Philly Tourist Adventures

Our first day in Philly we checked out some of the local sights.  Fun fact of the day, Mother's Day was founded in Philadelphia.

Opening night party was held at the Kimmel Center.  Here's Steven in his new party theads.  

Wow, check out that back of that vest!

Steven at the Academy of Music by our sign.

The cast on opening night.  No, the orchestra is not included in this picture.

Our 2 keyboard players

At JFK Plaza checking out the famous love statue.

Steven in front of an interesting statue in what looked like a giant board game plaza.

Yes, that's the wheelbarrow from monopoly.

Day 1 in Philadelphia

After a quick 2 hour bus ride, we arrived in Philadelphia.  We're staying at the Radisson Warwick Hotel.  Our room is spacious, however it has the smallest beds and the least amount of furniture I've ever seen in a hotel room.  We luckily won the lottery for a refrigerator.  We found a grocery store right near the hotel and loaded up for the next 2 weeks.  

We headed over to the hall and unpacked the music for tomorrow's rehearsal.  We found our trunks in the 2 orchestra green rooms.  One for the ladies. . . .

and one for the men . . . . . 

Last day at Papermill

We have 2 shows left in New Jersey.  Steven's sister will come to the matinee and our friends, Caitlin and Andrew, will come to the evening show.  We're anxiously awaiting a trip to Nebraska tomorrow before heading to Philadelphia on Monday the 3rd.  Until then, there's much to be done such as filling the giant suitcase that is on our living room floor.

Yesterday, the assistant conductor, Daniel, took the podium for the first time.  He was fantastic.  We all feel a special bond with him because he's usually our keyboard 1 player.  So here's some pictures commemorating his first day on the podium.

Les Mis + Blizzard = Les Mizzard

Mother Nature decided to dump a giant amount of snow and wind on the Eastern seaboard today.  Normally, this would have been a 2 show day.  We made it to Millburn with very little trouble for the afternoon show.  The snow continued to fall and the playhouse was left with a hard decision.  About 20 minutes before the evening show they decided to cancel the performance.  The actors and musicians made a run for the New Jersey transit train to New York Penn.  By this point the state of New Jersey was in snow emergency.  Somehow our trusty 6:57 pm made it with little trouble to the city.  Here's some pics from the Les Mizzard.

Life in 19th Century France continues in Millburn, NJ

We are getting ready to ship out to Philadelphia in 10 days.  Our trunks arrived this week.  Each cast member, orchestra musician, and tech person receives a trunk to carry oversized belongings.  Ryu's excited for his new "home".   

and why do I say "home"???  Because that's what this black box will be for the next 18 months, minimum.  We're planning on stocking ours with kitchen items, coats, and black clothes.  

Steven's sister, Susan, came to see the show with her friend, Meghan.  We're so happy they were able to make the trek from the city to Jersey.  We're happy that we'll be able to see so many family and friends along the way.  

Tomorrow is Christmas eve and we have just one show, a matinee.  After that I'll be spending my first Christmas in the city and my first Christmas away from my Grandma and parents.  We're planning to do the usual "Barry" Christmas traditions to invoke the feeling of my family.  This means chili on Christmas eve and brisket and a movie on Christmas day.  After that it's back to work for the final 7 shows of the run at Paper Mill.

The review we've all been waiting for ..........

click HERE for the New York Times review

Someone just posted this awesome picture of our Sitzprobe too.

and the reviews are in. . . . . .

Steven and I have been searching for reviews of opening night.  Since we can't actually "see" the show being stuck 10 feet underneath the stage we must rely on others' interpretations of how it went.  So far, so good.  It has gotten some great reviews, click HERE for a review from a New Jersey newspaper.

Steven's mom came to opening night and was great sounding board for all our questions.  Our biggest question is, "what do we really sound like?"  We are each individually mic'd and the technician adjusts our levels many times during the show.  So essentially we have no clue what the group sounds like as a whole. His mom said not to worry, the sound was tremendous.  Hopefully it will be like that in all the halls we play in.

In other news, we played an 11 am show for a group of high school kids from around New Jersey.  About 5 minutes into the show the fire alarm sounded.  That meant you had 1400 high schoolers, 35 actors, and 15 musicians who had to get outside while the fire department checked out the theater.  Now mind you, on a normal day we would have joyfully gone outside and collected our overtime.  However, on this particular Wednesday morning there happened to be a torrential downpour in Millburn, New Jersey.  Oh the joys of standing outside in the rain only to find out that the humidity from the rain and the smoke on the stand in combination caused the fire alarm to go off.