Bajillions of Updates!

Hey y'all! (I can rightfully say that now, having recently come back from six weeks in the deep south...more on that in a second.) I know it's been super long since I've updated this thing and I therefore have about a bajillion updates for you!


First things first: I left off in April telling you about some really exciting things coming up, the first of which was a six-week contract at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi, doing The Marvelous Wonderettes. If you have a really stellar memory, you know I did the same show last summer--but this time I got to play a different role, which was way more challenging than I expected (the show is insanely complicated musically, AND I had to learn how to blow a bubble for the first time!)...but also a lot of fun! I played Suzy this time around--she's the "happy-go-lucky one of the group"...otherwise known as the dumb blonde. =) So much fun to play, and the girls I worked with were seriously amazing--three beautiful new friends who were such an inspiration. We had a three-week rehearsal process and a three-week (largely sold-out!) run, May 29-June 17. Also, southern hospitality is real--the board members and theatre staff were so incredibly kind and welcoming. It was a lovely start to the summer! Here are some gems from backstage:

We four had our share of adventures and fun, too--we spent a lot of time exploring Jackson...so much thrifting, amazing food, and a little bit of history...The Help was set and partially filmed in Jackson and it was pretty cool to see some of the spots from the movie!

My ultimate thrifting win!!!

Brent's Drugs, where a couple scenes in
The Help were filmed!

One of our promo shots, taken at Brent's!

We also made our way down to New Orleans one weekend towards the end of the run...New Orleans is the craziest place on earth. Bourbon Street is insane. But it is also so so beautiful and in addition to dancing, accruing beads, and tasting the local fare we got to explore a bit and hear some amazing music!

I got home to Jersey June 18, experienced summer and the beach and visiting family and friends very briefly, and moved back up to NYC July 4...just in time to join two of my fellow Mississippi Wonderettes for my very first rooftop fireworks experience! It was a pretty awesome start to summer in the city. =)

I fully expected this summer to be kind of a break for me--I've never spent it in the city; I've almost always been away somewhere working--but so far, this has been about the craziest summer yet. In between sweating my proverbial balls off (lasted almost a week without an air conditioner and then hauled my butt over to Bed & Bath in the Bronx to get one!), I'm auditioning whenever possible (there aren't many in the summer), working, taking classes, catching up with friends, seeing shows (everyone must see Newsies and Peter and the Starcatcher RIGHT NOW)...and most excitingly, rehearsing a workshop of a new musical!


The show is called Beyond This Paradise and you should go to the website at www.beyondthisparadise.com and read all about it! I'm alternating the role of Steph, the show's protagonist, which means I go on for 2 of the 6 shows. The show premieres at the 45th Street Theatre August 8 & 9, and participates in the Thespis Theater Festival at Cabrini Repertory Theater September 5, 9, & 10. I'll be going on as Steph August 9 at 1pm as well as one performance TBA during the festival in September--I'll keep you posted, and definitely let me know if you want more info about tickets!

You can also connect to the show via Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beyond-This-Paradise/163968740315372

The cast and creative team have been posting pictures, videos, and general updates on there, and it links to the Facebook event as well. And hey, while we're at it...in order to move a completely original show like this forward, we need to start raising funds--for the set, costumes, rehearsal spaces, etc...but most importantly, to get the cast recorded to be able to send out our show to potential producers. If you can spare even $5 we would be so grateful and every little bit counts...check out our fundraising campaign with even more info at http://www.indiegogo.com/btpmusical. It would mean the world to me on a personal level because this has been such a special experience for me...I've done a lot of very fun shows in a lot of very fun places over the last couple years, but I've never felt so artistically fulfilled as I have with this show. It's an incredible, exciting process putting together a new show and I'm so grateful to be a part of this one. =) Also, see for yourself how awesome this music is...here's a video from one of our first music rehearsals, learning the title song (please excuse my music-learning face...I know I look miserable but I'm just concentrating really hard!):

In between our August and September shows, I'm actually heading home to the Philadelphia area (Malvern, to be exact!) to do another workshop. It's a new concept musical entitled In My Body, written by Dan Martin and Michael Biello, in collaboration with Flying Bulldog Productions. This one is just a two-day work session but I'll be working with some really amazing people and I am SO excited for what I'm sure will be another super fulfilling process. =) Check out the show's website here: http://www.flyingbulldogproductions.com/flyingbulldog/in-my-body.

