From Canada to Mexico...and coast to coast! (1)

Sorry y'all…this is gonna be a long one…three weeks to catch you up on!  But, I'll post it in parts so hopefully it's a little less overwhelming. =)

11/2-11/6

After our weekend in Cleveland we left for Ogdensburg, NY for a show Thursday, November 3.  The Cleveland-to-Ogdensburg transition was another that exemplified this crazy life on the road...we went from the jaw-dropping Palace Theatre to a junior high performing arts center in the middle of nowhere.  Our hotel was in a rustic spot on the St. Lawrence River, and we could literally see Canada from our porch.  Laurie and I did somehow manage to score a two-bedroom suite at the hotel, but unfortunately we weren't there long enough to make use of it!

The Saint Lawrence River and Canada, behind our hotel room!

Our experience at that theatre was...challenging, to say the least.  The stage was tiny, more than half the set had to be cut, we couldn't fly, and we ended up called to the theatre early to re-space some of the bigger numbers.  AND our "dressing room" was set up in the school library...some of those books took me back!  After a whirlwind of preparation, including dealing with sound and light issues, and at the last minute, finding out about a service dog in the front row (which could have caused major problems for Toto!), we eventually started the show 45 minutes late.  But the battle was far from over...during the show, we dealt with more technical issues, including a local crew rumored to be ex-cons (never got a confirmation on that one, but it gives you an idea…), and the scarecrow's dresser up and left a few minutes into the show without telling anyone.  But, people loved it...it was amazing to see the audience so supportive when we felt like such a mess.

Middle school library or dressing room? A little bit of both...

Next stop: Rutland, VT...and what a difference!  Another beautiful old theatre (actually about the capacity of the theatre in Ogdensburg, but with much more character!), a great little town with cute stores, coffee shops, and delicious food...we were all wishing we had more time there!  The show went SO well--our local munchkins were super energetic, and it was one of the best audiences we've ever had--I got entrance applause when I came out in the bubble!  Just another instance that proved that sometimes our smaller, more intimate audiences are the best ones. =)  They clapped at everything, and a guy from the theatre came on the bus to talk to us afterwards about how impressed they were, and how pivotal our show was for the future of the theatre.

The Paramount Theatre in Rutland, VT!

We left Rutland early the next morning for a matinee in West Point, NY...one of the most exhausting days yet!  We had gotten back to the hotel after 11 the night before and had to be up before 7 to load the bus and drive right to the theatre for a 3:00 show.  Somehow in spite of the exhaustion I managed to have my best quick change to date--not sure how we did it!  West Point was a huge space, which was nice for us backstage but caused a bit of a disconnect with the audience...it was a way bigger audience than we'd had all week but quieter, and they just seemed far away...the show went fine, though.

After the show we got on the road to New Bedford, MA, where we had another matinee the next day.  After a bunch of delays totally beyond our comprehension we finally left the theatre, stopped for dinner, and arrived at the hotel two hours after our projected arrival time of 11:30 pm...only to pass out for less than 8 hours and get up the next morning to do it all over again. Thank goodness for an amazing mass and Dunkin' Donuts around the corner from the theatre to get me through the day!  And also, a crazy cab driver who managed to start the day off with a laugh--a total hippie with an almost comical Boston accent who began the short trip to the theatre stopped behind a row of parked cars thinking they were waiting for the light to change, and ended the trip asking us how to spell "cash" for our receipt--he was pretty sure it was 
C-H-A-S.  After all that the show went pretty well--another delayed start and we weren't able to use pyro, but thankfully another amazingly appreciative audience.