do - oh well next time - maybe we'll be in Cleveland next season...

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

6/10/13-6/11/13: Easton, PA

When it rains - it pours folks.

The Addams Plague is upon us.  Blair, our Alice, has been out of the show almost a week and half now with laryngitis (well 3 days at a wedding and the rest with no voice) and last night Jen, our Wednesday, couldn't get through sound check without her voice giving out.

On top of that - Easton is one of those special venues that we don't quite fit into...Sooooo, we ended up with a 2 understudy (3 female ancestor) no curtain, scrim or balcony show which included some last minute re-blocking for the finale during the breaks where people weren't on in Act Two.  Never a dull moment...  Luckily Jen was feeling well enough to come back for our 2nd show - and just in time too.  I'm starting to feel a little ooky myself - super congested and a sore throat.  Ah tourlife...

But - what I thought was gonna be a 'stay in hotel' city turned out to be pretty cool.  It seems that Easton is the home of C. F. Martin and Co Guitars - and they offer free tours of the manufacturing facility.  So a group of cast and band members took the hotel shuttle over to take the tour.  It was incredibly interesting.  All the guitars made in the factory are already pre-sold and made to order.  Unless someone uber famous decides to drop in and have one custom built, which apparently happens from time to time.  Each of the guitars are basically made by hand - only assisted by machinery and robotics in a few steps.  Each one also passes through about 300 pair of hands before its finished!  They do lots of custom work like inlaying mother of pearl or precious metals into the base or the neck - which takes hours of time to cut out the designs by hand - cut out the indentations for the designs to sit in the wood of the guitar and then sand them down to make it seamless.  Everyone there seems very passionate about the work they do - and even made us some Addams Family customized souvenirs from the wood they cut out of the sound holes of the guitar.  If I ever pick up guitar - I know where I'm gonna go to buy one...



Monday, June 10, 2013

6/5/13-6/9/13: Worcester, MA

What a great way to end the week!

Before we got to Worcester for our weekend of shows....we spent a Golden Day in New Orleans!!!

Now NOLA is one of my all-time favorite cities.  I've been there twice with tours before: Once we drove in for the day when we were playing Baton Rouge and Once we played there for a weekend but had the whole week off there beforehand.

We actually drove straight there directly after our last show in Jackson - and got to the hotel around 2AM.  In a normal city, you'd go straight to bed but NOLA is still kicking at 2AM on a Wednesday night so a bunch of us went out for a nightcap at Cafe Lafitte In Exile.  Which, as it turns out, is the oldest continually running gay bar in the country.  They even have a letter posted on their wall that the US Army sent them back in the 60s notifying them that they were 'under watch' because it was rumored that soldiers were frequenting the bar and they were known for hosting 'undesirables'. Very interesting...  After our drink and a little stroll down Bourbon St (just to see what was left of the night) and a little 3AM hamburger...it was off to bed.

Next morning, I walked through the French Quarter, where we were staying.  I love the architecture there - there's no where in the country that looks like the French Quarter in New Orleans.  Such a sense of history and mystery and danger - very gothically beautiful.  I wound up at the Cafe du Monde in Jackson Square for some of their signature beignets and chicory coffee.

Then I wandered down through the French Market for a bit.  Round noon or so, I met up with my roommate Mark, and we took a streetcar down to some of the cemeteries in the Warehouse District.  NOLA cemeteries are outstanding places for some great gothic photography.  I felt like something right out of an Anne Rice novel.  The graves are so interesting as well - very ornate.  But more interesting is how they work.  The reason whole family lines are able to be buried in the same plot is that they will lay the body out unpreserved on a slab in the building and after a year, when there are just bones left, they come in and push the bones off into a pit dug inside the grave.  So different...

Just outside the cemetery, we stopped in a little coffee shoppe/herbal store/hoodoo store.  You know, they sold lattes, capsules of fire ants, bat blood ink, and lotions and things.  Only in New Orleans.  Then it was time for lunch.  Our friend, and superstudy Lexie, lived in NOLA for a while and suggested we hit up her old employer, the Palace Cafe on Canal Street.  O. M. G. Lets just say Crabmeat Cheesecake and Andouille Encrusted Trout....to die for...

Next stop was the Voodoo Museum in the Quarter.  While Voodoo still remains a mystery to me - it was interesting to stroll through some of the altars and dolls and read up on Marie Leveau - the original Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.  If you're in town I definitely recommend stopping in - I mean there's a woman with a live snake draped around her in the lobby that chats with you...whats more New Orleans than that...

All in all - a great day off!


Then we flew into Worcester - which is about 40 minutes outside of Boston.  It was our last big sit-down (5 shows) until we get to Portland in 2 weeks.  It also happened to be home base for Jen Fogarty, our Wednesday.  So the shows there were awesome - its always great to play someone's home town.  They showed us much love!  In a string of well timed luck, we ended up with some free tickets to give away for our last show - and my good friend, from Curious George, Hillary was able to come and see the show!  She lives up in CT and I get to see her periodically when I'm traveling through the area or when we're both in NYC auditioning.  Last year we played her home town with Grinch and she and her family graciously had me over for Thanksgiving Dinner.  It was great to see her and I was so happy she was able to come and see me fly :).

