Slipping into warm water

Today we started rehearsals for MUSIC MAN. I'm currently on break as most of the cast learns the Shipoopi. They won't get to my part of that number today, so I sit here in the comfortably climate controlled actor's house.

This is already an interesting experience. I mean that in a distinctly pleasant way. Everyone I've met seems very nice and - important and rare - without agenda. It's an older group of people, by and large, which makes me happy. As adult males in the cast go, I'm one of the youngest. No, really. Everyone is very nice, the space is great, and the producer took the entire company to lunch. Apparently he does that every show. I can't speak to what the show will look like, by any stretch of the imagination, but "all signs point to yes" at the outset and that's something.

Had the first musical rehearsal today, our Marian (former Miss Kansas) has a really marvelous voice. A good first day, so far. It could go any which way, I know, but after my most recent experience it's really wonderful to be made to feel comfortable rather than... well, very much not.

Farm Life

Here I am, back on the farm for a few days. It's funny how only visiting home once a year or so has thrown my memory into a time-lapse jumble of events. I have to concentrate sometimes to remember if certain things happened last time I was home, which was seven or eight months ago, or the time before that, which was eight or nine months before that, or a year earlier thant that during the previous visit. Babies are now schoolchildren, children are now married, in many ways it feels like I stepped away for a moment and through some Einsteinian miracle I stepped back into a later time. It's as though now that I'm thirty, plus a month, my twenties have become a mental ZIP file and a good portion of the compressed data is stored in a storage locker near my parent's home. I've spent the bulk of my twenties far away from home but I would always visit, at least yearly if not two or three times a year. I would download my memories of my latest gig and my recent adventures, and often I would drop off a bunch of unnecessary stuff... which has accumulated into a collection of rubbermaid containers that they happily store for me, though one day in the not too distant future I'll have to sort through it all and take it I'm sure. For now, the collections of books I bought on the road, discarded photos (the ones that don't go in the album), and all the various other items weave a web that fills in the trivial gaps between big memories. Some not so trivial gaps. Anyway, MUSIC MAN rehearsals start Monday. I'm in Trouble. I mean it, I am. I'm in Trouble and many other numbers.

FL, GA, TN, KY, IL, MO, KS

Since Monday morning, I've been through five states and started on a sixth. Today, if all goes well, I'll be reaching my destination in a seventh. Wish me well, send good thoughts to my car, and I should arrive this afternoon.

The Open Road

Tonight is the last show of the run here at NDT. Last night we closed TOMMY, tonight BIRDIE.

Within 24 hours, I'll have begun my 1500+ mile journey to visit my family and begin the next gig, so if you can spare a moment and think some good thoughts for a safe and speedy journey I would appreciate it.

I'll be saying farewell to some people I value a great deal today, as is the case so often in this business, though it rarely gets easier. I do have my secrets in how to deal with it, though - I tend to avoid "goodbyes" as much as humanly possible.

By the way, no one has commented since I changed comment systems - I would return to the old setup but haven't figured out how to integrate that into the new template. Anyway, to leave comments you don't have to register with blogger - post anonymously and just sign your posts at the bottom! Next time I post will likely be on the road...

Sometimes I Tell Myself, "This is Not My Beautiful Bowtie"

The other night, the gentleman that played Uncle Ernie for the bulk of our run was dismissed with only a few shows to go. If you'll remember (or read further down in this 'blog) I had to go on for him about a month ago, now I'm finishing the run of TOMMY as the creepy disgusting pervert Ernie. The fired actor was also playing Mr. Macaffee in BYE BYE BIRDIE, and his cover in that role was David Perlman. David plays Cousin Kevin in TOMMY. Now both David and I will have a nice extra something in our final checks in addition to getting something interesting to do for these last few days.

I don't know if I'll blog again here before I leave, but tomorrow night is our last show here and I'll be pulling out as early as possible Monday morning. It's been a long stint here, and I'm really looking forward to what's next. Wish me luck on my long, long road trip from here to Kansas. Now, four more shows - 3 BIRDIEs, 1 TOMMY in the next two days - and packing the car.

Papa's Got a Brand New 'Blog (Template)

Reworked the 'blog, here, if you didn't notice. Also, a revised comments system.

Also, tidbits of info regarding the next gigs. Remember, pen is not on paper here for anything, and I'm not naming places or dates yet. Still, this looks like 'twill be the case...

In the near future, elsewhere in the country, I may be seen as:
Harold Hill in THE MUSIC MAN
Gaston in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
My own Sinatra-lovin' self in MY WAY
Sid in PAJAMA GAME

After that, I have some hopes and ideas, but that's all. This should all be worked out solidly soon, so ... wish me well.

Aycee, The Frost Giant

Our AC is back on. I woke this morning to a cool, artificial breeze on my back. It was like QUEST FOR FIRE or 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in my room for a minute - I wasn't sure what was going on. I stood up, stared in awe at the strange, magic, metal hole in the wall.

