Blog Installment B for November 26, 2010

Just a little side note to let you in one some of the antics that occur before a show. I don't know if I have mentioned the laundry situation and wardrobe etiquette. We have a wonderful Wardrobe Master, Jay and his fabulous Wig Lady, Sonia. I have five costumes with four different outer layers for different scenes in Act 1 and 2 as well as two head scarves and a 'shaital' or wig for Sabbath and the Wedding scenes. All of the married women in the show have wigs for Sabbath and the Wedding and all the females have to cover their heads as we are portraying religious Jewish Women from 1905. The men all have beards or wigs and beards to put on as well as lots of different types of hats and head coverings as well. Since we are a small company, we have men who double as Russians and Jews so they are constantly changing costumes during the show and adding beards and taking them off...We have all of the costumes in gondolas behind the stage in the crossover so that we can all be changing quickly. For the dream scene, I have to wear socks over my stockings, a night cap and a nightgown. Well of course, the socks go in my laundry bag, which has my mike belt, my bra, underwear and stockings- all get washed each night. There are three sets as this allows for rotation and time to do the laundry! Early on, my socks were always ending up in one of the other cast members' laundry bag. Last night my bra was missing. Jay and I talked about it and thought it might have been left in Huntsville. I told him, "it also might show up in some one else's bag like my socks!!". We laughed, he gave me another one and I went off to change. Lo and Behold, here comes Andrea, "I think this belongs to you..." She had my bra in her laundry bag. I of course went back to Jay and he laughed. I go back to my dressing room, look in my laundry bag and lo and behold....NO SOCKS!. I of course go running back to Jay, laughing...."No socks!" He laughs as well and gives me one of the extra sets for the boys. OY, what a fun time getting dressed. Who knew......Life on the road, living the dream. One doesn't realize how hard all of the crew works to make sure we have everything we need to make this show happen and appear seamless. Thanks Jay and Sonia and all of our crew and dressers who work so very hard behind the scenes making this show a reality!!

I am really off now...More later....

Blog Installment November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving a Day Late. Time flies when you are having fun and we are certainly having a great time in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada!! But let me take you back to Monday:

Monday we flew out of Huntsville, AL as we had to get to Ottawa for a show Tuesday night. Since there are so many of us, the group was divided up into two—one group left at 8:30am and my group left at 1pm for the airport. We had a 3:30 pm flight. Our first leg was to Chicago with a connecting flight to Ottawa. We sat on the tarmac for two hours. Chicago O’Hare was having difficulties because of Tornado Watches and Severe Thunderstorms. The pilot felt it was better to wait on the ground in Huntsville than to be circling for an undetermined time around Chicago. Our flight attendant, Doug, was not so sure this was the right answer. He was not happy to have our group on board. He constantly was checking our seat belt connections, if the overheads were closed, running down the aisle as if the furies were after him, tripping and falling over Frank’s big feet which were stuck out in the aisle, yelling at Birdie to take her rubber chicken off of the window!! The pilot brought us back to the gate to refuel. We were hoping to be able to disembark, but no --we went back out on the tarmac and waited another hour!! We finally were in the air: here comes Doug again, running back and forth, lifting people’s blankets and scaring them to death: “Are you seat belts fastened? Take that chicken off of the window!” “No drinks for you, we have to wait until we are in the air!” OY, he was certainly entertaining. We decided he had too nervous a disposition to be with our group!

At one point during our wait on the tarmac one of the flight officers walked the plane to make sure we were all okay. He stopped to talk to me and I of course asked about our connecting flight and told him we had a show in Ottawa on Tuesday evening. He was a lovely gentleman and announced later over the loud speaker that we would make our connection as it too had been delayed out of Chattanooga, TN into Chicago. Originally it would have left at 7:15pm, but was delayed to 8:35pm. We all applauded. (All of us felt some sort of intervention going on as we had started this journey in Chattanooga; someone or some other being was definitely looking out for us. Maybe Tevye was making sure all was well….. if we didn’t take off and make the connection, we would not make the show time.)

We landed safely in Chicago, grabbed something to eat for dinner as it was now after 6 pm. We go to the gate and see that our plane still has not arrived. We do board a little late, head out of the gate only to be told that we will be held on the tarmac as Ottawa is socked in with fog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least this flight attendant was pleasant and allowed us to have drinks while we waited. Now we got worried again as it didn’t seem like we were going to make it out of Chicago, but low and behold, the pilot announced we would take off. We were the last plane to make it out of Chicago!!! So we all felt we were under someone’s watchful eye…..we got to the hotel around 2am and everyone was extremely grateful. What a night/day/night….Ironically we all wanted our bus. In fact, at one point on the Huntsville Airport tarmac, we were asking to call Dave our bus driver and just drive to Ottawa!! Who knew we would want to get back on the bus more than anything??!!

