our show has not and, in my opinion, will never be received the way it has here. the japanese audiences have not been overly vocal during the show but instead wait to show their approval at the end. and boy, do they ever. i was told today that a standing ovation is actually a rarity in japan. because the japanese are so courteous, they feel impolite if they stand, for fear of blocking someone else's view who's sitting behind them. and that bothers them to the point that they don't stand but "only" vociferously applaud. that was totally not the case here. they thoroughly enjoyed our show so much that they all stood. i've signed so many programs here that i think my fingers are going to fall off, and i couldn't be happier. americans rarely ask the lowly musicians to sign their programs. but the japanese respect all aspects of the show, not just the so-called "stars." best of all has been the way the local orchestra and producers have treated us. on friday in between shows, we had a full company meeting onstage. the four producers each gave a little speech about how thrilled they were to have us and how inviting and appreciate the sold-out audiences have been. even they wished we wouldn't leave. and then, the gift exchange. ray, our production stage manager, is a japanese history buff and really wanted a particular artifact. turns out it cost 32,000 yen. so throughout the week, company management solicited donations from the rest of the touring company. each member of the rhythm section chipped in 1,000 yen. ray's been awesome - buying us bagels/breads/muffins every sunday morning for a matinee (we love bagel sundays!) and leading two tours while here in japan. well, long story short, ray went window-shopping on monday, saw this artifact, really wanted it and said he would come back to get it on wednesday. mina, one of the producers, bought it herself on tuesday and when ray went on wednesday, he was so heartbroken that it had been sold! but you should have seen the look on his face on friday when he realized how he had been duped. huge smile, mixed with a hint of anger, lol. then we had a huge gift exchange. we had all personally signed several dozen dreamgirls posters to give to the entire japanese company. they, however, outdid us by a large margin. each member of the american company got his own copy of the souvenir program, which was so expertly done. printed in both japanese and english, it thoroughly outlined the show and had many show stills in it (on a quick aside, pictures taken from our tour in the states were sent to tokyo before our 3-week run here and placed in the lobby, so that the audiences would get a taste of exactly what they would see.). we each got a 5-cent yen, in honor of us selling out all of our performances. we each got a pair of gorgeous chopsticks with our first name written on them in japanese, as well as the animal for the year of our respective births on the end. see, i told you the japanese presenters were the best. i will cherish those chopsticks forever. i probably won't ever use them. i could see them as a perfect thing to frame and hang up in my house, when i buy one. on top of all that, the japanese orchestra and the rhythm section exchanged small trinkets - they told us not to open ours until later, so i have no idea what i've got. even saori made - yes, made - all of us these really cute keychains, thanks so much! all in all, i'm loving the japanese love we've received.
on a more serious note, jason hasn't been doing so well. he claims to not have slept well for the entire time we've been here. he's also had muscle spasms and then fell friday afternoon during intermission of our first show. even though he finished the matinee, it was quite evident that he had tweaked his back pretty good. he went to the hospital and actually missed nearly all of the first act of the second show. in a frantic mad dash, our spare keyboard was set up next to sam, and romich and i (with much-appreciated help from randy cohen, the tour's programmer, at 6:30pm local [read: 5:30am eastern]) programmed my keyboard to include bass in the left hand. so between sam and i, we managed to cover the bass part until jason got back. unfortunately, the doctor had only drugged him up, and he really wasn't feeling any better. he valiantly finished the show but decided against playing the saturday matinee. so sam and i pinch-hit for him once again. according to the doc, he's suffering from excessive fatigue and needs to rest. too bad he's got an 11-hour flight in coach to chicago tomorrow, followed by a 5-hour layover and a 90-min flight to cincinnati...and then, another 8-show week to do. he said the doctor laughed at him when he relayed to him his schedule. i sure hope he gets better soon and can get upgraded to a comfier seat for the flight tomorrow. it truly is a shame that he is going to miss tonight's festivities.
before i get to that, i have to mention yet another japanese specialty that we don't have back in the states. and i got it from family mart, which seems to be based off of famima and is everywhere around tokyo. it's called a chu-hi. it's made with shochu, or japanese vodka that can be made in a variety of ways (potato-based, rice-based, etc.), and carbonated water flavored with lemon (or lime, orange, kiwi, etc.). not only does it come in many flavors but different alcoholic contents. 3, 6 and 8% ABV! they're made by multiple brands - right now, the one i'm sipping on is a lemon-flavored 6% kirin chu-hi. had an 8% yesterday and a 3% last week. for only 178 yen, i've got a pregame drink in the form of a 500 mL (or a little more than a pint) bottle that stronger than most domestic beers! even their most popular beers are better than ours. kirin, asahi and sapporo (and to a fourth degree, yebisu) are everywhere - something i've perceived as being similar to our bud, miller and coors. but they taste so much crisper, more full of flavor. oh, i love japan. but tonight will not likely be a beer night. more like an endless sake and shochu night.
as previously mentioned, today was sam's last show for a while. but it's also nikki's birthday, yay! it's also a surprise, so it's a good thing that i won't click "submit" until the minute i leave my hotel room to go meet up with everyone else. i don't know how the cast members that planned this pulled it off. to rent this surprise venue costs a whopping $3500 USD! and somehow, they waived that fee. it'll be a 2,500 yen (about $30) all-you-can-drink open bar. the way it works in japan is that all-you-can-eat or drink places are 2 hours. so we're cabbing over to this place near roppongi at 9 and from 9:30-11:30, we have all-you-can-drink then you pay for your own food on top of that. we're gonna simply split the food bill by the number of people who get food. so for $3500, this clearly must be a nice place. guess where it is? gonpachi, in nishi-azabu. that might not mean anything on the surface but trust me, it's a super special place. it's the restaurant that inspired the crazy 88's scene in kill bill 1! and i LOVE the kill bill movies! http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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