Thankful St. Louis

These last couple weeks were a bit crazy for various reasons.  We had some understudies on, some cold weather, and VERY SLOW INTERNET.  I'll tell you what, I remember the days of dial-up internet...and I would prefer not to go back.  Some hotels are slower than a modem!

But, St. Louis had many great things to offer.  We checked out the arch which I could see right from hotel balcony.  It was literally right there!  This is a shot from the top looking down.  It really is an amazing structure.

I was able to spend some time with a good friend of mine from New York.  It realized it had been a while since I had spoken with someone about career goals and dreams and there was a synergy that fed both of us to make them reality.  Those kinds of conversations are so energizing!  Thanks John!

The Fox Theater in St. Louis is a huge and wonderfully historic theater.  So many tours have passed through.  It was originally built as a silent movie theater by Fox, and now it provides live entertainment all year round.  The best part of the theater is actually backstage where the walls are COVERED with murals painted and signed by each of the touring companies that come through.  You can see a couple sample pictures.  There isn't a corner or wall untouched.

There was also a fantastic museum called "The City Museum".  If you are ever in town and have 1-3 hours, you MUST go and become a kid again at this adult jungle gym.  I definitely broke a sweat climbing, throwing balls, sliding through nooks and crannies.  This is the essence of "hands on".

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I was lucky enough to share it with many people I love here on tour.

Chihuly & Cheese Grits

Oklahoma City had way more than I expected.  We were walking distance from the hip "Bricktown" with great food, a movie theater, and ice cream mixed on a marble slab.  They had a botanical garden complete with thousands of colored lights at night. Their theater is only 8 years old after the renovation and is quite beautiful with TV's and couches in the backstage dressing rooms (was great for watching some weekend football).

But my favorites were definitely the Museum of Art that was housing the glass exhibit by Chihuly.  WOW!  This guy is amazing.  I saw his work at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, but had no idea it was him.  If you are ever near any of his work, you MUST drop by and see it.  This picture above is one of the many whimsical and beautiful works he created.

My other favorite was the Oklahoma City Memorial commemorating the OK bombing in 1995.  We were lucky enough to have a personal tour of the outdoor site by the designer, Tori.  She and her husband managed to incorporate peace into a site remembering such a violent and tragic event.  You MUST see this if you are every near as well.

This morning, I got to have breakfast with a mother of one of Kara & I's friend.  She was sweet enough to treat me to the best shrimp cheese grits I have ever eaten....WOW!!!!!!  What a great way to close out OK City.

MY HOME!: Rocky Ridge, Little Rock, and Springfield

Well, these three places were my home for the past week, BUT the house in this picture was built by the REAL Almanzo for the REAL Laura.  We were close enough to Mansfield, MO to make a morning trip over to this gem.  Having lived with this character and the Little House story for so long now, I almost cried when I saw Pa's original fiddle in the museum right next door to this uniquely and lovingly designed house.  My favorite room was the kitchen where each counter was about waist level, the perfect height for his 4'11'' bride, Laura.  All of the cabinets were well within her reach.  When they finally got electricity (a luxury piped in by their daughter Rose), Almanzo carved out a perfect cubby for the refrigerator...and I am talking PERFECT.  There was nary an inch of space between the sides of the fridge and the wooden walls of the cubby.  My father would have been impressed!  As you can see, it was a beautiful fall day.  Looking out over their land, my heart yearned to own something as peaceful one day.

This was our first and only split week, playing two towns in one week.  While it does not compare to the one-nighters I did on tour in Europe with Grease!, it still is difficult to travel and perform on the same day.  Both cities gave us some great crowds.  I have to say I was a little partial to Little Rock because of our stay in the fabulous Peabody Hotel (complete with live ducks in the fountain) and a restaurant/bar called the Flying Saucer which served not one but TWO types of gluten free beer.  It is once in a blue moon that this happens, so I made sure to taste them before I left.  :)

Our presenter, Larry, is taking care of us for the next 2 or 3 cities.  He's a good guy, so I'm looking forward to bringing the show to each of his venues.

