Little House in Madison, WI

Little House on the Prairie The Musical has moved even further north—this time we’ve crossed the Canadian border for a five-week gig at the Canon Theater in Toronto’s entertainment district.

We all made it through customs and immigration, and pretty skies with just a little overcast greeted us on our first full day in another country.

But first, let’s talk about our last full week in the States. What a week it was!

Some members of the cast talked of the “moon being out of alignment” to explain our week in Madison, WI. We all had a great time in the home of the University of Wisconsin, although some had a hard time at the hotel where we were housed. The internet service left a lot to be desired for us but our room was nice and roomy.

It was an adventure-filled time for nearly everyone in the cast. Sickness and various injuries shook up the lineup on the stage on a nearly daily basis. Almost every major character relied on an understudy a one time or another during the eight-show run. At one point, understudies were called upon at the intermission, which caused a real flurry of activity backstage.

At one point, I even jokingly offered my services (after the show was over; he was too busy to talk at intermission) since I’m well experienced in karaoke but the director said “thanks, I’ll keep you in mind.” I guess when I told him my main claim to fame was singing “Okie from Muskogee” that was a tip off he shouldn’t take my offer seriously.

I certainly could have filled in for one of the guys, who filled in for one of the girls in a long dress, bonnet and shawl covering his face. His male partner on the stage, who had not been let in on the substitution beforehand, nearly broke down on the stage laughing when he realized who his scene partner really was.

I know that it was thrilling for the understudies to go on, but it really a treat for me to hear others take on a different role in the play. I saw most of them in understudy rehearsal while we were in Tempe, AZ, last year; I got to see their hard work pay off last week.

It just happened that I was in the theater when the understudies got to perform, so most of time I was able to watch the show from a variety of venues where we played in Madison, the Overture Center—a four-year-oldvenue that’s part of a three-theater and museum complex within eyeshot of the State Capitol Building. It really helps to get to know the people working in the complex during the week so I can have a little freedom to explore the house during show time.

The show’s main director and main choreographer joined us for a few days in Madison to “tweak the show” prior to our venture across the Canadian Border.

Even with the staging issues taking priority during the week, we were still able to focus on other things away from the Overture Center.

Here are some pictures from our time in Madison:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=308228412803%3A333309973

The school kids had a room inside the hotel where they could focus on their studies without much distraction.

They even got in a school trip. I got to go with granddaughter, Taylor Bera, and her classmates and teacher, Carolyn Dunning, on a tour of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building. Our guide wasn’t just an intern or rookie in the statehouse. House Assemblyman Marlin Schneider, who is the longest seated representative in Wisconsin, conducted our tour,

I always assumed tours were relegated to junior members of the assembly. Our tour guide has been elected to serve the 72nd Assembly District 20 times. What an honor for the kids and teacher, me and a couple of our cast members who joined us!

We got to learn some about history of the State of Wisconsin. We got to sit in the presiding officers’ seats in both the House and Senate but only made to the spectator section in the Wisconsin Supreme Court room (it wasn’t in session and access the justices’ chairs can only be given by one of the seven members of the court.)

But we did get into the actual office of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to look around and sit in his chair. He’s a two-term Democrat who has decided not to re-run this year even though Wisconsin is only one of 14 states that do not have term limits on Governors.

It was a worthwhile trip for kids and grownups alike.

A dozen of us also spent a morning at a Habitat for Humanity “build” in Madison. The kids got to take part in this one, which was a remodeling of an existing structure to make it livable for a single mom. The Little House kids got to decorate stepping stones that will remind the new homeowner of our work and the older “kids” in the cast got to do some insulting work inside the house. Have you ever tried to stretch and keep an 8 ft by 30 ft piece of insulating plastic barrier taunt while it is nailed to a ceiling? Four of us, including this writer, were assigned this task in the living room of the house.

Believe it took us a while to get the technique down and it wasn’t pretty during the learning process. We started over several times. The idea was to put it up without air bubbles between the plastic and the drywall. It helped to have tall Steve Blanchard, who plays “Pa” in the Little House, on your team.

We had lots of snow on the ground in Madison, and the temps fell below freezing at night. We had some rain on the last day there which melted some of it, but, it froze at night making some of the walking treacherous. At least one crew member came away with some injuries after taking a tumble on the ice.

So far, Toronto has been great and we’re looking forward to the next five weeks north of the Border.

Little House Kids are Flexible

Question of the week in “Little House” land---how can three cast members have school without books and other school supplies? The answer is simple; they can’t, so Tuesday’s normal school day was turned into a field trip to the Joslyn Art Museum.

Next question—why didn’t they have the regular school supplies and their books for the first day in Omaha,NE? That answer is simple too---someone forgot to put the school’s two trunks on one of the four semi-trailer trucks hauling the sets, costumes and other paraphernalia for the “Little House on the Prairie The Musical.”

So the trunks extended their stay in Fayetteville, AK, for another 24 hours and Carolyn Dunning, our traveling tutor, had to make some quick plans on Tuesday--¬just an hour or so before school was scheduled to start.

The trunks had to make their journey to Omaha by themselves and even that was not without drama—someone or something broke the bottom out of one of the trunks and the contents apparently spilled out somewhere—granddaughter Taylor Bera’s science book was missing when the trunks arrived on Wednesday and many of the students’ folders were damaged.

