Spamalot- Week 6 part 2

From St. John, we moved to Fredericton, NB and then back to Halifax, NS. Fredericton was a little stressful because the night before we headed out of St. John, one of our cast members dislocated her elbow and was sent home to recuperate. Fredericton was the first city for the cast to try out the choreography changes to cover for the missing person.

(They did a fantastic job, by the way, and the show didn't lose any of it's effect. Although we all still wish Keleen a very speedy recovery.)

It rained for much of the time we were in Fredericton, so we didn't get to explore the town very much, but the band and many of the crew managed to slog out to the local Boston Pizza for a few drinks and munchies.

Kim (wardrobe), Nolan (keys), Emma (trumpet), Alex (trombone), Kevin (MD), Rizzo (carpenter/flymaster), Addison (props)

The most interesting thing for the band in Fredericton was that this was the first venue with no actual pit, so we sat in a room behind the stage for the entire show. Luckily, we each have our own microphone and headset, so we could hear what was going on and our sound guru out front could just mix us in with the singers. I never realized how much of a bummer it is to not be able to see the show as it's happening. The trade-off was, we had our first official "Hawaiian shirt day" in the pit!!

After Fredericton, we headed back to the coast to play in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Halifax was our first chance to play a, real, honest to goodness, hockey arena! I'm not kidding, they lay some plywood over the ice and build the stage on top of that. It's a little chilly, but my Dad will be excited to learn that they open the concessions a half hour before the show starts. Oh yeah, there's finally a venue where you can buy popcorn at the intermission!

Kid with the popcorn cart before the show in Halifax.

Halifax Mooseheads (Hockey Team) Locker room

Halifax was a great place to visit. The boardwalk by the water is beautiful, the Citadel is right in the middle of the city on top of the hill (for you history buffs) and the city is still home to the old Alexander Keith's brewery.

I spent most of my day off wandering around the Maritime Museum and learning about the many shipwrecks that have happened through the ages because of the treacherous Halifax coastline. What an interesting way to spend the morning!

The Museum Entrance

CSS Acadia (One of the exhibits associated with the museum)

Next up...Burlington, VT.

Spamalot- Week 6

St. John, NB, Canada

There was really too much of St. John to explore in just a few short days. From the City Market to the Reversing Falls to all the many restaurants and museums, St. John really does have something for everyone!

I spent hours on the first day just wandering around the town, taking in the sights. To the left is a picture of the city market which has fresh fruit and seafood, hand made scarves and hats, jewelry made from sea glass and all kinds of other interesting items for sale.

The second day I got up and took the 10AM boat tour to the Reversing Falls. This unique natural occurrence is caused by the fact that the Bay of Fundy rises/ falls about 30 feet between low and high tide. When the Bay is at high tide, it is actually higher than the water at the mouth of the river, basically causing the river to rush backwards. At low tide, the Bay is so low that the water rushing from the river moves fast enough to create all kinds of white water and whirlpools, shown in the picture to the left. (The picture really doesn't do it justice!)

I'm falling a couple of weeks behind, so I'll try to post more pictures from St. John later in the blog. For now, I'll post this and move on to the next location!

Lunchie Munchies, Round 1

As most of you know, the real reason I started this blog was to keep track of the foods we eat as we travel around North America. The first installment is about Wing night. With the ever increasing popularity of Buffalo Wings, it's been relatively easy to come up with wing specials as we travel. The beginning for us was during tech week in Waterbury, CT. The very first day off was a Sunday and the band (followed shortly by the cast and most of the crew) ended up at "Turf's" Pub for the Sunday special; $10 pitchers of beer with free wings.



It just so happened that we travelled the next Sunday, and found ourselves with an evening off at WVU in Morgantown, WV just in time for football. The gang promptly checked out the wing scene at "BW3'"s. Even though they are apparently a chain, the wings were spicy and filling. The deals weren't quite as good as "Turfs", but the food was worth the upcharge!




To get to St. John, NB in Canada,we had to travel all day, and thankfully we had the night off when we got there, so we all went in search of food. Following a recommendation from one of the locals, we headed out to "Churchills" where we were disappointed to note that the wing special didn't begin until 9PM. Most people decided to wait it out...I opted to eat and move on, but not before taking a quick shot of my buddies holding out for wings!



Alex (trombone), Emma (trumpet), Andy (trumpet), Will (actor) and Sean (actor)












Last but not least, this past Sunday after our matinee in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we went in search of a restaurant called "My Father's Mustache" which was reputed to have award winning wings. They turned out to be more like fried chicken that you dunk in the wing sauce. Not my top pick, but still tasty. The sauce was actually so good we used it to dip fries afterward so there would be no wasting it!




