Getting back on the horse

It's about time!  It's been roughly two and half YEARS since I've posted.  How did that happen?!  I won't take your time going through every single thing that's happened in the past two and a half years, I'm sure some highlights will come up as we go.

I am now in beautiful East Haddam, CT at Goodspeed Opera House working on the world premier production of Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn.  To say I feel lucky, would be an understatement.  As an actress, I go to numerous auditions throughout the year.  I audition for shows for varying reasons: I want to play a certain role, work with a certain director/choreographer, I would love to spend the summer in (insert gorgeous mountain town here), etc.  This show, Holiday Inn, felt important to me from the moment I heard it was happening.  I have worked with our director, Gordon Greenberg, on the Guys and Dolls national tour and have been excited to work with him again.  Denis Jones, our choreographer, has been on my radar for some time.  His auditions are upbeat, he encourages you to make it your own, and the choreography is a blast to dance. 

Working at Goodspeed Opera House is a joy in and of itself.  The location is picturesque.  This time of year, with the leaves changing, the view of the Opera House alongside the river is breathtaking.  I had the honor of earning my equity card here in 2009, right before Shane and I got married, and I am just so happy to be back.  The staff at Goodspeed are kind, great at their jobs, and welcome you to the Goodspeed family with open arms.

Another bonus of being here is that I'm only two hours from NYC!  I get to head home each "weekend" (Mondays and Tuesdays for us) and see Shane and Walter and I also continue to see my amazing Pilates Clients!

Check out some photo highlights below and stay tuned for more blog posts! 

 Photos from our film shoot for the movie within the musical!  I understudy the fabulous Hayley Padschun so I had to film as well in case I go on for her.  Note: if you come and see Hayley as Lila, it's the back of my head in the film :)

                                               Top of Act 2!  Louise with all the ladies!

 Abby Church wins!  She is taking us on a pie adventure courtesy of her friend's pie cookbook Teeny Pies.  This is the Snickerdoodle Pie, it barely lasted 24 hours...

Ready for Washington's Birthday and starting a new book!

First Day Of School!

On It's been some time since the last post! I often slack off at the end of a show. I think it's because I become so focused on getting to go home!
Since we last met a lot has happened! Shane I got a puppy!
I also booked a FABULOUS show! Music Man at Arena Stages in Washington DC. I'm here now and am absolutely loving it.
Walter has been a phenomenal addition to our family! Shane and I can't figure out what we did before we got him :)
Last week was my birthday and I want to take this opportunity to thank (in order of receipt--is that the right verb tense?) Ali, Sarah, Mom, Dad and Shane for the GORGEOUS flowers!Please take a moment to notice the GIANT arrangement of branches. Sarah was in the city celebrating my birthday with me and looked like a crazy person trying to maneuver these into the elevator (I will not post the picture because I have not received permission;). Shane wanted to make sure I got a bouquet of branches because I'd never been given any before and he wanted to make sure I knew my birthday was a "big deal." I laughed a lot, but then totally ate crow when then branches bloomed. They continuted to fill out and fill the apartment with a really amazing perfume.
After Shane and I packed up the car, Walter and I drove down here to DC yesterday (Monday) to move into our apartment which is AMAZING!




It took Walter a little while to get used to his new surroundings, but he finally relaxed!
On our walk last night we found this nice little area next to our apartment building that has little rock areas that go into the water of the fountain and is really pretty. I'm sure Walter would jump in if I let him, but I'd like his first swimming adventure to be a little more controlled than that :)
We had our first day of school today which was filled with costume fittings for me (I"m Swing and Dance Captain and am covering a LOT of roles) and meet and greets. Everyone who works at/is affiliated with Arena is wonderful. Everyone has been so welcoming, friendly and positive. I love it! Tomorrow we have some music and dance rehearsal and we get to have some time as a company with the director! I can't wait to get this party started and until then Walter is scoping out the hot scene here in DC!

3 More Sleeps

and then I will be on my layoff.

I am so ready for a break. I miss everyone at home and am excited to sleep in my own bed and shower in my shower. As some of you know, our shower head is something to miss. It's amazing. I always seem to forget how hard being out on the road it until I'm here. I come home and say "I'm not going on tour any more" and then the next time an offer comes up, there I go! Hopefully this really will be the last tour unless I get offered a dream role and get paid lots and lots and lots of money.

