Blog Installment January 23, 2011

Hello. This installment will have two parts tonight. The first is about performing for family and friends.

I just finished performing at the Eisenhower Hall at West Point. The Hall has 4400 seats so that all 4400 cadets can be seated for an event at the same time. It is the second largest theater on the East Coast after Radio City Music Hall. Tonight we had almost 3,000 people attending our show. A Fabulous Audience. I was lucky enough to have 25 family and friends attend. Which leads me to my first topic tonight: the road and family….pluses and minuses:  as we go to all these far flung cities I am able to see friends and relatives that I might not ordinarily see—big plus; being far from family and friends so they have to travel great distances to see me perform and even then as lovely as that is, one cannot visit long as the hotel or bus awaits—big minus. It is one of the things that I find the hardest about being on the road: being so far from family and friends and not having people who know you in the audience on a regular basis. Now I must say, it is gratifying beyond words to have people stand and cheer for you during bows who only know you as “Golde”, however, the real treat is when you have people who know you forever stand and cheer when you are “Golde”!!!

Friday night we were in Lowell, MA and my son and his wife were there; tonight was West Point where I had 25 in the audience who knew me; Wednesday and Thursday of this week we will be in Easton, PA. I will have friends at both performances. Friday and Saturday we will be in Waterbury, CT where I will also have friends and family at the Saturday matinee. February 1 we perform a show in Roanoke, VA where I will have a friend from High School attend. So these 10 days are very special for me. I was very excited Friday and tonight and I imagine that I will also be very excited to perform all of the other show dates I mentioned since “friendly laughs” will be in the audience. We will also be in San Jose, Tempe, Vancouver, Reno, Medford, OR: I will be fortunate to have friends and family be in the audience in all of these cities. I am quite excited to see them as well as have them share the experience with me. I think that is why this week is so special. My children and immediate family and dearest friends were able to make the trip to see me perform. By the way, they all had to travel a minimum of an hour to see me perform; some traveled 2 hours to get to the venue. This is friendship, familial love and incredible support for me. It also adds to our relationship. They are on the journey with me at this particular moment in time, so their understanding of my routine, of the show-including the cast, crew and orchestra, of what my routine consists of for the moment—all this becomes clearer to them. Almost everyone tonight asked me where we perform next. As I reeled off the next week’s shows they were 1) amazed that I knew the schedule so well and 2) that we had 7 more shows to do in 5 different cities/ 3 different states and that I didn’t get a day off ( a Golden Day) until February 4!!! Monday, January 31 is just a travel day, no show that night. So quickly I can give them a rundown of what my life will be like for the next week. They can better understand when I am a little nutty and don’t remember to write or call. Of course, I now miss them more because I had a few minutes to see their lives again. But I think it is wonderful when someone like me can have an evening/a 10 period like I am having so that those who mean so much to me can share this journey for a little while and we can travel together for a few hours.

As I write this I realize that everyone in the cast has the same situation again and again. Each night someone in the cast says, “I have so and so in the audience” and we all rally together to give the best show possible for that family member or friend. It makes it more special for all of us to know that someone has a “friendly laugh” in the audience!! When one is far from loved ones and far from home, it is the little things that make it feel like home. We all jump on the bandwagon to be able to feel a part of someone’s family, helping us feel less homesick ourselves. Interesting dynamics. Of course, I have mentioned several times that our cast has really become a family. I think this also gets reemphasized when “real” family members show up and we all rally around them, taking a little bit of home back to the show or the hotel or the bus with us.