One last picture:  Every picture that I have seen of Almanzo and Laura has them standing at least 3 feet apart from each other, and awkwardly looking at the camera.  So, Kara and I tried to recreate history in front of "our" house :)

NASHVILLE: Music City USA

Why a pumpkin, you may ask. Well, as my Nashvillian cousins would say: why not a pumpkin? !?! Well, I guess it was pretty appropriate since it was Halloween during our stay in Nashville. Can you see the theme? The eyes are "little houses"....get it? :)

But Nashville did not disappoint. In fact, it would have been nice to spend two weeks there. I think I probably had about 5 different meals involving BBQ. There was live music wafting through the streets near Broadway every night. The crowds were great, hooting and laughing. We planted trees with Habitat for Humanity one cool morning on their 7 acre or so plot. It was great to have a man there who knew about trees and how to plant them. "Almanzo" learned something new that day :) Our van driver who took us home from the Habitat plant was named Ms. Daisy, and she was proud of her city. She took us the long way back and showed us several universities, a local hospital, and of course, her favorite BBQ spot: Mary's BBQ. Luckily I had a car that week, so I made a special trip out to meet this Mary and taste some of her delicious cooking. When I asked her what she recommended, she said, "well, I don't eat it, but it's all good".

The best part about my Nashville stay was getting to see some of my cousins, aunts and uncles. I don't get to see them enough, and they were kind enough to let me crash at their place for the week. I had 7 family members and 2 friends in the audience for our last show. Luckily I did not fall off my sleigh during the show (that happened to me a couple days before for the first time since I started this show). I love my family. They make me laugh.

I will trade in the comforts of a house again to spend another week in a hotel. Let's hope it's a good one next week!

Snowy St. Paul

Well, the title isn't completely accurate. We did have the sun for 1 and 1/2 days, but the rest of our stay here has been rainy or snowy. It's not even Halloween yet!

But, I've managed to get a taste of the town. I think the most unique place so far has been an old dining car called Mickey's. It's been in business for over 70 years and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In fact, it's on the National Register of Historic Places. My girlfriend and I had breakfast there one rainy Minnesota morning: blueberry buttermilk pancakes for her and a Denver omelette with hashbrowns for me. WOW! It was so good that our stomachs ached afterwards. Good thing I took waited a half an hour before going to the gym :) If you are ever in town, you should definitely check this place out. Sit at the bar so you can watch the guy cook everything on the griddle and multi-task like a banshee (amazing) and watch the middle aged waitress look busy no matter what she's doing. For all you actors, this is a great place to character study!

I'm looking forward to our next stop: Nashville, TN. I have a lot of family in that area, and it looks like I'll get to see a pile of them!

Stop One: St. Paul, MN

We arrived on Monday to a fresh blanket of snow. Wow, that is a change from the balmy 70 degrees we were enjoying in NYC. But I have a feeling we will be experiencing many a harsh temperature change (going from Toronto to Tampa in February.....I prefer this change :).

Our theater here, the Ordway, is beautiful and quite large. Though it is not the largest we will play on tour, it feels quite a bit bigger than the Paper Mill. There are small lights that line each balcony. When you are gazing out "over the Prairie" from the stage, as we do in the show many times, there are times it looks like you are gazing into an endless starry sky. The staff here is great. We have new dressers in each city, so you never know what you're going to get. But my dresser, Dale, is ON IT! I have one full costume quick change to do in about 15 seconds, and it went swimmingly well.

Now we begin to explore the city. St. Paul is connected by a series of "skyways" from building to building, so you really don't have to walk outside at all. Although, I enjoy the crisp air. I hope to get back over to Minneapolis for at least a day to remember all the places I got to know last summer during the previous PRAIRIE run.

Pulling on my parka and out OUT THE DOOR!

One Chapter Closed, Another Chapter Begins

It is official: PRAIRIE in New Jersey is closed. But the show lives on!!!! We just finished a 5 week run at the Paper Mill Playhouse tonight to another sold out crowd. It's great to be in a show that is so well received by the audience. But there is nary a moment to rest, for we are packing up and heading OUT WEST.

Our first stop is St. Paul, Minnesota. We originated this show last summer in Minneapolis, which is only a hop, skip and a jump from St. Paul. It will bring back a lot of great memories. On the abrasive side, it snowed there the other day. Really cold weather is not high on my priority list at the moment. I just hope for some nice sunshine. Any kind of weather is bearable if there is a little sunshine :)

I am also looking forward to a moment when I am not exhausted....I feel it on the horizon...but where or when?...I don't know.

LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!!!!

(Oh, some good news: During a talk back with the audience today, someone asked about the possibility of a Cast Recording. Our lead producer in the audience was there and yelled out, "It's Coming, It's Coming".....I hope he meant it! I'll certainly post if that happens.)

THE PRAIRE IS OPEN!

It seemed to have taken a real-time journey out west, but we finally got this puppy open! There was much celebration in the small town of Milburn. They shut down Main Street, set up bails of hay, and the party spilled out onto the street.

As always, the opening night crowd was fantastic. It is full of friends and family, and of course a critic here and there. You can really feel that almost everyone really wants the show to be good and everyone to do well. Luckily, since many of us (myself included) have lived with this show for over a year now it wasn't as crazy as our first opening in Minneapolis. Though we probably had just as many changes, there was something comforting about knowing who our characters were and having lived in those lives for a little while before. I had a lot of fun, though I was DOG tired.

Two dear friends of mine got to come and celebrate at the party afterwards. Although, it is hard to hangout with friends and family because there are so many important people that want to give congrats or take a picture or even introduce themselves for the first time. If you remember back to the first rehearsal description when I wrote about the 100s of people in the room that were a part of this show....well, they all came to that after party and wanted to say hello :) But "networking" included, it was a very nice party.

DAY BEFORE THE SHOW, Y'ALL

So, it is the night before we open. We have just finished another full week of rehearsals on top of a regular show week. But we will keep the energy up as high as we can for the opening night show. In fact, opening can be very exciting, so I don't think it will be a problem. Many friends and family members will be in the crowd tomorrow night, so it is always a generous audience. We will probably get applause and laughs in places we have never gotten :) But, we have had some really great responses already. All I know is that people really seem to be enjoying the story, some pleasantly surprised, some ecstatic...and if there are any others, they drove off before they got to tell us :)

Ok.....

Cards for the cast and creative team: check

Outfit pressed and ready for tomorrow: check

New lines and blocking memorized: I hope so!

Good night sleep: checking that right....now.....

If YOU BUILD IT....

Well, the people came and went.....and they seem to like it so far! :) The show definitely feels different than our run last summer, but in a good way. It is wonderful to see all the little girls in the audience dressed up in their prairie dresses and bonnets. They are SO CUTE! And most of their mothers grew up watching the show, so they are extremely excited to see Melissa Gilbert. It really is amazing how far her influence has reached. The TV show and books have touched upon something pure and innocent that pervades humanity. It seems there are only wonderful memories attached to the Little House name.

There was a fella here yesterday that has been a primary school teacher for years and always has his class read "Farmer Boy", the book about Almanzo. Naturally, I thought that was quite astute of him :) I wonder what I would have thought of the book if I had read it at a young age. One set of parents said they came because their son got tickets as a birthday present from his girlfriend and he recommended it to them. I asked him how old his son was....29! I love it! See, even dudes can enjoy this show, hah!

Labor Day

We didn't get the day off (it's a US holiday today), but they did give us a BBQ on our dinner break. I suppose it's the next best thing, right? It really is beautiful out here in this part of New Jersey. I hope some of my NY friends are able to come out and see the show. It's a pretty easy commute.

Tomorrow is our second 1o out of 12 (1o out of 12 hours) day. We will probably get a run of the show in by the evening. We BETTER, because our first audience is on Thursday. Gideeyup!

LONG WINTER

It's COLD in the dressing rooms!....ok, maybe not that cold. But we've got to act like it on stage. We're in the second day of tech out in New Jersey. While the weather is SO beautiful outside, inside we are dressed for a 9 month blizzard! As you can tell from the picture, my "cold acting" is brilliant...haha...ha...ehem....well, i hope it is :)

It's going to be difficult acting like it's freezing on stage when we are on tour in an open air arena...and it's 100 degress. We will be sweating as the snow falls!

I'm sharing a dressing room with Tony, our swing. Unfortunately, he's so busy that he won't be in here much....so it gets a bit lonely. Hmmm, I may have spoken too soon. As I type, our Tony is going on as one of the 14 year old boys. It's fun when grown men play kids! Anyway, even if I'm playing a principal, I usually like to share with the boys. It makes for much better memories and laughs! It will be different in every city anyway.

