Hey Old Friends, What Do You Say Old Friends

-As much as I value my education from Indiana University, the most important thing that I gained from college is some great friends. Most of them moved to New York after school, so I always have two things on my agenda when I visit the city: seeing shows and visiting my friends. It is interesting how over the years the balance of importance has shifted from seeing shows to making sure that I can hang out with my friends. There was a time when I would not have missed a single opportunity to see a show. Thankfully they have been supportive of my obsessive tendencies, and worked around my show seeing schedule. Well now, I have decided that I do not have to see every show and do my best to make sure that I can see everybody.

-I stayed with Eric Svejcar in Brooklyn again. After my train arrived from Hartford, I took my bags out to his apartment. Suffice it to say that carrying two 50 pound bags on the NY Subway is not fun! Eric does have a great apartment though (and a very comfortable couch). Eric was playing Mary Poppins auditions this week so he was busy during the day. We did get to have Thai food on Wednesday between shows. It is always fun to hear about all of Eric's various projects. Caligula is an ongoing saga, but it sounds like they are actually coming close to making it a reality. He is subbing the first keyboard book for The Little Mermaid. I am waiting for a time when he is playing keyboard to actually see the show. It sounds like I might be seeing Eric here in Atlantic City because he will be playing a gig with the original Jersey Boys here at the Trump.

-Brian had Monday off so I got to spend most of the day with him. I met Brian on his way to the police station downtown. (It is actually not such a scandalous story. He lost his wallet.) Brian took me to Century 21. I had never heard of Century 21 (well of course I know the reality company), but apparently it is a New York institution for high end bargain shopping. I will have to go back when I have the patience (and money) to fight the bargain hunting Europeans. On a side note, I was glad to be in that area of town for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we got off the subway right by the Brooklyn Bridge. Of all the times that I have been to New York, I have never walked across the bridge. I will put that on the list of things to do. Also we walked past the World Trade Center site. The site itself is still a big hole in the ground, but the surrounding area has really rebuilt itself.

-We continued our shopping back in Midtown on 5th Ave. I had hoped to find some really great 80s accessories at H&M. I did find some great socks, but sadly only I will know that I have great 80s socks. The Disney Store did not have anything worth adding to my already bulging bags. Abercrombie had a line out the door to go inside so we just walked past really slowly and gawked at the models in the door. We ended our shopping spree (well mostly looking) at Club Monaco where I found the cute polo (on clearance!) that I am wearing in the picture above. To cool down from the disgusting heat and humidity, Brian introduced me to the Pinkberry yogurt. Then he hopped on the subway and I went to my show.

-On Tuesday, I got to spend time with Melissa, Eric (Jose that is), and Emma. Sadly Emma was not too happy to be spending time with me, but that's okay. I met them on the upper west side for dinner. As some of you know it is a little awkward for me to spend time with Melissa's husband Eric because in the eyes of the Marriott Marquis I am technically Melissa first wife. To explain, in college Melissa, Eric Jose, Eric Svejcar, and I took a trip to New York. We stayed at the Marquis thanks to Uncle Glenn's benevolence (and rewards points!) When I went to check in, the Marriott employee asked me what my wife's name was. So naturally I said Melissa. Now I haven't seen it, but according to Eric (Svejcar) there is an episode of Who's The Boss where a similar situation actually creates a common law marriage. So we try not to rub it in Eric's (Jose) face, but technically in the eyes of the Marriott Marquis, Melissa and I were married for a week in the late 90s.

-Anyway, after dinner we went on a cupcake pilgrimage. For the last couple of years the latest rage in New York has been cupcakes. Well actually I think that they are not nearly as fashionable now, but over the years Eric especially has become quite a cupcake connoisseur. So we walked to Crumbs Bake Shop and Magnolia Bakery to sample some of the city's best cupcakes. I have to say that I preferred my raspberry swirl cupcake from Crumbs over the Magnolia Bakery's more traditional version.

-We ate our cupcakes in Central Park and then starting walking over to the East Side. One of the things that we considered doing was to hear the NY Philharmonic concert in the park that night. As we were walking we heard music so we walked to the source of it. It turned out to be not the Phil, but it was a pretty decent orchestra nonetheless. That to me is one of the most exciting things about New York. There was not only one orchestra playing a concert in the park there were two!

