monday - went to cirque du soleil's zed. dave romich (sound) and kimberly marable (stepp sister/assistant dance captain) know the male vocalist in the show, kevin faraci. they worked with earlier on a tour of wedding singer. the cirque theatre in tokyo disney is the only theatre built specifically for a cirque show. cate, one of our star dressers, also came along. and wow, the four of us had a blast. kevin got dave and kim comp seats up in one of the booths, but cate and i arguably had the better overall experience. both dave and kim had seen this particular cirque show before, but neither cate nor i had ever seen one. so we both premium tickets - 15,000 yen ($170-ish). 6th row. hurt my neck staring up at the acrobats constantly flying over my head. kevin has an amazing voice, and there was no part of the show that felt like a letdown. 90 minutes, no intermission of constant, non-stop energy. vivid colors and costumes. i said going in that there was no way i could go to my first-ever cirque show and not pay top dollar to sit in one of the best seats. best 15,000 yen i could have spent. the crowd ooh'd and aah'd as one as the tightrope specialists amazed us with jump after jump. the clowns were hilarious. i haven't laughed at a clown in years, but i certainly hooted as the pair that danced around the stage, helping to tell us the story. being a musician, i thought that the band was mindblowingly good. no offense dreamgirls, but if i ever got offered a cirque show, i'd leave you in a heartbeat. the band was so well integrated into the show and was even featured in multiple moments. i particularly perked up during one chord progression that repeated a few times. it started in G minor - which is my new least favorite key. well actually, i've never had a least favorite key. but i've sure got one now, because most of dreamgirls is in fucking G minor. well, this progression soon modulated to G# minor, which made me as giddy as a little schoolgirl, before going through a modified circle of fourths and...ok, i'm boring the non-musicians who are reading this. i could go on and on, but i think you get the point. i had an absolutely amazing time. even though the house was only half-full for a monday matinee at 1, we cheered so loudly that they got 3 curtain calls. if you've never been to one, go right now. if you have already, go again.
after the show, we spent the rest of the day with kevin and his fiancee, melissa. went to one area (forgot the name of it), but it totally reminded me of being on 57th and 5th in new york. louis vuitton, bvlgari, and any other expensive shops you can think of lined the streets. we walked into one of the department stores and saw a couple of really cool items. one was a set of drinking containers that literally keeps your beverage cold while not producing any condensation. the lady showing us these cups claimed to have put ice water in there at 10am (it's now 3:30 or 4pm), and the ice was still floating around in there. pretty awesome. arguably even more impressive was the $400 dyson fan we saw. it was only a circle. there were no blades. you could stick your hand through it. and yet, there was an even, consistent flow of air coming from it. we then got back on the subway and went to omotesando hills. they took us to an oriental bazaar, where we bought little trinkets for our friends and family back home. next, my first of many awesome dinners this week. went to barbacoa grill, an all-you-can-eat for 4,500 yen churrasco place. i definitely hit up the salad bar a couple of times to balance out all the meat i was eating. our placemats were simply a picture of a cow and all the different parts of it we were consuming. the best was the picanha, or special rump cut. mmmm. we had to walk off the cow and ended up in harajuku, a really cool and fashionable part of town. tiny little shops overflowing with people. they didn't care about the light rain that was falling. after bidding kevin and melissa farewell, we stopped at this absinthe bar called still, in the middle of akasaka. had one glass of absinthe mixed with fuji mineral water. absolutely tasty, very licorice-y, and i sure do love licorice. an absolutely great day all around.
quick aside - other bullet point highlights
- at 6', i totally feel like a giant here. especially on the subway...
- ...which features overhead bag space and the comfiest cushions i've ever experienced on any form of public transportation.
- the underground tunnel is quite elaborate. turns out the entire tokyo subway system is only about 30 years old, and the amount of underground tunnel space within which to walk is staggering.
- also, the japanese have way better balance than we do. while riding, i'm definitely holding on - for fear of falling on and killing someone. but they rarely use the handrails.
- oh, and i'm super impressed with the umbrella racks they have here. you can lock your umbrella in a rack and take the key inside a restaurant. so there's no tracking of water into the restaurant, and your umbrella is safe. genius!
- waiters here don't carry around a pad and a pen. that's crazy talk. instead, the entire menu is digitalized, and they have these really cool electronic pads where they simply punch in your order. amazing!
- military time is used everywhere here. brilliant.
- unfortunately, there are "women-only" cars during morning rush hour. turns out that on the packed cars in the mornings, some of the greasy businessmen would let their hands, uh, slip. sad but true.
