Two Weeks in Denver

The bad news is that we had to end two beautiful weeks in Denver, but the cast and crew of Little House on the Prairie The Musical, was overjoyed because we were able to head home for a week with our families.

Most of us missed Christmas with our families although some families were able to trek to Denver on a snowy night to get here before Santa arrived.

Granddaughter Taylor Bera and I got to spend Christmas Day with her parents, Kelly and Joe, and my older granddaughter, Maggie. But Helen and the rest of the family, daughter Terri, her husband Jeff and grandsons, Jake and Christian continued the tradition of awaiting Santa’s arrival at our house.

Through the “wonder” of webcam, we all got to hookup on Christmas Eve and Helen even got to visit with some folks in Denver, whose father was born in Lefkada, an island in Greece, where Helen’s father Nick was born. Helen’s family had last visited with the Denver family 60 years ago, so it so nice they could talk face-to-face after so many years. It was great I was able to hookup with them during our stop, but it’s too bad Helen wasn’t able to be on the tour at this time. The two families share the same Greek last name although it’s spelled a little different---probably due to translation when they immigrated to the U.S. some in the early 1900s.

Back to details about the tour. We had absolutely wonderful weather for almost two weeks in Denver. The snows and cold weather didn’t arrive until Wednesday, the second week. Before that it was cold but sunny –some days just a sweater would suffice until the sun went down.

Here are some pictorial memories from of our two-week gig in Denver:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=810268390803%3A42522120

The Denver Performance Arts Complex is something to see. Press kits say it is the largest performing arts complex under one roof, and the second-largest center of its kind in terms of number of venues and seating capacity. Connected by an 80-foot-tall glass roof, DPAC houses ten performance spaces on its four-block, 12-acre site. It hosts a Tony Award-winning repertory theatre company, Broadway touring productions, contemporary dance and ballet, magnificent chorales, a major symphony orchestra, internationally-acclaimed opera and more.

Our show was in the Buell Theater and we competed well with the Nutcracker that was next door during the run and the Denver Symphony Orchestra and related musical program in the concert hall across the way.

There was lots of comings and goings at the complex. The restaurants were full before and after

The Buell was a great venue for the cast and crew—lots of stage space that permitted easy access and changes by the cast during a show. The dressing room areas were probably the largest and best situated of those we’ve encountered at any venue during the four months so far in the tour.

Best of all we stayed at a hotel that just across from the Buell and there are lots of shops and restaurants within easy walking distance. Urban renewal has done wonders for downtown Denver. The 16th Street mall runs is about 10 to 12 blocks long ( 1 ¼ miles) with free buses running the length of it everyday—just hop on or off at each street corner from Union Station on the south to the Capitol Building on the north. “Winter in the City” is its theme this year and they’ve even placed pianos in five outdoor areas where you can sit down and play if you’re so inclined.

One good time about a two-week gig in a city is that the whole cast and crew gets Monday off the second week. Some went skiing, tubing or just took the day for shopping, resting, etc.

Taylor and I hopped a regional bus with the Enghs (cast member Kurt and his father Scott) and spent the day in Boulder, CO—about 30 miles away. We just wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind of school for the kids (Kurt is in high school and does all of his class work on the computer while Taylor has 5 hours of school with two other kids in the play).

Boulder was a great place to relax–the kids got to skate on the city rink twice. The Pearl Street Mall runs through the center of town. Great shops—we spent an hour in a toy shop where I found out that I haven’t forgotten how to play with a yo-yo although they were much more costly than the one I had as a kid. These models ran from $18 to a $100. I liked on that was $22 but didn’t opt to get it.

The cast has been running a Secret Santa exchange for the past two weeks—we drew names in Tempe—and we were able to find some “great gifts” in the toy shop. We liked them and hope the people we have liked them as well. Everyone will found out who their Secret Santa was at the cast party on Christmas Night. And yes, if you’re curious, the cast had a show to perform on Christmas night too.