Lots of great wing options so far...stay tuned for more of Ami's eating tour of North America!

Spamalot- Week 5

It's getting more and more difficult to remember what day it is, and even where we played three nights ago! You wouldn't think that it would be so easy to lose track of time. I think when I left off the last entry we were headed to Concord, NH.

The Capitol Center for the Arts, in Concord, NH

This was the smallest theatre (and the smallest pit) we've seen so far. The tech crew actually has to build an alternative set so it would fit through the loading dock doors. Despite the fact that we couldn't use all the props and set pieces, the intimate nature of this theatre made it a really wonderful place to work. It's nice to know that the show actually stands on the creativity of the script/ score and the talent of the cast instead of theatrical effects.

That said, we were all thrilled to have the entire set back in place for the next venue, Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, NY.

The beautiful view from the pit at Proctor's Theatre.

I have to admit, even though it was amazing to play in such a gorgeous theater as Proctor's, the highlight of Schenectady was visiting the well stocked sheet music store across the hall from the stage door. We all picked up new etude books and fun pieces to keep up our "non-show" chops, and it was really nice to see such a great selection of brass music! Thanks, Schenectady VanCurler Music!

Last stop for week 5 is Greenvale, NY on Long Island. Here we lost half our set to lack of drop space. (For the non-theatre peeps on this list, many of the scenery changes are hung out of sight above the stage and just lowered to the stage when needed. This takes up a great deal of space above the stage, which some theatres simply don't have available. Our crew is pretty ingenious though and the shows have still been looking great, even in the venues without all the drops!) The wonderful thing about this theatre was the fact that the band had two separate dressing rooms and a ton of space in the pit! Hooray for Greenvale! Next week- Canada...

The very spacious pit in Greenvale, NY.

Spamalot- Week 3

Welcome to my very first National tour! After two weeks of 12 hour work days at the beautiful Palace Theatre in Waterbury, CT, we are finally on the road. Monday we travelled to Morgantown, WV to play at West Virginia University. Tuesday and Wednesday we played for an extremely lively crowd in University Park, PA. This morning we are still stuffed full of ice cream from the famous "Creamery" on the Penn State campus, and we are on the bus headed for Bethlehem, PA.

Alex (Trombone), Nolan (Keys 2), Emma (Trumpet), and Kevin (MD) enjoying a break between shows at Penn State's famous Berkey Creamery.

And yes, the green one is mine- YUM!

So far the tour has been wonderful. The cast is excellent, the reviews have been incredibly complimentary and being a part of the band is really a blast! If anyone is interested in looking at the pictures a few of the actors have taken to document the entire process so far, you can check out the photobucket website and search for Spamalot2010. In the meantime, I'll try to put a few pictures in as I go!

The wall at the Palace theatre in Waterbury, CT where our fabulously talented props girl, Darcy, painted the Spamalot poster on the wall. We all signed, in honor of opening night!

Here is the Big Red Bus- our home away from home for the next 8 months. The Gold Bus behind it is the sleeper bus for the crew.

Spamalot week 4

After our soggy one nighter in Bethlehem, PA last week (there were tornado warnings and all kinds of flooding all through PA), we moved to Worcester, MA for the entire weekend. It was fantastic to be home for a few days and since Brian graciously came to pick me up at the theatre on Friday, I got to drive back and forth to the theatre in my cute little car!

Worcester has a beautiful theatre, and it's right down the street from Coney Island Weiners. By the end of the weekend, even UNO's was deserted by most of the cast and crew in favor of Coney Island!

Emma (Trumpet), Kevin (MD), and Alex (Trombone) enjoying dinner at Coney Island Weiners in Worcester, MA

Monday we drove to Keene, NH which is a lovely little New England town famous for its annual Pumpkin Festival. The town was already decorated in anticipation and it put us all in the autumnal spirit. Although the theatre was too small to accomodate our entire set, the crew made it work and the audience was very enthusiastic!

Prop Boxes sitting outside in the parking lot at the Colonial Theatre in Keene, NH

Yesterday we moved on to Orono, ME and we got to town in plenty of time for several members of the company to rent canoes and kayaks and go for a short paddle down the river right behind our hotel. We played the show on campus at the University of Maine and the crowd was standing room only. Afterward we spent time hanging out with some of the locals and playing pool at Woodman's. No lobster rolls yet on this trip, but the fact that it's the season for Shipyard's Pumpkin beer on draft makes up for the lack of fishy goodness!

The backyard of the University Inn hotel in Orono, ME

Today we're back on the bus headed for Concord, NH. Can't wait!