Good
morning readers and happy Tour Day 3! It’s a beautiful day again; we are really
lucking out with the weather! We’re all up and getting ready to hit the road. I
pulled a really late night but I’m actually feeling pretty good and I’m having
a good hair day to boot… and that’s when the other shoe drops. You know, the
one I was waiting for yesterday? Yeah, it dropped. Wacked me right on the head.
We’ve
got an issue. Every tour has them; it’s to be expected and you just deal with
them as they come. This time though, our issue could very well leave us
stranded. It’s the Yukon. Joshua went out to start it this morning and it
protested in a major way. Joshua is our road manager so he quickly jumped to
action and came to my room to tell me what was going on. I’ve learned in this
job that I have to remain calm and make quick decisions, so that’s what I did.
Joshua goes to get the battery checked out and the rest of us get ready so that
we can leave when things are all fixed. Simple enough, right? Wrong. It’s not
the battery and we’ll have to take it to the GMC garage. Thankfully, there’s
one in Gunnison, so Joshua heads over there. By now, we’re all gathered in the
lobby – well the party of 5 is. Joshua gets a free pass this time because he
out trying to get the Yukon fixed and Steven? Well we’re not going anywhere at
the moment so he’s got time to spare.
Alex
begins serving as the phone relay man between Joshua and I because at the same
time we are trying to figure out the car issue, I’m on the phone booking a
performance for us in Loveland for next Friday. I tell you, there’s never a
dull moment! Joshua calls back, Alex passes me the phone and as he does, he
utters these two words, “fuel pump.” My stomach drops. I knew something was
coming, I felt it yesterday with the whole shoe thing. Fuel pump? Those things
are expensive, aren’t they? The garage at the dealership tells Joshua they
can’t even look at the Yukon until Friday – well that’s not going to work; we
have places to go, people to sing for. Joshua says there’s another garage
across the street and he’s going to give it another try. Everyone else hangs
around the hotel lobby while we wait. I try to figure out a plan B, in case it
comes to that, so we can still get to Lake City.
Joshua
calls Alex, Alex hands me the phone. This new garage can look at the Yukon now
and give us an idea of what we’re looking at. At least it’s something so I give
the OK. More waiting. We’re now at a crossroads. We either need to leave soon
for Lake City or we’re going to have to cancel the performance tonight and I am
determined not to do that. Joshua calls Alex, Alex hands me the phone. The
garage manager is 95% certain it’s the fuel pump. He can replace it and have
the car ready for us by tomorrow. Joshua has again been great in this situation
and found out that the garage will rent us a vehicle until ours is fixed. (Alex
also knew about this option) I get on the phone again and ask the price, biting
my lip. To my absolute relief, they can rent us a car big enough to get our
sets and other various paraphernalia to Lake City for only $22 a day. Finally,
a break! I make some quick decisions again. We’re going to leave the Yukon at
the garage and take the rental. We’ll load it with as much as we can carry and
head off to Lake City. Sit tight Joshua; we’re on our way to get you.
We
leave the hotel and head for Joshua. It’s then that we realize that none of us
knows where he actually is. OK – facts people. What do we know? We know he’s in
Gunnison. Alex remembers the name of the place. I remember some details from
our many phone conversations, so between the two of us; we’re able to navigate
Steven to the right spot. We’re a party of 7 again. The group begins to unpack
the Yukon and load the rental while I head inside to talk to the manager. I
leave several contact numbers, and the manager tells me that he’ll call us by
4:00 to let us know what we’re looking at as far as a repair bill. I have to
edit our props and set a bit because we can’t get everything into the rental, even
though Steven really tries. It’s fine; we’ll just re-stage the show. I can do
that on the fly… As the wise fashion Guru Tim Gunn says, “Make it work!” Rental
loaded, bodies pile into the tank and we leave Gunnison and make our way to
Lake City.