Taylor’s turned out to be Melissa Gilbert and Tay was like a star walking the runway in her gold-sequined Dolce & Gabanna that her Secret Santa gave her. My SS was Gayle and I got some favorite reading material, some “suds” at a local in-house brewery, a collapsible brew cup, and plenty of my favorite candy treats. It was lots of fun.

We had fun but we still were able to give back to the community during our visit. One morning the most of the cast piled into a bus and headed to the south side of town where we were to put the finishing touches on a duplex built for two families by Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. We cleaned floors and windows while the kids of the cast and others decorated cookies for the party later that night when the keys for both houses would be turned over to their new occupants. One of my jobs was to lay down walkway paper upstairs so the people who were to visit later won’t re-dirty the floors we cleaned—you see it’s too cold here to grow grass in wintertime and we didn’t want the dirt tracked in.

We got to meet one of the families getting their first house. Each one spent well in excess of 250 hours working on the construction themselves. The kids seemed real happy to have their first real place to call home and one of the little ones learned how to “lock a bathroom door.” The mother had to scramble to find the key to open it after a little panic. It was a good lesson for all—everyone’s kids have done that at one time or another.

The Habitat homes are considered “green.” Everything in the home is as energy efficient as possible. One thing I found interesting is the “hot water on demand” system. The foreman on the project, Trevor, who has built more than a 100 homes for Metro Denver Habitat, demonstrated the Rinnai tankless system, which provides hot water almost instantly when you turn on a spigot or turn on the shower. When the demand for hot water ends, the tankless unit shuts down and uses no energy.

Of course, the system requires that all of the home’s water use locations be situated in same section of the house so the unit powering the energy efficient system doesn’t require the water to travel great distances.

Our two weeks in Denver ended on Monday (December 28) and the cast scattered ‘hither and yon’ for visits with family and friends. Fifteen of us came back to the New York City area. We’ll all join up again in Fayetteville, AR., on Monday for a week in Wal-Mart headquarters and University of Arkansas country.

We hope all of our friends and family have a wonderful Happy New Year and a great 2010.

On the Road Again--In Tempe, AZ

We’re back on the wagon train with the cast of “Little House on the Prairie The Musical” but the “we” is only one for now. Helen remains in our New Jersey home for continued recuperation after a bout with pneumonia knocked her for a loop in Springfield, MO.

She’s much, much better now and thanks everyone for their calls, e-mails and cards. She even received some from folks we befriended along the trail.

I rejoined the group in cold and blustery Detroit last week and fortunately only had to spend a couple of days there in 20 degree weather before heading to the more “balmy conditions” in Tempe, AZ, some 2,000 miles away. Actually, the folks here think its cold, but I’ll take the sunny 60s in December any day.

Our hotel is adjacent to Arizona State University and the Sun Devils have a great looking campus with palm trees and orange trees lining the sidewalks and mountains in background.

It’s a beautiful area and a couple of high school classmates, who live in the area, campaigned for Helen and I to join them in this sunny clime—at least for part of the year. I got together with two of my classmates and their wives. We spent an evening reliving the good ole days. We had so much fun that none of us remembered to take out a camera and record the event.

Little House on the Prairie was performing this week in the Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium on the ASU campus. The hall was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. People on the street giving you directions to the auditorium say you can’t miss it---“just look for the building that looks like a birthday or wedding cake,” the say.

They’re right---as you’ll see in one of my pictures. It’s round and has ramps on each side on the outside of the building leading to the “upper deck.” At night, the lights on the ramps give the appearance of candles.

I reserve judgment on the architectural merits of the building, but I can say that I that I sat in the next to the last row of the upper deck for last night’s show, and had a great view of the performance. I couldn’t get into the filled last row—I guess it’s like some sporting events where it’s cool to be as far away from the field as possible. The sounds from show were great---I heard every word and the music from the pit was fantastic. The cheap seats aren’t so bad unless you’re prone to nosebleeds.

This is just one of the perks of being part of the traveling tour. You get to know the people running the facilities where the cast is performing and can experience many things that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Some of these aspects are just fascinating to me—a novice in the world of theater.