- the major difference i can tell between english and japanese is where stressed syllables fall. for us, typically the next to last syllable gets the most stress in a word. umm, reFLECtion. but here, it's the third to last. just listening to the way the subway stops are pronounced. aKAsaka, for example. kinda cool.
- reading menus as the japanese attempt to spell english words. i kid you not - i've seen the following on signs and/or menus: harf bowl, reopard print, sparkring water and non-smorking area just to name a few.
- for 126 yen, you can buy the best invention known to man in 7-11. an ice cream waffle! it's vanilla ice cream and bits of milk chocolate all inside a waffle. it's heaven in a wrapper.
ok, moving on. tuesday, the japanese presenters took the entire crew out for yet another all-you-can-eat extravaganza. i learned the proper way to consume alcohol. it is frowned upon for you to pour your own beer/sake, whatever the case may be. you are supposed to have someone else do the pouring for you, and then you return the favor. well, there was plenty of merriment to be had. learned a new phrase - baka saiko! - which loosely translates to "stupid but great." in other words, you're stupid for getting that drunk, but you're so much fun when you are. two shows on wednesday, then more debaucherous fun on thursday.
but before i get to that, i have to pat kim on the back. i was quite upset to not be able to watch the final 6 hours (3 of each) of 24 and LOST. turns out that websites like fox.com or hulu won't let you watch american shows in japan. i was heartbroken until kim recommended a site - ch131.com. lower def, some occasional starts and stops along the way. but the bottom line is that you get to watch the show. so because of those starts and stops, it took me longer than 6 hours - but i was able to watch the conclusions of both shows over the course of this week. i wouldn't dare reveal any details here, in case you haven't seen them, but suffice it to say that they were both well done...24 more so, i thought. and now, back to my debaucherous thursday.
this time, the japanese orchestra took trevor, jason, dave, sam and i out after our matinee. they took care of yet another all-you-can-eat affair (this time, chinese) before we stumbled across the street to a bar. they again insisted on paying the first check that came (some 40,000 yen) before we picked up the remaining 18,000. before the dinner, i was a little upset that others in the crew had gone to a baseball game. which i'm sure was a lot of fun. cate went and took pictures of my future girlfriends - hot girls in skimpy outfits with beer keg backpacks! they walk around, pull out a cup and pour you ice cold beer from their backs! and then they go get refilled at a station while facing the audience, striking sexy poses and cheering on their team. oh man, i love japan. but anyway, i was much less upset after drinking a ton of chinese wine, chinese sake, asahi beer and multiple shots of jameson mixed with a couple pints of guinness. one of the japanese trombone players either silently had a few more than we did or is a lightweight, because he totally passed out at the bar. after we told the rest of the japanese band that it's usually me who ends the night in the worst shape, they began calling him "japanese alvin." he eventually sunk to the floor, where the rest of us proceeded to put cured meats and soy sauce on his head. very mature, i know. anyway, the show ended at 4, we went straight to dinner then the bar, and didn't get back to the hotel until 10-ish. in our already hammered state, matos and i met up with some members of the male ensemble who were chilling in the lobby. turns out they were about to head out "a-gayin'," as sam put it. romich randomly showed up a couple of minutes later from the baseball game, and he and i (being the only straight ones in the group now) didn't want our night to end. so yes, we went out to shinjuku with the gay boys. if there's one thing i can say about gay men is that they're persistent. after traipsing through a couple of bars and a porn shop (where the gay boys were, uh, quick to point out the rather short japanese dildos), we ended up at a pretty cool bar where i had to play defense for a good chunk of the night. vaguely remember stumbling into a cab at 1:30am with the guys. definitely don't remember getting back to my room. a solid 9 hours of drinking. great night.
only one show on friday, at 7pm, so i definitely spent much of the late morning and early afternoon in recovery mode. did a little more research on gifts for people back home, which i put into action today (sat) between shows. but before that, i got up early this morning and went to breakfast with jarran and jason at scramble. cool little shop near shibuya station that doubles as a bar with a DJ at night. got a spanish omelette...and oh my god, banana juice. yes, banana juice. oh, it was wonderful. that on top of the curry we had for lunch...and wow. the naan was about as big as the table, and each of the 6 of us that went got our own. as for items purchased, i obviously can't reveal any of them here. wouldn't want the surprise to be ruined when i get home, right, mom? but i can say that i bought myself a new pair of sunglasses today, along with this sweet brown alligator-hide wallet at loft, which reminded me a lot of ikea, because this place seemed to have everything in it. tomorrow, only one show, a matinee at noon. then nothing until a 1pm matinee on tuesday. still in the process of putting together plans for the not-quite 48 hours we'll have off. i'm confident i'll come up with something good...
