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Elf on Tour: Detroit, MI part 2
The opening night show went well. The band had one snafu that almost derailed us, but we hung on and kept going and made it without crashing. It's during a dance number so if we mess up, it's bad for everyone on stage too. I'm sure it'll get worked out....
I should backtrack. Before the show started as audience members were filtering in, I popped out of the pit to go backstage (the pit entrance is through the audience here.) To my surprise my internet friend Ryan appeared out of the crowd! He's someone I've known since my circus days, and though I can't recall exactly how we met (his social pages are sparse) we've been friends online for many years. He'd come to see the show, and brought me a block of locally-made maple walnut fudge! How awesome!
I'm going to cut and wrap pieces to share with the band :)
During intermission our MD wanted a group photo, so here we all are!
I got cut out of the first attempt, so they insisted I get closer, so now I'm TOO CLOSE and became a lurker lmao
My friend Ryan came down to the pit while we were doing the Exit Music, and took a picture of me! Evidence that I work here, y'all!
I look like I'm about to cry lol. Sometimes you make the weirdest faces while playing :p
After that we all packed up and went over to Firebird Tavern for the opening night party. It was simple, no decorations or fancy cake or "swag bags," but there was lots of really good food and an open bar.
Gonna be honest, I went straight to the bar and slammed down a glass of red wine. I feel like I've been tense and anxious ever since coming out here, there's no one here that I really know, the cast is overwhelmingly male, and then there was the election of essentially a person who views women as property, as breeding cattle, as something to be used and thrown away. Being surrounded by a sea of men at this particular time has not made me feel comfortable or reassured.
You get me?
So I initiated my buzz and spent the rest of the night trying to scream conversations at people over the raucous actors. Mostly I ended up with the MD, as he had questions for me about life on the circus and I wanted to know more about his international tour with The Sound of Music. When Sam (the Director) got up and waved goodbye without giving a speech, I took that as my cue to leave as well. It was a nice party, in general these seem like nice people to work with although in full honesty I feel like an outlier here. But I will make do, and hopefully this will just be a Fun Experience For Humans in the end.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, breakfast and typing this up and finishing my transcription editing, submitting it.
A quick Jameson update: last night he told me that his hand, which he injured last year around this time while working Jollywood, has started hurting again in the same way :( He's doing his therapy exercises, but after a certain level of playing it seems to be not enough. He will be looking into surgery options again. Part of me wishes he wouldn't...I feel like, what if surgery only makes it worse? But he's an adult and I will voice my concerns and he will decide.
Walked to a Meijer to supplement groceries, and along the way saw many nice things in Detroit.
The rest of the day was uneventful. At showtime I got dressed and cut up the fudge to share with the guys. At the theatre I queued up at the production office to sign up for a seat on the next travel day bus. This is a thing that NETworks does and Troika doesn't, apparently. I'll still be sharing a seat; I just wanted one nearer the center of the bus to reduce motion sickness.
Found my dressing room on the 4th floor, which was surprisingly JUST FOR ME. Rarely do I get my own dressing room! But also, there was a swag bag in there! I'd expected to see these at the company party but I guess they distributed them this way instead.
Wandered and looked at wall tags until it was time to play the show.
It went well again, we had one Notion snafu again but I doubt the audience noticed.
Back at the hotel I decided to do laundry because I need to practice staying up later for the upcoming overnight Disney rehearsal. I also opened my swag bag and found an Elf laundry bag, and an Elf embroidered fleece sweater! How nice!
It is a little big on me, but I don't mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, we only had one show in the evening. I woke up to a new transcription job...in Punjabi! That should be fun!
I got to work on it right away and not surprisingly this case is going to take extra time. No more exploring for me here in Detroit.
For lunch I picked up a nice prosciutto + arugula + fig jam sandwich from a local Italian deli. Nothing else to report, I worked on transcription pretty much all day with just a few breaks for resting my eyes and stretching my legs. And I still barely made any headway :( But some cases will be like that, and if I keep plugging along it'll be all right.
The evening show went pretty well, we get better each time. Notion did not interfere with us today :p
Jameson had his final dress rehearsal for Jollywood tonight...the show premieres tomorrow!!! I'm so excited for him, and hope it all goes well! He says that Kermit the Frog has a special interaction with the band, and I hope to catch that when videos start popping up on YouTube.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday I was up early. We had three shows at 10, 3, and 8.