-I also got to eat lunch with Leigh Angel who is not technically a friend from college, but one of the people I try to see every time I am in New York. Leigh is my roommate Scott's former New York roommate. Leigh also came out to be in the RBT's production of The Sound of Music back in 1998. Leigh is also most groovy.

-A very successful trip for seeing my friends, and now for the shows!

On Broadway

-I have to say that this season on Broadway was not particularly thrilling to me. I am sure that once I see In The Heights I will enjoy it. But nothing that I have seen of it so far has been particularly interesting to me. Ditto Passing Strange. Cry Baby closed the day before I got there. I hate South Pacific, and whereas I am sure that the revival is great I would really rather not put myself through that. I love Patti LuPone, but I just could not bring myself to see Gypsy. I was interested in seeing August: Osage County, but did not want to pay full price. So I had to really had to think through what I wanted to see.

-Since very few shows play on Monday night, I decided to go back and see Spring Awakening again. I am very glad that I did. Typically with rock shows, I listen to the CD and it does not interest me. Then I see the show and love it. This was the case with Spring Awakening. I loved the show last year, but did not get as much out of it had I listened to the CD more before seeing it. The cast was mostly new, but they were all really good. I did have a positive usher experience at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. I had gotten a TKTS to see the show, and the seat was in the first row of the mezzanine. When I sat down in my seat, I realized that my legs were too long to fit. I often have this problem in New York theatres, and I really did not want to suffer through the show with compressed knee caps. So I talked to the ushers then the house manager who moved me to the house right box. I had a box all to myself for the show!

-My next opportunity to see a show was Wednesday afternoon. As I explained, I was a bit torn as to what I would see. So I decided to let the selection at TKTS guide me. Surprisingly (well to me at least), August: Osage County was available at TKTS. I figured that it would not be discounted since it just won the Best Play Tony, but I guess that it has been playing for a few months. I jumped into the line, and it was still available when I got the window. The play was really good, and lived up to the hype for me. Plus the 3 hour 20 minute running time went by really quickly.

-The one show that I knew I had to see was Xanadu! It got such great reviews, and everyone seems to love it. I booked a ticket ahead of time so that I could get one of the onstage seats. I had such a great time. Xanadu tries to be nothing other than a really fun evening at the theatre. It is pretty great to be onstage amongst such performers as Cheyenne Jackson, Mary Testa, and Jackie Hoffman. I even got a glow stick to use at the end of the show.

-Sadly my time in New York has come to an end. I drove down with Jenny today, and have moved into my new home away from home. (Well for 9 weeks that is.)

CLAUS!

Here is another picture from Wednesday night's party, but this one needs some explaining. This is a picture of me and Cimma. Cimma is demonstrating the proper execution of what has become my nickname. Perhaps some might think that one's own last name is not really a nickname, but not so in this instance. It is very much about the inflection, pronunciation, and hand gesture. It is pronounced in a very throaty manner, with an emphasis on the "ow" sound in Claus. Plus one fist must be raised and waved in a threatening manner.

The reason why I had Cimma do this in the picture is because of a very amusing incident in Pittsburgh. I was walking to the theatre, and Cimma was across the road waiting to cross. She saw me and called out "CLAUS" and did the accompanying gesture, but I did not hear her or know that she was there.

Needless to say that she felt quite foolish, but it makes for a very funny mental image.

Sadly Cimma is one of the cast members who chose not to go on to Atlantic City. She was the first person to introduce themselves to me in Charlotte, and is just one of the many cool people leaving.

Today is our last day of school before we begin the summer session. It is very surreal to think that tonight will be the last time that we play Someday, Right In Front of Your Eyes, and a few other songs. As of last night I have played them 100 times. It should be an interesting show tonight!

NERDS!

Party in Hartford

We had a party here in Hartford Tuesday night to celebrate the end of the regular run of the tour. It was a chance to say goodbye to those who are not continuing on to Atlantic City, and hello to the newbies. I seized upon the opportunity to take a few photos:

Dan (Guitar II) and Ryan

Joel (Company Manager), Laci (Wardrobe), Dylan (Trumpet)

Ryan and Joey (Keyboard II)

Ryan and Tommy (Bad Hair Guy and my roomie!)

