From Houghton, we drove to Lansing, MI home of Michigan State University which would be our host for three, yes three, days of shows! Liz and I were looking forward to Lansing because we would be staying with her sister, who is a senior at MSU, while the rest of the cast would be staying at the hotel. The first evening we got there, Rebecca picked us up and we went back to her house to drop off our stuff. She has a really cute house that was literally five minutes or less from the hotel so it was an easy commute. After settling in, we decided on dinner at P.F. Chang's, a great chain that has lots of yummy choices. Liz and Rebecca's parents told us to put it on their card which was incredibly nice of them. We had a wonderful dinner and then headed home to watch Lost.
The next morning, Rebecca drove us back to the hotel to meet the cast to drive to the theatre. Rebecca was nice enough to shuttle us around while we were there so we didn't have to rent a car. That in combination with not having to pay for a hotel made it a money saving 4 days. The theatre we were playing at was The Wharton Center on the MSU campus. The national tour of The Lion King was playing next door which was pretty cool. We got to hear The Circle of Life over the monitors! The theatre we were in was the smaller theatre of the two and we shared a backstage area with the bigger theatre. Our theatre was a lot like Circle in the Square. It was a thrust stage which forced us to really be on guard the whole time because they were able to see us from the sides too. It was kind of fun to have to be thinking about things in a new way since we've done the show so many times. We also had some star audience members the first day...the kids who are in the Lion King came to see the show. Also, between shows, one of the adult male ensemble members came over to say hello and ask us to sign a playbill for his kids who were Max and Ruby fans. He was so nice and really made us feel special. It's nice to be acknowledged as a professional by someone who is doing so well in their own career.
That night, back at Rebecca's, we made a feast. Homemade egg drop soup and chicken stir-fry. YUM! Also, Rebecca took us by the MSU Dairy Store. MSU is an agriculturally founded university (sort of like NC State) and they have a store where they sell ice cream made from the milk of the MSU dairy cows. I had a cup with one scoop of Buck Eye (peanut butter ice cream with buck eye candies in it) and one scoop of Banana. It was soooo good.
The second day we had two more shows at the theatre, and the second show of the day was our 100th show on the road. As Josh said, "Wow, it only feels like the 99th." HA! Shelley got us a chocolate cake, some bottled water, and some bunny stickers. She also got a muffin for Colleen who was still in her 30 days of no alcohol or chocolate kick. (She's since finished the 30 days and from what I hear had two margarita's the other night!)
The 100th Performance Celebration.
Later that day, Brian and Liz and I wandered around a shopping center to kill some time. Brian found a piano just his size.The third day went off without a hitch and we got a wonderful goodbye from the cast of The Lion King. Their cast and crew was having a cookout between their shows as we were loading out so when we were pulling out they were all outside. They all were waving and yelling goodbye, so we gave them a few honks of the horn and some waves as we pulled out. I love theatre people.
From Lansing, we headed to Hartford, WI. On the way to Hartford, I received an email from one of my Mom's best friends, Shirley who lives in WI. I had no idea she lived so close to where we were headed but she does so we made a plan to see each other the next day.
That night, Josh went to a pizza place that was near our hotel and had one heck of an experience. Please see Brian's blog for the scoop including pictures. http://looking4max.blogspot.com/2009/04/take-n-bake-and-i-helped-not-because-i.html
The next day, between the shows, Shirley met me at the theatre with her 4 year old granddaughter, Taylor. The three of us went to lunch and then we headed back to the theatre. I took Taylor on a brief behind the scenes tour of Max and Ruby. The other cast members came over to say hi and I got to show her my costume change area including my grandma and lobster costumes. I also showed her the tarantula head. After the tour, Shirley and Taylor headed to the audience and I headed backstage to get ready. The show went well and I think they had a great time. It was so good to see Shirley. I haven't seen her since I was in the 5th grade. Taylor was really cute and seemed to enjoy the show. She claims Grandma was her favorite!
After Hartford, we drove straight to Oshkosh, WI, home of Oshkosh B'Gosh. They also have some great outlets here, though we've been too tired to take advantage. Last night we ended up going to bed early, but only after Liz and I had dinner at the local diner and enjoyed milkshakes for dessert.
The next day, we did the show without building the house since we didn't have the space. We also had to load in while it was raining/slightly snowing which is never fun. We were originally scheduled to perform at The Grand Opera House. However, the ceiling at the Opera House was undergoing repairs so all performances had to take place in alternate locations. The Opera House staff were very nice and apologetic that we were performing on the local high school stage instead of the Grand Opera House where we were originally supposed to perform.
That night, we went back to the diner again, except this time everyone except Josh ate together. Brian got congratulations from an old fellow about having 5 beautiful women dining with him. He wanted to know Brian's secret. Brian told him we were Mormon. JUST KIDDING! Brian actually said it was a secret he couldn't share. After dinner, Brian joined us in our room to watch American Idol. He also had some fun channeling Little Edie from "Grey Gardens"...
Last night, tonight and tomorrow night we are in Matteson, IL which is just outside of Chicago. From there we head to Madison, WI. As Josh says, if you have bad diction it sounds like the same town...Matteson, Madison, Matteson, Madison.
Closing in on the end...
No comments:
Post a Comment