The Wizard Of The Basketball Arena

After leaving Sarasota, we headed north in the state to Tallahassee. I have actually been to Tallahassee before. After graduating from Indiana University, my friend Ann continued on to get her Master's from Florida State. (I moved on to living amongst the Amish. Hmm...) One year between seasons at the Round Barn Theatre, Mom and I took a fairly epic trip down the Florida and on the way we paid Ann a visit in Tallahassee. I did not really get to see much of Tallahassee then, nor did I get to see much this time around either. But that is okay, I don't think that there is much to see in Tallahassee anyway!

This tour brought about quite a few firsts for me, and now I can add one more: playing an arena. Our venue in Tallahassee was the Florida State basketball arena. Having lived through it, the experience was not nearly as horrifying as playing Lowell, MA! We got to use the locker rooms as our dressing rooms. The temporary stage was pretty small, but they have rigged the arena to be able to have a fly house. So we were able to fly in the important drops and the bubble.

Note the seat numbers denoted with chalk. I was greatly amused to watch the crew of people who were setting up the seating marking each seat number in chalk!

This picture was taken from the "pit". Obviously there isn't a big hole in the floor of the arena so we had to sit on the same level as the audience. I felt bad for the people in the front row, but then they must have known what they were getting into. After all they have a season of touring Broadway shows every year.

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So even if the show had been a nightmare, which it wasn't, those who had played Tallahassee before said to hold out for the opening night party. Supposedly it was unequivocally the best of all opening night parties anywhere.