The second part of this is because of a story I was telling one of my friends tonight….In Lowell, MA on Friday night we did not have our Tailor Shop. It wouldn’t fit in the building. So the tailor shop scenes took place on a semi-bare stage. In Lowell, we also didn’t have several of the scenery drops that we usually have. When we get to Springfield, MA, we will not be able to have the House Set onstage and so will have to use the Tailor Shop instead. We usually find this stuff out 20 minutes before we hit the theater. Our stage manager sends a message to our company manager, who is on the bus with us. She then reads the agenda for the evening’s show- location of dressing room, whether there is a Green Room or Rehearsal Room, what time the company meeting is, the times for Sound Check and what is in the show…..including sets, drops, orchestra pit and people….Sometimes we are warned ahead of time, i.e. Springfield, MA. But generally we don’t know what we are walking into until we get there. There are some theaters, such as Eisenhower Hall, where we have everything in the show, lots of wing space and crossovers, an orchestra pit, etc. Other times, we have had to have a remote pit, not fun—I will talk more about that in a minute- we have not had certain set pieces or as we had in Kingston, Ontario, the House could never entirely leave the stage, so we were constantly walking or dancing around it…..made for some awkward moments. Depending on the severity of conditions it also makes for a longer load-in/load-out for the crew. Several times in the past few weeks, our crew has been exhausted as the load-in took longer than usual. They are amazing people who work very hard for very long hours!! I and the entire cast thank them because without our crew and the locals who help them, we wouldn’t be able to do our job. Fiddler Crew, I salute you.

Another salute goes out to the Orchestra and Conductor, again without whom, this show would not be the great show that it is. I was mentioning remote pits. What is a remote pit? Usually there is an orchestra pit right in front of the stage, either a few feet below ground or level with the seats. However, occasionally and luckily very occasionally on our tour, theaters either don’t have a pit or they have sold seats in the pit to have extra money. Then the orchestra must be in another place-voila…remote pit. For our orchestra this has been a windowless room and a basement room, both without heat!!! This of course, raises another issue: costly instruments need proper temperatures to keep them from being damaged. This temperature is at least 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit!!! We have been playing in some very cold venues. Space heaters have even been brought into the orchestra pits in the theater so naturally the remote locations needed space heaters as well. This is a huge concern as not only the instruments, but also the orchestra members’ hands and fingers need to be warm. Another little note about orchestra pits. If the pit is level with the seats it is usually difficult for our Mandolin Player and Clarinetist to get up onstage during the wedding. Yes, they actually wear mikes and dress up in Beards, Hats and Wedding Coats as they become part of the Anatevka family wedding ceremony in Tevye’s Backyard!!! We really miss them when they can’t join us onstage. This happens especially when they are in the remote pit as it takes too long to get up on stage. The best is when the pit is a little below stage with a hidden door. Then they have easier access to the stage. I think they have not been onstage with us 4 or 5 times so far. Jake, our Cymbal Player/dancer/Nachum the Beggar, is on his own at those times.

Well, we have discussed lots of fun topics tonight. I got a little carried away with myself. It is now time for bed as I have an early bus call tomorrow: 6:30am for 7am wheels up!!

Good night, and of course as usual…..more later…..

Blog Installment January 20, 2011

Hello, Happy 2011 to you all. I hope this finds you all enjoying Winter.

Well, I just got off of a 10 hour bus ride. To say that every bone aches would be an understatement. But let me backtrack. I left you as I was heading to Schenectady for a week “sit-down”, ah Heaven is staying in one place!!! Sammy did show up and was with us for the week. In fact, we had rehearsals for two days and notes almost every day, refining and adding business, changing blocking and actually learning how to get great laughs!! The man is a genius when it comes to knowing audiences and what works onstage. I love working with him and told him so!! His family came to see us perform on the Friday night show. John and I had fun changing some of our routines. Of course, every night we had shows while all these changes were happening. So of course, I would have to write down the changes and make sure that I was able to remember them while doing a show I had already performed 66 times. Muscle memory gets in the way, but I succeeded. We had some great laughs during rehearsals trying to get everyone to do new things. But we all accomplished wonderful stuff and the show got better and better. The audiences in Schenectady are very theater savvy as shows have been performing here for years before they go to Broadway. We had several sell outs and the other houses were 80% full. Incredible!! The house management was quite happy as were we. It was such fun to get great laughs in places that had not had laughs before!! I feel like a half rock star now as I also get some cheering when I come out for my bow. John is clearly the rock star of the show, but it is great to have to hold while the audience laughs at my lines!! I am really enjoying the stillness that is necessary to deliver many of my funny moments. One is never too old to learn this craft; it keeps one on their toes and makes for very memorable adventures onstage. I cannot tell you how great this cast is. I hope you don’t think I am redundant, but even Sammy had praise for us, and he doesn’t praise lightly. The bottle dancers are excellent, every night they stop the show; “To Life” is another crowd pleaser as well as “the Dream” and “Do You Love Me”.