I was lucky enough the other day to sit in on a rehearsal session for “understudies.” I really enjoyed seeing another side of cast members who play regular roles on a daily basis, but who could be called upon at any time to perform a “leading role.” One of those, of course, is granddaughter, Taylor Bera, who is the understudy for little sister, Carrie.
And, that same day, the whole cast also had a two-hour rehearsal for the director and choreographer to “fine tune” various aspects of the show.

If it was me, I’d make a show about these kinds of backstage aspects to a show and sell tickets to that one---kind of an updated version of “A Chorus Line.” I wonder . . . . .??

The cast has been having a great time in Tempe otherwise. There’s been mountain climbing at Camelback and skydiving from 13,000 feet for the older members of the cast—yes, the director knew about the latter (or heard about it later) and wasn’t too happy. The dozen that went (not including me) say they’d go again in a heartbeat. I can almost imagine what a minute long freefall from 13,000 feet to 5,000 feet would feel like. WOW!!!

Meanwhile, Taylor and her classmates continued the schoolhouse grind, both for real and in the show itself. No class trips this week. They did have fun times at “Meet and Greets” for several groups, including a contingent of “military families,” who attended the shows. The also had a special event night for kids prior to the show.

They also got to meet a distant relative of the Ingalls’ family---Laura Ingalls Gunn. She is related through her great-great grandfather Lansford James, the brother of Charles Ingalls, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s father. She is actually is a fourth cousin of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote the Little House books. She came backstage after the opening night show and then showed up the next day for kid’s day in a traditional prairie dress. She wanted to be our friend on Facebook and we agreed.

It’s hard to recap what happened since we left the tour in Springfield and rejoining it in Detroit, but my picture gallery attached will do that through the courtesy of shots taken by Taylor; her father and mother, Joe and Kelly Bera, and Carolyn Dunning, the tutor, who travels with the show.

Check out this site:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=648785820803%3A701487783

My last blog had pictures from the stop in Tulsa. Joe went there with Taylor following Springfield and stayed on through Oklahoma City and St. Louis. Kelly and granddaughter, Maggie, joined them in St. Louis for Thanksgiving and then Kelly went with Taylor to Detroit.

In Oklahoma City they visited the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum and the memorial at the site of Murrah Building bombing. In St. Louis, the when up in the Arch overlooking the city and the Mississippi River. They also went through the St. Louis City Museum.

In Detroit, they toured the Ford Museum and Hitsville USA.
Here’s a review of the play while it played in Detroit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-29085-Detroit-Performing-Arts-Examiner~y2009m12d2-Review-Little-House-on-the-Prairie-The-Musical-at-Fox-Theatre-in-Detroit

The next stop is Denver for two weeks where spend Christmas—hope Santa follows Joe, Kelly and Maggie to the “Mile-High City.” The company gets a break in time to give us a chance to ring in the New Year at home, and then we head off to our next stop in Fayetteville, AK.

LHOTP in Springfield and Tulsa

Well, we’ve had to detour from “The Prairie.” Helen and pneumonia collided while we were in Springfield, MO for the second half of a split week. Little House on the Prairie, the Musical, did four shows at the Juanita Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts but the illness bug hit Helen really hard after the next to last show.

She ended up in the emergency room at Mercy St. John’s Hospital in Springfield after we watched the Saturday night performance. She was in the ICU for the next 2 days and in a regular room for one day. We then drove to St. Louis for an evening non-stop flight and we’re back home in New Jersey for follow-up treatment.

Meanwhile, the LHOTP cast and crew packed up after the Sunday matinee and headed by bus for a week in Tulsa, OK. Fortunately Taylor’s family (including older sister, Maggie) had paid a surprise visit in Springfield, so Taylor’s father, Joe, was able to accompany her.

Helen had been fighting the “cold bug” for a while and coupled with the heavy and tiring travel schedule, it caught up her. Don’t know if it was the rain and snow in Minnesota or the rain in Nashville that were the culprits. Of course, we were in confined spaces on five airplanes and six different airports, so that may have contributed.