The
drive is pretty quiet. I know that everyone is feeling a little stressed, so I
comment on the beautiful view and the ice lake that we’re passing. Jared looks
at the lake and says he doesn’t believe that it’s frozen. We insist but he
questions how that can happen all at once like that. I remind myself that Jared
needs to take things in at his own pace; after all this is the man who only
recently learned that people actually live out here, I go back to the basics. I
explain that it’s what happens when water gets cold. Jared’s response, “that’s
stupid.” He’ll get there, give him time. With that little diversion, the car
livens up a bit and the drive goes quickly. We make it to Lake City, behind
schedule, but in one piece.
As
we pull up to the theatre, we see that they’ve got us on the marquee. This has
become an annual tradition that I look forward to seeing. We meet our contact,
the wonderful John Smith, and we quickly set about unloading the new rental.
Set up takes far longer than usual because of the space. It’s a fabulous
theatre, but it’s tight quarters. We manage to get things in place and I spend
the next hour figuring out how to re-stage the show with the limitations we
have to work around. The Young Artists are troopers and tackle all the changes
I throw at them with a smile. Set up and staging rehearsal complete, we head
next door to have lunch. It’s then that I notice there are flyers in every
window advertising tonight’s performance. Way to go Lake City! Just as I’m
about to look at the lunch menu, the garage in Gunnison calls Joshua, so we
dart outside. He puts me on the phone and the manager tells me what the problem
is. It’s the fuel pump, not what I was hoping to hear. He also tells me the
cost and, though it’s high, it’s not as bad as I was expecting and, quite
honestly, we don’t have a choice. It’s either fix it, or remain stranded. The
garage manager tells us that he’ll have it fixed by tomorrow, so hopefully we
can pick it up on our way to Crested Butte. I hang up and thank Joshua, well
done road manager.
We
go back inside and everyone is already ordering. I haven’t even looked at the
menu so I basically just say the name of something. I have no idea what I ate.
I know it involved bread and meat… Everyone does their best to make me laugh,
but I’m distracted. It’s just been one of those days. But this group is
undeterred and they finally succeed. Jared tickles Cassidy and she responds in
an… unexpected fashion (which I had to swear would not end up in this blog). It
does the trick though. You know readers; laughter really is the best medicine.
Things could have been much worse. The Yukon will get fixed and tour will go
on. We finish lunch and then head to our hotel to get settled. We’re staying in
a charming local inn and the rooms are all decorated like rustic cabins. It
looks out over the mountains that surround Lake City – a beautiful view. I do
some work while the Young Artists relax before tonight’s performance. We’ve got
a double bill at 7:00, and Arias &
Ensembles program followed by The
Barber of Seville. Down time doesn’t last long on tour; we’re having dinner
with the town’s art council so we grab what we need to take with us and head
back to the theatre. I take advantage of a rehearsal space any time I have one,
so we work on a few pieces for tonight’s A&E.
Cassidy is singing Sexy Lady by Ben
Moore and we work out some new material for her to do. I think the audience is
going to love it.
Our
hosts show us the way to our dinner location and we are welcomed, fed a home
cooked meal and regaled with stories from the locals. It’s such a treat to get
to know the people we perform for. The time goes by much too quickly and we
have to leave to get ready for the show. It’s a flurry of activity backstage.
We have a lot to get done before the A&E
begins, but we’re also in a room that is full of costumes and props. You can’t
put performers in a space like this and expect them to remain focused. Cassidy
finds a bling bracelet that she wants to wear for the show. I allow it; I after
all, already have magic bracelets. Steven finds a white military jacket. He
does a fabulous impression of Pinkerton from Madame Butterfly. It was either that or one of the guys from the
Love Boat. It’s also during this time that Mr. Quacksworth meets a friend, Mr.
Hawkins. (See if you can figure out what he is…)
I hear my cue and I scamper on deck. I welcome
everyone, introduce Steven and tell the audience a bit about our group and
Opera Colorado – the A&E portion
of tonight’s show is under way. We’ve got a good sized crowd and they clearly
love to laugh. While waiting backstage, I too get sucked into the wondrous
menagerie of costumes and props. I find a set of pig ears and decide to wear
them in honor of Jared’s blue ribbon comment. He comes off stage, sees me –
surprise Jared! Morgan takes a picture to capture the moment forever. We reach
the finale of the first half and have 15 minutes to re-set the stage and get
everyone into costumes.
