Ridin' on the Christmas Train

And now we arrive at A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CAROL.  The show was at Centerstage North (where I'd done TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, BABY, and where I went on to do THE FANTASTICKS in February 2011).  It ran in December 2010.  I had committed to doing another Christmas show.  Then I got an email out of the blue from Sarah, who had directed me in BABY, and was directing ACCC.  She asked me if I'd landed a holiday gig yet, because she had a role for me in ACCC.  She told me about the rehearsal and performance schedule, and I told her that I can do all performances, but rehearsals would be hairy for me until Ramona QuimBee performances were done.  I said "are you ok with these conflicts?"  She said "yes to everything, as long as you can do the show during the whole run, I can work around literally anything during rehearsals."  I then told her that I was already committed to doing another show, but I'd rather do her show because I liked the rehearsal/performance schedule better.  (If I'd stuck with Show #1, I'd have been unable to go to Blue Ridge with my family over Thanksgiving weekend.)

Without disclosing all the details of the negotiation, I'll just say that with every curve ball I threw at Sarah, she came back at me with a counter-curve which one-upped everything I said and made it better for me to do her show.  So I cut my ties with Show #1 (rehearsals hadn't even started yet and I hadn't signed anything yet), and joined A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CAROL without looking back.

The show is exactly what it sounds like - a countrified Xmas Carol.  It's set in Marley County, Texas.  Eb Scrooge is a mean old geezer.  Very rich and stingy.  He works his most devoted employee (a single mother named Bobbie Jo) to the bone, and when his drunk nephew Dwight stops by every Christmas Eve to wish him a Merry Christmas and invite him over, he refuses.  You can figure out the rest.  I didn't mention it's a musical.

I thought the script sucked, most of the songs sucked, and (with no disrespect intended toward anybody - people did the best they could with the resources they had) some of the production values sucked.  I'm thinking in particular of some of the performers who wore a huge headset/microphone (the kind usually reserved for stage manangers) and passed it off as a "body mic."

I was telling my wife that it was going to be a so-bad-it's-good show, like The Room.  As a show, it wasn't one of my favorites, but the people in the cast were all lovely people, and I got so much bang for my buck doing this show.  I played Dwight (the "Fred" counterpart) and Young Eb.  I missed most of the rehearsals, got to come in late, kiss a good-looking Australian girl, play arguably the 2 best roles in the show, and got one of the best reviews of my career.  It certainly wasn't the worst holiday show I participated in.  It's not one I list on any bios or resumes, but for a couple of reasons, it's a "slightly guilty pleasure" show of mine.  Here are some pictures.

A collage somebody in the cast made:

A group picture.  I was in the middle of getting dressed for the Dwight character and had to come out for this group pic.  This was at the beginning of the first of a 2-show day, where I'd just come from working a 6am shift at the restaurant.  I really was as tired as I look here.

Me as Dwight.

Another one as Dwight.

Me as Young Eb with the dying Fan (or whatever her character was - maybe it was Fan, or Fannie)

Me as Dwight.

Me as Young Eb, with Shaillie Thompson as Belle.

Me as Young Eb.

Ramona QuimBee

When last I left you, I was double-rehearsing for RAMONA QUIMBY and THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE.  I so cleverly nicknamed it the Ramona QuimBee project.  I rehearsed Ramona for 4 hours in the morning, have about a 4 hour break in the afternoon (not quite long enough to make it worth it to go home, but certainly long enough to eat Chick Fil-A then be bored for 3 1/2 hours), and then Bee rehearsal was in the evening.

The music for Bee was deceptively challenging.  I truly thought at first that I wouldn't be able to get it together by opening night, and that the music director made a mistake by hiring me to play keyboard for it.  I lived, breathed, and agonized over that score, but I didn't give up, and by the time we were about to start previews, I got so confident with the music that when there was a rehearsal called with just me and no band, I was wishing that there wasn't a band at all and that I could just play the whole show by myself.  As a bandleader, it was an exercise in learning to deal with a variety of personalities.  I'm trying to be diplomatic here, so enough said about that.  I'm grateful for that exercise.  Linda, the music director, has taught me more than she's probably aware of.  I learned a lot of what I know about being an accompanist just by watching her.

The cast from Spelling Bee was so nice and welcoming.  They treated me like I was just as important as them every step of the way.

Ramona and Bee had overlapping runs.  I think I literally had a couple of 16 or 17 show weeks.  RQ toured around to schools (in a van), then did a week of shows at the Teaching Museum in Roswell, and then finally ended with a week of performances at the home of Georgia Ensemble Theatre - right in front of the Spelling Bee set.  The Teaching Museum was exactly what it sounds like.  We took a field trip there during rehearsals just to see it, and we walked in the auditorium and were greeted with 44 life-size President cardboard cut-outs - everyone from Washington to Obama.  On our performance week, we had 2 dressing rooms.  We started out in a happy lovey cheerful Dr. Seuss room, and then due to something about space availability, we had to be moved to a replica of Anne Frank's attic.   Not as playful of a vibe there.

I loved the QuimBee project, and was sad when the Ramona part especially was over.  RQ, believe it or not, turned out to be one of my favorite shows of my career.  I treasure the experience, and the cast is one of the 6 best ensemble casts I've been a part of in my 22 year, 95 show career.  It was a hard one to say goodbye to.

[Hopefully] Enclosed are a couple of pictures.  One is of the entire cast and crew of Spelling Bee, and the other one was taken from Ramona Quimby: The Last Supper.  I had a great time writing about this - it really took me back.  Next up, A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CAROL...

The Off-Season

So, it's been more than 2 years since my last post, though there's been plenty to talk about.  Other than an upcoming school production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST in which I'm playing in the orchestra, I have nothing theatre-related lined up, so I'm going to be spending the "off-season" catching you up on the projects I've had since my last post (which was about RAMONA QUIMBY).  I'll probably make one entry for each show.  There have been some very special ones along the way that I can't wait to tell you about.  Watch this space.