Meanwhile, my husband Peter drove up to Ottawa with a car full of baking and cooking utensils and gadgets from my kitchen back in New York. Thanksgiving Dinner was planned for 2pm Thursday and the hotel was catering for us. Troika, our employer was giving us a feast!! However, since we wouldn’t be with our families, Nicole and Birdie and myself felt we could add some dishes to the mix and make it feel more like a ‘family celebration’.  We had sent out lists of inventory and menus and asked who would like to contribute.  It was lots of fun. Mixmasters and Cuisinarts and mixing bowls and spatulas were being taken to different rooms and apartments and used to create delicious desserts and side dishes!! When we gathered together in this lovely restaurant at the hotel, there was indeed a feast to be had!! Everything was absolutely delicious. Birdie had made a shrimp/avocado appetizer, a fabulous salad and a roastedcorn dish; Suzayn had made bread; Nicole made roasted garlic, coconut cream pies and bourbon chocolate pecan pies with whipped cream; Clay made frozen Oreo bites; I made stuffing, chocolate mousse and cheese cake. The hotel had made the rest: Butternut Squash Soup, Turkey, Salad, Two vegetables, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie. A veritable Feast!!!! Tom, our Rabbi in the show, gave the benediction before the meal. As he was delivering a lovely non-denominational prayer, “We thank You for having work in these difficult times, we thank You for family and friends and my phone is ringing”….certainly lightened the moment and of course, could only happen to us!! Everyone was dressed up, and everyone was there. Some of us also had family and boyfriends attending as well. It was a lovely day. Then of course we had a show that night. A perfect holiday.

Just to mention we are performing in the premier theater in Ottawa, the National Arts Centre. It is a large complex which is quite gorgeous and has several venues under one roof. We are in the Opera House, truly a magnificent theatre. We have had very full houses and the audiences have been wonderful. Standing ovations yet again folks. This show is just the best!!!

Well, I have to go exploring as I have been busy cooking and sleeping so I must see a little of Ottawa before we depart on Monday. There is a tea shop that is supposed to be grand! So once again, more later…..

Blog Installment November 17, 2010

What a lucky bunch we are….having such wonderful people together doing something we all love, having incredibly gorgeous weather while the rest of the country has rain and yucky stuff going on…It seems the bad weather comes in after we have left a place. We just spent three nights and two shows in Melbourne, Florida. In my last blog I quickly mentioned a little bit about our stay. You will recall this was after our 12 show, 10 day, 8 city, 5 state marathon!! EVERYONE went and had a massage at the Hotel Spa. We all got a Fiddler Group Discount and the staff came to our shows. They really enjoyed it.

To back up a bit, we pulled into Melbourne Monday afternoon from Panama City. Now remember, we had been in Biloxi on Friday and a gorgeous beach in Pensacola on Saturday, so we had been starting to have beach time already. However, these stops were just overnight and we had a show in Pensacola so we only had 2 hours on the beach between getting off the bus and getting back on the bus to go to the theater. So now it is Monday, November 15 and we pull into Melbourne. I immediately went to do laundry as I had held out until now because I knew we would be there for more than two nights. This was a deluxe hotel laundry as they had more than one machine. We had actually been in another hotel where there were several machines. Real laundry luxury. Our bus driver, Dave actually took a bunch of the kids to do laundry at a real Laundromat one of our golden days. But enough about laundry!

Everyone else found out about dinner….the hotel has a beautiful deck right on the beach; the food is not bad either. Of course, I had eaten sardines and miso soup in my room while I was waiting for the dryer to finish. When I went back to the laundry room our violinist, who is a spectacular player by the way, told me they were all eating on the deck downstairs. So naturally, I went down and sat on the sofa facing the ocean for three hours!! It was heavenly. At one point all of the cast members came by and said hello. What a lovely evening. The next day we all had appointments with the spa. I went in for a massage, a manicure and a pedicure. That night the conductor told me I had never sung so well, so refreshed and relaxed!! I think we should have a masseuse every month or so, especially after we have had long bus trips through so many states!!

