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Elf on Tour: Richmond, KY
Popped awake Monday morning, ate breakfast, finished packing, and was ready to go by the time Jameson got up.
He drove me to the airport, helped me check in my luggage, and walked me to the gate where we hugged goodbye.
I squeezed him too hard, and felt some kind of way.
This is a short tour but that doesn't make being apart any easier.
This was the fastest I've ever gone through TSA. I think it took three minutes. Unheard of in Orlando!
The flight to Chicago was three hours long and was insignificant. I ate nonperishables and chatted with my seat-mates.
For the second flight our Reed 1 and Trumpet 2 were on the same flight, so we got to know each other a bit.
Neither of them has been on a tour before...Todd (trumpet) has done primarily cruise ships and is interested in doing more "land stuff," and Neil (Reed 1) seems to be doing this for the pay. Neither of them illicitly sourced their music in advance like I did, but have only seen it for the first time when the reorchestrated parts were sent a week ago.
Which is all to say that I'm probably well prepared, having had a part for much longer than that, but we'll see.
We landed in Lexington and had a 40-minute drive to the hotel in Richmond.
I did my thing where I drop my bags, make sure the fridge works, then go get groceries. Nothing special except some locally roasted coffee. Back at the hotel, unpacked and tried to remember what-goes-where when I'm on tour. Prepped as much as I could for tomorrow before falling asleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday. I always feel like I've been hit by a bus the day after flying. Getting up early was hard.
We had a "Touring 101" orientation from 10-11, for which we were given "breakfast" which was bagels and cut fruit and coffee. I stole bagels because that's bread I don't have to buy. The info was pretty standard, good-to-know stuff, and I got to meet the band and pick up some Elf swag while we were at it! My music of course; my backstage pass; a nice water bottle; and the ubiquitous luggage tag. I've now got luggage tags from three different tours, which is a big flex :p
There are also some props stored where we’re rehearsing (DO NOT SHARE this photo please, super secret!!)
After lunch we got right to work.
This orchestra is interesting because there’s no bass or guitar, and there’s only one keyboard. To fill in all the missing instruments we have a dude with a laptop and mini-keyboard, using a program called Notion.
Notion is some sort of composition and performance software that uses London Symphony Orchestra samples to be lots of instruments. Throughout the rehearsal I played along with a ghost-trombone and ghost-tuba, and any number of other not-really-there instruments. You can definitely still tell it’s synthetic audio, but I guess it helps fill out the sound? Idk.
Rehearsal went way better than I expected. Everyone did a great job considering we only got the music a week ago. During breaks I got to chat with the guys and get to know people better.
Yes, the guys. The entire band, and the entire music production team, are all men. Same old story, different show. Where my ladies at??
During the dinner break I walked around the campus a little bit. It is fall here but still quite warm. The art building is very nice and a good place to rehearse this show.
I sat outside to eat lunch, a thing you can't really do in Florida without ruining your clothing with sweat for the day.
It felt good :)
Rehearsal went until 10pm (a 12-hour day) and I was dead tired by the end of it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, I was supposed to go visit an American chestnut tree orchard this morning on the campus of EKU. I'd planned it knowing that rehearsal wasn't until 1pm. BUT at 11:30 last night a frantic email was sent out asking us to come in at 10am instead. Something about having to move the drums to the pit without losing rehearsal time? Whatever, I'm disappointed but not surprised. Chestnut visit canceled.
Instead, breakfast and a trip to Meijer for some things that I forgot, like a lint roller and chapstick.
Rehearsal was fine again, though we were all very tired and perhaps a bit frustrated with the acoustics in the rehearsal room. It's a large room with no carpeting, very boomy, lots of reverb making us sound mushy. But at the end of the night we picked up all of our things and moved to the pit. Starting tomorrow we'll have in-ears and Avoim mixes, so we'll be able to hear each other much more clearly. I'll be interested to see how Notion fits into the mix, being a blend of multiple instruments.
As soon as we got to the pit I set my stand and mic how I like them, laid out my mutes, poked my Aviom to make sure it's blank, and configured my conductor cam. When I was satisfied I looked up and realized that it was easy to tell who was a tour newbie: the musicians who hadn't been on tour before were standing awkwardly behind their chairs, staring and looking afraid to touch anything. Ah...I was like that, once. It felt strange to realize that I'm the seasoned veteran now!
