4 days driving for 2 days shows

I’ve been spoiled the last month – I’ve been able to fly to two places for shows – Spokane, WA right before Christmas for three pop symphony holiday concerts and Orlando, FL for two shows with the Orlando Philharmonic – but we had to drive down to Texas (Waco and Richardson/ Dallas) for big band shows there – with a side trip over to Branson, MO to check out a theater and a quick meeting. A little over 2,000 miles total… a drop in the bucket in terms of our touring season. I prefer flying! When it’s quick in-and-out runs like this, we rarely get to experience much more than the darkness of the theater and a hotel room with set-up, rehearsal, show, and tear-down all in the same day. It’s not always as exciting and glamorous as some would think!

I sit in the van now as we drive through Missouri, heading towards Kansas City and back onto I-35N toward Minneapolis, writing on my laptop after exchanging notes on our last two shows in TX with Daniel, our technical director/ lighting director/ stage manager/ general know-it-all. Both shows went quite well; our band was actually very good! We had not played with most of these musicians before so it is very nice to now have a solid connection in this area. And we had good houses with appreciative audiences; you can’t ask for much more.

I get to enjoy homelife for 3 whole days before heading out on the road again. We’ll be on the road most of February. I’ll try to get in as much cooking as possible and make some meals I can freeze – I’m usually so sick of eating in restaurants!

I’m finally posting this blog after two days home. There’s so much to do besides unpack, do laundry, repack. I try to see as many friends and family as possible when I’m home along with the little errands that have to get done, not to mention keeping up with my 5xD workload. I also try to get to as much theatre or music when I’m home – or on the road. I’m lucky to have so many friends in theatre so sometimes I get comp tickets or at least get the secret passcode for a discount. Last night Daniel and I bought rush tickets for $20 each at the Guthrie for Peer Gynt starring Mark Rylance as the title role. I had seen this fantastic actor a few years ago when the Globe Theatre preformed it at the Guthrie with their touring production of Twelfth Night. We had terrific seats – front-and-center fourth row. Daniel gave me some background on the play and he was interested to hear my reaction. Mark was an amazing actor – a master in Shakespeare and his training was vital to make his role work well – and I had the privilege to work with four other actors on the stage in previous shows, so it was fascinating to watch them work their craft too. Theatre is such a wonderful transport into another world, inviting the audience to think in other terms of life. What a great way to exercise the brain, eh?