From Canada to Mexico…and coast to coast! (3)

11/14-11/20

This past week was pretty uneventful in terms of show drama.  A little rough for me at first…I finally started to feel the exhaustion of the schedule in my voice and body…but, technically the show's been running a lot smoother.  We started the week in Fort Smith, AR, which went fine and then moved on to Bartlesville, OK on Tuesday for another solid show.  Highlight of the week for me: my wonderful boyfriend Dan drove three hours from Kansas to see the show in Oklahoma and spend some time with me. =)  It was so nice to see him for more than a few hours...the first time since the summer we got to spend a couple days together!

We ended the week in Shreveport, LA and Conway, AR.  I was kinda wishing we had more time in Shreveport--there seemed to be a lot of history in the town, including a church from the 1850s and the theatre itself, built in 1925 as a vaudeville house.  Also, the hotel had a Starbucks in the lobby, a pretty lovely view of the bayou and Red River from the gym, and the best beds and towels I've experienced on this entire tour…so that didn't hurt. =)

View from the gym! Intersection of the Cross Bayou and the Red River

Loved the people in Shreveport, too--everywhere I went they were bubbly and nice, and our audience was one of the best yet--I got more entrance applause, which was so fun!  They clapped and cheered a ton, sometimes in places it's never happened before…and they went nuts when the witch melted later in the show!

The Strand Theatre in Shreveport...another beautiful one!

Conway was the next day, and a looooong day it was.  A few of us had an audition for Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre--a summer Shakespeare festival that just happened to be auditioning the day of our show, on the campus where we were performing.  A bizarre, and we thought fortuitous, coincidence...the latter remains to be seen!  I was thrilled to be able to be there, and we all felt our auditions went fine, but we literally got off the bus after a 4 or 5-hour ride without stopping at the hotel, changed at the theatre, and hurried right over to the audition.  It was completely exhausting...but we did it!


Later that night...in spite of our first technical delays of the week and a women's dressing room the size of the hallway in my New York apartment, we managed to pull off a decent show...complete with my roommate's long-awaited entrance applause!  She lives in Arkansas not far from Conway, so her fan club was in attendance. =)  We also had ushers in costume (the one I saw was dressed as the lion), and really cute munchkins once again!  I got to talk to them more than usual too because the only bathroom was in our tiny dressing room, and they were so funny--"How many wigs do you wear?," "How many characters do you play?," "How do you change from Auntie Em to Glinda so fast?"...definitely not a shy group!

Now, we're in California!  We survived what I've fondly referred to as "hell on wheels"--two veeeeeery long bus days Sunday and Monday--and we have two shows in San Bernardino, one tonight and one tomorrow.

As always, check out www.wizardofozontour.com for upcoming show dates and locations…lots of love to you all!

xoxo

Kelly

From Canada to Mexico…and coast to coast! (2)

11/7-11/13

After New Bedford came a very trying 26-hour bus ride to Valdosta, GA.  We left right from the theatre and stopped for dinner, and then lunch (at a truck stop where they called numbers when people's showers were ready...), and dinner the next day...and finally arrived at the hotel around 11.  Fortunately our show was the next day so we did get some rest before performing again.

Valdosta was another blur of a day...more lovely weather that we didn't have much time to enjoy!  And it was another crazy show...with half the set, an outside backstage crossover, and many delays once again.  To top that off, a poor little local munchkin's skirt fell off during "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead"...luckily she had a petticoat underneath and she handled it like a champ! And later, one of our jitterbugs slipped and fell and another danced his wig right off...yep, a crazy show.

That same day, we received word that we were flying to McAllen, TX the next day…surprise!  We had left Ogdensburg, NY across the river from Canada on Friday morning just four days prior and would be at the bottom tip of Texas only a few miles from the Mexican border the next day around noon....AND we had done four shows in the interim!  What a whirlwind...

Bienvenidos a McAllen!

Hidalgo was kind of a bizarre experience--our first, and I think only, arena setup…and we were literally on ice.  Covered ice, but still ice.  And what a strange experience to walk past skate rental on the way to the dressing rooms...  Oddly enough, even though we were in this huge space (3000+ people in the audience), there were a number of things we had to cut because of the way it was set up--fly, for one--and because of one particularly difficult set change the flying monkeys (myself being one of them) were told over the monitors just minutes before the show to "improvise" until we saw that the set was in place for the scene following ours.  We dubbed it the "monkey dream ballet" and it was actually pretty hilarious--my fellow monkey decided to be attacked by the fake Toto double he was carrying and his wig flew off in the middle of the struggle.  I guess that's the price you have to pay sometimes for making big choices… =)

Other highlights of the Hidalgo experience: finding a note left for me by one of my friends from the summer (she had been there with her tour a few weeks prior)…and also seriously the cutest kids we've ever had.  I mean, I've loved pretty much all the kids, but these were just so wide-eyed, inquisitive, and happy to be there…and they called me Glinda offstage as well, which was just hilarious.