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
no paragraphs necessary only bullet points as to why tokyo is awesome and why i want to live here and marry a japanese girl and have many blackanese babies
- apologies for the stream of consciousness title, but it's 2am monday morning here in tokyo. and i just got home from a killer birthday party that featured lots of tasty sake (more deets below).
- before the list, must comment on the best laugh i've had in a long time
- before the list, must comment on the best laugh i've had in a long time
- during intermission of the saturday matinee, eric (the birthday boy - happy birfday!) played us a song from sex and the city 2
- yes, bear with me
- it's worth it
- liza singing beyonce's single ladies
- to be in a room of black theatre nerds who could appreciate both sides of that dichotomy was priceless
- we laughed hysterically, as i begged eric to put that link on my facebook page for me to play repeatedly and laugh later in the comfort of my own hotel room
- he obliged =)
- without further ado
- in shibuya, where the bunkamura theatre is, there are several intersections where all traffic stops and mass hysteria ensues. there are SIX crosswalks painted on the street. SIX!!!!!! if this ever happened in times square, mass hysteria would soon turn into multiple injuries or worse.
- i've heard two honks of a car horn since i've been here. and one was quite warranted - some dude was totally blocking the entrance/exit of a parking garage. regardless of circumstance, the drivers here are much more respectful of one another, which is much more than i can say of the big apple.
- the crowds here have absolutely adored us. now, are they as vocal throughout the show as a crowd in harlem would be? of course not. but they truly show their appreciation at the end.
- we were stunned that, on opening night, the entire crowd stood and cheered wildly long after we finished playing the exit music. by this time, many of the cast members were already in their robes and de-wigged. it's part of the culture to applaud for an enjoyable show until the cast returns for a second curtain call.
- they clapped for 5 minutes. i shit you not. they would not stop until they were literally told that the cast was already out of costume and would not be coming back out.
- once that announcement was made, martin (our head carpenter) came out on show and began his post-show process. dejected but not deterred, the crowd saw this white man, who clearly was not in our show, walk out on the stage and gave him a much-deserved round of applause. martin, being the stand-up guy that he is, graciously walked down center and took his bow.
- upon witnessing all of this, ray (our stage manager) put together a second curtain call for the next show, and we have been doing so (to thunderous applause) ever since.
- moving on, residents still hang their laundry out to dry
- their inclusion of english and american products into their everyday way of living far supersedes anything we do in any chinatown or similar neighborhood in the states.
- in the hotel, once you press the up or down button (and you don't actually depress it - a simple touch illuminates it and calls the elevator), the appropriate light (up or down) of the elevator that will come lights up and beeps once. upon arrival, that light flashes and beeps three times to let you know it's here.
- when you step out of the shower, there is a sizable rectangle of the mirror that is not steamed up, allowing you to perfectly see yourself in the event you want a close-up to shave or whatever
- did i mention the bidet?
- no tipping in restaurants, hotels, anywhere. totally frowned upon. they will hunt you down (i kid you not) in the street to return the extra money that you left for a tip or miscounted. there's already a 5% consumer tax added to goods anyway.
- cabs here are fairly expensive yet efficient. i must admit that though our bus from the airport to the hotel also drove on the wrong side of the street, it became a lot more personable on ground level in a cab. i couldn't ride a bike or drive a rental in tokyo for a long time to come. in fact, i'm still a little uneasy to cross the street, for fear that i've looked the wrong way and will summarily be flattened.
- walking down the street consuming food and/or beverages is also highly frowned upon.
- this is evidenced by the fact that there are not even trash cans on the street! no one litters, and if you're not eating or drinking outside, what's the point of having trash cans, right?
- in fact, even the concept of "to go" is unrealized without using the word "takeout."
- but when you do get the message across that you want to take something to go, be prepared for bags.
- i went to the grocery store and bought two separately packaged items, a sushi roll with rice wraps and a potato-y kugel-y kind of thing that looked amazing and tasted even better. the cashier proceeded to wrap each container in its own bag before putting them both in a larger bag.
- they're very neat here. even if you buy the smallest thing...i don't know, a pencil. they will insist on putting it in a bag. refusing the bag and merely taking the pencil and putting it in your own pocket/purse/bag is met with instantaneous discomfort and confused gazes.
- that's the point. they have a way of living. and they respect it. nothing gets half-assed. politeness is king.
- that is, except on the subway during rush hour. where they will push your ass into or off that train like you're a roll of sashimi.