But, before the detour to the hospital, we were able to do some good things. Joe found a Japanese hibachi restaurant in Springfield and Taylor, who loves the food but hasn’t been able to partake in sometime, got her fill. The folks at the restaurant and the “in-house Dragon” surprised our daughter, Kelly, with a birthday cake. Then we all went to see Taylor perform in the evening LHOTP show.

Helen and I celebrated our 47th anniversary on Monday and the hospital personnel saw that we had a cake. We both had a slice—at least I ate all of mine. Actually, we celebrated our 45th two years earlier with friends a few miles south—in Branson. That was a much more enjoyable time.

The tour went on without us. The Tulsa Performing Arts Center was host for the eight performance week. It got the following good review from the local paper:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=371&articleid=20091111_371_0_Thatwa862153

You can also check out the following You Tube site for a promo made about the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2zoQcxoEM4

Taylor can be seen in a number of scenes in the video—she’s the little girl with the glasses and yellow dress dancing behind Melissa Gilbert in the curtain call dance.

Here are a collection of pictures that I made while in Springfield and some that Joe and others made in Tulsa:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=634952629703%3A1553952249&cm_mmc=site_email-_-new_site_share-_-core-_-View_photos_link

Next stop is a week in Oklahoma City (where I hope to rejoin the tour). Visits to the West Heritage /Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Memorial and Museum created in memory of those killed in the 1995 bombing are being planned for the school-age cast members and others who want to go too.

Little House in Little Rock

We’ve just completed the first half of a split week. Four shows in Little Rock, AR, and the cast of “Little House on the Prairie, the Musical” will have another four shows in three days in Springfield, MO following a bus ride tomorrow morning.

Sound like fun? The cast thinks so, although it’s somewhat tiring for all concerned.

The production crew and the musicians have had to set up for shows in two entirely different venues in two cities in a seven-day period. That means tearing down and loading up after tonight’s last show in Little Rock and getting to Springfield in the wee hours Friday to get ready for an 8 p.m. show. Four semi-trailer trucks are needed to hold all of the gear, costumes and scenery.

It really needs to be set up earlier in the day because the cast needs to familiarize itself with the new stage and dressing areas much earlier. The traveling orchestra (the musical director and three musicians) has to spend the entire day with the musicians they pickup in each city to familiarize them with the score.

Then there will be a cast meeting at 5:45pm, followed by a sound check, which leaves less than an hour until the curtain goes up. Two shows are scheduled on Saturday and one Sunday afternoon before we hit the trail for Tulsa by bus Sunday night. At least, we’ll be in Tulsa for a full week and some regularly in the day’s schedule/

Enough detail on the work and the downside of the musical game!

The kids (and the grown-up kids accompanying them) had a great time in Little Rock. Pictures of some of the adventures can be found at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=298945198703%3A1365255720&cm_mmc=site_email-_-new_site_share-_-core-_-View_photos_link

There were a couple of highlights of the time spent in Little Rock.

1. Our granddaughter, Taylor Bera, and two of her schoolmates, were named “Honorary Duck Masters” at the local Peabody Hotel. If you say you’ve never heard of such a job, you may not be alone. It seems that one of the original owners of the first Peabody Hotel thought it would be neat to have ducks (real ones) swimming in a pool in the lobby of his first hotel, but he knew they couldn’t stay inside all the time. So he needed a way to get them to and from the pool every day. The owner created a formal ceremony –one in the morning to get them to pool and another in the afternoon to return them to their overnight home.

Taylor and her classmates got to escort them on the “red carpet” after they marched out of the pool, to the elevator, and then rode with them up to the second floor. They assisted them into a cage, pushed the cage to their rooftop “home” and then escorted them into the home.

They each received a formal certificate from the “head Duck Master” designating their status. A lot of the spectators looked a little jealous. The morning and afternoon ceremonies are held 365 days a year and draw quite a crowd at each ceremony. Taylor thought it was a lot of fun.

