Honeywell Center Wall Tags

Meet Me in St. Louis wall tag with Stanley's signature

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Our one nighter wall tag (I forget who did this one)

Wabash (whether you like it or not)

Depending on who you consulted at any given time during the tour, our engagement in Wabash, Indiana was either happening or not going to happen. According to the schedule, we were to play Tuesday and Wednesday night in Flint then drive down to Wabash for a performance Thursday night. If you spoke to the crew or our company manager, this was logistically impossible and therefore not going to happen. Yet it obstinately remained on our itinerary. Needless to say, the office won out, and we played in Wabash.

Our hotel in Wabash is the only hotel I have stayed in that actually used metal keys since I can even remember!

Wabash courthouse (I think)

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I had actually been to the Honeywell Center before. A former Round Barn alum was on a tour of Meet Me in St. Louis that played in Wabash so a bunch of us made the trip down to see the show. Interestingly it was not as exciting to play this venue at which I had been in the audience as playing the Aronoff in Cincinnati. Funny that!

Now technically, Wabash is the closest that our tour played to the South Bend - Nappanee area, but since it was a one nighter I did not tell anyone. I was hoping that anyone who might see the show in Wabash would come to Chicago instead.

So we did our show as best we could. Our crew was tired and not happy. The actress playing the Wicked Witch turned her ankle with less than an hour before the show started so her understudy got to go on for the first time. And worst of all on the way home after the show, Papa John's stopped delivering and we had to settle for Pizza Hut! So all in all it was not my most favorite stop on this tour!

Next up on the list of America's Fastest Dying Cities: Flint, MI

After our hasty retreat from Providence, we stopped over in Schnectedy and then made our way to Buffalo the next day. Then on Tuesday morning, we had an early bus call so that we could make our border crossing. Given the fact that we were traveling from Providence to Flint, Michigan, it made the most sense to cross through Canada, eh. Now the times that I have visited Canada, it has been pretty easy to cross through customs, but I guess that a bus full of performers is a different matter. Our company manager impressed upon us that customs can be a very trying matter (and in fact we later learned that when we traveled to Ottawa!). Thankfully we had no problems and were on our way in a relatively short amount of time. About the only thing of note that we did in Canada was to stop at McDonalds for breakfast. It is always fun to visit American restaurants in foreign companies to see how they differ. The big difference in Canada was that they were offering hockey player helmet toys for various NHL players. Oh and I was overly excited when the cashier ask me if I wanted a parfait in her Canadian accent!

So we ended up in Flint fairly early because we did not need the extra time scheduled for our border crossing. Flint is a city that I have driven through before, but never visited. Now I know that I really have no reason to visit Flint. Our hotel was off of the expressway so there were some places to eat (and a Meijer which is easy to take for granted until you go on tour!).


As for the theatre, well there was nothing around it. In fact I usually love to walk around and explore the area around a venue, but not in Flint. It wasn't that the area was really dangerous or anything, there was just nothing to do there.

The Whiting was a nice enough venue. Also, amazingly, we actually had decent sized houses for both of our performances. And like most of the smaller towns we play, the audience was very appreciative of our show.

The view from the pit.

Up next after Flint was our most bitterly anticipated stop: Wabash, Indiana!

Providence PAC wall tags

Not every theatre has wall tags, but when a theatre does I like to photograph the shows that I have seen or the fun tags.

Wrong arm Brett!

Hmm what is missing from this picture? Oh yes, my name!

Another great wall tag by Michael Triolo.

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Under normal circumstances, we generally play our engagement in a city then travel the next day. Well that was the plan in Providence, but Mother Earth had different plans for us. On Sunday morning we got a flurry of text messages from our company manager which ended up with our travel plans being completely scraped. There was a snow storm bearing down on Providence that day so after the evening show we scrambled to load the bus and drove over to Schnectedy to spend the night.

Sadly this did not really gain us anything. Because we were crossing through Canada on Tuesday, we needed to spend the night in Buffalo on Monday to make our crossing time out properly. Oh well at least we got to sleep in for once.

PPAC

The Providence Performing Arts Center represents the third PAC we have performed in since the beginning of Wizard. We began with the TBPAC, then the TPAC, and now the PPAC. What exactly constitutes a PAC is called into question with the Providence PAC, as all I ever saw was the one theatre. It seems to me a Center should have more than just one performing space. Regardless of what it actually is, the Providence Performing Arts Center is one of my favorite theatres we have played so far.

Side entrance

This time I used the flash. That doesn't always work though.

I love this chandelier!

Providence

Providence, Rhode Island was one the stops on our tour that I was most looking forward to. Sadly is was also one of the stops on The Wedding Singer tour right before I joined. Also unfortunate is that fact that we only played the weekend in Providence with Wizard. Oh well.

In typical fashion, I made the most of my time though. Unlike Hartford, Connecticut, Providence looks like what I imagine a New England city would look like. There are so many cool old buildings in downtown here are a few examples:

Rhode Island is one of the states that I have visited for the first time thanks to tour.

Providence skyline

This is my mental image of what a New England city would look like

Providence courthouse

Lowell, Massachusetts (well it is a step above Lowell, Indiana)

Generally when speaking to touring veterans, they always have horror stories of playing in certain towns. It seems like Lowell, MA is towards the top of that list (actually Waco, Texas seems to be the very bottom of the barrel!). "It is not really the town itself, but the venue", they generally say. Now that I have played the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, I know what they mean!

We might as well have been playing in a high school gym. The LMA has no fly house so not only could no one fly, we could not use most of the drops. The show had to be drastically cut to just about nothing. No back wall projections, no Emerald City Gate, no house, nothing. It left me wondering, "why are we even here?"

Amazingly people actually came to the show. I guess that it speaks to the power of theatre that audiences can overlook the obvious deficiencies in the physical production at a venue like the LMA, and still enjoy the show. Ours cannot be the only touring show that has played there that has looked that awkward!

Maybe the trick is to do what we did, and get on the bus and leave as soon as the show is over! Lowell is the second in and out city that we had on the tour. After the show (and a small opening night party?!) we packed up and headed to Providence!

Oz Takes a Daytrip to Munchkinland

Easton, PA

As it turns out Easton, Pennsylvania was the ideal place to restart the tour. You have probably figured out by now, when I get to a new town I seek out all of the fun things that I can do. Well there is nothing fun to do in Easton so it worked out perfectly with my layoff depleted bank account!

Okay so Easton has the Crayola Factory. But the Crayola Factory is not really a factory and the smell of crayons makes me sick so I did not partake. Sadly the most exciting thing that I did in Easton was my laundry. Well we also almost died of garlic poisoning at a little Italian restaurant in Easton. There is not a mouth wash strong enough to counteract that much garlic!

Since it had been four weeks, we did have a run though of the show before our first performance. It was probably for the best even if we had played the show over 100 times by this point.

The State Theatre was a nice venue, and it reminded me quite a bit of the theatre in Williamsport.

Sadly though it was one of those theatres which was so dark that the color of my pictures is really off. I guess if I had Photo Shop I might be able to do something about that. Oh well.