Thanksgiving Blog (Nov.22)
okay...i know i need to blog...it's been over 3 weeks since the last blog and i should be ashamed of myself. i will try to recall everything that has gone on in the past 21 days...i'm sure i will forget a bunch of stuff and ramble a few paragraphs later, but hey, that's what you readers have come to expect from my blogs this past year.
speaking of which...
we have officially now been with the tour for over a year. rehearsals started october 23, 2006 back in NYC and our actual first year anniversary of playing to a paying audience will be coming up on december 1 and our official opening night in San Fran was december 10...so lots of big "one year" excitement will be coming up. it's crazy to think that by the end of Seattle, we will be past 400 shows.
400 shows saying "Heyyyyy" and wearing an ape mask...holy shit.
so let's close out San Diego:
we had a blast in San Diego! we went to the San Diego zoo and since it was a slower day at the zoo, they literally were walking their Timberwolf along zoo grounds...you don't see that everyday. obviously from the pictures from past blogs, our place was amazing and we had such a great time with Chris, Jenna and Fender.
other highlights:
* my dear friend, Jen Waldman (Titanic, Wicked and now her own acting studios in NYC http://www.jenwaldmanstudio.com) came to the show along with her fantastic parents, Lori and Bill. i have knows the Waldmans for about 15 years and it was great to have them (again) supporting me in the show. the craziest thing about them coming though was one of Jen's students came along with them and it turns out to be Jonathan Groff, who plays Melchior in Spring Awakening on Broadway. i mean, there i am eating steak with one of my oldest childhood friends, her parents and a 2007 Tony award nominee.
* getting to play Bob Gaudio for the last two shows to close out the city was a blast. i always have such a wonderful time playing my understudy parts and a big thank you to Bergen for taking some personal days. i think Bergen, Deven and Altieri should take more and more personal and sick days. the coolest part about going on for the last show was getting to meet all these great people who were at the stage door for our last show - it was like a rock concert really - tons of people were there to see us off and it's rare that i get to take so many pictures and sign so many programs and posters.
* Broadway Cares collections were at an all time high in San Diego and just for our collections there, we raised just over $175,000 for Broadway Cares. the best thing about all of that, is that half of that went to the San Diego chapter of the American Red Cross to help with fire relief. We continue to collect in Costa Mesa and we are kicking ass!
* I went on as Bob Crewe (see pics below)! It's amazing that for a role where you are only on stage for about 12 minutes, you really have to own scenes you are in. It was such a thrill being in the driver's seat for most of the studio scenes and the laughs that i got were fantastic. and i have to say, with apologies to the real Mr. Crewe as well as John Altieri who does the role on tour with amazing precision and style, but it was a real treat getting to play that part as gay as the day is long.
as Donnie (in the car scene)
as the man himself, Bob Crewe
my favorite part of the first day i got to play it is in the Donnie/Stosh scene where they fake the gunshot in the first act, i go to reach into my inside jacket pocket for the gun and it is stuck on a piece of fabric. so i have to jerk my hand out pretty quickly to nudge it loose and in doing so, the gun literally flips over itself in the air about three times and...i caught the damn thing! it was like some sort of horrible slow motion scene in a movie where all i was thinking was "you have GOT to catch this gun". but i did, and i shot Miles next to me, and it almost looked choreographed. suffice to say, the next night was much smoother.
last highlight of the city was the fun Halloween party the company had for us. costumes were mandatory and all i wanted to do was make fun of my buddy Nate who is also on tour. so i decided to dress like him and act like him all night. the catch is though, someone ratted me out to Nate and so Nate decided to dress like me. suffice to say, we wanted to fight each other all night because we were both making fun of each other so much that it was getting ridiculous. here's a pic:
for those of you that know both Nate and I, notice that i am in a cut off Abercrombie shirt, Yankees hat and holding a Myoplex Body for Life shake. Nate is talking on a bluetooth headset, wearing my Hebrew National shirt and pretending to sell tickets. the hottie in the middle is Sarah dressed as "slutty" Harry Potter.
but alas, the car had to be packed up, and we made the drive to Costa Mesa...
