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.
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.
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