Golden Days
Aug. 2nd, 2005 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansWhen you’re on a national tour of a musical, you have one day a week off. Mondays become the day you most look forward to. Once a month, the producers are required to give you a “golden day”. A golden day is a day off without travel to the next destination. Yesterday wasn’t one of those days:)
The cast and crew of “Evita” had a 9:00am luggage call and a 9:30am leave time in Memphis for our trip to Atlanta. It’s a bit tough after two shows on Saturday and two on Sunday, but once your bags are loaded on the bus, you’ve got time to doze, read, snack, or as I did yesterday, balance your check book and pay bills. Our crew was up most of the night with the load-out. Needless to say, the bus with the crew on it, was pretty quiet this morning as they caught up on missed sleep.
I always choose the quiet bus. I like the silence... It was so welcome yesterday as my thoughts were full of the death of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
handlebear and of nanocub as he deals with his loss. I know Scott is strong, but I don’t have a clue how I’d react in a similar situation. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would handle it....thoughts and emotions flying by as quickly as the scenery through the bus window.....*sigh*....
Our trip to Atlanta took about six hours of bus time with a one-hour lunch break in the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. Along the way, we passed through Carbon Hill, Alabama and by its sewer plant. I thought...what if that was my life....working at the sewage treatment plant in Carbon Hill, Alabama... and became even more grateful for my work. We passed through Estaboyga, Alabama and I wondered how the gas stations there can sell regular unleaded gas for $2.07/gallon, but the rest of the country, including my home state of Texas, has much higher prices. (Of course, the answer is taxes:)
My exciting life included lunch at a Subway and grocery shopping at a SaveLots in a strip mall. Back on the bus, one of our musicians put a DVD of “Family Guy” into the bus’ DVD player. I like the subversive, sly humor of that series. However, one episode and it was back to naps for most of the people on my bus. I used to sneer at busing, believing that a first-class tour show should always fly its cast to its next booking. I’ve gotten over that. Busing is much less stressful and time-consuming than travel by plane now. The producers have the option to bus us if the next city on our tour is less than 500 miles from the previous city. Memphis-Atlanta is 388 miles.
Air travel in groups has become such a hassle. There are so many extra delays due to security (I don’t feel more secure, just inconvenienced) and in the way luggage is handled. (Hell! My parents don’t want to fly any more for an odd, but compelling reason: it’s difficult for seniors like them, with their particular aches and pains, to take their shoes on and off at the security check point. What is an annoyance to me, is really a deal-breaker for them.) In the past few months, Delta, which we often fly, has lost several pieces of our luggage, sometimes for days at a time, canceled flights without warning and had major delays on their routes. US Air’s planes are filthy; broken tray tables and non-functioning toilets are becoming the norm. American and United flights are often late. These conditions can result in tired, cranky actors and expensive unscheduled overtime travel penalties for the producers. Our opening nights are always on the Tuesday after a travel day, so these experiences can really affect the quality of the first performance in a city.
Yesterday was no “golden day”, but the travel was uneventful and we arrived in Atlanta about 6pm Eastern Time. Everyone was in great spirits. The last long bus trip we took as a group was in December between Chicago and Detroit, so it’s not like we’ve been inconvenienced a lot:) We checked into the historic Georgian Terrace Hotel directly across the street from The Fox Theater. The rooms are luxurious. I have a one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and I actually have a washer and dryer in my suite. Ah... comfort!
I went to dinner with my friend Mary Sheehan at a Gordon Biersch Brewery. It’s only six blocks away from my hotel, but as is often the case in Atlanta along Peachtree Street, a guy sidled up to me trying to sell us drugs. He offered us “weed” for $2; and then when I declined, he said he had some good coke to mix it with (being in Atlanta, I wondered if he meant Coca Cola:) If you know Mary or me, the fact that he approached us is laughable. We are the most unlikely pair to purchase or use drugs; but I guess if you’re walking down Peachtree Street in 2005, you’re fair game.
Our two new cast members Milissa Carrey and Nikol Wolf have joined the company here in Atlanta and we’ll be in rehearsal daily this week with shows as usual at night. By Friday, after three days of rehearsal, they’ll both be in the show. Just in time for a three-week layoff.... So, that’s my Monday. It wasn’t “golden”, but I did get to see bits and pieces of three states... Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia... Let’s just call it a day... off.