- speaking of the subway. CLEAN. efficient. smells great. no trash. no homeless. no rancid pee smells. CLEAN! this entire city is like new york but better. more efficient. cleaner. better run. more effective at life.
- wonderful nightlife. went out to celebrate sam's birthday on thursday. area called roppongi, which i was highly recommended to see. specifically went to hobgoblin (an english sports bar) but overall, there was a very bustling bar scene, bright lights, great view of the tokyo tower. definitely going back.
- super visual culture. pictures on all the menus so that even if it's an only-japanese menu, you can have a rough idea of what you're gonna be eating.
- amorous about color. so much of america is drab with blacks, beiges, whites, browns. here, bold is the norm. orange purses and flip flops. purple appliances in department stores. lush greens dotting the landscape. neon lights seemingly everywhere. bright red hairdos.
- seven-story electronic stores that have everything under the sun imaginable. and then some.
- when you walk up to the front of a store/restaurant while it's raining, there are nifty little apparatuses that dispense bags onto your wet umbrellas. that way, whilst you walk through the store, the rainwater collects in the bag and not all over the floors. and there are trash cans in which to throw away the bags upon your exit.
- delicious crepe carts.
- ice and fruit are considered commodities. they must not like super-cold drinks, because ice is something like 3,000 yen for a few pounds. walk in the supermarket, and grapes are like 7,000 yen. cherries? let's not go there.
- because 3,000 yen sounds like a lot of money, but it's roughly $30 (the current conversion is roughly 95 yen to one usd). and carrying around 50,000 yen in your wallet or seeing prices like 143,050 yen for a watch makes you do a double-take.
- stories-long vertical banners illustrating store names and features inside on almost every building. many of said buildings have vastly differing shops on their respective floors.
- wall-to-wall people in tiny spaces. cabs meandering through narrow alleys around crazy bicyclists and unbeknowst pedestrians.
- 4'11" girls rocking 6" heels and becoming 5'5". unique styles. platforms. skinny heels. you name it, it's being worn here. and the girls, despite their average small stature, are owning them. which is kinda hot, if you ask me.
- environmentally savvy. at the theatre, we are reprimanded if we use more than one bottle/cup a day for beverages. you get one at the beginning of the day then reuse. mandatory. no questions asked. if you grab a second bottle, saori is waiting with a hattori hanzo sword.
- kudos to those of you who got that reference.
- no, there is not actually a sword involved. saori's much too sweet to harm even a fly.
- bathrooms in the theatre don't have towels or excelsior xl hand dryers. there's a communal rag. why waste paper and/or energy?
- so i've heard from the ladies, the toilet in the basement next to wardrobe is heated. super heated. hot as balls. good thing girls don't have any.
- denny's must be good here. that's the only thing that could explain the hordes of people inside and in line at seemingly the world's largest denny's in shibuya.
- can be expensive, but only if you choose so. on sunday, i split a 15,660 meal 4 ways. the following saturday, split a 20,000 meal 5 ways. so sure, i spent 40 bucks on dinner twice at chic places in akasaka, but all of my other meals have been at, say, mom-'n-pop holes in the wall on robust noodle shops and trips to kinokuniya, aka the supermarket.
- ok, maybe that's not true. tonight (sun night), i just got back from a wonderful dinner that celebrated eric (sat) and moya's (mon) birthdays. we went to gonpachi, on the 14th floor of a building only a couple minutes from the theatre. amazing view. and there were a lot of us. we did things family-style and split an 79,370 yen bill 24 ways. yep, that's roughly 3,300 a pop. but the food was so good. i had three different kinds of sake, asparagus wrapped in bacon, 5 different kinds of tempura and foie gras that was topped with strawberries. omg, that was the best daffy duck i've ever had.
- in the same vein (hmmm, i said vein...so now i'm thinking about that juicy, plump foie gras again), i'm shopping for sunglasses but don't want to buy them until toward the end of the trip. oftentimes, i buy something then see something better the minute after. so, i saw some really cool glasses. put them on. felt good. took them off to discover that the inside design was parts of the nyc subway system. i know, right? how awesome is that?!? then i saw they were 16,000 yen. looks like i'll be buying something closer to the non-special-designed yet better-fit glasses for 3,150.
- one of those chic 4,000 yen for dinner places was traditional by japanese standards. took off our shoes, put them in lockers and kept the keys until we left. our table had a button that instantly called the waiter. yes, a button. man, we americans sure are stupid compared to the japanese.
- and i've only been here one week.
- and i'm going to cirque du soleil's ZED and tokyo disney tomorrow on my day off.