A Day to imPRESS!

The picture above is Laura & Almanzo (Kara Lindsay & Me). Can you tell which is which? :)

On our last day of rehearsal in NYC, we invited the press to watch us perform a couple of our musical numbers and then we gathered for photos and interviews in the next room. Days like this make a lot of people nervous :) But it is a great opportunity to advertise your show and hopefully give people an idea of all the work we've been doing. Prairie has had a fairly long journey to get to this point, and we've put a lot of sweat into it's making. So we hope people enjoy the end product!

Press day can fool you...at least for a second...into thinking that you are a movie star! :) You walk down the line of cameras and they all shout, "look this way" "over here" "one more"...(flash flash flash)..."one more this way" (flash).....and then it's over and they all move on. ha! We get a little extra attention as a show because Melissa Gilbert is attached. It's pretty cool to watch her in these situations, because she's fairly used to the attention and press. In a sense, it really is part of her job. While we get glimpses of the flashing bulbs in the "theater world" during opening nights, press events, fundraisers....it truly pales in comparison to Hollywood. I may prefer it that way....hehehe.

If you want to see more pictures from the press event, check out this link http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_LITTLE_HOUSE_ON_THE_PRAIRIE_THE_MUSICAL_Meets_The_Press_20090903

Day of Rest

New York City is really amazing. It's so crowded everywhere you go. I was taking an innocent nap in the park and next thing I know, someone is popping up out of the ground RIGHT NEXT to me. RUDE! I hope the person didn't mind me snoring on them a bit :)

The picture is from an outdoor sculpture park in upstate New York called Storm King. It was a HOT day, but I managed to find a little rest in this shade.

The script for Prairie is frozen!!!...for the time being. This allows us to continue fine tuning what we have without worrying about constant changes. If we were always in a state of flux, it's possible to miss some good things that might actually work. It will also give us a chance to run the show a couple of times before we go into tech (technical rehearsals were we move to the real stage, add light and sound cues, costumes, etc.). It's also our last week working in NYC, so I'm trying to savor it. Though the theater in New Jersey is a short drive, it is much more of a hassle because of the infamous NYC traffic.

The NY Times will be there tomorrow...I better put on some extra rouge :)

POISONED BY POLLO

or potentially titled "POISONED BY POISSON" Either way, I think I got some food poisoning from a birthday part where paella was the main course. The dish looked like a huge wave had swept up the tastiest bits of the sea and left it perfectly on a bed of rice just in time for the birthday festivities. There was also some chicken in there...chicken of the sea?....hmmmm. In any case, I got knocked out for a couple of days, but I'm slowly recovering. The creative team was nice enough to let me go a little early yesterday. I don't think I had another horse race in me anyway :)

Today we ran the first act with all the new changes. It's amazing how far away the first act felt since we had been spending so much time recently on the second act. But, I suppose it is half our show...so we must! We had some producers come to watch, so there was a little nervous energy in the air. I can't imagine the task of pleasing every single one of the producers (and we have MANY in this show). You just hope everyone is striving for the good of the show, first and foremost.

My new song in the 2nd act is now lengthened...for the time being. We needed a little more "umph". Laura has a newer song as well which made us change the final duet. You see, everything is connected! Then, they ask us to give it a try right away. You don't even get a chance to memorize it and all of the sudden your whooshing around the stage singing a new song. Sometimes you just repeat the only words you know over and over again to the tune :) They don't expect it to be perfect at that moment but just need to see if the new idea works. That is true "live theater!".

We Have Broken Through!

As of today, we have finished blocking the entire show, from curtain to curtain. Well, I guess there is an extra 2 curtains in there for intermission (or what I like to call "halftime"). I suppose I'll never shake my soccer roots!

We are moving so much faster than we did last summer with the show. It is mostly because the creative team has such a better idea of what they want this time, so we spend a little less time "reinventing the wheel" so to speak. We kept what works and spend the time on the new changes. Interestingly, it seems that we spend the most time on some of the smallest sections: transitions, short chorus crosses, adding in the new words to the same song 10 times or more! This morning we spent almost 2 hours on a short "dance" that Laura and I have at the end of the show. In reality, this section will only be about 20 seconds long. But, we wanted to try some new things. Whatever we end up with, I hope I can do it 8 times a week for almost a year! Those are the kinds of things you have to keep in mind when you are creating a long running show. It may be cool and fun in the moment, but after 5 months..1 year...you can regret creating that "cool" moment. hah!