I am not the only actor who benefitted from Sammy’s direction. The entire cast has grown in their roles and continues to meld into a vibrant and interesting village, seething with character and drive and enthusiasm. The Stage lights up with the energy everyone brings to their roles and the applause at the end of each performance has grown exponentially with cheers and standing ovations galore. We are all so happy to be onstage together and it shows in the performances.

This caring and good will carries over into our day to day interactions as well. Since Schenectady, we have been in a different city almost every day, we had an occasional two nighter once a week for the past two weeks. But we are traveling long distances on the bus and then have a performance. Get home, sleep in a different hotel every night, get back on the bus, travel for 5-6 hours, (except for today which was 10 but there is no show tonight, thanks be to the Gracious Higher Being!!) then perform, go home, sleep in a different hotel, get back on the bus, etc….for 2 weeks this has been our life. Not very much fun. But today Nicole announced on the bus that this was the best bus group ever and I second that!! No one complains, no one whines, everyone smiles a greeting and is totally supportive of each other. It is amazing. And I salute everyone of my bus mates.

We did have a wonderful time in Charleston, SC, Sixty Degree weather and blue skies, as well as wonderful audiences. We had the morning free yesterday; in the afternoon there was a rehearsal as we got an addition to our company—a new male swing. We were and are thrilled as punch as this will hopefully help out when people are sick and need to call out. I think I mentioned how difficult it was when everyone started getting sick in December and Aaron had to go home as he hurt his foot quite badly. Our male swing, Patrick, was admirable, sometimes doing up to three different characters in one show. He is amazing!! Anyway, the new swing, Cort, is terrific and debuted last night as one of the Russians. He is already a wonderful addition to our Anatevka family. Back to our free morning: with the beautiful weather, I decided to walk to lunch at a restaurant that was a mile away from the hotel. As I was walking I realized first that this was the first day in weeks that I had seen the sun and secondly, this was the first in weeks that I was able to walk somewhere without having to get back on the bus within 15 minutes or an hour…we usually have a 15 or 20 minute pit stop in the morning, an hour for lunch and another 15 minute stop if the trip is longer than 5 hours. Otherwise, we barrel through to our hotel. Please see other blogs for more details of bus trips….I relished the walk and the sunshine and eating in a grown up restaurant that was not a chain or fast food. It is remarkable how the simplest things become so important and relaxing.

We are on our way now to Lowell, MA (my son will be at the show there), then Portland, ME Saturday for two shows, and then on to West Point, NY where I will have a crowd to see me. I can’t wait to be able to perform for my family and friends. It will be so very nice to have people I know and love in the audience!! Then we have one more 6am call (we had several very early calls this week with long distances to cover) and then the distances get shorter and we can sleep a little in the mornings. This will make for happier campers I think. We are all anxiously awaiting a ‘sit-down’. I think I explained that in an earlier blog. Anyway, it is exactly what it sounds like. We actually stay in one place for a few days. Toledo, OH will see us for four or five nights in early February. In mid-February we will be in Cincinnati for two entire weeks. We will even have a Golden Day in Each of these cities. Golden Days are VERY SPECIAL. It means No Travel and No Performance!! We don’t get many of them, but we certainly appreciate them when we do have them.

I hope you all have a good weekend and if you get to a show, please let me know. I would love to see you before or after!!

Good night and more later…..

Addendum January 2, 2011

Happy New Year again. I realized I needed to tell you something else. We have all been waiting for the Fiddlerontour.com website to post the cast list and update the Itinerary. Well, the Itinerary still has not been updated, however, the cast list and bios are up!! Please go to http://www.fiddlerontour.com/ and check out "Cast". It is quite exciting to see, especially since we have been on tour since September and it just got posted! Also I am posting a url for a 30 second commercial that is being aired on local stations advertising our cast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85AT94NhDO4

I am hoping this will work from the blog, otherwise, you can cut and paste. I am also going to try and talk to some of the younger cast members who are more computer savvy and see if I can start posting some pictures as well as words. Making the blog more interesting for my wonderful readers.