Feels just like the circus! It's been ages since I did a three-show day. Hope I can handle it!
They're even providing catering between shows for us, how nice!
Since I've somehow landed my very own dressing room here, I had a nice private space to work on my job between shows. After each show I went to the catering room to grab a plate of food, brought it here to eat, then got to work.
It still took forever because this judge is a spaz :p
By the time we got to the last show, I'd only gotten about 30 minutes of headway and had only just gotten to the actual cross-examination. But some progress is better than none.
Meanwhile Jameson was having opening night at Hollywood Studios/Jollywood, premiering the Disney Holidays in Hollywood show!
For now I've only got this picture from last year, but he's up there again on stage with the Muppets, Tiana, Belle, and more! The whole cast has been doing overnight rehearsals for the past four days in a row. Certainly everyone is exhausted, but this show is SO GOOD. I hope it was an awesome opening night for everyone involved!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday I woke up to a rainy day and swollen lips.
We had one more matinee. I ate breakfast and worked on transcription until lunchtime, then walked to that Italian deli again for a turkey sub (it was awesome.)
The afternoon show went well. One thing that I've noticed about Elf is that people are DRESSING UP for it! Parents and kids are showing up in Christmaswear like sparkly shirts, ugly sweaters, elf hats, string light necklaces, etc. It's really fun! I wish I could take a picture to show you but that's probably some invasion of privacy + there are quite a lot of kids in the audience who don't need their pics on the interwebs.
Speaking of kids, it's been really delightful having the pit ringed by children before the start of each show!
They love to exclaim over all the instruments and pelt us with questions, and it's cute how they get all shy when we answer back or ask them if they're having fun :) I don't like kids much but from a distance they can be all right ;)
After the show I packed up quickly so I could eat dinner and start on transcription.
I was disappointed that we were not offered a wall tag here, but that sometimes happens if there's no one artistic in the cast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time you read this I'll be on a bus on the way to Erie, PA.
We are only there for two days, then finish the week in Stamford, CT where my sister Raven is coming to a show with some friends.
I'm going to have to focus mostly on finishing this transcription job these next several days, but also need to get into a weekly practice routine.
Touring is not a vacation :p
I should backtrack. Before the show started as audience members were filtering in, I popped out of the pit to go backstage (the pit entrance is through the audience here.) To my surprise my internet friend Ryan appeared out of the crowd! He's someone I've known since my circus days, and though I can't recall exactly how we met (his social pages are sparse) we've been friends online for many years. He'd come to see the show, and brought me a block of locally-made maple walnut fudge! How awesome!
I'm going to cut and wrap pieces to share with the band :)
During intermission our MD wanted a group photo, so here we all are!
I got cut out of the first attempt, so they insisted I get closer, so now I'm TOO CLOSE and became a lurker lmao
My friend Ryan came down to the pit while we were doing the Exit Music, and took a picture of me! Evidence that I work here, y'all!
I look like I'm about to cry lol. Sometimes you make the weirdest faces while playing :p
After that we all packed up and went over to Firebird Tavern for the opening night party. It was simple, no decorations or fancy cake or "swag bags," but there was lots of really good food and an open bar.
Gonna be honest, I went straight to the bar and slammed down a glass of red wine. I feel like I've been tense and anxious ever since coming out here, there's no one here that I really know, the cast is overwhelmingly male, and then there was the election of essentially a person who views women as property, as breeding cattle, as something to be used and thrown away. Being surrounded by a sea of men at this particular time has not made me feel comfortable or reassured.
You get me?
So I initiated my buzz and spent the rest of the night trying to scream conversations at people over the raucous actors. Mostly I ended up with the MD, as he had questions for me about life on the circus and I wanted to know more about his international tour with The Sound of Music. When Sam (the Director) got up and waved goodbye without giving a speech, I took that as my cue to leave as well. It was a nice party, in general these seem like nice people to work with although in full honesty I feel like an outlier here. But I will make do, and hopefully this will just be a Fun Experience For Humans in the end.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, breakfast and typing this up and finishing my transcription editing, submitting it.