We
make it, but barely and I go out to start the second half of the show. The
audience is already laughing as I describe my inspiration for the set which is
a good sign. The Barber of Seville
begins with Joshua’s aria and he gets a big round of applause. Things go
smoothly until we get to the scene change. Morgan trips on the stairs (she fell
on the ice earlier today while we were unloading the rental. She’s fine, thank
goodness) and someone else runs into a wall. It all works out and we keep
going. By the time the first big ensemble piece arrives, I can tell the Young
Artists are tired. We’re at over 8,000 feet in elevation here and it’s definitely
taking a toll. The next finale is even harder and I get genuinely concerned
when they all come back stage, looking like they just stepped out of a sauna
after running a marathon. This opera stuff… it’s hard work. The end of the show arrives and then bows –
the audience is cheering. They loved it.
I
go out to start the Q&A and we get more enthusiastic cheering when the
audience finds out from John what we had happen earlier in the day. They tell
us how grateful they are that we came. Then what starts out as a pretty
traditional Q&A turns into something none of us expected. We start getting
amazingly thoughtful and introspective questions. We go way over the scheduled
time, but that’s fine by us – we’ve got a really interested group of people
here. The group consensus for a favorite? Hands down it’s the last question of
the night. It comes from a little boy, probably 9 or 10 years old. His question
– “You guys travel a lot and perform. Do you miss your families?” Our entire
party of 7 utters a unison sigh. Yes, we do. This isn’t an easy career path,
but it’s something we all love to do. We sometimes go for long stretches
without seeing our families and that’s hard. People in the performing arts
become something of a family unit because of this. It’s corny, but it’s true.
With that, we end the Q&A and offer our heartfelt thanks to the community
of Lake City for a wonderful evening. We spend the next 20 minutes greeting
people one on one and answering more questions. I have a woman come up to me
and tell me that this was the finest production of The Barber of Seville she has ever seen. She suggests that we put
it on the big stage. What a compliment!
We’re
exhausted by this point, but we’re not done yet – we still have to tear
everything down and load the rental. We also have to sign the wall. Some
theatres have traditions where they have each touring group sign their names on
a wall, sort of like a scrap book. We make sure to leave our mark too. As we’re
all working to load out, we run into another problem for the day. Jared can’t
find his cell phone. We look everywhere and it doesn’t turn up. Steven calls
Jared’s phone and someone answers in Spanish. Jared thinks Steven is messing
with him, because Steven, although mild mannered and proper on the surface, can
mess with the best. (Didn’t know that about him, now did you?) But, no, Steven
is in earnest. Now we’re all afraid that someone has either taken it or it’s
been left in a place where people speak Spanish. Great, that narrows it down.
Dan, our wonderful lighting tech, who we call Dan the Man, jumps into actions
and takes Jared to search for his phone at our earlier dinner location. The
rest of us continue to load out and play with a cat that is outside. Hey, we’re
concerned... but the cat is really cute. As Cassidy does a final check, viola
(remember that’s wah-lah, a French way to say ta-da) she finds Jared’s phone.
Another crisis averted.
We’re
done packing the rental and Dan brings out two huge bottles of wine for us. Totally
unexpected, but after today, well gratefully accept that. We thank everyone
again, say goodbye to Dan and the cat, and pile into the tank. When we arrive
at our hotel, we all take a minute to look at the stars. Amazing what you can
see without the city glare. I set the plan for tomorrow morning, tell everyone
goodnight and then head to my room. I’ve still got work to do and a blog to
write after all. The girls take the wine, deciding to drink it under the stars.
That’s lasts about 1 minute. It’s cold out! The gents retire to their rooms
too. It’s time to call it a night.
Whew
- it has been a day! I never knew that other shoe could have such far reaching
effects. You know what made it all OK in the end? Seeing that this - what we do
- matters to people. So many people today say the arts don’t matter and
unfortunately we’re seeing an impact. Well, I disagree and I think everyone who
was here tonight would agree. Did that make sense? What I’m trying to say is the
arts matter. Opera matters. Do you agree? If you do, let us know. We need your
support. Let’s make an impact of our own!
It’s
tomorrow again, time to call it a night.
Cherity
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