Today we have a travel day to Macon, Georgia on our way to Huntsville, AL. It started like any travel day. I slept for the first few hours on the bus. We stopped in Valdosta, GA off the highway at a mall. Most of us went into Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch. The salad bar there is great. (I had never been in one of these restaurants before.) We only have an hour for lunch so we all went back to the bus. However, instead of loading up and getting on our way, we had a flat tire. This is the first time anything untoward has happened to the bus. Our Fyedka, Ben, has been making a video of all of our stops with Kimmy, one of my daughters-Sprintze. They were interviewing people as to what they thought about the flat tire. I put on a funny accent and told them some sort of nonsense. And then of course, I started laughing. Well this is all on film folks and will probably be on YouTube soon for your viewing pleasure!! One of the other cast members, Kirk, also took some wonderful pictures of me laughing.

My laughter has become something of a happening. One night we were back on the bus after an especially grueling performance. Something struck me as funny and I started laughing. Well anyone who knows me knows that I have a very operatic laugh. (In fact I have messed up comedians’ timing at Comedy Clubs with my laugh!) Well, this particular night, I couldn’t stop laughing. Whenever I thought I was finished, someone would say something and I would start all over again. Needless to say, within a few minutes, the entire bus was laughing!! A lovely way to end the evening. Well, of course, now every time I start to laugh, everyone else starts laughing, very therapeutic.

Meanwhile back at the flat tire event, while I was laughing, the bus driver called to have the tire repaired and an hour later we are on the road to Macon. Very efficient. Just another day in the life of a working actor who is living the dream! Just to let you all know, we arrived safely in Macon, GA at 5:45pm. Andrew and Dennis and I had a lovely stroll through a little of the cute downtown area on our way to pick up take out Thai food for dinner.

Early morning tomorrow, 7:30 am luggage for 8:00am wheels up!! And we are on the road again…..we have a 5 show weekend in Huntsville, Alabama…..then we fly to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for the week. Wowie, zowie, a whole week in one place. What will we do??? Besides 8 shows and a Thanksgiving Dinner??? Who knows???  More later……………….

The good, the bad and the star: The dressing rooms. Blog Installment 11/16/10

Hi again. Hope this finds everyone well. The last time we talked the cast was on the West Coast of Florida. We are now in Melbourne, Florida on the Atlantic Side and back in the Eastern Time Zone, for a few days anyway! We all needed a day off as the travel schedule has been rather grueling to say the least, but yesterday the crew, cast and production team all had a day off after traveling for 8 hours! Today most of the company had massages and played in the ocean. A wonderful way to relax and unwind. Last night we sat on this beautiful deck of the hotel eating from the restaurant and listening to the waves hit the shore. Pure heaven!! Tonight’s show was to a full house and we really gave them a good one, I think.

Anyway, back to dressing rooms….When we were in Detroit, I had my own dressing room, which was spectacular. My own refrigerator and bathroom. It was so lovely to be able to just gather my thoughts and get ready for opening night. Since then, I have either been in a dressing room with one other person, two other persons or the entire female cast. Now sometimes the dressing rooms have been on stage level and other times they have been in the basement and one time it was on the third floor!!! Needless to say it is always an adventure to see what the dressing room configuration will be like….a few times we were so squeezed in that one could not move the chair or have enough room to move elbows!! Once there was only one toilet for 12 women, a little ridiculous!! We had to take numbers to go to the toilet!!

Tonight however, I walked into the theater only to see that I had my own dressing room. Not only that, there was a TV, a refrigerator, a black leather couch and a corner shower stall in a huge bathroom attached. I am telling you, I really felt like hot shit!! It was such a wonderful feeling to have my own space to prepare for the show. People walked around outside and I was in my own oasis. The laundry lady had also laid out my clothing to change into. It is amazing how little things like that mean so very much. It really makes the moment special and I really appreciated it. The good news is I have it again tomorrow night!!

Well this is short as I have to go to a party. John, our Tevye has a gorgeous suite at the hotel overlooking the ocean. He has graciously invited the cast and crew for a party. I have to take the chips and guacamole!! More later…..

Blog Installment, Sunday, November 14, 2010

Well, I am sitting looking out at the Gulf of Mexico from our beautiful hotel in Pensacola, Florida. I walked the sandy beach yesterday in both Biloxi, Mississippi and in Pensacola, Florida and had a great show last night. The audience was not to be believed. The cast can’t figure out which has been our best, we have had so many great audiences!! The theater was another gem in Pensacola and from the stage, it looked to be a full house!