Legend had it that this hole led to the chamber of Aycee the Frost Giant, and in the Oldtymes he would sleep there. His mighty frigid breath would seep through the magic holes to cool all the peoples of the... apartment.

I climbed onto my bed and put my hand in front of the vent, disbelieving the legends of the Frost Giant, the beliefs my people had held for so long. It was cold! The air was downright chilly... I left my room, and opened the outside door. So very hot! I quickly retreated. I was met by a strange, small, darkly tanned man. His cottony tunic read "Maintenance," so I assumed he was French. Our legends spoke of a man from Maintenance (which as we all know is a region in France) who would tame the giant and make him sleep. He had nearly been forgotten, even in legend, it had been so long since he'd been seen. Still here he was - surely one of his descendants, not THE Man from Maintenance.

"Your AC should be working fine," said Maintenance, "you need to go down to the office and..."
Well, I'll leave off there because I don't speak French. It was all gibberish to me.

I quickly got a Sharpei and began to put down the story of Maintenance and the Frost Giant Aycee, but was put off by the puppy's angry yiping. I put down the Sharpei and took up a Sharpie, with which I inscribed the story of the brave French knight's battle with the giant. Our people will be forever grateful for the cooling breath of the mighty giant, and we'll never forget the tiny French hero who brought him back to us. Thank you, Maintenance. We'll not forget you again.

Will have confirmed news of what's up next - all of which is pretty great assuming it all works out - very, very soon. It better be soon, considering I leave here a week from Monday morning.


HURRICANE AFTERMATH UPDATE
So we're still here - haven't been dealt with yet. The AC, phone, and cable were all out until late tonight - now we have cable and phone but still no AC. This is making the soaked room I used to call "mine" smell to high heaven, with wet carpet and walls and whatnot having a lot of trouble drying out in the awesome humidity and heat. Mildew, mold, and who knows what else is growing in there. We've not been moved, and our place has not been fixed. Truthfully, there are many greater problems in the wake of this storm... but not for the apartment maintenance people here, who are apparently not keen on doing anything about any of this. Those responsible for providing for our housing here have at least thrown a token gesture of some fans and air purifiers at us. They tell us they'll be talking to the apartment complex, and if nothing is done tomorrow, it's hotels for us and receipts for them! Really, though - our problems here are all petty stuff, when you think of everything else that's going on.

In the bigger picture there are many other people in Florida who have serious problems in the wreckage this "Hell Storm" (as Drudge Report called it, making me giggle even during the thing) left behind. Today I went to the Sprint store and the customer rep was busy while talking to me, asked if it was okay if he kept doing what he was doing while talking because he had to activate 60 phones for Florida Power and Light because all land lines a little north of Bonita Springs are down. There are a lot of people unaccounted for, and part of the reason for that is that there is no way for many of them to communicate with the outside world at all. We're lucky, here - internet, power, phone... everything. Not far from here, people's entire lives were destroyed. So, you can see that while it is a real pain to live with in this climate it's a little hard to get up in arms about not having air conditioning.

It's late, and I think I'm finally tired enough to fall sweatily to sleep. Blech.

Okay, so Charley came by today.

The eye was a near-miss here, relatively speaking. lots of damage.

The ceiling in my bedroom here at actor housing is now compromised by water. I have to sleep in the common area of the actor housing tonight. My possessions are in jeopardy.

I'm quite sure the company I'm working for will see to my relocation to a comparable safe, dry, private room before tomorrow night where I will stay until either repairs are complete or, in just over a week, the contract is over.

I'm sure there is no cause for concern and that tomorrow I'll be reporting that we've been well taken care of.

HURRICANE!!!

Charley slowed down last night, so it's now due to begin making its impression on us in about an hour. It's turned more east, so it's also going to hit us more dead-on.

The news is crazy, and you're never sure how much they're playing it up and how much is genuine concern. There are areas in more dire straits than we are, but that's really splitting hairs as we're none of us in happy marshmallow funland.

Anyway, send your good energy this direction as we get ready to weather the... weather.

Hurricane Charley is bearing down on us right now.

At the moment, we're awaiting word as to whether we'll be evacuated. Last night the idea of evacuation was reactionary rumor around the company - as most of us have never been through any kind of hurricane - but apparently this morning it has become a very real possibility. We have food, water, and the windows are all taped - Right now that's all we can do.

Say a little prayer that the next 48 hours or so are as easy as possible here in Southwest Florida.

Tonight I got a call from someone I hadn't spoken with in years.

It was really great.

We'll be talking again, soon.

Okay, so I don't have the b-day pics yet. There is much to tell on that score - it didn't end Sunday, it was two full days + of amazing good times. Buca di Beppo = new favorite place.

Tonight I pulled a muscle or something in my back / shoulder during BYE BYE BIRDIE. I was worried - it made most of Act I really interesting but felt much better by the end of the show. The house was great, so that helped. Now I'm home with some dinner and some tea and all is well.