Highway 1 and Los Angeles (May 25)

shame on me...shame...it has been well over a week since my last post and i realized today, as we had our opening night preview in Los Angeles, that all the wonderful people i met in San Fran, as well as my family, are probably waiting patiently to hear about our experience here...so i apologize.

so let's get to it: first, the past week has been great. sarah, toby the dog and i left san francisco last Thursday and drove into Carmel to stay for the night. we spent the night at this wonderful little hotel called The Tradewinds and it was gorgeous! chocolate covered strawberries at check-in, beautiful fireplace, quiet balcony and a lovely bottle of white wine. and Carmel is SUCH a dog-friendly town that we were able to take Toby everywhere with us. even at lunch and dinner, he chilled out (well...as much as toby can really "chill out") with a bone and enjoyed the outdoors. the next morning, after checking out, we stopped by the beach to let him run around a little bit and we absolutely loved it: from there, we did the 17-mile drive around Carmel and Pebble Beach and what an amazing drive it was. if you are not familiar with the 17-mile drive, and are ever in the Carmel area, i highly recommend it. essentially, you drive a specific route for 17 miles and there are a few "points" you can stop at with some gorgeous views and lots of history. my favorite was this one lone tree at the top of a cliff. it stands alone, braving the weather and winds for something over 200 years. it was just a beautiful site and really made me appreciate the beautiful scenery:
after Carmel, we headed down Highway 1, hugging the coastline on one side and amazing cliffs on the other. we drove through Big Sur and again stopped at various vista points along the way. our roommate from san fran, Liz, told us about this beautiful waterfall about 20 miles past Big Sur right off a hiking trail so of course we stopped there as well. it was unreal, right up this trail in the middle of nowhere, you look down to the beach, and hitting the sand is this wonderful waterfall:

but by far, the highlight of the drive came about an hour or so outside of Big Sur where we stopped because Sarah thought she saw some seals. we got out of the car and were slightly disappointed when we looked to the rocks in the far distance and saw only a few lounging around...then i turned my head to the beach to my right, and there were probably 1,000 elephant seals just laying around. it was hilarious mostly because toby had never seen seals before and it scared the crap out of him...but not before sarah for a few good pics of them:

the trip continued, for another few hours actually, until we got into Los Osos (about 10 miles or so from San Luis Obispo) and got to spend some time with Mom and Jeff. it was great getting to visit them and for toby to have some other dogs to play with (Buddy and Goldie). we pretty much crashed that first night but on saturday walked around San Luis Obispo and then had an amazing dinner of grilled tri-tip and salmon.

sunday saw us driving to Santa Barbara and we stayed a night about 2 blocks from the beach on Bath Street. other than walking up and down the pier and enjoying an amazing smoothie place called Blenders in the Grass, it was probably the most "relaxing/lazy" day of our trip.

monday was a very exciting day as we jumped on the 101 to Encino to move into our new home for three months. the guest house is really cute - cozy - and our "landlords" (the people who live in the main house) have been nothing but sweet and totally accommodating. toby loves it because he has a new dog friend to play with ("Chief" is a 12-year old mix of many large dogs and he puts toby in his place) and he loves the backyard. i do too considering we have a pool and an amazing BBQ set so i anticipate lots of hours in the backyard this summer.

and after a trip to Ikea, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Costco, Ralphs and Trader Joes, i am proud to say we are unpacked and very comfortable.

now for the Jersey Boys report:

thursday was my first call at the theatre for a 3:20 haircut and then a few hours off before our 7 o'clock call. i will say this; the Ahmanson is incredible. just this huge cavern of a theatre that seats over 2,200 patrons and a wonderful backstage area the size of about two football fields. unlike San Fran, we actually have enough room far upstage to have a full cross-over so none of us have to do that horrible basement crossover from before and none of us have to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to our dressing rooms for costume changes. also, our Four Seasons, as well as John (Bob Crewe), Joe (Gyp DeCarlo) and Rick (our alternate Frankie) all have their own dressing rooms. I am sharing a large room with all the male ensemble and swings (8 of us total in the room). i sit between my good friend Miles Aubrey (who just got married May 12!!!!) and my buddy Nate Klau (who, if he touches my stuff one more time, i will kill). downtown LA is...well...downtown LA. lots of large buildings with quick food choices and the new Disney Concert Hall is one block away. my favorite part about the Ahmanson is outside in the pavilion (which reminds me so much of Lincoln Center in NYC) has a wonderful courtyard area with a few little bistros and grill and places to eat and enjoy outside.

and Richard, Ron and Sergio have been working very hard getting the show in great shape for our first show...

...which was tonight.

it didn't have the excitement of opening night in San Fran, simply because this is technically a preview week, but it still hit me like a ton of bricks that tonight, we played for our largest audience ever...almost 2,200 people. and they loved it.

the show went well - i think for the most past it was a sharp show and everyone really pulled out all the stops to take the notes we have been getting and applying them to their performances. the audience was very giving - some wonderful moments where we had to hold for laughs at different spots than we were used to for 6 months with the audiences in San Fran.
and the energy was just fantastic as well - the audience started applauding with the first notes of the show and didn't stop until we ended the show. i think one of the nicest things about the show was that when we took bows, the audience got to their feet immediately - not just when the four guys took the stage - we all got to enjoy and live in the standing ovation for the show as a whole, and that was a great feeling to have.

the next step is continue to build on what we have been working so hard on since we got to New Haven. we anticipate sold-out crowds for the entire run and we really want to give it everything we have. and come June 3, for our official "LA opening night", we are all going to be in such a great place both in our performances and the running of the show backstage as well.

perhaps that's where i will end tonight. with a big thank you to all the new deckhands, electricians, prop guys, flymen, light operators, carpenters, dressers and anyone else i might be forgetting...you are all kicking ass trying to make this as easy as possible for all of us and we appreciate it.

lastly, for those of you who just saw Jersey Boys in LA and who are just getting to this blog from my website that is listed in the bio...my name is Eric Gutman and this is my little love letter to the show you just saw and i guess, in a way, a backstage glimpse of this fantastic show and the people in it. check out my old blog posts and i hope you enjoy it.

and for those of you who are avid readers - thank you as always for your kind comments and emails. i promise to blog next if anything exciting happens until opening night...and of course...on opening night!