I have been enjoying Dallas a lot, especially the Spanish music station that plays lots of Shakira AND Juanes. I mean, really, I may have to move here (just kidding). Something I won't miss is the heat.Yea. I love air conditioning.

Today I had my first Thai massage. A couple of the girls in the cast had been talking about how great/interesting their massages had been so I had to try it. The guy looked a bit like Seth Rogan, but with a much more zen vibe. For Thai massage you stay clothed and the work is more assisted stretching and almost like acupressure. It was awesome. He talked a lot about how things in the body are connected and my shoulder tension relates to the opposite hip which could be where my TMJ comes from, etc. It was 90 minutes and I felt like I walked out with a new body. I had gone to yoga before the massage which I think was a good choice and I am looking forward to the epsom salt bath waiting for me at home.

We are definitely at that point in tour where we are all getting a little stir crazy. I think that since we go home soon it makes us even crazier. Exhibit A:
Just another day at the office.

I'm so exhausted and have been sleeping a lot. Must be the heat. Today at 7pm it was 105. It's crazy. You just can't do anything outside. You know it's out of control when you go into the hot yoga studio and think it feels cool. Ugh.

Alright, time for an Act 2 stretch and maybe a nap in the rehearsal studio.

A Day Off!!!

FINALLY!!!

Sunday night was the last show for one of our fabulous cast members, Rod Roberts. I mentioned in my last post that we were going to the Doublewide afterward and oh boy did we go to the Doublewide.
Sunday nights are $3 U-Call-Its. This means anything you order is $3. Even top shelf. I helped myself to a $3 kettle one and soda, but couldn't keep that up for too long so I switched it to my other favorite classy cocktail.
A PBR, a deep lunge all with animal heads in the background. Just like how we do it on the Jersey Shore (haha, yea right).

We had a great time and thus began the outdoor photo shoot. Although there are MANY winners, I will post only my favorite.
Needless to say, we had a great time there. Cheap drinks, great company and since the bar was empty we could run around and dance as much as we liked.

Thus began our day off.

I ran some errands and then met up Valerie who was my roommate when I studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain. She and I had touched base about meeting up later in the week as she lives in Fort Worth, but she came into Dallas last minute with her parents and checked to see if I was free so we met up for coffee. We had a great time and it was a wonderful surprise.


After recovering from my "headache," Deacon and I headed to the Texas Rangers' baseball game!
One of the financial people here at the theatre has access to two luxury boxes at the stadium and gave us tickets to what turned out to be a pretty crazy game. When we left at the top of the seventh inning the score was Texas 18, Minnesota 1. I'm telling you the heat here in no joke. When we got to the stadium, with the heat index, it was 116 degrees. The final score was Texas 20, Minnesota 6.

From ESPN.com: "By the time they stopped they had the biggest offensive night in baseball this season and accomplished a feat only done two other times in the last 111 years en route to a 20-6 defeat of the Minnesota Twins on Monday night."

I honestly think the heat must have had something to do with it. If these guys had been even slightly dehydrated or otherwise depleted before the game, there was just nothing they could do. I felt sick form having to walk from the car, across the parking lot, up an escalator and a flight of stairs before I got to AC and they were outside for 3 hours playing baseball. I bet they all feel like garbage today. I hope they all got some Coconut water last night and this morning.

Besides the free food and beer in the box, my favorite thing about the game was that every time Texas got a run, four girls with flags would run around this sort of side field that was out in the bleachers.




THEN the best thing every happened. The woman who has the luxury box told us about Billy Bob's. The world' largest HONKY TONK!You can rent the place out, but remember, no more than 6,000 guests please. Yea, it's really that big. I couldn't get a good picture, but inside there is a full out bull riding rink. On Friday and Saturday nights at 8 and 10pm there are rodeos you can pay to see for the bargain price of $2.50. Sarah was REALLY excited.

Working our way back to the dance floor area I made a friend!
And then Christina made a friend too!
Then it was time to hit the dance floor! There were a lot of authentic dancers there so we were a little intimidated at first for the line dancing, but we jumped up there and picked up quickly. There was some original incarnation of the electric slide followed by the cha cha slide followed by the 90s version of the electric slide. We really killed it.
we had a ton of fun and even did some partner dancing. Sarah is really good at leading, but then I got too dizzy to go on. Hahaha. I tried to load a video, but it's taking FOREVER. I'll try to post it again another time.