Phew. OK. I think I hit all the major updates for now! For even more documentation of all of this madness, check out my Facebook albums--I've posted a few over the last couple months of pictures from Wonderettes, New Orleans, summer in the city...here are the links!

Album 1: Wonderettes in Mississippi!
Album 2: New Orleans
Album 3: Summer in the city!

And, if you made it this far, here are a couple bonus video links from a cabaret we did during closing weekend of Wonderettes in Mississippi:

"His Name," by Scott Alan
"Bluebird," by Sara Bareilles

You can also check out my website (as always!) at www.kellykarcher.com for the most up-to-date professional news--I just added a bunch of pictures from Wonderettes, as well as press clippings...all of those fun things. =)

I also wanted to give a shout-out to all of you who I've been able to visit with in Mississippi and Virginia and Ocean City and back here in NYC over the last couple months...it's been so amazing to catch up with so many of you beautiful people! Hoping to see the rest of you soon... =)



xoxo


Kelly

Back in the city...but not for long!

Hi all!


I know you've all been anxiously awaiting my next update...anyone...? Haha. =)


I got back from Arizona a few weeks ago, April 1 (In case you missed my last post, I was doing Sunset Boulevard at Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria, AZ--performing in the ensemble and understudying the role of Betty)--and bussed right up to NYC the next day for my first audition! While I was in Arizona, I had been called in for an appointment to audition for Brenda in the upcoming Catch Me If You Can tour (yep, based on the movie!)...pretty exciting because tour auditions are usually an all day affair, getting there with 400 other girls at 6 in the morning and trying to stay awake until you actually go in the room--if you're lucky enough to get seen at all!


A little backstory: the rep from this casting agency had seen me at UPTAs--United Professional Theatre Auditions, an audition conference in Memphis I attended in early February and totally forgot to mention in my last update! At UPTAs, I auditioned for about 70 different theatre/entertainment companies from all over the country, and 31 companies were interested in me! Pretty exciting. =) I had a bunch of callbacks while I was there, and got a handful of offers in the following weeks--from a theatre in Mississippi, a summer theatre in Kentucky, Dollywood, and a theatre/touring company in Georgia. I ended up taking the job in Mississippi at New Stage Theatre, playing Suzy in The Marvelous Wonderettes--one of the shows I did last summer actually, but a different role, which'll be fun! I'll be there May 8-June 17. Here's the theatre's website, for more info: www.newstagetheatre.com.



I also was able to accept the offer from the theatre in Georgia since it didn't overlap...and it's actually the same show and role! I'm even more excited for this production because it's directed by Roger Bean, the man who created the show. The woman who created the role of Suzy (the character I'm playing) is setting the original New York choreography, and I believe we're using the sets and costumes from the New York production as well. We start rehearsals October 23 for this one, run through November 17, and then come back in January for brush-up rehearsals before heading out on tour for three months! Here's the theatre's website--although I think it's too early for tour info to be up: www.springeroperahouse.org.


Another super exciting thing happened while I was in Arizona--I got to go on for Betty, the character I understudied, the last week of the show! It was a terrifying and challenging but really incredible experience...all in all, it went smoothly, no one died, and after all was said and done...I did it! I just posted an album of pictures from Arizona on facebook and there are a bunch of me in the Betty costumes. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100127554711392.2300486.26111938&type=1&l=8eb275a00f


And, a little preview:

Terrified and about to go on!

Later on, in Betty's last costume...mission accomplished!

I also did a couple cabarets while in Arizona and posted videos on facebook/my youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/kelster826)--and I just posted some new ones from last summer's cabaret there as well.