- commence jealousy now.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
to saori and hiroko
today during orchestra rehearsal, i introduced myself to the translator. her name is saori, and as soon as i said my name, she asked me an interesting question. "do you have a blog?" well, if you're reading this right now, you obviously know that i do. it turns out that when she googled "dreamgirls in tokyo," my blog showed up in the middle of the first page! saori is a really cool girl - a freshman in college whose major is theatre production. she hasn't figured out what area of the business she wishes to pursue (lighting, wardrobe, etc.), but she is intrigued by all of it, which was clearly evident during our rehearsal. i couldn't believe that both she and hiroko, our escort from the hotel to the bunkamura theatre via subway (ginza line to shibuya), both think that their english is subpar! i wish i could speak a second language half as well as they speak english. i mean, really. no. really. they claim to not be professional translators, but if they ever want to do that, they are well on their way. so i promised saori that since she knew about my blog, i would update it tonight. so this is for you, saori! =)
wow, i love my life. first off, it's been a while since i've updated. the layoff was great - i spent most of it in new york and mothers' day in dc. my mom was thrilled to spend time with me and naturally, i treated her to a scrumptious dinner. i actually took both my mom and her mom out to eat at gordon biersch, down on 9th and F, across from the spy museum, where my cousin (kerry, who's about to enter year number 5 at umd) works on weekends. sounds like the perfect spot to hit up during happy hour when i'm back in dc with the show during late july and early august. my time in nyc was also exciting - catching up with friends, getting drunk on cinco de drinko (aka may 5), eating a juicy steak at the midtown palm...you know, the usual. but enough about the past. let's talk more about where i currently am. TOKYO!!!!!
went out last friday night with many friends and got pretty tipsy. started with a glass of malbec at the palm with my steak, was followed by sangria and beer at las chicas locas on 25th and 7th with michnikov and hepler, and culminated with several drinks at knewton [even though i currently do not work for them, i'm still on payroll and will return to the camera for them once the tour is over. if you know anyone who wants top-of-the-line tutoring for the SAT, GMAT or LSAT, then www.knewton.com is the place for you!] with co-workers and friends i hadn't seen since i left the big apple. woke up early on saturday to take a cab to jfk for my flight to tokyo. it was great seeing the cast again. we all seemed rejuvenated and ready to go back to work. the 13.5-hour flight didn't seem so bad...partially because quite a few of us (me included, despite my hangover) got liquored up in the lounge before the flight. free snacks. free drinks. on top of a dirt-cheap visit to duty free to get some sambuca for my hotel room. yeah, let's just suffice it to say that we were in heaven. i slept for a good chunk of the first half of the flight, then played video games for the latter half of flight 005 on JAL airlines to tokyo. we left at 1:05pm saturday. landed at 4pm sunday. and i instantly fell in love with the city.
once we got through customs, two buses were waiting to drive the 90 minutes from narita to the hotel in tokyo. i couldn't believe that everyone was driving on the wrong side on the street. and that there were no accidents! ok, i'm kidding - not stupid. but it does still feel weird to cross the street, because i feel that one of these days, i'm gonna look the wrong way and get sideswiped, lol. anyway, the ana intercontinental hotel is frickin' awesome.
two words.
BI.
DET.
do i have to go on? very chic rooms, spacious lobbies, and it's located right next to the tanneike-sanno subway stop that gets us to the theatre. and might i say that even though i've heard that roppongi is the district to hit up at night for the club scene, i'm already beyond impressed with the area between the shibuya station and the bunkamura theatre. totally feels like times square...but SO MUCH cleaner and expansive. wall-to-wall people, shops galore - even american staples like starbucks and h&m. the number of english signs is staggering - that is, in a positive way for non-japanese speakers like myself. i feel that i'm neither isolated by there being too much japanese present nor overwhelmed by the amount of english present in menus and street signs. as for today, hiroko (along with her stellar english skills) escorted us to the theatre from the hotel for our 1-7pm rehearsal. the band was quite articulate, though didn't initially possess the soul necessary (as sam had warned, since he's already done this production in korea) to play a show like this. however, by the end of the evening, some soul was found...while another soul was lost.