So Tuesday unexpectedly became a field trip day and the students and chaperones were able to enjoy an informative trip through the Joslyn, Nebraska’s largest art museum that opened it doors first in 1931. Its collections features work from antiquity to the present with an emphasis on 19th and 20th-century European and American art plus a large collection of art of the American West.

My favorite two paintings in the whole museum ---and they would have been Helen’s too if she was back on the tour with us—were originals by French painter Claude Monet. We have copies at home but the originals are breathtaking. One of the Monet’s, “The Meadows” painted in 1879, was given as a gift to the museum by former NY governor and US Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, who at one time was chairman and vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad based in Omaha.

The school kids toured the museum and took some time to sketch some of the priceless paintings. Taylor chose a 1903 painting of a woman in a blue gown by John Singer Sargent. Her rendition was really nice ---she showed a lot of attention to detail in her work.
Other highlights of the tour can be found in my photos for the week at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=317889071803%3A1736011037

Our trip from Fayetteville to Omaha was pretty much uneventful but long and tiring. We had to journey by way of Dallas-Fort Worth airport which about doubled the “as a crow-flies-mileage” of 430 miles.

We were greeted in Omaha by lots of snow on the ground but temperatures above freezing for our week in Nebraska. It has been in the minus double digits for several days the previous week.

Little House played to good crowds in the Orpheum Theater that was originally built in 1927 and retained its early century splendor during a $10 million renovation in 2002. It was originally built as a vaudeville house.

Five huge chandeliers hang from the ceiling in the seating areas and smaller versions are present throughout the lobby.

Being an inquisitive guy, I had to find out how they clean the chandeliers inside the theater. The Orpheum’s production manager said that each light was originally fitted with a hand crank cable system to lower the entire light assembly. The system was retained during the renovation to maintain the historical integrity. He said that all of the chandeliers are lowered, cleaned and bulbs replaced once a year—generally during down times in the summer.

All of the major touring companies have played the 2,600-seat Orpheum. Little House got a good review from the local Omaha World-Herald:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100113/ENTERTAINMENT05/701139876

The acoustics in the hall are spectacular. We were sitting in the upper reaches of the balcony for sound check prior to the opening night performance on Tuesday and we could hear routine conversations going on at stage level between songs. Sound travels very well in both directions inside the theater. This is something the production manager says they need to be aware at all times while inside the theater—you never know who may be listening.

Tomorrow we head for Madison, WI, for a week-long gig before a five-week run in Toronto.

Little House Survives the 'Cold Snap'

How’s the New Year 2010 treating you so far? For the cast of “Little House on the Prairie The Musical,” the first week back from a post-Christmas break has been both good and bad.

We’re deep in the heart of “Sam Walton Country” in Fayetteville, AR, just a few short miles from Wal-Mart’s world headquarters. LHOTP played this week at the Walton Arts Center. We were treated really, really well by folks at the Center and the crowds that cheered the eight performances.

On the other hand, the weather was not very hospitable early in the run. The “cold snap” that’s talked about in the play hit us right between the eyes, driving the temperatures into the low single digits and well below zero when you factor in the wind. It was so cold that they closed the schools in Fayetteville for a couple of days.

Our play, however, didn’t miss a single performance because of the weather—theater folks come from a hearty stock and apparently, so are the theater goers, who braved the elements.

The first couple of shows in Fayetteville were extra special for granddaughter Taylor Bera. She got to sing and dance the part of little sister, Carrie Ingalls. Her dad Joe made a really quick trip to Fayetteville to be there for her first show on Tuesday then drove back to the airport in the wee hours to catch the only direct flight back to New Jersey.

We knew when we were home on break that Taylor would get to play a main role for at least the opening show in Arkansas, and fortunately she was able to share this news with family and friends who gathered on January 2 at a party welcoming her home. She was really surprised when she walked into the Main Street Playhouse in Parlin, NJ, expecting to perform at an “open mike night” --instead, it was a party for her.

Taylor donned the ‘Carrie-garb’ for the Wednesday show in Fayetteville too.

She performed very well, but that’s not just a doting grandfather’s opinion. She received lots of congratulations from the cast and crew. It was really great seeing her name posted on the performance board and hearing her name announced to the audience before each show.

Here are some pictures from Taylor's Welcome Home party and our time in Fayetteville, AR:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=164429041803%3A1789742871

The weather didn’t affect the school for Taylor and her co-performers. Fortunately, school was held this week in the hotel, so they didn’t have to venture outside into the biting winds.

Taylor’s new laptop computer functioned well for her but the wireless internet service only extended for the first three floors. The rest of the hotel was supposed to be hardwired but our first room on the sixth floor was without service of any type. We got moved down a couple of floors where both the wired and wireless versions worked most of the time.

There was no time for a class trip this week but Taylor did get to perform a science experiment testing the effects of vinegar on a shiny penny. After it was removed from the solution, the shiny penny turned a dull blue-green. Interesting—something to do with pennies that no one wants any more expect to pay sales tax with.

Many in the cast say the Walton Arts Center was a friendly place to play. They liked the feel of a smaller 1,250-seat venue---no matter where you sat in the auditorium, patrons had a great view of the entire stage. Believe me; I viewed the show from every possible venue during the week. The cast liked the acoustics.

On Monday, we pack up and head to Omaha, NE—of course, to get there we have to fly first to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and change planes. This is not new to us—we flew to Charlotte, NC, to get to Fayetteville last week. It’s great for frequent flyer miles—if only we’d use the same airline all the time.

Oh well---the weather is better, so I should stop complaining.