Sarah (Holly) and Ryan

Ryan, James (Fake Reagan), John (Props)

Laci, Ryan, and Tami Lee (Wigs)

Greg (Drums), JJ (George), Ryan

Ryan and Nate (Conductor)

Ryan and George (Chorus)

Laci and Ryan

Dylan, Max (Reed II), and Merritt (Robbie Hart)

Jenny (Assistant Electrician) and Ryan

Andrea (Linda) and Ryan

Merrit, Kim (Fake Tina Turner), Nick (Sound Op), Jason (Fake Mr. T), Alex (Bass), and Ryan

Back to it in Hartford

All in all I had a pretty good two weeks off. I got to play a few performances of The Music Man, and then leave. I saw some of Speed Racer, Horton Hears A Who, and Prince Caspian (twice). I got to have dinner with Tanya and Dan; Sherry, Vicki, Jon, and Scott; and lunch with John Wiseman. I was actually around for a holiday, Father's Day. And I paid a quick visit to Grandma, Grandpa, and Linda.

But now I am in back on the tour in Hartford. Hopefully I remember how to play the show!

Dinner with Tonya Bobble

Okay Tanya Bobell. I could not resist. Notice that we had air conditioning with our Korean food and sushi!

It is if you want to go around in your drawers all day!

So much for my restful two weeks off. Last week Jan and John had a garage sale. So I got back and spent a couple of days searching for items to put into the sale. Sadly I did not have to expend too much energy looking for things as I have a ton of junk. I could probably have another garage sale this week and still have too much clutter.

Then on Saturday I called Jeremy about a completely unrelated matter, and before I knew it I was playing for The Music Man at the RBT this week. On the one hand I am glad for the work (and the pay check!), but unfortunately this was my week to be social and have dinner with people. I am hoping to squeeze in as much social time as possible, but sadly I will have to wait until September to meet up with some people. Sorry! (And I was so looking forward to having a sakitini at Sushi Samba Rio!)

The end of a chapter

Okay so I have been keeping something under my hat now for a while. (Well on the blog at least) But I did not want to make an official announcement in print before I had all of my ducks in a row. Now that I have gotten word from the horse's mouth and broken the bad news, I can spill the beans (sometimes it is fun to see just how many cliches one can pack into a paragraph, especially at 1am!)

I accepted the afore mentioned Atlantic City extension of The Wedding Singer which will take me through the end of August. Even more exciting though is the fact that I have been officially asked to be in the orchestra for NETwork's tour of The Wizard of Oz. I will start rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz in the beginning of October and the tour will run through June of 2009. (Just in case you are curious the picture above was taken in Houston. So mark April 7-19 on your calendar if you have plans to be in Houston!)

What about my life here in Indiana you might ask? Well that is what I have been sensitive to in terms of announcing the above news here on my blog. After just a short time since joining The Wedding Singer, it was obvious to me that touring suits me. In fact I very much enjoy it. If you remember back in Saint Louis I had a moment when I was walking through the park by the art museum when I suddenly realized that I was happy. Well I am still happy. Is everything about touring ideal? No, but I can honestly say that I would rather not be doing anything else with my life right now that touring with a musical. I have rarely been so content.

So what about Amish Acres and the Woodwind and Brasswind? I broke the news to Jeremy at the Round Barn some time ago. I am still helping out with finding musicians since that was my racket for the last ten years. In some ways though it is gratifying that someone else can experience the headache that is contracting musicians to play at a theatre in the middle of Amish country in Indiana. I have no regrets in regards to my time at the Round Barn. As of the end of last year, I logged 50 productions and 10 seasons. It is an accomplishment that I am proud of, and if my schedule allows it in the future I would be happy to come back and play at the RBT. (Actually I am available for the first two weeks of Kiss Me Kate!?!?!)

Now on to the Woodwind and Brasswind. Again I have no regrets about the last seven years that I worked there. I started as a playtester for flutes and saxophones, and ended up selling high end double reeds and working as a repair technician. I gained many valuable skills working there and am grateful for the many opportunities that were given to me (the trips to Germany, Las Vegas, San Diego, etc.). Sadly I ended up having mixed feelings about returning to the Woodwind because of how a coworker treated me on my last day before I joined the tour. I honestly did not know how I was going to be able to just pick up the pieces and pretend like nothing ever happened after my time with The Wedding Singer ended. Now with the extension and The Wizard of Oz, the choice was much easier for me. As soon as I had an official e-mail about The Wizard of Oz, I called up Cindy at the Woodwind to let her know that I would not be returning after my gig leave was up. Today I drove up to the Woodwind to gather my personal items and say goodbye. I am happy to say that everyone was very nice and supportive. I tried my best to let everyone know that I have no hard feelings (except in one instance) and that I did not want to leave on bad terms. It seems like everyone was understanding and that there were no bad feelings about my departure.