 And to top it all off, they Tony's were going on...and performing in them was one of our Pugsleys!  He was a part of A CHRISTMAS STORY last year, which was nominated for Best Musical.  So he's been away all week rehearsing and then appearing on the show.  Was kinda cool to watch him in the showcase they did for the show - and even though they didn't win (go Pippin and Kinky Boots!) I'm sure it was a thrilling once in a lifetime experience for him.

I love watching the Tonys.  It reminds me of what a close knit community we are in the arts world - and even though I've never been on Broadway myself (yet, thank you very much) - It reminds me that anything is possible in this field.  A great way to end the week, indeed...

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

6/3/13-6/4/13: Jackson, MS

I don't know what I was expecting to find in Jackson, MS - But  I'm sure it wasn't was actually there.

The town - at least the downtown area that we were in was...different.  Not much of anything around - and what was around was so dated I felt that I was going back in time.  And not in a good way.  I looked up good places to eat on Urbanspoon (a godsend on tour or just traveling in general) - and found a couple places within walking distance so Aaron, a fellow castmate, and I started walking.  We found ourselves on 6-7 blocks where every single building was not only abandoned but burnt out, collapsing in on itself, full of trash - basically gutted.  EVERY SINGLE BUILDING - ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET - FOR 7 BLOCKS... Needless to say - we didn't eat there....  We did pass a woman on our way out of the area who told us that this section of town had been like that for a good 7 years or so and couldn't remember what had happened to it.

When we did find a place to go - it was dusty, slow, and served me canned peaches topped with MIRACLE WHIP and a cherry....I almost vomited...And this place got 5 stars and was supposed to be one of the crowning jewels of Jackson...oy

I did end up meeting a friend of our guitar player - a young woman who is looking to be an actress and contemplating moving to NYC.  We had  a great chat about how it actually works in the business and what New York is like for an actor - and ended up at a really good Soul Food place (outside of Jackson).  So that was fun - I love talking business with people just starting out and she was very sweet.

Anyway - After our final show we head out to New Orleans for a golden day - we're driving there right after the show so we can have a full day there tomorrow.  And then its off to Worcester (Boston area) for the weekend!

Monday, June 3, 2013

6/2/13: Oxford, MS

Only two more One Nighters to go after this!  WhooHoo!

As one nighters go, Oxford wasn't bad.  It was a looooooong travel day to get there, and when we did we found out that there really wasn't anywhere to go to get food for the evening.  We were playing the auditorium at Ole Miss - which isn't currently in session...  But our company manager found a 'to die for' pizza joint to cater for us that night at the theatre.  We're talking Crawfish pizza, Chicken Margarita pizza, mouth watering pasta...sooo good.  Though - it made for a weighed down and slightly gassy (lol) show.  But a good show.

I was excited to be at Ole Miss - mostly because I really like the movie THE BLIND SIDE.  In the back of my brain I was hoping the family from the film might come to the show...if they did, no one told us (lol).  But it was a good show all the same.

The coolest thing about the stop for me, was actually the gym at the Inn we stayed at.  As hotel gyms go...it was HUGE!  And all the equipment was brand new - and there was so much to choose from.  It made working out after we arrived and before we left the next morning a real treat.  Especially since the gym at our last hotel consisted of 2 broken treadmills...


Sunday, June 2, 2013

5/31/13-6/1/31: Knoxville, TN

OMG - We are officially in the last month of this leg of the tour - which means.....ASIA is just around the corner!  I'm so incredibly excited that I almost can't stand it.

In addition to our scheduled Asia stops - I have 10 days off on the continent to just vacation.  So I'm going to spend my time in Bangkok, Thailand.  I have so much planned - a cooking class, a Buddhist meditation workshop, dinner cruise, an Elephant ride through the jungle, a few day trips... It is going to be life changing and just out of this world.

But I'm about a month ahead of myself....

These past 2 days we spent in Knoxville, TN at the Historic Tennessee Theatre.  The venue is to die for gorgeous and seated right in the middle of downtown.  I've been to Knoxville previously (with Curious George) - so I didn't do alot of sight seeing this time around.  I've been on a money saving kick since my trip to the ER ($4K and counting...never doing that again).  But I had a blast last time.  There's a great Worlds Fair park with a huge fountain that we all played in (like happy 5 year olds) for about an hour - and tons of shops and restaurants (including a great Gelato shoppe and a French Crepe Store).  All very cute.

This stop we had Lexie, one of our superstudies, go on - but PLANNED this time (lol) - as our normal Alice was at a wedding.  We call her the Value Sized Alice - since she's so much taller than our usual one (and towers over Mark, who plays her husband).  She's also our Morticia superstudy - and has been on for both characters previously - so it was no biggie working her into the show.  She did splendidly, of course - and will also go on in our next city.  Blair, our regular Alice, will be rejoining us on Monday in Jackson, MS.  So aside from that - its business as usual...  The shows all went very well - the crowds were very receptive to the show - and all of the locals were experienced and fun to work with.  They even threw an opening night Wine and Cheese meet and greet to mingle with the audience - which is always fun.  Now off to one of our last One Nighters - Oxford, MS!