Big Brother is Watching You (Sept.19)

i just put some fancy new gadgets on my blog here, so if you are already subscribed, please re-subscribe to the RSS feed! you can also subscribe (which means you will get notification when i write a new post) via email now by clicking this link!

this is just a fun way to track how many people are actually reading my rants and raves as i post them.

thanks and keep reading!

A Lot Can Happen in 9 Days (Sept.17)

just over a week since my last post. let's catch everyone up.

when i last blogged, we had gotten through our hellish tech period and opened to a wonderful audience and some great reviews. the weekend was rough getting through, but we all pulled together thanks to the love and support of our crowds...and the day off we clawed our way through on Monday.

monday's day off was...relaxing. i don't recall everything that happened, but i'm sure it had a lot to do with lounging by the pool, having one of the best burgers of my freaking life at The Squeeze Inn
(no, seriously, if you live in the Sacto area and love cheeseburgers, why aren't you there already?), and then Miles, Nate, Steve, Bates and I heading to the Thunder Valley Casino and having our asses handed to us in blackjack and Pai Gow poker.

and as nice the day off was...soon it ended. then the fun started.

tuesday started our 17-show run in 12 days without a day off. again, that's 17 SHOWS IN A ROW WITHOUT A DAY OFF. and then when we get our day off, it's to travel 10-12 hours driving to Tempe.

in any event, this is how the week went - the highs and lows:

tuesday was kind of a black day because we all knew what we had ahead of us. there was lots of complaining, but then again, when is there not with a group of actors. Miles was lucky enough to go on as Gyp (this whole week because Joe Siravo is on vacation) so it was fun to have him doing a principal role.

wednesday started great because Sarah and i finally got to have the chicken pot pie at The Real Pie Company. i say "finally" because their chicken pot pies are so popular, that many times you have to put an order in days or weeks in advance. let me tell you, it was well worth the 7-day wait. this chicken pot pie was freaking unreal. and what's more, for desert they even had a fresh butterscotch banana cream pie just calling my name. i think i ate everything in about 7 minutes flat.

thursday was a change of pace because we had two shows that day. thursday matinees are pretty uncommon, yet there we were...doing the show...twice. great audiences though...that helps.

friday night was interesting simply because after the show, Erich Bergen says to me, "get some sleep tonight, i think i'm losing my voice."

...and he did.

so saturday matinee, without having much time at all on stage with the new blocking and pallets and rabbits all over the stage, i went on as Bob Gaudio. it was a pretty good show i think, nothing really comes to mind of any funny problems. i do remember that i was so aware of those pallets though because even at times when i knew that there was nothing coming stage left or right, i still felt like i was going to get run over at any time.

he was back Saturday night (guess it was just a bug) and we had some fantastic people in the 2nd row cheering us on with huge signs saying they loved Jersey Boys (thanks Ron and Karen for bringing the "lunatics" over for a show).

sunday it turned out it wasn't a bug. he was sick again. and so i parted my hair on the left side yet again to play Bob twice that day. the matinee was rough (the second show in theatre is known to be a bad one - some people call it "second show blues" or "sophomore slump"). also, we had signers in the audience for the hearing impaired and i kept seeing them in the corner of my eye in every scene signing and it threw me a few times because i was just not used to it.

and though i was utterly exhausted sunday night, i felt the show was fantastic. i hit a great stride and really just had a great time out there on stage.

and now we are at Monday. Bergen was feeling much better...

...Deven was not.

i got the call around 4:30 or so. Deven's back and ankle was really hurting him so i was on. i grabbed my script, headed down to the pool to have a quiet atmosphere, and went over my lines. the show was good. as those of you who have seen the show know, once the show starts, Tommy is on a freight train for a good 30 minutes without stopping...so that was pretty much an out-of-body experience. but it was great being in charge as Tommy. plus, i love the hair i do for Tommy...kind of a pompadour fro. also, because of Miles now being on vacation and our usual guitarist having to call out last minute, my good friend Nate got to make his debut on drums for the end of Walk Like a Man, the beginning of Dawn and Who Loves You...and he was fantastic!

so what's next? i assume Deven and Erich will both be in tip-top shape for the rest of the week so i'm suer i will finish off these last 7 shows in my usual track before we head off to Tempe.

also, for you Tempe folks that read my blog. i don't know if i'm allowed to post this but whatever; while Deven is on vacation our last week there, I am playing Tommy Oct.9-12 and Bates is playing the last 4 shows on Oct.13-14.

before i end, i want to send HUGE congratulations to my good friends Jarrod Spector & Michael Ingersoll and the rest of the Chicago company of Jersey Boys who performed on the Emmy Awards on Sunday night. we are all so proud of you all and can't wait for you to get to Chicago for a true opening and sold-out run! Check out their fantastic appearance here!



hope to blog before the end of Sacramento. if not, see you all in Tempe! i need to get some freaking sleep.

I Put the Sac in Sacramento (Sept.8)

Okay folks…I have gotten tons of emails and comments the last week asking for a blog update, so here it is:

*Please note I wrote this over five days at the theatre and hotel*

SATURDAY: We are in Sacramento. I mean, I assume we are in Sacramento - the first 4 days we were here it was Labor Day weekend so it was a ghost town here, and every second since then we have been in rehearsal from 2-11:30pm every day. We are kind of right in the middle of everything…which in turn means in the middle of nothing. Other than this one place that has amazing fresh pies and where you have to order their famous Chicken pot pies a week ahead of time because they are so backup on orders, we are still looking for some great places to eat. We will definitely have to visit old Sac for some good Mexican food, but the mediocre Thai food we had to eat for two dinners straight because everything else was closed was kind of a bummer.