I have to comment on how great our stage and wardrobe crew are! We get to sit on a bus all day and then perform at night, but then we come back to a lovely hotel and sleep in a non-moving bed for the night. Our crew loads everything out after a performance, all the props, costumes, wigs, sets, lights, sound on to three or four forty foot container trucks and then they load themselves onto a bus and head out at midnight or so to the next destination. They sleep on the bus, their bus actually has beds on it, but still it is a bus. Once they arrive, usually very early in the morning, they then have to Unload everything once again and set it up for the evening’s performance! If we have a matinee, their load in time gets cut down and must be done much quicker! Amazing is too mild a word for them. They always have a smile on their faces and they are the best crew to work with. We are so fortunate that they really know their business and take very good care of us and the show!! Thanks and cudos to all of the Fiddler Crew of 2010-2011!!

Needless to say, all of us will be looking forward to staying in one place for a little while!

Not much else to say today. I want to go walk on the beach one more time before wheels up at 11:30 am today. We have a show in Panama City this evening and then on to Melbourne, Florida for three nights, and two shows. Oh, I think I mentioned another member of the cast who plays our Rabbi, Tom has been keeping Updates of all of our experiences during this tour. He had some interesting facts about the last 10 days that I wanted to add here:

“Since October 1st, we have driven 2969 miles through 13 states and 1 Canadian province, performed the show 12 times in 7 different theaters and racked up enough Holiday Inn frequent flier miles to house the entire Chinese Army for a fortnight.  

Since Springfield, Missouri on October 15, we have travelled 2385 miles through 3 additional states, performed the show another 12 times and, again, have racked up enough Holiday Inn frequent flier miles to house all of the homeless people in Amarillo for a week.  (There are a lot of homeless people in Amarillo, surprisingly enough?)

So, that brings our totals to date:  (As of 10/31/10- we have gone further now folks!!)

MILES DRIVEN:           5354

MILES FLOWN:            860

STATES VISITED:   16

PERFORMANCES:     22

CITIES VISITED:         21 (including 5 stopover cities)”

Tom also had a copy of one of our reviews from Lincoln, Nebraska:

Timeless classic ‘Fiddler’ sparkles

BY ELIZABETH GOVAERTS / For the Lincoln Journal Star JournalStar.com | Posted: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 11:45 pm

"Fiddler on the Roof" is one of those rare, timeless works of art that speaks to us as effectively today as it did when the musical opened on Broadway in 1964.

It's the story of Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman in Anatevka, a village in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, and his struggle with the impending upheaval of life as he knows it.

In the touring production at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, John Preece played Tevye with an authentic weariness. Tevye has been beaten down by life and poverty, but is anchored by his strong love of his family and his traditions. He struggles heroically to adapt to the changing times, but, inevitably, cannot let go fully of what he knows and give in to the unfamiliar. This is the irony of this morality tale about the evils of hate and prejudice that displace Tevye and his family from their beloved Anatevka. While he valiantly attempts to accept his daughters' decisions about their lives and the young men they love, his own prejudices are too deeply held and cause him, in the end, to reject his daughter Chava.

"Fiddler on the Roof" is full of some of the most memorable songs written for the stage, and it's the score by Jerry Brock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick that are the centerpiece of the show. Songs such as "If I Were A Rich Man," "Sunrise Sunset," and "Tradition" live beyond the context of the show, and stand alone as masterpieces in and of themselves.

The original Broadway production was directed by renowned choreographer Jerome Robbins, and director/choreographer Sammy Dallas Bayes has lovingly reproduced Robbins' original dances for this version. The choreography was expertly executed, most spectacularly in the euphoric "To Life" and in the series of wedding dances which culminates in the famous "Bottle Dance."

This seasoned cast is consistent and tight throughout, with notable performances by Preece, Kevin Stangler (Perchik), and Nancy Evans as Golde. Despite the fact that this cast has performed this show hundreds of times, favorite moments in the show, like Hodel, Chava, and Tzeitel singing "Matchmaker Matchmaker," are even better than remembered, thanks to the sparkling enthusiasm of these talented performers. Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to see this timeless classic for yourself.

More later…..