i was stunned to find out several weeks ago that the japanese producers were hiring a black sub to play my book in order for me to conduct once a week [read: in order for sam to get his much-deserved show-a-week off]. well, we knew we were in for a whale of a rehearsal when greg walked in, openly announcing his nervousness. turns out he couldn't read music, which felt eerily similar to the way i got this job. since he would be going on (or should i foreshadow and say...would have been?) thursday night (and each of the following two thursdays), sam and i felt best that we throw him to the wolves right away and have him play the majority, if not all, of the rehearsal. naturally, i sat beside him the whole time to guide him and to answer any questions he had. it turns out he was only reading the chord symbols and not the actual notes on the page. which would have been fine for select parts, but there are numerous sections in the score that require you to play exactly what's on the page because you're playing with, say, the reeds or trumpets. and if you're off, it's quite obvious. quite. or maybe the final straw was when he turned to me and confessed that he couldn't read music at all and was only following the chords. hmmm, i don't know. regardless, since sam had dealt with this very situation with the kid who won the july auditions back in new york to get this job...before letting him go and hiring me, he certainly didn't want to deal with that again. so it seems unlikely that i'll get to conduct in japan while i'm here. i guess that means i'll just have to come back with another show to get that opportunity, right?
this probably isn't my longest post, but i need to stop here anyway. it's almost 2am, and i'd love to wake up at 8am wednesday to watch tuesday night's 7pm ET sox-yanks game (and 8:30pm ET celts-magic game 2) before going to the theatre for an 11:30am sound check, followed by a 1:30pm dress rehearsal, a 7pm opening and a post-show reception. and oh right...two shows on thursday. but i can't leave without talking about the mackerel, caviar and sake i had sunday night...and the caviar, salmon, sake and shochu (japanese vodka) i had earlier tonight. already quite impressed with the sushi and sake, as i knew i would be. i've got a feeling there's much more in my near future. maybe i'll get saori to show me a nice place to eat that's close to the theatre tomorrow...
wow, i love my life. first off, it's been a while since i've updated. the layoff was great - i spent most of it in new york and mothers' day in dc. my mom was thrilled to spend time with me and naturally, i treated her to a scrumptious dinner. i actually took both my mom and her mom out to eat at gordon biersch, down on 9th and F, across from the spy museum, where my cousin (kerry, who's about to enter year number 5 at umd) works on weekends. sounds like the perfect spot to hit up during happy hour when i'm back in dc with the show during late july and early august. my time in nyc was also exciting - catching up with friends, getting drunk on cinco de drinko (aka may 5), eating a juicy steak at the midtown palm...you know, the usual. but enough about the past. let's talk more about where i currently am. TOKYO!!!!!
went out last friday night with many friends and got pretty tipsy. started with a glass of malbec at the palm with my steak, was followed by sangria and beer at las chicas locas on 25th and 7th with michnikov and hepler, and culminated with several drinks at knewton [even though i currently do not work for them, i'm still on payroll and will return to the camera for them once the tour is over. if you know anyone who wants top-of-the-line tutoring for the SAT, GMAT or LSAT, then www.knewton.com is the place for you!] with co-workers and friends i hadn't seen since i left the big apple. woke up early on saturday to take a cab to jfk for my flight to tokyo. it was great seeing the cast again. we all seemed rejuvenated and ready to go back to work. the 13.5-hour flight didn't seem so bad...partially because quite a few of us (me included, despite my hangover) got liquored up in the lounge before the flight. free snacks. free drinks. on top of a dirt-cheap visit to duty free to get some sambuca for my hotel room. yeah, let's just suffice it to say that we were in heaven. i slept for a good chunk of the first half of the flight, then played video games for the latter half of flight 005 on JAL airlines to tokyo. we left at 1:05pm saturday. landed at 4pm sunday. and i instantly fell in love with the city.
once we got through customs, two buses were waiting to drive the 90 minutes from narita to the hotel in tokyo. i couldn't believe that everyone was driving on the wrong side on the street. and that there were no accidents! ok, i'm kidding - not stupid. but it does still feel weird to cross the street, because i feel that one of these days, i'm gonna look the wrong way and get sideswiped, lol. anyway, the ana intercontinental hotel is frickin' awesome.
two words.
BI.
DET.
do i have to go on? very chic rooms, spacious lobbies, and it's located right next to the tanneike-sanno subway stop that gets us to the theatre. and might i say that even though i've heard that roppongi is the district to hit up at night for the club scene, i'm already beyond impressed with the area between the shibuya station and the bunkamura theatre. totally feels like times square...but SO MUCH cleaner and expansive. wall-to-wall people, shops galore - even american staples like starbucks and h&m. the number of english signs is staggering - that is, in a positive way for non-japanese speakers like myself. i feel that i'm neither isolated by there being too much japanese present nor overwhelmed by the amount of english present in menus and street signs. as for today, hiroko (along with her stellar english skills) escorted us to the theatre from the hotel for our 1-7pm rehearsal. the band was quite articulate, though didn't initially possess the soul necessary (as sam had warned, since he's already done this production in korea) to play a show like this. however, by the end of the evening, some soul was found...while another soul was lost.