State Farm Arena in Hidalgo,TX!

Galveston was next, and what a travel day we had to get there…stopped once at a checkpoint on the way where our bus was searched by dogs looking for drugs and Mexicans, and stopped again for lunch--in a ghost town with a single restaurant (an excellent Mexican restaurant, but in a bizarrely deserted town…).

Galveston was wonderful…one of my favorite towns to date.  Of course, it didn't hurt that we were across the street from the beach in 70-degree weather!  Our first night there, we celebrated my roommate(the Wicked Witch)'s birthday, complete with a nice dinner out and some time in the hotel's AMAZING outdoor heated pool.  The next day, I went for a looooooong walk on the beach, played in the Gulf of Mexico, and had the best lunch ever: Ben and Jerry's Coconut Seven Layer Bar ice cream.  Mmmmmmmm. =)

Hellooooooo Galveston!

We had two shows that weekend (Saturday and Sunday), which was exciting because we were in yet another gorgeous, historical space: the 1894 Grand Opera House.  And, the first of the two brought me my first visitors!  Sunday was even more fun…apparently, every Sunday is Beauty Mark Sunday which is not a thing I knew about before, and for the crew, this one was Mustache Sunday…so the whole cast drew subtle beauty marks on their faces, and the crew did the show with fake mustaches.  Never a dull moment!

!894 Grand Opera House in Galveston

More excitement in Galveston included...well, our first truly smooth shows in a while, a little girl dressed as Glinda (OK...she was in a Barbie princess dress, but we all knew what it was supposed to be!  she had a wand!!), and our male swing going on halfway through one show due to a minor injury.  Outside the theatre, my roommate and I got matching sweatshirts (well, she got it first and I really liked it!), I attended mass in yet another gorgeous historical cathedral, and a guy in the grocery store parking lot next to our hotel rolled down his window when he passed to sing to me about my cowboy boots...in a surprisingly hilarious and non-creepy way.  Yep, Galveston was one of my faves. =)

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.

A recap of our first week back on the road!

I'm starting this update from Georgia as we're nearing the end of a 26-hour bus ride from New Bedford, MA, where we performed yesterday.  Didn't know I could sleep on the floor of a bus, but I can happily now cross that off the bucket list…

First things first: I've posted my first few albums of pictures from tour on Facebook!  Here are the links (you can see them even if you're not on Facebook):

Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

I've also recently updated my all-new website with pictures from my last few shows...check it out at www.kellykarcher.com!

Our first week back on the road (10/24-10/30) started in Greeneville, TN, and is honestly kind of a blur…our first week of one-nighters!  Meaning, we had one show in each town and drove to a new place the next day.  Tennessee was beautiful--we were in the Great Smoky Mountains, surrounded by gorgeous fall leaves in 70 degree weather.  Unfortunately we were inside for most of it, in brush-up rehearsals for our first show back!  And then it was on to Kentucky early the next morning.  Luckily, there was a Dunkin' Donuts right next to the hotel, so that got us through. =)

Welcome to Greeneville!

I feel like that first week back exemplified life on the road…our first three shows in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan were in high school performing arts centers (our "female principal" dressing room in Michigan--for me, Dorothy, and the Wicked Witch--at first consisted of some tables set up in the school's computer lab; we said we'd be happy to join the rest of the cast!); and we ended the week at the Palace Theatre in Cleveland, built in 1922 and at one time home to performers such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and the Three Stooges.  It's interesting, though--I've found that some of the smaller venues can have the best audiences...there's an intimacy that I didn't expect to serve a show this big, but it does.  The audiences that are closest to us tend to be the most responsive and vocal even when they're small, which is surprising--but so much fun for us!

That week, more than anything, it just felt so great to be back at work!  We went from a choppy schedule before the break to our first 8-show week (a Broadway schedule…plus travel!), and it was amazing to see it all come together again.  Our first show back had kind of a weird energy--a little hesitant--but by the time we had our third show of the week in Michigan it felt solid again.