I forgot to take pictures in the pit, so instead have this picture of the stage. I snuck in during the lunch break, and they were in the middle of fixing a lighting rig. But you can see the Rockefeller Center ice skating scene is set up. (Again again again, NO SHARING PLEASE.)
Other cool things that happened today:
- During a rehearsal break, Michael (AMD over on Peter Pan, currently giving musical guidance for Elf) came up to me. "I have a present for you from Kevin Vu," he said. "KEVIN!!" I exclaimed. Kevin and I performed together on Tootsie, and he was a big fan of my Foodie Finds! The shirt, it turns out, was from Three Fold Noodles, a restaurant in Little Rock that serves handmade noodles and other delicious Asian goodies. You can CLICK HERE to read about the time I got to eat there (TL;DR it was amazing.) Peter Pan went back through Little Rock, and Kevin thoughtfully bought me this souvenir! I quickly texted to thank him, and will send him a picture when I wear it :)
- After we had loaded into the pit I hustled up to the Green Room to retrieve my dinner. On the way I passed an important-looking guy in a suit, who stopped me by saying, "Hey, are you Megan?" His name is Sam Scalamoni, he's our Director for Elf, and we have a mutual friend! We both know Tom, a pianist whom I worked with on the circus (I don't yet know how Tom and Sam met.) Tom had asked Sam to say hello to me if we crossed paths. How cool, how lucky! And how small the entertainment world is!
We were thankfully done at 7pm today, and I went right home for dinner, a shower, hot tea, and pajamas.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday: I guess it's Halloween! A 15-hour day with sound checks starting at 8am, then Wandelprobe until 11pm. Kill me now (but it still beats working in a hat shop)
Friday: More rehearsal but I think it'll be just run throughs and a shorter day, thank God.
Saturday: Preview show at 2pm, then load out
Sunday: Travel to Detroit. It's really weird to travel on a Sunday but whatevs, I don't make the rules (plus I think we'll get Monday off?? A girl can dream!)
He drove me to the airport, helped me check in my luggage, and walked me to the gate where we hugged goodbye.
I squeezed him too hard, and felt some kind of way.
This is a short tour but that doesn't make being apart any easier.
This was the fastest I've ever gone through TSA. I think it took three minutes. Unheard of in Orlando!
The flight to Chicago was three hours long and was insignificant. I ate nonperishables and chatted with my seat-mates.
For the second flight our Reed 1 and Trumpet 2 were on the same flight, so we got to know each other a bit.
Neither of them has been on a tour before...Todd (trumpet) has done primarily cruise ships and is interested in doing more "land stuff," and Neil (Reed 1) seems to be doing this for the pay. Neither of them illicitly sourced their music in advance like I did, but have only seen it for the first time when the reorchestrated parts were sent a week ago.
Which is all to say that I'm probably well prepared, having had a part for much longer than that, but we'll see.
We landed in Lexington and had a 40-minute drive to the hotel in Richmond.
I did my thing where I drop my bags, make sure the fridge works, then go get groceries. Nothing special except some locally roasted coffee. Back at the hotel, unpacked and tried to remember what-goes-where when I'm on tour. Prepped as much as I could for tomorrow before falling asleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday. I always feel like I've been hit by a bus the day after flying. Getting up early was hard.
We had a "Touring 101" orientation from 10-11, for which we were given "breakfast" which was bagels and cut fruit and coffee. I stole bagels because that's bread I don't have to buy. The info was pretty standard, good-to-know stuff, and I got to meet the band and pick up some Elf swag while we were at it! My music of course; my backstage pass; a nice water bottle; and the ubiquitous luggage tag. I've now got luggage tags from three different tours, which is a big flex :p
There are also some props stored where we’re rehearsing (DO NOT SHARE this photo please, super secret!!)
After lunch we got right to work.
This orchestra is interesting because there’s no bass or guitar, and there’s only one keyboard. To fill in all the missing instruments we have a dude with a laptop and mini-keyboard, using a program called Notion.
Notion is some sort of composition and performance software that uses London Symphony Orchestra samples to be lots of instruments. Throughout the rehearsal I played along with a ghost-trombone and ghost-tuba, and any number of other not-really-there instruments. You can definitely still tell it’s synthetic audio, but I guess it helps fill out the sound? Idk.
