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!!!!!!!