2. The kids’ other special treat in Little Rock was being special guests for the day
at the Clinton Presidential Library. They received had dinner at the Library and then a guided tour of the facility honoring our 42nd president. After they completed tour, they were given a bag full of mementos from Ann Kamps, manager of the Volunteers and Visitor Services for the Clinton Library. The guardians and many of the cast were also given passes to visit the library.

The show was well attended by Little Rock residents and the mayor of the town issued a formal proclamation making November 3, 2009, Little House on the Prairie Day in the city.

The play shared the spotlight in the city with the start of the trial of a man accused of October 2008 killing of a popular Arkansas television personality, Anne Pressly. The trial was being held in at the Circuit Courthouse just across the street from the Robinson Center Music Hall.

Little House in "Music City"

“Little House on the Prairie, the Musical” fits in pretty well in Music City. Nashville has received the show and the cast very well. Too bad the weather hasn’t been so nice.

We flew out of Minneapolis-St. Paul on a dark and dreary Monday, then had to change planes at Chicago’s O’Hare moving from Terminal B to Terminal F—about a ¾ mile walk, at least. The Little House cast of 30 filled half of the plane for the Chicago to Nashville leg—that should give you some idea how big the plane was.

We were greeted in Nashville by sun!!! Our spirits were immediately buoyed after six hours of travel!

We’re staying at Sheraton in downtown Nashville and just across the street is our play’s venue, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. It’s located just in the shadow of the State Capitol Building. TPAC seats nearly 2,500 and attendance has been great—near capacity many times.

The sun stayed behind the clouds most of the rest of the week—warm and shirtsleeve weather some of the time, but rained a couple of the days and got cool. Some Georgia Tech fans got real nervous Saturday night when they saw me with an umbrella in hand on the elevator. They were heading off for Tech’s game at Vanderbilt (just down the road) and I had to explain to them that I was just getting back from a morning affair when it had been raining. I think the Tech fans had been partying all afternoon anyway and a little rain wouldn’t have bothered them anyway.

Forget the weather—we’ve had a great time in Nashville! Helen and I were able to relive some previous memories when we visited here years ago, but we’ve found that passage of time has brought some changes in former haunts. Some years ago we “line-danced” at the Wild Horse Saloon and ate great “pulled-pork sandwiches. Now they put tables on the dance floor so more people can drink and listen to the bands (the sandwiches weren’t as good either).

We checked out the Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. Last time there, we just walked in the front door, wandered around the theater, walked backstage and onto the stage. Now, they’ve built a new visitors center complete with a gift shop and a $12.50 per person admission charge ($16.50, if you want a backstage tour). We were content this time to take a picture of life size bronzed Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff statues sitting on a bench in the foyer.

I’m happy to say that Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge-just across the alley from the Ryman—is just like we remember it. It's famous! Legend has it that country stars appearing at the Ryman slipped across the alley to have a quick drink while shows were going on. I don’t know about that but it’s a great to have a beer while watching fledging country bands perform in the front window.

Of course, neither Taylor nor her school chums visited these haunts. They don’t have time with five hours of classes, Tuesday through Friday. Next week is going to be really tough for them because we’ll be in two separate cities---four shows including a matinee in Little Rock, AK, and four more in Springfield, MO, later in the week—with a bus ride at midweek. I guess they’ll do some reading too on the bus ride.

As tough as it is though, none of them are ready to call it quits. They’re having too much fun.

They attended a party in the TPAC museum on opening night Tuesday, then another on Thursday hosted by The Seeing Eye, a group that provides support services for the blind. We were very fortunate to meet at the latter party a couple of parents who brought their 10-year-old daughters to the show. Taylor had a great conversation with the girls and Helen mentioned that we were not sure how Taylor would get to dress up on Halloween and “trick or treat.”

