so friday night in columbus was more than any of us could have expected. close family friends of robert's invited us out to their place (via chartered bus) for a lovely after-show party. brisket, chicken, mac and cheese, pepperoni rolls, salad, beer and wine, loads of dessert from cookies to marble and velvet cakes. and best of all, a baby grand. sam and i took turns playing songs (outside of the show, thank goodness) that we all sang to. and to put icing on an already fabulous night, his mother gave each of us personalized goodie bags with vitamins and other trinkets that would help sustain our health on the road.
so maybe columbus isn't ALL bad. but when you have a hard time finding something to eat downtown during the weekend because literally almost everything is closed, there's a problem. on sunday, we were told by locals that only tip top, this one restaurant/bar, was open for dinner. one. so everyone in the entire damn city who was downtown was going to be at that bar...so we had better head over there quickly. outraged, i just knew i could go back to the hotel and eat a sullen dinner there. oh wait, it was closed too. thank god it finally opened at 5, and i was able to get some sustenance before having to be back at the theater by 6. unreal. and to top it all off - wow, this really pissed me off. marc, one of the ensemble guys, and i were working onstage at the piano in between shows. nothing outrageous - just going over a few things. he wasn't belting an aria, and i wasn't playing as if i had nine hands. so in the middle of our session, some guy from who knows where starts yelling, "shutup!" at the top of his lungs. completely unprovoked. "excuse me, hello?" "shutup!" "and who the hell are you? YOU shutup!" clearly, the man was a coward because he never showed himself. and marc and i, undaunted, kept on and finished our half-hour. could you be any more rude? i almost wish he did come on stage, because i would have put my foot so far up his...
well, good riddance columbus. the rain couldn't dampen our spirits as we gleefully headed to the airport. after the traditional mimosa monday (which, in this case, had to be adapted to bloody mary monday, since the chili's didn't have champagne), we left ohio, switched planes in chicago and headed west. "good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. we are beginning our descent into los angeles. the current weather conditions: 69 and partly cloudy." got to the hotel (i'm staying at the marriott on figueroa between 3rd and 4th sts) and hit the ground running. an awesome harvard friend of mine, megan kerr, is a huge sweetheart. her folks have season tickets to the staples center (which means all lakers, clippers and kings [hockey] games), and we worked out a pretty simple deal. i'd get her tickets to dreamgirls if she got me tickets to a laker game. sadly, the lakers won't play a home game on a monday night while i'm here. boo. =( but even if it is the clippers, how could i say no to second row VIP tix? so last night, cate and i went to the game and had a great time. couldn't barely sit down when we were told there were menus in the cupholders. never thought i'd be waited on at a professional athletic competition. but despite all of the yummy goodness that was hand-delivered to us, there was one problem. megan, who was going to come with her sister, got really sick and decided not to come because she flew to nyc today for b-school interviews. as much of a sports fanatic as she is, she totally made the right call to rest up as best she could before flying cross-country. the bobcats, though favored by 4, were plagued by a 1-for-16 shooting night from stephen jackson and despite gerald wallace's 32-9-5-4, fell to the hometown team, 98-94. it was a surprisingly good game between two mediocre teams. it was pretty hilarious to see all the laker championship banners looming over two franchises that have yet to win one.
today, i've had completely off. slept in, went to the gym, had lunch at the palm (which i spotted last night while walking to the staples center; staples, the convention center and the nokia theatre are all next to each other near 11th and figueroa, and the palm is one block away on 11th and flower), went to ralph's in order to stock up my fridge. and now, i'm here. i'll end this post on a cliffhanger, because i'm sure you'll want to hear about my night tonight. being on a touring show is super awesome - for many reasons, but this could be one of the best. we often invite members of other productions to come see our show. i'm really excited to see a dear friend of mine, monique midgette (who has one of the best voices i've ever heard), soon. she's in the lion king in vegas, and they were offered to come see dreamgirls. well, the favor often gets returned. i don't know if we're going to vegas to see lion king...but i do know that i am going to the pantages theatre tonight to see fantasia in the color purple!
commence.
jealousy.
now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I remember one year in college, a friend and I went to Birmingham for the first and second round games of the NCAA tournament. We had a break for dinner that Sunday, and we walked all over Birmingham looking for a place that was open for dinner! We ended up at Subway, which was PACKED, because I swear it was the ONLY place that was open! This is why NOT to host a major event in a city in the bible belt :-P Anyway, my point is that I feel your pain about the food search. Glad you're having fun! :)
ReplyDelete