i was stunned to find out several weeks ago that the japanese producers were hiring a black sub to play my book in order for me to conduct once a week [read: in order for sam to get his much-deserved show-a-week off]. well, we knew we were in for a whale of a rehearsal when greg walked in, openly announcing his nervousness. turns out he couldn't read music, which felt eerily similar to the way i got this job. since he would be going on (or should i foreshadow and say...would have been?) thursday night (and each of the following two thursdays), sam and i felt best that we throw him to the wolves right away and have him play the majority, if not all, of the rehearsal. naturally, i sat beside him the whole time to guide him and to answer any questions he had. it turns out he was only reading the chord symbols and not the actual notes on the page. which would have been fine for select parts, but there are numerous sections in the score that require you to play exactly what's on the page because you're playing with, say, the reeds or trumpets. and if you're off, it's quite obvious. quite. or maybe the final straw was when he turned to me and confessed that he couldn't read music at all and was only following the chords. hmmm, i don't know. regardless, since sam had dealt with this very situation with the kid who won the july auditions back in new york to get this job...before letting him go and hiring me, he certainly didn't want to deal with that again. so it seems unlikely that i'll get to conduct in japan while i'm here. i guess that means i'll just have to come back with another show to get that opportunity, right?
this probably isn't my longest post, but i need to stop here anyway. it's almost 2am, and i'd love to wake up at 8am wednesday to watch tuesday night's 7pm ET sox-yanks game (and 8:30pm ET celts-magic game 2) before going to the theatre for an 11:30am sound check, followed by a 1:30pm dress rehearsal, a 7pm opening and a post-show reception. and oh right...two shows on thursday. but i can't leave without talking about the mackerel, caviar and sake i had sunday night...and the caviar, salmon, sake and shochu (japanese vodka) i had earlier tonight. already quite impressed with the sushi and sake, as i knew i would be. i've got a feeling there's much more in my near future. maybe i'll get saori to show me a nice place to eat that's close to the theatre tomorrow...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
the end of our first stretch
it's 6:48pm. tues, may 4. i'm sitting in my old apartment in chelsea, the one i gave up when i left for tour, across from greg - as we each type away on our respective computers. feels like old times. i'm couch-crashing for the next two weeks, as i (and the rest of the cast and crew) survived our first several months on tour. we just began our layoff...before three weeks in tokyo! got a flight out of jfk on sat, may 15 at 1:05pm that lands at narita on sun at 4:15pm! between now and then, i expect to conduct numerous mindless internet searches, watch as much sports as possible, dine on fabulous new york cuisine and most importantly, relax.
the last two weeks were spent in orange county. costa mesa, to be exact. the orange county performing arts center (or ocpac) was the weirdest house i'd ever played. oddly-shaped seating arrangements, including three overhanging balconies of varying size and depth. back when we were in los angeles, our last show was a sunday matinee, meaning the trucks had enough time to drive up to seattle for a tuesday night show. our last show in portland was on a sunday night. if the trucks had driven down to costa mesa in order for a tuesday night show, the crew would have had to pull ridiculous hours to get the stage ready and thus, incur a massive amount of overtime. turns out it would be cheaper for the company to pay the performers (cast and musicians) overtime for a monday show the second night than to pay the crew overtime for an overnight load-in.
so we arrived in costa mesa on mon, apr 20. had all of the 21st off. then added a monday night show the second week (the 26th). in other words, that meant we did 7 shows the first week and 9 the second. 16 shows in 12 consecutive days. at the beginning, we all said yikes. now, we're all ecstatic that it's behind us. sam was not there the second week. he began a crazy 6 weeks of life upon our arrival in costa mesa. i'm sure i'll butcher his schedule, since it's so hectic. did the first week in the oc. flew back to new york for a few days to hold auditions for this show (something required by equity, that is, to hold auditions every 6 months). he's now in cape town, working on getting the production of dreamgirls there set up. and i think he goes to london to do the same in a few days, before flying back to new york...only to then join the rest of us on the flight out to tokyo. whew. well, with sam gone the second week in costa mesa, i conducted the last 9 shows. ton of fun, even though the area right around the theater particularly wasn't. it was probably the dullest surroundings we've ever had thus far. the wyndham was right across the street from the stage door, with there mostly being apartment complexes and offices nearby. there was a gargantuan shopping mall, south beach plaza, a couple of blocks to the west of the theater. but costa mesa felt like the anti-portland, in terms of block size. portland's were so small that the entire city felt walkable. each block in the oc feels like its own zip code. aside from a local sports bar and a friday's across the street from the hotel, there really wasn't much to do. which is exactly why a lot of the bartenders knew us by name after two weeks. i highly recommend this regional fast food place that was right next to the corner office sports bar, called the flame broiler. if you're ever in the southwest, you've gotta try it. nothing fancy - just meat and rice in a bowl, but the way it's prepared is quite healthy and nutritious. and cheap. we're talking single-digit bucks.