Now we will begin finessing, smoothing all the rough edges, and clearing up the story as best we can. As I think I said before, everyone is really taking the changes very easily. I don't anticipate and meltdowns...yet :)

Onto tomorrow to "turn that prairie gold!"

WHERE IS THE LOVE?

I'll tell you where the love is: all around me!

I just got home from another long day of rehearsals. I was having a deep, unexpected, but honest conversation with my girlfriend. I have to say that I haven't felt that vulnerable in a long time...maybe ever. I was amazed by the love I felt and how blessed I am to have her in my life. I also have a wonderful, supportive family (who are all planning on seeing PRAIRIE at some point!...right family? :).

And to top it off, I check my email this evening and have an inbox full of friends across the ocean with pictures, flags, memories, and of course, nutella! Thank you so much for thinking of me. I feel the love, really!

And where did you find such a great flag? I was over in Germany during America's independence day this past year (July 4th) and Ingolf was sweet enough to pick up a small flag for me. It was not easy to find! So, well done with that too!

Thank you for sending the pictures, Julia. Thanks to you all!

DO YOU SMELL SOMETHING BURNING?

Notice the body position of that guy in the middle of the picture there, holding the reins. Looks pretty easy right? Now imagine basically holding that position for about 3 hours straight, two days in a row. In fact, go with me a bit further here and imagine bouncing up and down as if you were "riding a horse-drawn wagon" for those solid six hours. If your imagination is not working so well, just try it wherever you are right now. Go for 5 minutes. How do you feel? Do you FEEL THE BURN??? I do!

I have a great time in this scene. It is the same basic idea that we used in our last version of PRAIRIE, a square dance moving into a great mix of song and horse race. But, since there are changes and new cast members and because it is quite involved in terms of lyrics, music, and movement...you can imagine we spent a lot of time rehearsing this scene these past couple days. I'm remembering why I got my soccer legs back after the last run of PRAIRIE. No pain, no gain right?

We are pretty much done blocking the whole first act. Today, we ran it in it's entirety. Everybody is really working hard, and it definitely shows. Tomorrow we tackle the second act! Let's see if Nellie can thwart Almanzo's pursuit of that free spirit, Laura.....only time will tell...with the help of a kick ball-change and some fantastic movie-composer-turned-theater-composer underscoring!

Full Steam AHEAD!

We are literally plowing through during rehearsals now.  It feels like a beast of a show at the moment.  Because we don't have any automation, flying, special effects etc., we actually have all our props and most our set that we can use during rehearsals.  So, it's as if we were doing the ACTUAL show instead of just rehearsing.  And because we are still figuring it out, we keep repeating or changing each entrance...which means we set and re-set each prop and set piece every time.  Usually, you are able to "mark" or "just act" like you are moving set pieces during rehearsal until you get onstage.  That makes rehearsing, changing the scenes, switching entrances so much easier.  Not the case with us! 

There is also quite a bit more "dancing" or "movement" in this version.  PRAIRIE isn't a 42nd Street or Chorus Line, so we don't have many dances like that.  However, we do have jigs and square dances, types of movement that normal people did out on the prairie.  It really works with the atmosphere of the show.  

After quite a full day of new material, we were asked to run all the new and old work we had done for the orchestrator.  This would allow him to have a visual idea of the song, hopefully adding even more "layers" to his choices while orchestrating.  Wow, it really makes you think on your feet.

All that said, I still LOVE my job :)  We are experiencing freedom in "play".  The creative team allows us to bring and add our own personalities and choices, many of which get incorporated into the final version.  We play until it feels right!

Play On, my friends! Play til it feels right!

America's Heartland

I was looking through some old photos and found this jewel. You see before you a hog weighing over 1200 lbs. The picture really does not do her fat rolls justice. I would not want to be one of her piglets trying to get a warm drop of milk only to be smothered by one of her 6 thighs!