And...I also had a really wonderful time in Arizona! The weather was absolutely perfect, I got a pretty bangin' tan, and I got to perform in a show I was incredibly proud of eight times a week. Plus, I made some great new friends--including two lovely, very like-minded roommates--one of the highlights of the 7 weeks was the princess party we threw for my roommate's birthday. Everyone was told to come dressed as their favorite princess...and we had some pretty impressive costumes--everything from Belle and Ariel and Pocahontas, to Princess Grace, to Kate Middleton, to...Voldemort? We had some people stretch the theme a bit and come as villains... =)

Princess party! Look at our apt!

Cake, cupcakes, decorations... =)

A collection of Disney princes(ses)...Aida (kind of), Ariel,
Mulan, Hercules, Pocahontas, and Belle!

Roomies...first night out!

Out and about again, later on!

The ladies of Sunset Boulevard, in our New Year's attire!
(Yup, I'm blonde...)

Blondie! "Mary"...
but we'll call her Marilyn =)

Sunset Boulevard crazies!!

So, since I've been back, I've just been living in the city...auditioning...taking some classes...seeing shows...and trying to take advantage of my very short time here before heading out the first week of May! I've had some exciting callbacks, and it's been really good to get back into class...I can't help but feel like I'm on the right path, right where I need to be right now...at least, I hope I am! Still waiting to see if something turns up for the rest of the summer, but if not, it might be nice to come back to the city and just live life for a few months. =)


Much love, and more updates to follow soon...from Mississippi!

xoxo

Kelly

Life After Tour...

Hey y'all! Sorry for the late post, there's been a lot going on!

First, here are the links to all my pictures from tour, posted on Facebook, as promised in my last post!

Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.885329380922.2282257.26111938&type=3&l=354040e1d2

Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.885660063232.2282382.26111938&type=3&l=4bb312c149

Album 3: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.887630758942.2282801.26111938&type=3&l=c6dc59cd87

Album 4: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.960085424212.2292076.26111938&type=3&l=01ab2bdbd3

Album 5: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.962320440222.2292284.26111938&type=3&l=f5f70ba559

I also promised a recap of the last week of tour...so here goes! The short version, for once. =) We came back from a rather random layoff the second week of January and resumed the tour in Daytona Beach, FL. What a special show that was…a huge theatre with some pretty awesome dressing rooms, and some even more awesome guests…G-mom and G-pop brought ten of their friends up from Jensen Beach to see the show! It was so wonderful to have familiar faces in the audience for our closing week, and to spend time with everyone before and after the show. Oh also, our hotel in Daytona was on the beach…that certainly didn't hurt. =)

Helloooo Daytona!

What did hurt was moving on from Daytona…to Richmond, KY, and then up to Toledo, OH and Flint, MI for the rest of the week. We went from beautiful beach weather to snow that did not help our progress from one town to the next. Fortunately, we got where we needed to be in one piece, but what a way to end the tour! Never a dull moment…at one of the venues that week, the dry ice never showed up…whoops! And for our first of three shows in Flint, Auntie Em looked a little young…my glasses got misplaced and weren't located till halfway through the show!

Next stop after Florida...Kentucky!

We had a great closing weekend--Flint was a huge venue (four balconies, just like our opening venue!), and we had great audiences for all three shows. The last one was rough--not a dry eye onstage or off at the end of the show. But, we had a wonderful last night together--a big group dinner, and then a cast party back at the hotel: complete with a slideshow artfully put together by two ladies in the cast, and the Wozcars--our cast awards ceremony! I was presented with the Wozcar for "Most Oz Spirit"…it felt like redemption for all those senior superlatives I didn't win in high school. Mwahahahaha.

Our closing venue, in Flint, MI!

Backstage in Flint, closing weekend!

More backstage in Flint =)

The lovely ladies of Oz!

I've had a few weeks now to ruminate over my tour experience, and I'm left with a feeling or profound gratitude--for the experience, certainly, but also for the support I felt from friends and family literally all over the country--from Texas to California to Oklahoma to Philly to New Haven…I am just so thankful to everyone who made the effort to come out and see the show. You all made my tour experience truly unforgettable.