The next thing we knew Taylor was invited to join the girls at a morning party on Saturday at their church in downtown Nashville. Taylor dressed up as “Alice in Wonderland” costume that we bought in St. Paul. It was a holiday festival with games, prizes, several inflatable slides and bouncers plus a real good magic show. There was plenty of candy, food and soft drinks for all. So Taylor got to be a kid before heading back to TPAC for two shows on Halloween. The older members of the cast also made Halloween better for the kids with candy bowls in every dressing area-although I think they enjoyed he candy as much as the kids.

Earlier in the week, Taylor’s schoolmates, Carly and Michael plus the 16-year-old in the cast, Kurt Engh, visited the Belle Meade Plantation outside of Nashville. The humble beginnings of the plantation trace to the 1820s in a small cabin. The owner became a wealthy race horse breeder and the mansion that remains today was built in 1853. In its prime, the plantation occupied 3,000 acres of land and was maintained by 132 slaves.

The owner was a Southern States sympathizer and was thought to have contributed $500,000 to the Dixie war chest prior to the war. He spent a year in Union jail at the beginning of the war, but his wife appealed to the Union Army, paid a $20,000 fine and the plantation was given an exemption for the length of the war. Fighting went on all around the plantation but only one skirmish was reported on the property during the war.

Accompanying the kids were Scott Engh, Kurt’s father; Bruce Boxleitner, Michael’s father, and myself. Don’t know who had more fun—the kids or the chaperones. Boxleitner and I found out we had a lot in common—both born in Illinois although a decade apart and he says he probably was a participant in some of the ’68 Days of Rage protests that I covered while working for the Associated Press in Chicago. He, of course, survived those days very well and went on to a continuing career in movies and TV. He is really an interesting guy. He’s also a fan of country music and is really knowledgeable about the civil war.

I got to experience one of the LHOTP shows in a whole new way during this stop—the percussionist made special arrangements with the musical director to allow me to view their work and the show itself from a different perspective –from the orchestra pit. Wow do they work really hard there during the show!

Here’s a collection of pictures from our time in Music City:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=122166778703%3A1576417321

We head out Monday morning for our next stop—Little Rock, AR.

Flying Fun, the Aquarium and Science Museum

What a week!!! Started out with a “day off” on Monday that turned out to be really action-filled and at mid-week, granddaughter Taylor Bera let me tag along with her school class for a day at the Minnesota Science Museum.

The tour is wrapping up two weeks in St. Paul, MN, this weekend with matinees today and Sunday and evening performances both days.

At 8 a.m. on Monday, we’ll load up with the cast and head for a week in Nashville, TN. Thank God—they can stop making fun of my accent (somewhat Southern, they say, left over from my days in the hills of Southern Illinois). Pretty soon, everyone will have a southern twang and mine will be forgotten.

But we can’t leave Minnesota without recapping our last week here.

While on location for more than a week, Mondays are a “real day off” for the cast. There’s no school, no travel and no practices.

So we headed for the Mall of America that I wrote about earlier. This time Taylor and Carly Sonenclar from the cast and one of her schoolmates, headed for the MOA “bright and early”—well I have to admit that 11 a.m. is bright and early for “theater-folk.” Helen and Carly’s mother, Terri (not to be confused with Taylor’s aunt, Terri, our daughter) went too.

I’ve heard the aquarium at the Mall was good but I was really more interested in tackling the amusement park rides that I spotted during an expedition there the previous week.

But, I was talked into going to the aquarium first and as it turned out I was glad that they did. You’ll see in the pictures accompanying this blog that we saw some really interesting fish and the setup of the place is really fantastic. You don’t just walk by and look into fish tanks. The fish literally swim over, under and around you as you walk through the exhibit.

Taylor said it was really, real cool and it wasn’t long before I wore out the battery on my camera and had to rely my phone’s camera the rest of the day. Tip for future visitors—“Always recharge your camera the night before!”

The aquarium was so good that Taylor and I visited it a second time to see if we missed anything the first time through.

It was a great day to be at the mall. Most of the school age children in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area were in school, so we had the place to ourselves for most of the day.

Taylor and Carly’s enjoyed many of the roller coasters and I have to admit that I did too except I got soaked on the Log Flume ride. Helen and Terri meanwhile looked on or shopped.