I am now just trying to get my life organized, and waiting out the two week layoff from the tour. I foresee quite a few dinners and lunches with people to catch up. Plus there are about a million books that I have started and not finished. I actually have time to read. It staggers the mind!

Nancy and Deb

Most readers of my blog know my roommate Scott. He truly is the ideal roommate. I have very much enjoyed my 8 years of rooming with him here in Nappanee. One of the benefits of having Scott as a roommate is his sister Nancy and her partner Deb. Nancy and Deb live in Long Beach. Nancy works for the M&M Mars Corporation, and Deb is a nurse. Nancy and Deb are also the coolest sister and sister's partner of a roommate that one could possible wish for.

Nancy's job requires her to travel quite a bit including many trips out to New Jersey. So Nancy makes a few visits to Nappanee a year. It is always so much fun when she and Deb visit. Up until last week I have not been able to return the favor. Thankfully that changed.

Since Escondido is less than 90 minutes from Long Beach, they made the trip down to see The Wedding Singer on Saturday. I am thankful that they did because I think their presence added exponentially to the audience total that night! It seems like they really enjoyed the show. Nancy said that they laughed throughout the show, and had several moments of "Oh no they didn't".

They did drive back after the show. Since our hotel for Sunday evening was booked by LAX to facilitate the following travel day, I had the evening free and could stop by Long Beach to visit and have dinner. I have heard on many occasions from Scott about how nice their house is, and how much fun Long Beach is (especially during Pride!). Well their house is very nice, and they have a very cute little puppy.

After chatting and having a drink we went out for sushi. We ended up with so much food (which is often a problem when ordering at a sushi restaurant), but it was all so good that there was very little left. I think that Deb was glad for my visit if for no other reason than Scott would not be caught dead at a sushi restaurant! The tuna sashimi that she chose was so yummy!

I left that evening thinking, "Okay so when I come back to do justice to Disneyland, I will have to make a proper visit with Nancy and Deb." If nothing else I need to see all of the bars and clubs that I have been hearing about from Scott over the years!

Corner of the Sky

Cats fit on the window sill, children fit in the snow and all of that rot!

Disneyland

As with the Desert Botanical Gardens in Tempe, Disneyland is one of the places that I wanted to visit based on the schedule. After all last week's schedule was Tuesday and Wednesday in San Luis Obispo and Saturday and Sunday in Escondido with Thursday being a golden day and Friday being a travel day. Considering the fact that Anaheim is half way between San Luis Obispo and Escondido, I mean come on. I am only human (and a Disney freak). Of course I missed San Luis Obispo because of Stephen's funeral, but as it turned out I flew into LAX on Friday early in the afternoon. So I put Disneyland back on the schedule.

Now when I say that I arrived at LAX in the early afternoon that is a bit misleading. We did arrive before 3pm, but after waiting for my bags and getting my rental car it was after 4pm when I got on the road. One should also note that it was Friday at 4pm in Los Angeles when I then go on to say that I finally arrived at Disneyland at 5:30pm. Needless to say that the traffic was not ideal. But I adopted a sunny disposition as I was heading to the happiest place on Earth after all.

I have been to Disneyland one other time. A couple of years ago, I attended the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego. I seized upon the relatively close proximity of San Diego to Anaheim and ended up with a four hour visit to Disneyland with Brendan our show coordinator. If I remember correctly we were able to ride on four rides that night, and we opted to only visit the Disneyland Park and not the California Adventure Park.

Well for last week's visit, I had two more hours than my previous visit so I opted for the one day park hopper pass. I should stop now to say that those who have never been to Disney World with me might not know the importance that I place upon strategizing my visit to allow for the most efficient use of my limited Disney time. Unfortunately I do not have the knowledge or experience to effectively strategize at Disneyland, but I gave it my best shot.