It was a really great day off, but not too restful so I did NOTHING today. Literally woke up at 1pm, had a delicious cheeseburger at 2:30pm, laid around a little more then got my stuff together to come to the theatre for a put in rehearsal for Rod's replacement Lee (who is awesome) and the show! I'm now going to finish up this post and go work out during Act I as I have been eating and drinking like I don't have to be in a leotard at an audition next week. It's time to book that Broadway show!!!

More on Dallas

Hi everyone!

I don't know if it is the heat, having to be in the cold theatre so much this week or the food, but I am EXHAUSTED! Probably the fact that I have gone to bed at about 3am every day this week hasn't helped. I wanted to go to bed early tonight, but one of our cast members, Rod Roberts, is leaving tomorrow to go do Peter Pan. We are sad to see him go, but I'm excited to go to a bar called "The Doublewide" to bid him farewell. I have a feeling I'll get some good shots there tonight so stay on the lookout for those.

My food adventures have continued here in Dallas. Deacon and I went for Mexican food at Gloria's and were not disappointed. We had a ceviche sampler and then I have shrimp enchiladas verdes. Now, I love guacamole, chips and salsa and tacos, but overall I'm not really someone who is a big fan of Mexican food. So I was surprised by how much I liked our meal.
It looks like I'm on a tropical vacation, right?

We watched the movie Lincoln Lawyer last night and I was surprised by how much I liked it. I don't usually like movies like that, but the cast looked really good and the movie was really good. There were some moments that were a little cheeseball for my taste, but whatever, the rest of it was fun.

Today between shows it was time for BBQ. I've been here nearly a week so it was about time. I have to admit I think my body was pretty happy about the break. I'm just not used to eating so heavily and I need to quit it in the next day or so if I want to book a Broadway show during our layoff.

On our drive we got a great view of Dallas.
Clear blue sky? I'll take it.

We first tried to go to a BBQ place recommended by another cast member, but they are closed on Sundays (which I take as a sign of it being AWESOME), then we tried Sweet Georgia Brown's, but the line was SO long and mostly outside and it's about 106 degrees. Finally, we went one of Deacon's favorite places called Baker's Ribs.
Everything was really great. The ribs are done differently here. Dry and then you add the sauce when you eat it. I'm a fan. The sauce here was really great and the potato salad had dill in it (mom, you would have loved it) and some sort of vinegar that gave it a real zesty flavor. Brad, take note of the fixins bar.

I didn't have any of the complimentary ice cream, but I think it's really awesome that they offer it.

Now we are back at the theatre for round 2. I am really tired and kinda cranky. I think I see a backstage nap in my near future.

Talk to you soon.

DALLAS!

I want to start with an apology for the delay. I am now in Dallas staying with our friend Deacon! I didn't have internet the first couple of days and then have been busy rehearsing and having shows at night.

So, during out last show in Kansas City my friend Christina hurt her neck during the big Havana dance number. She was feeling better by Tuesday, but not ready to do all of the layouts which meant I got to go on! The girls in the dressing room were so sweet! When I got the the dressing room I found this lovely message on my mirror!
The flowers are from the producers here at the Dallas Music Hall, but that message is straight from the hearts of my girls. It says "You're going to be SETA-sational!" You see, our tour is what Equity calls a SETA contract (Short Engagement Touring Agreement). I won't go into the boring details of what a SETA contract really means except that it doesn't have as many perks as a production contract (which is what all Broadway shows are). It's a funny joke.

So I pumped to go on and even more pumped when I saw my costume and wig.
I wasn't doing the track where I'd have to drive this lovely fruit cart onto the stage, but Tony (he works in wardrobe and is awesome) and I decided this was the perfect set for my Havana photo.

The number went really well. Going on for someone for the first time is like being shot out of a cannon. It doesn't matter how well you know the track, it just always feels like you have blacked out and somehow everything happened. Unfortunately, Christina wasn't feeling better so I went on for three shows. It was nice for me to be able to do her track that many times and get to the point where I could relax and enjoy it knowing that I wasn't going to screw anything up! hahaha.
Luckily, Christina (whose diagnosis was whiplash, yes whiplash, from a dance number) is feeling MUCH better and is back in the show!