pretty lame entry for two weeks, i know (read: sorry i wasn't bitch-slapped by a hot bartender in costa mesa). but i'm excited that after an entire day of traveling yesterday (10am flight to dfw, where we switched planes and outran a storm that was barreling down on the airport before getting to laguardia at 8pm), i slept for 12 hours last night and am about to go out to dinner with the 4 roommates and their new alvin (i.e., the new roomie, chris) in a little bit. i'm glad i'm typing this entry today, because i hope to be too drunk to type by early evening tomorrow - seeing as how it's cinco de mayo and all. if you're in nyc and wanna see me before the 15th, you know how to reach me. i'm going home to DC on mother's day (probably sat-mon) to see my momma, which'll be fun. but other than that, i'm here in the big apple. in all likelihood, my next update will be from halfway around the world. IN TOKYO!!!!!!!
the last two weeks were spent in orange county. costa mesa, to be exact. the orange county performing arts center (or ocpac) was the weirdest house i'd ever played. oddly-shaped seating arrangements, including three overhanging balconies of varying size and depth. back when we were in los angeles, our last show was a sunday matinee, meaning the trucks had enough time to drive up to seattle for a tuesday night show. our last show in portland was on a sunday night. if the trucks had driven down to costa mesa in order for a tuesday night show, the crew would have had to pull ridiculous hours to get the stage ready and thus, incur a massive amount of overtime. turns out it would be cheaper for the company to pay the performers (cast and musicians) overtime for a monday show the second night than to pay the crew overtime for an overnight load-in.
so we arrived in costa mesa on mon, apr 20. had all of the 21st off. then added a monday night show the second week (the 26th). in other words, that meant we did 7 shows the first week and 9 the second. 16 shows in 12 consecutive days. at the beginning, we all said yikes. now, we're all ecstatic that it's behind us. sam was not there the second week. he began a crazy 6 weeks of life upon our arrival in costa mesa. i'm sure i'll butcher his schedule, since it's so hectic. did the first week in the oc. flew back to new york for a few days to hold auditions for this show (something required by equity, that is, to hold auditions every 6 months). he's now in cape town, working on getting the production of dreamgirls there set up. and i think he goes to london to do the same in a few days, before flying back to new york...only to then join the rest of us on the flight out to tokyo. whew. well, with sam gone the second week in costa mesa, i conducted the last 9 shows. ton of fun, even though the area right around the theater particularly wasn't. it was probably the dullest surroundings we've ever had thus far. the wyndham was right across the street from the stage door, with there mostly being apartment complexes and offices nearby. there was a gargantuan shopping mall, south beach plaza, a couple of blocks to the west of the theater. but costa mesa felt like the anti-portland, in terms of block size. portland's were so small that the entire city felt walkable. each block in the oc feels like its own zip code. aside from a local sports bar and a friday's across the street from the hotel, there really wasn't much to do. which is exactly why a lot of the bartenders knew us by name after two weeks. i highly recommend this regional fast food place that was right next to the corner office sports bar, called the flame broiler. if you're ever in the southwest, you've gotta try it. nothing fancy - just meat and rice in a bowl, but the way it's prepared is quite healthy and nutritious. and cheap. we're talking single-digit bucks.
pretty lame entry for two weeks, i know (read: sorry i wasn't bitch-slapped by a hot bartender in costa mesa). but i'm excited that after an entire day of traveling yesterday (10am flight to dfw, where we switched planes and outran a storm that was barreling down on the airport before getting to laguardia at 8pm), i slept for 12 hours last night and am about to go out to dinner with the 4 roommates and their new alvin (i.e., the new roomie, chris) in a little bit. i'm glad i'm typing this entry today, because i hope to be too drunk to type by early evening tomorrow - seeing as how it's cinco de mayo and all. if you're in nyc and wanna see me before the 15th, you know how to reach me. i'm going home to DC on mother's day (probably sat-mon) to see my momma, which'll be fun. but other than that, i'm here in the big apple. in all likelihood, my next update will be from halfway around the world. IN TOKYO!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)