This was part of our "research" for PRAIRIE: meeting real farmers, seeing real livestock, and experience real food that they somehow fried and shoved on a stick. Many states in America have a State Fair once a year to celebrate and cultivate farmers. I will not forget our visit to Minnesota's State Fair last year during our 1st run of PRAIRIE. Every year they have a new food specialty. This past year was chocolate covered bacon. I think I managed to get one piece down. For a fuller description of the State Fair phenomenon, click THIS LINK to read Garrison Keillor's article in National Geographic. He captures the essence of the heartland and Minnesota in particular better than any other writer I know.

As with Laura Ingalls Wilder's books about living on the prairie, the state fair was a showcase for WORK and FOOD. Her books seem to spend most of their time talking about the endless supply of work and the particulars of making and enjoying each meal. It is amazing that she found any time to play as a young girl! It certainly puts things in perspective regarding my own workload. I have NOTHING to complain about. And if I do, shove some chocolate covered bacon in my face and remind me I've got it good!

A DAY WITHOUT MUSIC, THIS WAS NOT

What a day on the PRAIRIE! We sang from dusk til dawn and then some more. I believe we will sing all day tomorrow too. But, I LOVE IT, though it is tiring. In spite of having a previous production, almost every song has changed. Some are large changes and some are just a word here and there. There is a new song for Laura, the main girl...and my eventual bride :) And they gave me a new one as well for the second act. It's quite lovely. I wish I could post it online. But alas, you will have to come see the show!...or I suppose you could just get the CD. But the show is much more fun to see live!!!

(Picture is of Rachel Portman, Oscar winning composer who also wrote our music for PRAIRIE. She and Donna DiNovella created all of our songs...and all the changes! Pic from Telegraph.co.uk)

As usual, with new shows, there are changes upon changes. As we were singing some of the songs, the writers were sitting in the room and saying, "you know, do you think you could try singing "have" instead of "will"?" or "do you mind singing a high G at the end to fill out the chord?" We are literally making it up on the spot. I LOVE IT! It's always interesting to see what you end up with in the end.

Actually, on the Broadway TARZAN recording, you will hear a different musical ending than we actually used in the show. The CD has Tarzan and Jane singing "With every ending comes a new beginning..." before the cast comes in. That was cut before we opened, but we had already recorded it for the CD. That's why many new shows don't release the CD until after they are already open.

We will see what new notes await us tomorrow.....

PRAIRIE- It Begins...

We had our first full day of Little House on the Prairie (from hereafter to be referred to as "Prairie"...we're trying to be a "green" show...). There were TONS of people in the room at the beginning. It reminds you that it truly takes a village, or a small army, to put up a show. Prairie, in particular, has been kicking around for a while and has made some unconventional moves in terms of how is being produced. The times are changing, and we must adapt!

It was heart warming to see the creative team again and many of the cast members from the last production. The new additions seem like a fantastic fit. I'm looking forward to getting to know them all in the coming weeks. First up: memorizing names! I've decided I am good at this now. No more blaming forgetfulness on my father's genes. I am changing my destiny :) The mind is a powerful thing, folks. What are YOU telling it to do?

I'm resting up for what will surely be a rigorous costume fitting first thing in the morning. Trying on clothes is hard!... :) wow, do I really get paid to do this?!?

If you haven't yet, check out www.littlehousethemusical.com so you can see some of the cast and info. This will be a big chunk of my life for the next year...whew!

ART or FOOD?

Well, if it's ART...then it's tasty ART!

What a way to start off the day after so many international trips:

Banana from Canada (ooo, that has a nice ring)

Nutella from Germany

Bread from down the street

AND it's completely GLUTEN-FREE...just like me :) Show some love to your gluten-free peeps today. They will be happy you even know what "gluten" is!

Back Home

Call off the police dogs! I'm back! It seems my traveling days were not quite over. I managed to make another trip upstate NY to camp. Can't you just FEEL the peacefulness from the pic above? Yep, I knew you could. I started that fire with my own two hands, Tarzan style! If you haven't spent the night in a tent, under a tarp, in a teepee, or something other than a wooden or steel structure then consider it your homework to do it!

We also made a delicious meal which included some fantastic wurst I picked up in my local grocery store before I left. There is nothing like a meal cooked over the fire....I can still taste the caramelized onions....mmm...