Around 4 p.m., we left the MOA and headed for a cast party a nearby condo hosted by the parents of one of the cast members.

All of the “”kids (and I’ll include the cast members in that group) had a great time playing Beatles’ Rock Band. Taylor was right in the middle playing the drums or the guitar or singing.

Helen and I just ate and sat and talked with the parents and the rest of the chaperones.

The host then surprised us all by giving us all the opportunity to sit in the pilot’s seat controlling an Airbus 320 aircraft on takeoff and landing. That’s the same plane that landed safely in the Hudson River a few months ago. Of course, we only were in a flight simulator, but, it was amazing. Taylor’s a real pro and if theater doesn’t work out, maybe she can be the next Amelia Earhart. I didn’t see her in action directly because I was in a different simulator, but I’m told she landed right on line at San Francisco Airport after flying over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I, on the other hand, landed a little rougher at the Minneapolis airport after veering off onto the grass for a bit. I thought I did pretty well but the navigator sitting behind me said she’d had enough and got off before trying her hand on the joystick control.

Wednesday was a bit more controlled excitement for Taylor and her classmates and teacher. We all went to the Science Museum, saw a film on the IMAX dome screen about a Russian crew who explored the Titanic that sank in 1912 and then toured the Titanic exhibit. Besides the artifacts from the sunken pleasure ship, everyone gets assigned the name of a passenger who sailed on that fatal voyage. There were three classes of passengers on the ship and during the tour you get the see and hear about the types of accommodations and experiences your passenger experienced onboard.

At the end, you learn whether your passenger survived or perished. Taylor and her teacher, Carolyn, both had first class passengers. Carly’s passenger traveled in 3rd class. All three survived the sinking. Michael Boxleitner, Melissa Gilbert’s 14 year old son who in the cast and goes to school with Taylor and Carly, and I also had 3rd class passengers who didn’t make through the ordeal. We surmised that they spent their last moments together in the bar having a beer.

Here are some pictures from the MOA, Aquarium and the Science Museum (we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Titanic exhibit:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=513096058703%3A1416684581

So far, so good. Next stop is Nashville for a week of performances.

The Mall of America & the Little House Cast Party

The kids in the cast of “Little House on the Prairie, the Musical” have to go to school every Tuesday through Friday, but the chaperones get most days off. Helen, Joe, Kelly and I were able to go to the Mall of America while Taylor “cracked the books. What a “place!” Here’s a picture of Helen and Kelly heading into the mall.

It has three levels of shops (some sections of the mall have four floors) –grounded by four major stores on each corner—Macy’s, Nordstroms, Sears and Bloomingdales. So what’s so unique about that? IT’S THE CENTER OF THE MALL!

It’s a real, big time amusement park with rides that accommodate young and “older kids” alike. The rides include several versions of roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, a three-story skywalk—enough to keep you busy for a full day.

Movie matinees are only $6 for all ages and they have a free show on Saturday morning. There’s a full scale Aquarium located under the mall. What a place to spend a day!

Here are some pictures from the Mall and the opening night party at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=188628238703%3A1193848231

The three show kids finally get a day off on Monday (one cast member from the Minneapolis area is holding a house party for the cast.)

On Wednesday, the kids and some of the chaperones are going on a class trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota with an IMAX show and Titanic exhibit. I don’t know about the kids, but I’m looking forward to it!

Little House got a great review in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. Here it is:

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2009/10/16/theater-classy-little-house-prairie-musical-ordway

On the Road in St. Paul, MN

Our adventure is well underway. We’ve traveled 1,200 miles to the Midwest with the cast of “Little House on the Prairie, The Musical.” They had a preview performance last night at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Mn, and the opening night show with a cast party afterwards is on tap for tonight.