Well, good night and rest well.
And as always.... More Later....

Blog December 27, 2010; continued January 2, 2011

Hello everyone. If you are snowbound, I hope you are warm and having a nice cup of hot chocolate!! We are sending out holiday cards and already packing for the next leg of our tour!! In fact, I need to go out this Thursday and buy some new luggage as mine was much too big during the last trip and my carry on must have wheels. I think we discussed how uncomfortable it is to have to schlep a carry-on on one’s shoulders!!

Anyway, I left Tampa December 14, 2010. I was supposed to arrive in White Plains, at an airport 15 minutes from my abode. However, the airline fairies had other ideas. I landed at LaGuardia but my luggage landed in White Plains and was delivered at midnight. The nice part of all of this is that I was at home and had plenty of medicine, clothes and toothpaste.

Hello again, happy New Year!! It is now January 2, 2011! An entire decade has begun since the last time I started to write this blog. My how time flies. Speaking of flying time, my three week break has indeed flown by and I will be meeting my Anatevka family tomorrow at LaGuardia Airport to pick up our bus which will bear us all up to Proctors Theater in Schenectady, NY. We will be at this theater for an entire week, 8 shows!! Wow, I will be so happy. Sammy Dallas Bayes, our director will also be there. We will have two rehearsals with him. I am most excited about this. It is such a treat to have the director come back after the company has had a chance to grow into a show. Usually a director is with you for two weeks, if you are lucky, to rehearse and block a show. Then they leave, never to be seen again, and the cast continues with the Stage Manager taking over giving notes and comments to keep the intention of the director alive and well. We also have a Conductor in the pit every night who has a great vantage point and can inform us when we change things in the wrong direction. We were also lucky as a cast in that the Assistant Director was able to see two shows while we were out in Kansas and he gave us notes and worked on some parts of the show that were growing in a different direction from the Director’s intention.

 Actors want to grow into a part and there is a famous statement, “Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances”. The Imaginary Circumstances are usually set up by the director- characters are to head in his direction but get there on their own, with some hints and helpful advice along the way. Also, as the cast melds together and becomes more familiar with blocking and lines, the story unfolds in a different manner, with more ease and believability. Actors relax onstage and feel more as they are living in Anatevka more truthfully and more fully. Now the director will see this and hopefully be able to help us further this truth with more—more emotional truth, more directional intention and more fleshing out of the characters themselves so that they become more three dimensional- thereby making the audiences’ experience more enjoyable. I will let you know how it goes.

Well, I have to go finish packing my new luggage. Oh, That was a hoot. The salesman at Innovation Luggage was a delight. I bought luggage, took it home, packed, unpacked as it didn’t fit, took the luggage back, looked at more luggage, explained more about my needs and more about the routine, he sold me some gadgets to make my life easier and two new suitcases which hold my stuff for the trip and I am taking less this time out!!!  So a good time was had by all.

I also have been busy baking some cakes for the cast and crew. I figure we will all be in the mood for goodies as we haven’t eaten enough this holiday season….Oy! But seriously, one of the things I think most of us missed on this tour is homemade goodies, be it cooking or baking. Certainly we all went crazy at Thanksgiving when we could cook and bake. We are also looking forward to Passover, as we all really want to have a Seder to celebrate the holiday together as a village. We will plan to make that happen in Reno, Nevada if the stars line up correctly!

So enough for now. I have to get some sleep as tomorrow is the big day. It will be wonderful to once again be with my Anatevka family. Although I must say the lay off went by too quickly. Of course, there is never enough time to do all the things that need doing. Plus I had a wonderful Hello/Goodbye Party at my house a few days after I arrived. I cooked and baked for that as well. That was so much fun to see people I hadn’t seen in a year! (I don’t know if I have told you, but I have been working steadily as an actor since March 29, 2010 out of New York. So I have missed Family Get-togethers, vacations with Friends and social events that have been going on in the last 9 months. I will also miss the upcoming events for the next 5 months, so I felt a party was in order.) I thank everyone who was able to make it up my steep hill to my house. I missed those who couldn’t be there, but hopefully I will see you once the tour is over.

Start the engines folks, 18 weeks of bus and truck, here we come!!

More later…..