The cast and crew of “Evita” had a 9:00am luggage call and a 9:30am leave time in Memphis for our trip to Atlanta. It’s a bit tough after two shows on Saturday and two on Sunday, but once your bags are loaded on the bus, you’ve got time to doze, read, snack, or as I did yesterday, balance your check book and pay bills. Our crew was up most of the night with the load-out. Needless to say, the bus with the crew on it, was pretty quiet this morning as they caught up on missed sleep.
I always choose the quiet bus. I like the silence... It was so welcome yesterday as my thoughts were full of the death of
handlebear and of nanocub as he deals with his loss. I know Scott is strong, but I don’t have a clue how I’d react in a similar situation. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would handle it....thoughts and emotions flying by as quickly as the scenery through the bus window.....*sigh*....Our trip to Atlanta took about six hours of bus time with a one-hour lunch break in the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. Along the way, we passed through Carbon Hill, Alabama and by its sewer plant. I thought...what if that was my life....working at the sewage treatment plant in Carbon Hill, Alabama... and became even more grateful for my work. We passed through Estaboyga, Alabama and I wondered how the gas stations there can sell regular unleaded gas for $2.07/gallon, but the rest of the country, including my home state of Texas, has much higher prices. (Of course, the answer is taxes:)
My exciting life included lunch at a Subway and grocery shopping at a SaveLots in a strip mall. Back on the bus, one of our musicians put a DVD of “Family Guy” into the bus’ DVD player. I like the subversive, sly humor of that series. However, one episode and it was back to naps for most of the people on my bus. I used to sneer at busing, believing that a first-class tour show should always fly its cast to its next booking. I’ve gotten over that. Busing is much less stressful and time-consuming than travel by plane now. The producers have the option to bus us if the next city on our tour is less than 500 miles from the previous city. Memphis-Atlanta is 388 miles.
Air travel in groups has become such a hassle. There are so many extra delays due to security (I don’t feel more secure, just inconvenienced) and in the way luggage is handled. (Hell! My parents don’t want to fly any more for an odd, but compelling reason: it’s difficult for seniors like them, with their particular aches and pains, to take their shoes on and off at the security check point. What is an annoyance to me, is really a deal-breaker for them.) In the past few months, Delta, which we often fly, has lost several pieces of our luggage, sometimes for days at a time, canceled flights without warning and had major delays on their routes. US Air’s planes are filthy; broken tray tables and non-functioning toilets are becoming the norm. American and United flights are often late. These conditions can result in tired, cranky actors and expensive unscheduled overtime travel penalties for the producers. Our opening nights are always on the Tuesday after a travel day, so these experiences can really affect the quality of the first performance in a city.
Yesterday was no “golden day”, but the travel was uneventful and we arrived in Atlanta about 6pm Eastern Time. Everyone was in great spirits. The last long bus trip we took as a group was in December between Chicago and Detroit, so it’s not like we’ve been inconvenienced a lot:) We checked into the historic Georgian Terrace Hotel directly across the street from The Fox Theater. The rooms are luxurious. I have a one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and I actually have a washer and dryer in my suite. Ah... comfort!
I went to dinner with my friend Mary Sheehan at a Gordon Biersch Brewery. It’s only six blocks away from my hotel, but as is often the case in Atlanta along Peachtree Street, a guy sidled up to me trying to sell us drugs. He offered us “weed” for $2; and then when I declined, he said he had some good coke to mix it with (being in Atlanta, I wondered if he meant Coca Cola:) If you know Mary or me, the fact that he approached us is laughable. We are the most unlikely pair to purchase or use drugs; but I guess if you’re walking down Peachtree Street in 2005, you’re fair game.
Our two new cast members Milissa Carrey and Nikol Wolf have joined the company here in Atlanta and we’ll be in rehearsal daily this week with shows as usual at night. By Friday, after three days of rehearsal, they’ll both be in the show. Just in time for a three-week layoff.... So, that’s my Monday. It wasn’t “golden”, but I did get to see bits and pieces of three states... Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia... Let’s just call it a day... off.
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