I've also been thinking about what I've gleaned from this experience…for one, I feel like I've learned what I'm capable of. I spent hours sleeping on the floor of a bus, often doing a show the same day, and I carted suitcases in and out of sometimes 4 or 5 hotels in a week. I did a weekend of shows in high altitude while recovering from food poisoning, and a full 8-show week with acute bronchitis. I feel like I've learned what my body can handle, and how to get it through situations it shouldn't have to.

But more importantly, I gained lifelong friends…my family of Wozians! I miss them like crazy already, but it's been amazing running into them at auditions back in NYC. We went through a lot of crap together, and a lot of wonderful, and they will always be with me…"like a handprint on my heart"…(obligatory Wicked reference!).

My beautiful cast, after our closing performance!

Our final meal together...the whole WOZ family!

And now, for a big, totally unrelated update…I'm actually posting this from Arizona right now! I moved back to NYC a week after closing, and was expecting to be there for several months until (hopefully) leaving for the summer again...and then two days after moving in I got a totally unexpected job offer! For a show starting rehearsals in less than three weeks, no less. So...now I'm back in Arizona...surprise! =) I'm doing Sunset Boulevard at Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria (http://www.azbroadwaytheatre.com for more info!). I'm in the ensemble and understudying Betty, the young female lead (you might be familiar with the 1950 movie it was based on, starring Gloria Swanson). We open March 2 and run till the 31st...and then I imagine I'll be back in NYC, but who knows?!? =)

The weather has been GORGEOUS, and the people I'm working with are just wonderful--a great cast, and a really welcoming company. We actually stayed in sponsor housing for a few nights this week, with one of the theatre's board members and his wife, while the show before ours was finishing up. They were so incredibly welcoming--making us dinner, taking us out for ice cream, shuttling us over to the theatre for rehearsals--it was just a lovely introduction to a great company! I'll be posting more updates in the weeks to come, including pictures of course…stay tuned!! =)

xoxo

Kelly

The Highest of Highs...and the Lowest of Lows!

...literally.  And figuratively.  These were the weeks of mountains and valleys...and Secret Santa and hospital trips.  Sorry for the much-awaited update, folks...this is gonna be a long one!  But the font's big!  You can do it!


OK, prior to my last post, I left off the week of 11/20.  We started the week traveling from Arkansas to California...needless to say, those were a couple of rough 14-hour bus days.  It's a very interesting predicament, waking up and not knowing what state you're in.  We stayed in Albuquerque when we hit the halfway point, which was just a tease--a gorgeous shopping district literally across the street (complete with Trader Joe's!), and one of the nicest hotels we've stayed in to date (our rooms were practically apartments! and they came with toothpaste; you didn't even have to ask for it!).  And we were there for something like 10 hours...ah, well...on to California!!

San Bernardino, CA...check out those mountains!

I really enjoyed San Bernardino...we were surrounded by gorgeous mountains, the theatre was beautiful and old with so much history, and it was just so nice to be in one place for two days...but the best parts were my long-awaited pilgrimage to In-N-Out, for one, and seeing friends of mine from show choir and theatre back in high school who came out to see the show Wednesday night!

The California Theatre of the Performing Arts in San Bernardino!

The theatre, from the front...

The other best part was my fairy godmother, as she came to be known.  Tuesday before the show one of the local dressers overheard me asking if there was coffee or hot water set up anywhere, and she went to get me a cup of coffee from the lobby and said the next day there would be a carafe of each backstage. Wednesday, I got to my dressing room--which no one else shared--and there was a carafe of hot water, a carafe of coffee, cups, spoons, napkins, tea bags, and sugar sitting in front of my mirror.  I felt like a star. =)

Coffee, tea, and my very own dressing room... =)

Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there.  Well, technically, we went uphill--towards Colorado--but the next day was pretty rough...another long travel day that ended in a Thanksgiving buffet set up for us in a restaurant in Utah.  We ended up getting in later than expected and driving right to the restaurant--which none of us were aware of beforehand.  I hadn't showered and wasn't wearing a bra or real shoes…but, in we went.  It was a fairly janky Thanksgiving dinner and I missed my family like crazy but we were all grateful to have each other, and food, at least!

