On Sunday I end my time with the National Tour of Rent: The Broadway Tour.
This has been the 7th show I have done the Merchandising for in the 2 years it has been since I went back out on the road on September 17th 2007. In that time I have worked on the Non-Equity tours of Annie (Directed by Martin Charnin) and Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy (Direct from Broadway), and the Equity tours of The Drowsy Chaperone, Mamma Mia, Avenue Q and Spring Awakening (Handling the set up and launch of the First National tour in San Diego and San Francisco).
In this time I have been to 48 of the 50 US states and 129 different Theatres in 129 different cities. I never thought growing up that I would be able to see the country in this way. I only hope that one day I will be able to see the rest of the world in a similar fashion.
Of the cities I have been to so far. I have to give special recognition to Madison, Wisconsin and Baton Rouge, Louisiana as 2 of my favorite places. Madison is the greatest little city, home of the University of Wisconsin and the best little college town feel. Baton Rouge got me to New Orleans for the first time. To this day that night will rank in the top 5 experiences of my life. To experience a city so alive and vibrant, in the aftermath of such a horrible and gut wrenching disaster was thrilling. On the drive back to Baton Rouge (after about 3 hours of sleep and a night of Debauchery) we drove through some of the areas hit by Katrina. To see the devastation in person and how it has been all but abandoned, with the search markings on the homes, was intense. It is an experience I will never forget. San Francisco is also ALWAYS a great city to play (Well, not with Wicked..but the 2 times I have been there since have been AMAZING)!
Some of the lame-o cities... Wabash, Indiana (it doesn't have a taxi company so the front desk woman at the Holiday Inn express gave me a ride to work), Champaign, Illinois (We played the Assembly Hall arena with Annie in October.. No Air Conditioning on an 80 degree day and about 100 flies dive bombing my tee shirts and the cast during the show. Add that to a contact who was less than pleasant to deal with, made it a VERY long night.
There have also been some unbelievable occurrences.. On the Annie bus on our way to Roanoke, VA from Charleston WV one of our Wheels fell off the bus... I guess they will only go round and round so often! We were stranded on the side of the highway with our wheel (which had rolled directly across from the bus, leaning against the median, taunting us) off and a new bus 3 hours from getting to us... Then the transmission blew on the bus and we were stranded at a truck stop in Effingham, Illinois for 3 hours on a travel day. In Melbourne, FL our substitute bus driver backed the side of the bus into a tree, shattering the exterior pane of window, but not breaking it. It was this insane spider crack that took up the entire window. We started our (already) 12 hour drive from Melbourne, FL to Athens, GA...and about an hour in we pull off the highway because the glass had started to fall out of the window and they deemed it unsafe to continue.. An hour later we were on our way again, making it to Athens in about 14 hours.. for a One Nighter. FUN TIMES!
Here are some pictures referencing some of the events described above:
The shattered bus window (Somewhere in Virginia):
New Orleans (CB, Matt and Andy):
My Annie Booth (New Haven, CT):
The Drowsy Booth (Post Renovation):
The Spring Awakening Booth (San Diego, CA):
That is all for now. Tomorrow night I will continue adding some of my favorite pictures from the past two years.
CB