My goal was to experience the rides and shows that are not available in Florida, so I started at the California Adventure. As it turns out, one of the things that I most wanted to see was the Aladdin stage show, and I arrived at the park 5 minutes before the show started. So I hoofed it back to the theatre and made it just in time. The show was cute, but it could have been less like a theme park show for my taste. It was very broadly directed and choreographed, and there was too much topical humor from the genie. But there were some pretty cool effects such as the flying carpet, and the parade of Prince Ali. Sadly they excised the character of Abu. He was my favorite from the movie!

I then moved on to the Muppets 3D movie. I know that there is the same attraction in Florida, but I simply could not pass it up! As I have already indicated, I am only human. I then walked around the rest of the California Adventure park so that I could at least see it knowing that I would probably not get to ride most of the rides. Next I shifted gears to the Disneyland Park.

The first thing I did was to take some pictures because I was rapidly running out of daylight. I then headed over to the Indiana Jones ride. Amazingly I was able to get a fast pass for 11pm so I continued on my way. I had done the Pirates of the Caribbean on my previous visit so I skipped it and headed for the Haunted Mansion. I was glad that I rode the Haunted Mansion because it felt a little different than its WDW counterpart. Whether that is actually true or not, I am not sure, but I will pretend like it is.

After the Haunted Mansion I started to realize that I felt terrible. I had a splitting headache, and I realized that I had not eaten since the cheese crackers I ate on the plane several hours previously. So I decided that I would squeeze eating into my quickly disappearing time before the parks closed. I continued walking through the New Orleans Square back to Splash Mountain. As it was now fairly cool and dark outside, I decided against riding Splash Mountain. Also it was getting close to time for the first Fantasmic showing so there were a million people in that part of the park.

At this point I had 30 minutes or so before California Adventure closed, and I wanted to catch the Main Street Electrical Parade which happens 15 minutes before close. So I headed back over and since I had some time before the parade started, I hopped in the single rider line for Soarin' Over California. I love the EPCOT version of Soarin' so I did not mind doing a "repeat" ride. Unfortunately I got out of the ride right at park closing time so I figured that I missed the parade. I did find a burger restaurant that was still open so I grabbed a burger and fries. As I was sitting eating I could see the main pathway in the park, and I noticed some colored lights moving down the path. So I crammed the rest of my burger down, made myself even sicker, and took my fries with me so that I could see the parade. I love the Main Street Parade (although I like Spectromagic better. Sorry Mom!), but I could not shake the They Might Be Giants cover of the Main Street Electrical Parade theme music. "A bear with a honey pot stuck on its head" indeed!

After the parade I joined the mass exodus back over to Disneyland (okay I am insane, this should be a surprise to no one!). I got over there just in time to plant myself on Main Street and watch the "Remember...Dreams Come True" Fireworks Spectacular. While it was no Illuminations, it was a very good display that was themed to the various rides in the park. Tinkerbell flew down from the Matterhorn a couple of times. My one disappointment is that the castle is so small compared to the Florida castle that even though I was halfway down Main Street it still looked like a weeny little toy. Oh well it was the first one so I will overlook its vertical limitations.

Once I was able to break free from the fireworks crowd, I made my way through Tomorrowland back to the Storybook Land Canal Boats. This ride was about what I expected, but now I can cross it off of my list. Afterwards, I had to make a tough decision because I only had a short time until I could use my Indiana Jones fast pass. Also at this point, I was feeling pretty run down, and I had a 90 minute drive to Escondido ahead of me. I narrowed it down to Mr Toad's Wild Ride or the new Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I opted for Nemo because I cannot remember ever riding the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride which was revamped to be themed for Finding Nemo. Well I am ultimately glad that I chose the ride, I just wish that the line had been more cooperative. I knew that it was a long line going into it, but did it have to just stop moving when I was almost to the end? That was completely unnecessary!

After Nemo, I had little time left to use my fast pass so I beat it over to Indy. I had ridden this ride on my previous visit, but it is very fun. Plus with the recently released movie, I felt it was appropriate to make a repeat visit. When I finished this ride, I was truly finished. So I grabbed a stack of Disneyland napkins (that is what Mom asked for) and made my way to the car.

I feel like it was a successful trip, but I here by swear that the next time I am going to take two full days to do Disneyland properly! I will stay in one of the Disneyland hotels so that I can ride the Monorail, and I will allow myself more time to eat! (Then after that I need to start learning French, Japanese, and Mandarin!)