Later that night…after some group hot tub time, which was actually really nice…and some laundry that just wouldn't dry, which wasn't so nice…I started feeling not super great.  Eventually that led to a night hugging the porcelain goddess and puking my guts up every half hour or so…until finally I had to go to the ER. 
=(  There was no way I could get on a bus at 8 the next morning for another long travel day with the state I was in.  Found out eventually it was food poisoning, and I survived…thanks to fluids, anti-nausea meds, and my amazing roommate Laurie who was with me through the whole thing…and also our awesome bus driver who took me to the hospital at 5:30 in the morning!  Thank you Brent!!  But…oof.  Worst Thanksgiving ever.  At least I know it can only get better from there!

I slept on the floor of the bus (ahhhh, home sweet home…) literally the entire 7 hours or so to Avon, CO.  I was bummed because it was snowing and beautiful when we got there and I clearly could not enjoy myself, but I managed to keep food down for the first time in many hours!  And I got enough rest that I was able to do the show the next day.  Oh, AND I managed to get about half my Christmas shopping done via online Black Friday sales.

Avon was incredible…I only wish I had more energy to go explore!  The theatre was literally on a ski resort…the mountains were unbelievable…and we were underground--under an ice skating rink, actually!  Unfortunately that meant for a complicated load-in, so we had to cut fly and a handful of other set pieces, but the show still went pretty well--especially considering the noticeable difficulty in breathing given the altitude (over 7000 feet)--there were oxygen tanks backstage just in case!  We also had really hilarious munchkin kids there--they certainly helped me get through a difficult show!

Ice skating rink in Avon, CO...theatre was underneath!

Lovely stream in the ski village in Avon!

Check out those mountains...gorgeous. =)

Fort Collins, CO was next--thankfully only a couple hours away, because we left right after the show Saturday night.  Some unprecedented delays (what else is new? haha) and we didn't get in till 1 or 2 in the morning…and the next day we were called at 10:30 for a two-show day.  It's OK though, because my best friend from elementary and middle school came to see the matinee!!  I've seen her maybe once since she moved away in 8th grade and it was so amazing to see her and catch up.  We of course reminisced about our childhoods together... (I remember one specific trip to Cape May that involved dancing around in our underwear to the Annie Original Cast Recording…) and apparently I would always tell her I wanted to be on Broadway some day, and she always said I would have to get her tickets, and here I was on a national tour…and getting her tickets. =)  Dreams do come true, people!

The next morning (11/ 28) we flew from Denver to Seattle…literally the longest travel day ever.  It was an hour and a half to the airport, we didn't all fit on one flight, and then the later flight (my flight) got delayed, so we were sitting in the airport for like 4 hours waiting, then we finally got to Seattle…and it was a 3 hour bus ride from there to Wenatchee, where we had our first show in Washington.  Insanity.  We got in around 1 in the morning.  Maybe closer to 2.  And we had left our hotel in Fort Collins at noon.  Fortunately, a Holiday Inn Express awaited us when we got there…with amazing beds and pretty much the best cinnamon rolls in the world!!!  Mmmmmmmm.

Wenatchee was another arena show--as was Everett, WA later in the week…more Wizard of Oz on ice!  Both bizarre but interesting experiences, as was the one in Hidalgo--some of the audience is so close and immediate, and yet the acoustics of those far away make them seem so distant at the same time--but again, we had thousands of people in each audience, which is exciting regardless!

From Wenatchee we drove 10 hours south to Medford, OR, before turning around to come right back to Everett--about 8 hours north of Medford, and a half hour from the Seattle airport we flew into to begin with.  Needless to say, the travel that week made pretty much no sense…but, we had some breathtaking trips through mountains and forests, so I can't complain. =)

Mount Hood, from the bus...for real. You just see it as you drive.

I got to see another friend in Medford!  A friend I interned with at Shakespeare Santa Cruz in California the summer of 2009 is going to school in Ashland, OR, near Medford, so he came to see the show with a friend of his.  A slight blast from the past…it was great!  Especially because I was so bummed to not be going to northern California at all, where most of the rest of my friends are from that summer.

