You Only Holler Uncle When Your Uncle Is The CEO!

Okay so I am being a really big nerd. The title of this post is a lyric from The Wedding Singer. I know that the joke is not as funny when you have to explain it, but I could not resist.

Spoiler warning: Later in this post, I am going to reveal the part of the show that I have been keeping secret up until now. I am sure that many of you have guessed what it is. I was mostly trying to keep it a surprise for Mom anyway.

Now that I have all of the preamble out of the way, I can get on with my visit from Uncle Glenn. On Saturday, Glenn drove over from Wellington to see the show with a group of 9 people. He brought Gwen, his good friend, masseuse, and caretaker of Birdie Num Nums, over with him as well as his lawyer friend Tom and his wife. We also met up with Kent, one of his employees, Kent's wife and their three girls. I know Gwen pretty well from my visits to his house over the years. I think that Tom and his wife are the people who rescued Heather and I when the infamous white Cadillac died on our way to the beach in West Palm Beach. I am not sure that I had ever met Kent before. He has worked with Glenn for many years, and I have certainly heard about him. In fact he worked with Joel back in the days of the house in Camilla. I heard a few stories about Joel singing karaoke and a sequined shirt, and I feel like there are more stories where those came from!

I met the whole group for dinner at a restaurant called the University Grill. The restaurant was right across the road from the theatre. Unfortunately I had to hurry along my meal because we had a new understudy on that night and I had an early call for rehearsal. It was a good time. I cannot speak for anyone else since I left before their meals came out, but my pistachio and Parmesan crusted trout was good. The crab bisque was even better.

And now for the big reveal. I end up playing the finale through the exit music on stage. The three horn players leave the pit before the finale and play from the wedding band platform on stage. This is normally not a problem, but in Raleigh and now Fort Myers, there is no connection between the pit and backstage. So we have to exit through the house to get backstage. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed when Glenn told me that he had gotten two groups of tickets that were all the way house right and house left on the aisle in the 5th row. That meant I would end up walking right past one of the groups. So much for the big surprise! Or so I thought! I was able to walk right past Glenn without him noticing. I guess that he was transfixed by Fake Tina Turner kicking Glen Guilia in the head! (You really need to see the show for that to make sense. Trust me!)

After the show we ended up trying to go out to a restaurant/bar that was listed in the program. Well it ended up being more of a bar/restaurant so we went to TGI Fridays instead. The service was terrible, but boy those deep fried green beans are tasty!

Glenn took me back to my hotel then. Having passed a Bob Evans on the way into town, he decreed that we would be going to breakfast there. It turned out to be fine. Our hotels ended up being only a couple of miles apart from each other. So to make up for the inevitable sausage gravy and biscuits I got up early and walked to his hotel in the morning. It helps to get the metabolism working in one's favor before eating sausage gravy!

He and Gwen then took me to the theatre, and left to drive back to Wellington. It was a short trip, but fun nevertheless. Everyone seemed to enjoy the show. And I was just glad to finally be performing in a real show down in Southern Florida. Having a show in which I am playing and that he can take people to see is a small way that I can repay him for all that he has done for me over the years! Hopefully I will be back with another show in West Palm or Fort Lauderdale soon.