The next stop was a bit of

"research" for my next show, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. All the characters are based on real people and are actually pretty accurate. My character, Almanzo Wilder, grew up in upstate New York. We visited this farm on our way to Canada. I'll make a more in depth post about this later. But, here is a picture of one of the barns. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!

And the final stop was in Montreal...oh me oui! We had so much fun in the city that I forgot to take many pictures :) I did manage to snap this one in the Old City section just before sunset. It was fascinating to be able to drive to another country who's official language is English but where everything is French. I know it is normal in Europe to jump from border to border and culture to culture so quickly. However, it is not so easy in America...unless you walk from neighborhood to neighborhood in NYC...then it's even quicker than Europe! haha

I put some pictures of the last reading I did up on my website (including the one above). It was a musical written around the music of Peter Gabriel called US. These types of events happen all the time in NYC. It's a chance for writers, composers, etc to see their work performed without having to put up a ton of money for sets, costumes, a venue, etc. Most of these works are "a work in progress", so there are many changes to come.

This was the first public performance of US. It's great for we actor folk because you meet a lot of new people in a short amount of time (a reading usually only take 1 week to rehearse and is only 1 performance). Plus, you have to think on your feet and learn the show VERY quickly. An added bonus is discovering great new music like Peter Gabriel's. I really had no idea of the depth of his work. You should check out some of his stuff from the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Tarzan started like this. In fact, I think there were several "readings" before they moved forward with a full production. Even from the first rehearsals, there were many changes before we finally opened on Broadway. There are actually lots of different things in the German production too. It's fascinating to see how art progresses.

I just got back from another road trip to see two good buddies of mine, one I met last year on Little House on the Prairie and the other I went to college with @ UNC.

I drove down to Philadelphia to see the first buddy in the tour of GREASE! Now, I have to admit I was not expecting to be blown out of the water by the production since I have done over 500 performances of it myself in Europe and tend to go catatonic at the first trumpet blasts of "Grease is the Word"...BUT....I have to say, I was really impressed, and mostly by my friend's performance. He really was tremendous in the show, and THAT's saying something for a performance in Grease! He really stood out.

Then it was on to Baltimore where my friend and his new wife have a wonderful "row house" in the heart of the city. We went to a art festival downtown with tons of free exhibits and DELICIOUS food. We actually sat through an hour talk on the history of "row houses"....again, was not expecting much but it was QUITE fascinating. Ended the evening with a rooftop BBQ. My dessert was a hot fudge sunday on my drive back to NYC tonight.

While I am exhausted, it was well worth the trips to spend time with the people you care about. I'm trying to practice what I preach, "invest in people, not in things".

So, I've finally had some time to clear my desk of all the clutter that has built up this spring and found this gem amidst the rubble. My life is slowly getting back in order, but it was fun with a little chaos actually!

This picture was taken on what I believe was our first and only canceled show. After 40 minutes or so of waiting to start the show, we had to cancel because the sound was not working at all. And so, there we were, lil' Tarzan and me, all dressed up and nowhere to fly :) This was snapped in the house before we went out to announce the final sad news of canceling the show.

It's funny that we play the same character in the show, but we rarely get to see each other on or off stage. Back stage, the young Tarzans are always with the "wrangler" (at least that's what we called the child supervisor in America). On stage, when one of us enters, the other exits. I see him for a brief moment when I fly in for "So Ein Mann". And then, for one magical moment, we get to connect when he descends on the trunk. It's one of my favorite moments.

I love this pic!

This is my first attempt at a blog. I guess to answer the title "where to next?": TO THE BLOG, MATES!

I was inspired to start a blog because my sister and dear friend have made the plunge, so the blog-water is a little less scary now. Plus, there were some lovely people I recently met in Germany that gave me the last encouragement to try.

Hopefully, the content will get better as I learn the art of the blog, so please bear with me.

So, in the past three weeks I have flown from San Franscisco-Kansas City-NYC-Germany-Denver-NYC. Let the frequent flier miles rain down on me :) I finally have a little time to change focus from grunting and singing in Deutsch in TARZAN to riding horses and winning my gal, Laura, in LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. I get to wear a bit more clothes in the latter.

We'll see what will come in the meantime....!