The best news of all though is that less than 5 miles away is my favorite fast food chain of all time, Chick-Fil-A. Went there on Monday afternoon for a delicious #1 with lemonade. I have a feeling that besides the fact that there is a Guitar Center literally across the street, I will be visiting there a few times a week.

The Best Western we are staying at is…well…a Best Western. The bed is actually really comfortable and the high speed internet is always a plus, but Sarah and I have lots of crap and suitcases and Toby the dog’s toys are everywhere…so suffice to say, it’s going to be a hell of a cramped space for the next 17 days. But about 90% of the cast is staying there so already there has been hanging out at the pool, a little drinking, and we might even rent out one of their conference rooms this week for a poker tournament. Yesterday, one of the managers at the 24 Hour Fitness in San Fran drove out here to sign all of us up for another 5 months (through Houston) and I’m happy to report I already started back at the gym to try to get back in shape like I was for the wedding four months ago.

TUESDAY: Rehearsals have been rough, I’m not going to lie. We started this past Saturday and like I mentioned, have been here every day (or will be here every day) this week except for Labor Day. Our typical rehearsal schedule is 2-11:30 with 1 ½ hours for dinner. And more than anything, it’s been a ton, no, a TON of waiting around as light cues, automation cues, and scenery cues are adjusted and fixed so they can look at perfect as possible for our first public performance on Friday night. By about 10:30 every night, all of us get pretty loopy and it’s been rough focusing as much as is needed. But we are pulling though and the tech staff and management have been working very hard to make this as easy and comfortable as possible…though after 8 hours, we all get pretty bitchy backstage.

The new set also looks pretty nice. The “rabbits” are cool and slide on totally quiet and real smooth. You almost don’t even notice them coming in left and right during some scenes and now none of us have to be concerned about Erich falling though the lift again.

Oh…and here’s the funny part about this blog: I am writing it literally while tech is going on. Right now, we are running Nick’s exit from the group trying to time on the rabbits for “Stay” and we are right now running it for a 7^th time. I have Eric Insko (our PSM) and Richard Hester (prod. Supervisor) to my immediate left and Des McAnuff is literally sitting 2 rows behind me. If you are reading this over my shoulder, “hello, Des”.

Oops, we had to hold again. Getting ready to try for an 8^th time.

And this is a perfect example of what I mean from sitting around a lot and waiting. Last night, it took just over 40 minutes to run the kitchen scene into the beginning of Sherry before everything looked right.

Son of a bitch…9^th time...

FRIDAY: Over the course of three days, we have racked up over 25 hours of rehearsal time and we have finally finished teching the show. As a matter of fact, not only have we teched through it, but this afternoon we are going to do yet another run-through so we can be utterly and completely exhausted before our first public performance tonight. There are a few little kinks to work out with the automation and the wardrobe crew would love to have another chance to get it into their bodies, but to be perfectly honest…we are all so fucking tired I’m amazed that we have lasted this long. My heart goes out to our Seasons and our Jersey Girls because they have to work harder than all the rest of us and they are champs!

But we will prevail. We will get through these last few hours. We will give the crowd a great show tonight, Saturday and Sunday and when we finally get our day off on Monday, it’s time to unwind. Tahoe perhaps?

Let’s move on from tech rehearsal for a moment.

I want to take a second here to give a proper goodbye to our friend Doug Crawford, who stayed behind in LA and has ended his run in Jersey Boys as of our last show in LA on August 30. I really can’t say enough great things about this guy and I truly feel that the show loses a little something with his departure. It’s always hard doing a long run of a show and having “family” leave (ie. Jarrod Spector, Michael Ingersoll and now Doug). But we know that this departure will lead to great things for him and I just want to say it was a privilege and honor getting to work alongside him, especially since his last time on as Nick, I was able to play Bob…and that was a thrill.

And for any of you LA people, go see his new show (producer, co-writer and performer), THE EXISTENTS, at the world famous Whisky A Go Go at 8901 Sunset Boulevard. It’s an amazing new rock musical which they are performing in full concert form with the backing band from RockStar INXS. The music is killer!

Switching gears for a moment, wanted to share a fun Sacramento story with all of you:

Sarah and I walked over to the Starbucks on H street a few morning ago to get her an iced coffee. We took Toby the Dog with us to get him some exercise and while Sarah went inside to get the coffee, I stayed back to allow him to explore with his nose the many bushes and ivy around.

Suddenly, two black Ford SUV’s pull up to the side of the street and before they even stop, four men in black suits jump out and start securing the doors and inside. Then, without warning, The Governator steps out! That’s right, Arnold Schwarzenegger walked right into the Starbucks and ordered as espresso. Sarah says he was very nice and was chatting with people inside, and was very nice when they messed up his original drink and had to make him a new one.

So there it is, finally something happened in this town!

FRIDAY NIGHT: We opened and it was fantastic! The Sacramento Community Theatre is the largest house we have played (as well as any version of the show) to date and the crowd was electric! Des made a very nice opening preview speech before the show started to the audience and they erupted into applause a few times during his speech to show their appreciation and excitement. They were totally into the show and every laugh landed and every song got the song and recognition it deserved. And how nice for them to jump to their feet for ALL of our curtain calls, and not just the Seasons. The night ended with notes from Des and then all escaping to the Hyatt for some well deserved drinks and appetizers. I am very proud of all of us and how we maintained our sanity and health throughout this tech period. I am so happy that the set we have now will be our set for a long time…because if I have to go through this process again, I might choke someone.

SATURDAY MATINEE: Woke up. Took Toby for a walk. Ate a sandwich. Performed. Is it Monday yet?

More to come…thanks for having us, Sacramento!