Rehearsal went way better than I expected. Everyone did a great job considering we only got the music a week ago. During breaks I got to chat with the guys and get to know people better.
Yes, the guys. The entire band, and the entire music production team, are all men. Same old story, different show. Where my ladies at??
During the dinner break I walked around the campus a little bit. It is fall here but still quite warm. The art building is very nice and a good place to rehearse this show.
I sat outside to eat lunch, a thing you can't really do in Florida without ruining your clothing with sweat for the day.
It felt good :)
Rehearsal went until 10pm (a 12-hour day) and I was dead tired by the end of it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, I was supposed to go visit an American chestnut tree orchard this morning on the campus of EKU. I'd planned it knowing that rehearsal wasn't until 1pm. BUT at 11:30 last night a frantic email was sent out asking us to come in at 10am instead. Something about having to move the drums to the pit without losing rehearsal time? Whatever, I'm disappointed but not surprised. Chestnut visit canceled.
Instead, breakfast and a trip to Meijer for some things that I forgot, like a lint roller and chapstick.
Rehearsal was fine again, though we were all very tired and perhaps a bit frustrated with the acoustics in the rehearsal room. It's a large room with no carpeting, very boomy, lots of reverb making us sound mushy. But at the end of the night we picked up all of our things and moved to the pit. Starting tomorrow we'll have in-ears and Avoim mixes, so we'll be able to hear each other much more clearly. I'll be interested to see how Notion fits into the mix, being a blend of multiple instruments.
As soon as we got to the pit I set my stand and mic how I like them, laid out my mutes, poked my Aviom to make sure it's blank, and configured my conductor cam. When I was satisfied I looked up and realized that it was easy to tell who was a tour newbie: the musicians who hadn't been on tour before were standing awkwardly behind their chairs, staring and looking afraid to touch anything. Ah...I was like that, once. It felt strange to realize that I'm the seasoned veteran now!
I forgot to take pictures in the pit, so instead have this picture of the stage. I snuck in during the lunch break, and they were in the middle of fixing a lighting rig. But you can see the Rockefeller Center ice skating scene is set up. (Again again again, NO SHARING PLEASE.)
Other cool things that happened today:
- During a rehearsal break, Michael (AMD over on Peter Pan, currently giving musical guidance for Elf) came up to me. "I have a present for you from Kevin Vu," he said. "KEVIN!!" I exclaimed. Kevin and I performed together on Tootsie, and he was a big fan of my Foodie Finds! The shirt, it turns out, was from Three Fold Noodles, a restaurant in Little Rock that serves handmade noodles and other delicious Asian goodies. You can CLICK HERE to read about the time I got to eat there (TL;DR it was amazing.) Peter Pan went back through Little Rock, and Kevin thoughtfully bought me this souvenir! I quickly texted to thank him, and will send him a picture when I wear it :)
- After we had loaded into the pit I hustled up to the Green Room to retrieve my dinner. On the way I passed an important-looking guy in a suit, who stopped me by saying, "Hey, are you Megan?" His name is Sam Scalamoni, he's our Director for Elf, and we have a mutual friend! We both know Tom, a pianist whom I worked with on the circus (I don't yet know how Tom and Sam met.) Tom had asked Sam to say hello to me if we crossed paths. How cool, how lucky! And how small the entertainment world is!
We were thankfully done at 7pm today, and I went right home for dinner, a shower, hot tea, and pajamas.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday: I guess it's Halloween! A 15-hour day with sound checks starting at 8am, then Wandelprobe until 11pm. Kill me now (but it still beats working in a hat shop)
Friday: More rehearsal but I think it'll be just run throughs and a shorter day, thank God.
Saturday: Preview show at 2pm, then load out
Sunday: Travel to Detroit. It's really weird to travel on a Sunday but whatevs, I don't make the rules (plus I think we'll get Monday off?? A girl can dream!)
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That is such a beautiful sunrise, wow!!!
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If I use a term and you wanna know what it means or whatever just ask! I try to explain most theater/tour terms that I think people might not know, but sometimes I miss some. AMD, for example, is Assistant (or Associate) Music Director.
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I'm glad you are there to help folks who are new!
Hope all goes well!
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