Medford was a cute little town…actually most of it was pretty sketchy-looking, but the downtown area where the theatre was was nice!  Tons of little antique shops and restaurants, and Laurie and I had some serious peach cobbler.

Leaving Medford, we stopped at a restaurant called Heaven on Earth--it's in pretty much the middle of nowhere and had been started as a truck stop years ago--and now it's famous!  Check out their website at
http://www.heavenonearthrestaurant.com/ for the story!  More amazing cinnamon rolls (I was such a happy camper that week!)--and these ones were the size of your head!  Actually probably bigger than my head.  And our bus driver had gotten the owner comps to the show the night before, so we got the ultimate VIP treatment--a room to ourselves, incredible service, complementary drinks/appetizers (cinnamon rolls, really)/desserts to take with us…it was amazing!!  Sadly, it did delay us a bit which meant that we had to scrap a potential trip to Seattle later that night..but it was so worth it. =)  And we had a pretty solid view of the Space Needle from the bus!

Our cast, posing with ginormous cakes!

Monster cinnamon rolls at Heaven on Earth! Mmmmm...

Space Needle...from the bus again!

Everett, WA was next--and yet another sketchy-looking town…pretty much par for the course with the rest of that week!  We had two shows back to back, but luckily they gave us dinner in between--a really nice dinner, actually…we'll call it belated Thanksgiving.  And we were finally back to flying in Everett (onstage, not in planes!)--we hadn't been able to fly for several shows, so it was nice to feel like we could do the full show again.

After several loooooong travel days that week, we were pretty excited to move on to Mesa, AZ, and be in one place for a while!  We had a 9-show week ahead of us (3 in Mesa, and 6 in nearby Phoenix), but it was nothing compared to the 10-hour travel days.  We flew from Seattle to Phoenix on Sunday 12/4, the day after our shows in Everett…and then we had a whole day off the next day!  Like, a real day off.  No show.  And no bus.  I…slept.  And explored.  Went shopping--our hotel was right in the downtown area, with lots of vintage and antique stores, and great restaurants…I am now obsessed with Planet Smoothie.  Oh and that night, a bunch of us went to a restaurant called Blue Adobe that I had actually heard a lot about last time I was in Mesa (I did a show there August/September 2010), but hadn't been to…it was amazing.  New Mexican cuisine…and sooooo good.

The theatres in Mesa and Phoenix were both wonderful--the Mesa Arts Center is a pretty new, and expansive facility with lovely fountains and whatnot outside, and in Phoenix we performed at the Orpheum Theatre, built in the 1920s and part of the old Orpheum vaudeville circuit.  It was a beautiful theatre…and more history, which I clearly love!  Phoenix was home to more great food and shopping, but we didn't have much time to relax and enjoy with a 6-show weekend.  We had great shows all week, though…I think we were all just ready for Christmas!  Our saxophone-playing friend outside the theatre helped with that--serenading us as we left every night with Oz tunes and Christmas carols. =)

A few of us outside the theatre in Phoenix!

...and there's the inside of the Orpheum in Phoenix! Beautiful. =)

Secret Santa also helped…this was pretty much the best Christmas ever!!  I've never done a Secret Santa before and it was so much fun!  We started the weekend after Thanksgiving and did the final exchange 12/8 after our first show in Phoenix.  Preston, my Secret Santa, left me everything from Sweet Fiesta Starbursts, to penguin gel window clings for the bus, to chocolate Scrabble...and then my final gift was Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas on DVD! We all had so much fun planting gifts for each other...on bus seats, in costumes at the theatre, at our dressing stations... =)

We closed in Phoenix on Sunday evening, 12/11, packed up, celebrated a cast member's birthday, and rolled out the next morning to fly home for Christmas!  I headed to Kansas first for a week to see the bf, and then went home the next week before we picked back up in Philly...


...which leads to where I picked up with my last/most current entry!  More to come soon, a recap and reflection on the last week of tour, and as always check out Facebook for pictures--I racked up 5 albums of pictures over the course of the whole thing!  I'll post the links on my next entry.


That's all for now...! =)


xoxo


Kelly

Happy New Year!!!