The Ordway is a beautiful venue for performances, the cast tells us. Our granddaughter, Taylor Bera, has a huge dressing room that she shares with Carly Rose Sonenclar, who is the regular Carrie in the play. Taylor is her understudy besides appearing with the ensemble and as Ruby, one of the Brewster school children. Taylor’s bright face seems in be there in most of scenes. There’s a picture of the dressing room in the slideshow of pictures found at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=634147128703%3A2107805754

Everything connected with the show had been packed up after it closed at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, last Saturday night and was here when we arrived on Monday evening. We were surprised to learn that included the stage floor used at Paper Mill. It’s a linoleum-type flooring that comes in sections and already has the markings needed to tell the actors were scenery needs to be located and other markings to guide them through the show. They lay the flooring on top of the regular stage. At the end of the two-weeks here, they pick it up and take it to Nashville, our next stop.

It’s cold in the 30s, but, comfortable in St. Paul where the Ordway is located and where we are staying. The snow came and mostly went before Helen and I arrived. Our daughter, Kelly, Taylor’s mom, arrived some hours later because her flight from Newark was delayed by the Midwest storms and the need to get a new crew for her flight. Taylor’s father, Joe, arrived last night. They’ll be here a few days before heading back to New Jersey.

Not much else to report at this point. The school kids (Taylor is one of 3) are locked in a pretty tight schedule. Five hours of school a day—Tuesday through Friday—with one performance each night, then on the weekends-a matinee and evening performance on Saturday and Sunday. They get a school break next Wednesday when they go on a field trip. We’re lucky because we get to go too.

So far, Taylor says she’s having the time of her life while big sister, Maggie, at home is preparing for her opening night this Saturday as the third sister, Chava, in “Fiddler on the Roof,” at Main Street Theater. That play runs for the next three weekends and it’s the first of Maggie’s show that Helen and I will miss. We did get to see some of her rehearsals and will have to be content with only the DVD versions this time.

The Journey is Ready to Begin

Well, we’re finally ready to head off to the Prairie. In some respects it seems like only yesterday that our 11-year-old granddaughter, Taylor Bera (then 10), found out she had been selected to be a member of the ‘Little House on the Prairie, The Musical’ cast and that she would be going on the national tour.

That was in July. Then in August, she had 6 days-a-week practice in New York City with the cast headed up by Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura when the show was a hit in the TV lineup in the 80s and 90s. Melissa plays “Ma” in this musical version of the show.

Taylor was picked to understudy the role of Carrie, the youngest of three daughters. She also has a regular role in the ensemble where she sings and dances in eight performances weekly. The picture above shows her dressed for one of the scenes.

Her schedule has been rather hectic. The show opened September 8 for previews at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, and had its official opening night September 20 with a party later where they walked the “Red carpet."

Most of the shows have played before sold-out audiences.

Taylor was pre-scheduled to play “Carrie” on September 27 and about 150 friends and family members were there when she took the stage. Here’s a slideshow of pictures from that night:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=972933308703%3A1188547254

Actually, she got in some unexpected “practice” when a traffic jam in the New York area stranded the “regular Carrie” and the stage manager told Taylor 30 minutes from curtain time that she’d be going on as Carrie. That was a “understudies’ dream night.” Shades of ‘42nd Street.’

Besides the 8-times-a-week schedule, Taylor has to “do” school, which means she cracks the books on the weekends too with the other two school age members in the cast-Melissa Gilbert’s son, Michael Boxleitner and Carly Rose Sonenclar, who plays Carrie. A tutor accompanies the show.

The local papers have written about Taylor’s adventure. Here’s a link to one of the stories: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910020304

The show closes this Saturday (October 10) at Paper Mill. They’ll pack up the sets, costumes and the rest of the scenery and transport it to St. Paul, MN, the next stop on the 20-plus city tour.

Helen and I will be touring with Taylor. We’ll meet up with the rest of the cast in New York City on Monday (October 11) and fly out that morning. The show is scheduled to open Tuesday night in the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. We’ll be there for two weeks before repeating the whole pack up and flying process to head for Nashville, TN.

We’re looking forward to a real exciting time the next few months and I’ll try to keep you updated through this Blog and pictures throughout the trip. Since this is my first attempt at a Blog, I’d appreciate any comments.