From Michigan, we went to Cleveland for the weekend, which was a complete whirlwind (5 shows in about 50 hours), but also wonderful--not only were we in an amazing space, but we were finally comfortable enough with the show to enjoy it!  We were able to play, and find new things...to make discoveries as our characters.  And both the venue and the theatre district were unbelievable...I take back what I said about Fort Worth; Cleveland's Palace Theatre is now the most beautiful theatre I've ever performed in...huge and gorgeous and so much history, and built like a Broadway theatre!  Here are a couple pictures taken by one of our cast members...there are many more on Facebook!

The Palace Theatre in Cleveland, OH!

The lobby of the Palace... =)

We fortunately were able to stay in Cleveland for Halloween...fortunate mostly because our hotel rooms were larger than my New York apartment (which has never happened and will probably never happen again)...thank you, Embassy Suites!  We trick-or-treated to each other's rooms and then had a pretty hoppin' party...complete with spooky decorations, dancing, and butterbeer!  I was Posh Spice, along with three other cast members and our wig/makeup guy as the other Spice Girls...and we won the "best overall" costume award!

Spice Girls!

The next day, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for some more history...and ended the day at the Chocolate Bar downtown...mmmmm.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

One of my favorite parts of the tour so far has been the kids, onstage and off--there is always a girl (usually in the front row) dressed up as Dorothy, and we've had some witches and scarecrows and lions as well!  And the kids onstage with us playing the munchkins have been so much fun to work with…I remember, I think in Michigan, looking around during Munchkinland and seeing this one girl with her face lit up singing "tra la la"…she was having the best time!  And in Fort Worth, we met a little girl--maybe 2 or 3--in a restaurant after one show and she was shyly singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  In Cleveland, the doorman at the Stage Door told us his nephew saw the show--his first theatrical experience ever --and said, "This is the best day of my life!"  And another girl during our last show there shouted, "Glinda! Glinda! Glinda!" from the audience as I came onstage in my bubble…it really puts into perspective why we do what we do, and who we do it for. =)


Hope to post again soon with more updates from the last week and a half...lots of love!


xoxo


Kelly

Eyelashes, and Pin Curls, and Glitter...oh my!!!

Catching a little break here in Byron Center, MI (Cleveland, now, as I'm finishing this up!), so I wanted to recap in a little more detail our first few weeks on tour!


We teched the show in CLAREMORE, OK, which is essentially where the musical Oklahoma! takes place--that was fun!  The main road we took from the hotel to the theatre was Lynn Riggs Blvd., named after the man who wrote the play Green Grow the Lilacs, on which Oklahoma! was based.  And, the priest even mentioned the show in his homily that Sunday--he was right, it was indeed a beautiful mornin'!  A little bit of musical theatre dramaturgical dorkiness for you all... =)

Lynn Riggs Blvd!

Highlight of the Claremore tech experience: the fire alarm going off during our preview performance.  After a rough weekend (our show is a beast to tech--all the usual issues that come with a big musical, along with flying, fire, quick changes, dogs, children...you name it!), we were finally feeling confident that we could get through the show without stopping...and the fire alarm went off right after I flew out of Munchkinland!  It must have been the Wicked Witch's fire ball or else the general haze...whatever it was, it hadn't set anything off all weekend during tech, but of course, as soon as the audience got there...evacuation time!  We got back in quickly, though, and the audience was incredibly supportive--Dorothy started the show back up with, "My, people come and go so quickly here"--which usually refers to my exit but took on a whole new layer of meaning!  The audience wouldn't stop clapping. =)


FORT WORTH was next and while it's early to say, it's been my favorite city so far!  Absolutely beautiful and so much to do.  We started our weekend with a trip to the historic Stockyards district, where I experienced a "Dirty Love Burger" for the first and probably only time...it had bacon and quail eggs on it.  Got it at the "Love Shack," which bore a striking resemblance to Shake Shack in NYC...coincidence?  Proooooobably not.

Our performance space was right in the downtown Sundance Square area--home to a number of cute shops, restaurants, and historic buildings (including Fort Worth's own St. Patrick's Cathedral, built 1888-92)--as well as the best guacamole I've ever had!  Bass Hall was the most incredible venue I've ever performed in...a beautiful space with over 2000 seats, four balconies, and unbelievable acoustics.

