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…..