All I can say about this week is...wow.  What a whirlwind.  I am just overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude--to the 60+ people who came out to see the show in Philly and New Haven, and to apple cider vinegar/my body for getting me through 8 shows in two cities with a horrendous upper respiratory infection (thought it was reflux phlegm...till I started coughing it up.  Yep, not reflux anymore!).


Tuesday (12/27) was our first day back from our two-week Christmas break, and also pretty much the BEST DAY EVER. =)  Thank you to everyone who came out that day, and the rest of this week--thank you especially for the entrance applause, the restaurant chanting, and making me weep at curtain call...I just feel so blessed. =)

Friends at the stage door!

We had four shows in Philly in two days--phew, welcome back, folks!--at the gorgeous old Merriam Theatre--and I had friends and family at all of them!  It was such a great couple days catching up with everyone...like Christmas all over again!  And it was unbelievable to be performing in one of the theatres that was Broadway to me when I was growing up.


Speaking of which--I think I mentioned that in one of several interviews I did leading up to the Philly shows--here are the links to all of them!  Two are South Jersey papers, and two are Philadelphia suburb papers:


Courier Post: http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011312250002
Gloucester County Times: http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/towns/index.ssf/2011/12/washington_twp_native_plays_gl.html
Montgomery News Co.: 
http://www.montgomerynews.com/articles/2011/12/20/entertainment/doc4ef10123309b8538946735.txt?viewmode=fullstory
Allentown Morning Call (scroll down for this one!): 
http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/arts/theater/mc-theater-1222-20111221,0,2837621,full.story


I also got my first fan mail of the tour in Philly!  That's kind of an exaggeration, but I did get a few emails and a facebook message from people who saw the show and loved it. =)  It was very flattering, and also incredibly encouraging, since I've been fighting illness all week and felt pretty terrible about some of the shows.

Beautiful sparkly pink Glinda flowers from friends!

Thursday morning, we headed out of Philly and on to New Haven...yep, back onto the floor of the bus!  And for longer than expected...the three hour drive turned into more than six with all the holiday traffic we were fighting.  Note to self: just don't take 95 next time.  Poor life decision.


We had four shows in New Haven (right by Yale) and much of it is a blur for me...I feel like I spent most of it hydrating and medicating!  We raced to get ready for the show after our late arrival Thursday night, and then Friday I had more visitors!  Some of my best friends from Montclair drove out to see the show--and we went to Pepe's before, a famous New Haven pizza place that was supposedly responsible for bringing pizza to America.  It was SO GOOD.


Saturday was my most boring New Year's ever...I went down to the bar for about a half hour, rang in the new year with my cast, and went right back up to my hotel room to drink more tea, take Nyquil, gargle apple cider vinegar...and pass out.  Worth it, though, because all in all it's been a pretty incredible year. =)


And today, Sunday, we had our final show at the Shubert Theatre...after mass in St. Mary's--established in 1832, the second oldest Catholic parish in Connecticut. So much history this week...the Shubert opened in 1914 and is where hundreds of pre-Broadway tryouts and world premieres have taken place--more than any other theatre in the country--including Oklahoma!, back in 1943!  Check it out: http://www.shubert.com/shubert-theater/the-history.  Incredible. =) Sutton Foster, now a multiple Tony Award winner, came through here as a teenage chorus girl on a tour and her signature's on the wall backstage by her show's logo...and now we all get to become a part of that history!  Our lovely props mistress painted our logo on one of the walls backstage so we got to sign it as well.  There are probably hundreds of these lining the walls backstage, and under the stage, all over...it was amazing.

Our logo and signatures! A work in progress when I
took this but it was finished later =)

Signatures of past performers inside my dressing table...
you better believe I added mine to the bunch!

The Shubert...during loadout! So much history
took place right here... =)

Now, it's off to Kansas in the morning!  We have a brief random one-week layoff, so I'm going to visit Dan, and then we pick back up in Florida next week.


Coming soon...a recap of the last few weeks of the tour before our Christmas break...I promise!  And more pics soon, too!


xoxo


Kelly =)