A quick Jameson update: last night he told me that his hand, which he injured last year around this time while working Jollywood, has started hurting again in the same way :( He's doing his therapy exercises, but after a certain level of playing it seems to be not enough. He will be looking into surgery options again. Part of me wishes he wouldn't...I feel like, what if surgery only makes it worse? But he's an adult and I will voice my concerns and he will decide.
Walked to a Meijer to supplement groceries, and along the way saw many nice things in Detroit.
The rest of the day was uneventful. At showtime I got dressed and cut up the fudge to share with the guys. At the theatre I queued up at the production office to sign up for a seat on the next travel day bus. This is a thing that NETworks does and Troika doesn't, apparently. I'll still be sharing a seat; I just wanted one nearer the center of the bus to reduce motion sickness.
Found my dressing room on the 4th floor, which was surprisingly JUST FOR ME. Rarely do I get my own dressing room! But also, there was a swag bag in there! I'd expected to see these at the company party but I guess they distributed them this way instead.
Wandered and looked at wall tags until it was time to play the show.
It went well again, we had one Notion snafu again but I doubt the audience noticed.
Back at the hotel I decided to do laundry because I need to practice staying up later for the upcoming overnight Disney rehearsal. I also opened my swag bag and found an Elf laundry bag, and an Elf embroidered fleece sweater! How nice!
It is a little big on me, but I don't mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, we only had one show in the evening. I woke up to a new transcription job...in Punjabi! That should be fun!
I got to work on it right away and not surprisingly this case is going to take extra time. No more exploring for me here in Detroit.
For lunch I picked up a nice prosciutto + arugula + fig jam sandwich from a local Italian deli. Nothing else to report, I worked on transcription pretty much all day with just a few breaks for resting my eyes and stretching my legs. And I still barely made any headway :( But some cases will be like that, and if I keep plugging along it'll be all right.
The evening show went pretty well, we get better each time. Notion did not interfere with us today :p
Jameson had his final dress rehearsal for Jollywood tonight...the show premieres tomorrow!!! I'm so excited for him, and hope it all goes well! He says that Kermit the Frog has a special interaction with the band, and I hope to catch that when videos start popping up on YouTube.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday I was up early. We had three shows at 10, 3, and 8.
Feels just like the circus! It's been ages since I did a three-show day. Hope I can handle it!
They're even providing catering between shows for us, how nice!
Since I've somehow landed my very own dressing room here, I had a nice private space to work on my job between shows. After each show I went to the catering room to grab a plate of food, brought it here to eat, then got to work.
It still took forever because this judge is a spaz :p
By the time we got to the last show, I'd only gotten about 30 minutes of headway and had only just gotten to the actual cross-examination. But some progress is better than none.
Meanwhile Jameson was having opening night at Hollywood Studios/Jollywood, premiering the Disney Holidays in Hollywood show!
For now I've only got this picture from last year, but he's up there again on stage with the Muppets, Tiana, Belle, and more! The whole cast has been doing overnight rehearsals for the past four days in a row. Certainly everyone is exhausted, but this show is SO GOOD. I hope it was an awesome opening night for everyone involved!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday I woke up to a rainy day and swollen lips.
We had one more matinee. I ate breakfast and worked on transcription until lunchtime, then walked to that Italian deli again for a turkey sub (it was awesome.)
The afternoon show went well. One thing that I've noticed about Elf is that people are DRESSING UP for it! Parents and kids are showing up in Christmaswear like sparkly shirts, ugly sweaters, elf hats, string light necklaces, etc. It's really fun! I wish I could take a picture to show you but that's probably some invasion of privacy + there are quite a lot of kids in the audience who don't need their pics on the interwebs.
Speaking of kids, it's been really delightful having the pit ringed by children before the start of each show!
They love to exclaim over all the instruments and pelt us with questions, and it's cute how they get all shy when we answer back or ask them if they're having fun :) I don't like kids much but from a distance they can be all right ;)
After the show I packed up quickly so I could eat dinner and start on transcription.
I was disappointed that we were not offered a wall tag here, but that sometimes happens if there's no one artistic in the cast.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the time you read this I'll be on a bus on the way to Erie, PA.
We are only there for two days, then finish the week in Stamford, CT where my sister Raven is coming to a show with some friends.
I'm going to have to focus mostly on finishing this transcription job these next several days, but also need to get into a weekly practice routine.
Touring is not a vacation :p