So as I mentioned before I am staying with our friend Deacon here in Dallas which is awesome. He lives in a house with a friend from growing up and they have two great danes and a backyard that is right on the water! I am in heaven. If I could stay somewhere like this every time I tour, I could do this more often. So, Deacon travels a lot for work so I am staying in his room and when he is in town he is staying the guest room (what a Southern Gentleman).Deacon was out of town until last night so we thought we'd do a major breakfast celebration. We started with iced coffee which he brilliantly makes with his trusty Keurig.Mom, take note. You just put a cup with ice under the spout! I recommend using the button that brews the coffee a little stronger because that ice melts as the coffee is made and then you can add a little more to really cool it off!

I was in charge of the eggs so after I fried the bacon (so kosher) I sauteed some chopped onion in the bacon grease and then added some eggs and finished the whole thing off with some crumbled feta!
Deacon was in charge of pancakes and he did not disappoint. Not only did he add a little almond extract to the batter (yum!), but...
he can flip them in the pan!!!! I especially love his crazy sleep hair and concentration face! Hahaha.
The finished product!

Other things that have happened since my last blog post:

Courtney Rottenberger turned 26 and on that same day got a call from MSA (my agency) that they are going to sign her too! She auditioned for them and obviously killed it because she is so amazing and talented. They called and sang happy birthday to her and told her the good news. I love them.

I had my one year anniversary with MSA! It's been quite a year. A lot of close calls, a lot of great auditions and classes and I am constantly overwhelmed by the feeling of how lucky I am to have such a great team representing me and supporting me. No, they are not paying me to write this.

I signed up for two more improv classes: Musical Improv level 2 at the Magnet Theatre and Improv level 1 at Upright Citizens Brigade. I had been taking level 1 at UCB when I got the call about this show and had to drop out early. I loved the class and the teacher so much that I signed up again and am really looking forward to continuing classes there. Of course, now that I have registered and paid for two improv classes I will book something that takes me our of town and I will have to drop out of both. Hopefully if that happens it will be before the class starts so I can potentially get my money back.

My mom discovered the stash of old home videos. I can't wait to see them all when I get home as she keeps leaving me emails talking about how funny they are. My brother is home in NJ this weekend and sent me this clip that he taped from the TV. Please note the determination as well as upper body strength.




This is the same work ethic that got me where I am today.

Kansas City Going Strong

As I said in my last post, Kansas City has yet to let me down. The other day we got to the theatre and this was posted on the back of the car we parked next to.
Way to keep it classy Kansas City.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to sample ALL of the KC BBQ, but I did make one final stop. Arthur Bryants. I first heard about it on the food network's Food Wars. Apparently Kansas City is divided between Arthur Bryants and Gates for best BBQ, but after being told by the local dressers to not waste my time at Gates I went to AB.
The portrait is of Arthur the founder of the place and then the lineup where you order. You take a plate from the pile, hand it to the guy behind the window, tell him what you want and he loads it up with meat for you.
Not going to win any awards for being sanitary...

Luckily I went with a friend this time so I could sample the ribs AND the pulled pork.


We opted for the Long End this time (if you have been following you know that I had a hard time with this decision at Oklahoma Joe's). The long end ribs were great, but overall the ribs at Oklahoma Joe's are the winner. Now, I didn't get to try the pulled pork there, but the pulled pork here was out of this work. Sweet, spicy, tangy, tender and just SOAKED the wonder bread underneath it with the delicious juices. There were a variety of sauces on the table and we sampled all of them. The Sweet Heat was my favorite, followed by the Rich and Spicy and I wasn't crazy about the original. Their original had kind of a spanish mole flavor which I don't really care for.

Even though we split everything, we couldn't finish. That BBQ really fills you up!
I was completely defeated.

I dealt with my shame and we moved on and stopped by Gates just to pick up a bottle of their sauce of a comparison at a later date.

I am currently on a bus riding from Kansas City to Dallas. Should be about 10 hours of driving total, but approximately 12-13 hours total including when we stop for meals. We just stopped in Oklahoma City to get some food and stretch a little. There was a big target so I went in, did a little shopping and got a sandwich.

At this point you may be asking yourself "how is she blogging if she is on a bus?" Well, the bus as wireless! It's incredible. I has made this drive exponentially more bearable and we have onyl three hours left or so which is going to fly by!

More to come from Dallas!