Stepping out into that theatre for the first time felt like a dream...as did our dressing rooms, pretty swanky with our own bathroom/fridge/recliner! My station is pictured below...complete with Glinda T-shirt, Glinda bookmark (from the Wizard of Oz-themed table at the Barnes & Noble next to the theatre!), and a pumpkin spice latte on opening night. =)

"Are you a good witch, or a bad witch??"

Other highlights of our weekend in Texas: I had my first club experience ever in the Dallas gayborhood, AND we went to the Texas State Fair--where I experienced fried peach cobbler on a stick, pig races, and of course, the obligatory ferris wheel...which proved that everything is, indeed, bigger in Texas!

Fried peach cobbler on a stick!!!

I also mastered my quick change by the end of the weekend...changing from Auntie Em into Glinda after the tornado was kind of a nightmare at first--imagine changing your costume/shoes/wig/accessories/makeup in about thirty seconds...AND getting snapped into a bubble to fly onstage--but we've got it down to somewhat of a science by now!  Shoes first...always shoes first...because once that big pink skirt is on there's no way you're getting to them.  Learned that the hard way when in one of our first couple shows I walked around for my whole first scene (all of Munchkinland) with only one shoe fastened.  Glinda was a little awkward that day... =)


After Fort Worth came SIOUX FALLS, SD.  Another beautiful theatre--huge, with probably close to a couple thousand seats--and they were purple!  We got there Wednesday and had shows Friday and Sunday, which left us time to do some fun promotional activities too.  The crowd favorite was our pottery project that Thursday--for an arts initiative called the Empty Bowls project, where kids make bowls that are filled with soup and sold around Christmastime as a fundraiser to feed the hungry.  We got to be the kids that day!  It was amazing--I've never made pottery before and now I want to do it all the time! 

A few of us also did a Q&A for the local college theatre kids later in the weekend...which was fun, but a little odd. Feels like I was just there!  And now I'm the one sitting in front of the class sharing my "life experience"...hmm.

The town of Sioux Falls was wonderful as well.  More cool shops and restaurants, another gorgeous old church... 

...Falls Park (built around the falls of the Big Sioux River, from which the town takes its name), and the best milkshake I've ever had in my life (OK, I promise this isn't going to turn into a food blog!).  Seriously though--it was a s'mores milkshake and they even toasted the marshmallows on top.  It was truly bangin'.

Falls Park!

It was in Sioux Falls that I mastered the art of putting on eyelashes!  I never wear them, but for this show...well, Glinda needs them.  And they're HUGE.  It took me days and days of failed attempts to learn--and to be honest, "mastered" is a loose term at best.  I'm still not terribly great at it.  But, I did it myself both shows in Sioux Falls!!  A major personal milestone. =)  However, I have not yet mastered the removal of glitter...it seriously never comes off!  And it gets everywhere.  Ah, well...a skill to aspire to...someday...


Stay tuned for my next post...a recap of our first week back on the road!


xoxo


Kelly

Welcome!

Hi all!

Welcome to the very first article of my first ever blog!  Mom thought it would be a good idea to do this while I was on tour for all of you to follow along on my adventures…and I figured, after a month on the road already, it's about time I started it. =)

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently playing Glinda on the national tour of The Wizard of Oz.  Here's a little preview for you:

A recap of our journey thus far: we started rehearsals in New York City September 13th, then left for Claremore, Oklahoma for tech on September 23rd.  We had our first preview there September 27th, and then traveled to Fort Worth, TX for a 4-show weekend.  From there we went north to Sioux Falls, SD (stopping in Kansas City on the way!) for two shows...and after that is when the real adventure started!

We found out very last minute that we were about to embark on a week and a half break...long story short, there was some miscommunication with the booking agency and a bunch of shows didn't get confirmed, so they decided to reschedule the few that did for later in the tour and send us home...surprise! Never a dull moment out here. =)

We just got back yesterday and have gotten right back into the swing of things! We reopened tonight in Greeneville, TN, and head to Henderson, KY tomorrow; then on to Byron Center, MI; and finally, Cleveland for the weekend!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Over the next few months I'll be posting pictures and tidbits from the road, and this week I'll recap our first few cities in more detail.  In the meantime, you can check out my newly renovated website:

www.kellykarcher.com

...and the tour's website, for schedule, cast pictures/bios, and other info:

www.wizardofozontour.com

Hope to see you all out there...somewhere in America!

xoxo

Kelly

P.S. Five gold stars and extra love to anyone who can figure out what my blog title is in reference to...and googling it doesn't count! ;)