Blog Installment November 10, 2010

12 shows, 10 days, 8 cities, 5 states

How about that? This was the plan last Tuesday when we started our evening performance in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We knew that we would have that schedule to look forward to….Our next stop on Wednesday was Tyler, Texas. Then on to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Thursday. Friday we stopped in Birmingham, Alabama for a 5 show weekend! This means we had a show Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Monday we departed to perform in Montgomery, Alabama. Here our spot light operator had a hand injury and had to be taken to the emergency room. This meant we had a new person doing the follow spot for the first time. It was very interesting to watch the spot moving all over the stage looking for the actors! Luckily, the  guy was a quick study and before too long, things were back to normal onstage. At the same time, we had no pit, so our wonderful conductor and orchestra were in a remote location meaning we had monitors on stage left and stage right and up on the balcony railing. This was most traumatic for our conductor as his monitor feed kept breaking down and he couldn’t see us!!! Many of his musical cues are based on our staging and what we are doing at a particular time. So to say the least, this raised his stress level; as well our sound guy and head carpenter were tireless throughout the show in trying to get a monitor down in the remote location to function. Needless to say, the performance went off without any glitches and the audience gave us a huge standing ovation!!! Everyone in the cast was really on their toes and watching the monitors like crazy. The audience didn’t realize anything unusual was going on!!

This issue also made our sound check before the show longer as we had to make sure monitors were working as well as microphones.   Thankfully our spot guy just sprained a finger or two and was back with us for the next night which was Tuesday in Oxford, Mississippi at Mississippi University or “Ole Miss” as they like to call the school. We had a sell out crowd that was just amazing. In fact, all of our audiences this week have been terrific!! Of course, we again had some excitement onstage as one of the scenery fly –ins literally flew in and kept dropping down. Dancers had to bend down to go under and luckily our Fruma Sarah, who is on another actor’s shoulders reaching almost 12 feet, was in front of all of this!! So thank goodness no injuries, just lots of excitement!! We are presently on the bus; our bus call this morning was 6:30am for luggage and wheels up at 7am!! We are presently heading back to Lafayette, Louisiana for a show tonight. Tomorrow is Shreveport and then we are through with this segment of performances!! We get a day off to travel; we stop in Biloxi, MS then head over to Pensacola, FL where we will stay on the beach. We have a show Saturday there and then Sunday it is Panama City, Tuesday and Wednesday we perform in Melbourne, FL, then on to Huntsville, Alabama for another 5 show weekend. However, we are all very excited as after this madness we fly up to Ottawa, Canada where we will have 8 shows. However, we will be staying in one place for 6 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No early morning bus calls, no packing and repacking, no lugging and schlepping. We cannot wait! It is so interesting that the performances have become the constant in our lives. Actors sometimes get nervous before a show as they don’t know what to expect from the theater, audience, stage crew….we are so delighted to just be back onstage and not on the bus or lugging suitcases or worrying about where we will find food or when to do our laundry, that our shows continue to be joyous and full of energy and good fun!!!

I realized when I was talking about our extended sound check that I have never talked about that part of our process. Every time we get to a new city, which of course has been practically every day, we need to have our sound man, Deniz, make sure our sound system is working and appropriately acoustic for each venue. Many a time we wait onstage silently and patiently for him to get rid of the “ring” or “feedback” which can cause untold problems if not addressed before an audience gets there. The sound check starts with each individual member of the orchestra, then various combinations until they are all playing together. We also have a clarinet and mandolin onstage during the wedding, so they put on their mikes and head up to the stage for their sound check there. Once that is complete, Deniz starts working with the various actor solo numbers, moving toward the big group numbers, “Sunrise, Sunset”, “Sabbath Prayer” and ending with “Tradition”. All of this takes about an hour. My husband Peter was at our opening show in Detroit and he couldn’t get over how great the sound system was!! Everyone sounds super and Deniz and his assistant, Chrystal are top notch!!!! This is also a great time for the cast to be doing stretches and sit-ups and our arm lifts!! We have been complimented several times on our sound check etiquette. Some casts find it difficult to stand still and silent for the five minutes or so it takes the sound man to adjust the system. Every time we rock.

On that note, I must compliment the cast and orchestra. Our conductor got a message from Harvey Fierstein. He had worked with our conductor on the National Tour last year and had friends who saw our show and reported back to him that we are wonderful!!! He wanted to call and congratulate us and let us know. What a huge compliment! We are all so happy about this. We work very hard so it is super that people are recognizing the talent and camaraderie that has been established among us. Our chemistry onstage is electric and we are now functioning like a village and a family! Quite extraordinary. Our conductor who has worked with lots of different casts in lots of different productions is constantly telling us how unique we are in our ability to not only get along with each other, but how we bring that wonderful closeness onstage and no matter what gets thrown at us, we are always up to the challenge. Fiddler Cast of 2010-2011: I salute you!!!!!!!!!