...and let me tell you about this new place we are staying!
so we are about 20 minutes or so from the theatre living in a beautiful small beach community called Laguna Beach. the whole town is steps from the ocean and it's full of artist's studios and quaint little places to eat and shop. in one way, it's kind of a tourist trap, but still really quiet and peaceful.
we, however, are a little bit away from the main strip because we scored a beach house in a gated community up a big hill. turns out that Sarah has some extended family that owned this beach house and when we went to dinner with them in LA, the offered us their place. so now Sarah, Toby and I are in this gorgeous house all alone in this secure gated community where every house looks like a palace. and the best part? we have a private beach! that's right - the community all backs into this private beach that is about 1/2 mile long between two coves and the only way you can get into it is by having a house in the complex. and even better than that is if we don't want to walk up and down the street to get to the beach, we just get in the golf cart that they own and drive it down. i love driving golf carts. they also have a Vespa but that is never going to happen.
Costa Mesa has been a lot of fun other than the trips to the beach and cooking in our pimped out kitchen (the place has a warmer tray for goodness sake!). i got to play Tommy the other night which is always a blast. and since i still have family and friends in town here, i had 11 people in the audience cheering me on.
but this coming week is also going to be a little rough; with our schedule here just a short 3 weeks, they are obviously trying to cram in as many shows as possible. so with our show this past Tuesday, we are going all the way through to December 1 without a break or day off. and we think our assistant director West is coming into town so that means we will be doing two understudy rehearsals as well so whoop-de-fucking-doo.
i really don't know what else to post at this time. do i just leave you with the above mentioned vulgarity and call it a day...?
of course not.
i want to wish everyone who might be reading this a very happy Thanksgiving! the company just had a very nice dinner for us near the theatre tonight and though i am very homesick today, it was wonderful being with my "road family" for yet another holiday. tomorrow will consist of hanging out with our friends Kim and Vipe for some massive leftovers that they are bringing over, maybe do some "black friday" shopping and celebrating a milestone day for myself (the big 3-0 baby!).
so that's it for now. no promises on when a new post will happen, but i will TRY to do one more, even a small one, here in Costa Mesa before we head off to Seattle!
and lastly, to our new family in San Fran, the soon-to-be Vegas cast, congrats on your opening night preview and we wish you all success for your holiday run there!
blog later,
eric
p.s. some GREAT pics up on my website (www.ericgutman.com) in the Misc Theatre page of some shows i was in back in college. thanks to Sandy Duke at WMU for finding them for me!
speaking of which...
we have officially now been with the tour for over a year. rehearsals started october 23, 2006 back in NYC and our actual first year anniversary of playing to a paying audience will be coming up on december 1 and our official opening night in San Fran was december 10...so lots of big "one year" excitement will be coming up. it's crazy to think that by the end of Seattle, we will be past 400 shows.
400 shows saying "Heyyyyy" and wearing an ape mask...holy shit.
so let's close out San Diego:
we had a blast in San Diego! we went to the San Diego zoo and since it was a slower day at the zoo, they literally were walking their Timberwolf along zoo grounds...you don't see that everyday. obviously from the pictures from past blogs, our place was amazing and we had such a great time with Chris, Jenna and Fender.
other highlights:
* my dear friend, Jen Waldman (Titanic, Wicked and now her own acting studios in NYC http://www.jenwaldmanstudio.com) came to the show along with her fantastic parents, Lori and Bill. i have knows the Waldmans for about 15 years and it was great to have them (again) supporting me in the show. the craziest thing about them coming though was one of Jen's students came along with them and it turns out to be Jonathan Groff, who plays Melchior in Spring Awakening on Broadway. i mean, there i am eating steak with one of my oldest childhood friends, her parents and a 2007 Tony award nominee.
* getting to play Bob Gaudio for the last two shows to close out the city was a blast. i always have such a wonderful time playing my understudy parts and a big thank you to Bergen for taking some personal days. i think Bergen, Deven and Altieri should take more and more personal and sick days. the coolest part about going on for the last show was getting to meet all these great people who were at the stage door for our last show - it was like a rock concert really - tons of people were there to see us off and it's rare that i get to take so many pictures and sign so many programs and posters.
* Broadway Cares collections were at an all time high in San Diego and just for our collections there, we raised just over $175,000 for Broadway Cares. the best thing about all of that, is that half of that went to the San Diego chapter of the American Red Cross to help with fire relief. We continue to collect in Costa Mesa and we are kicking ass!
* I went on as Bob Crewe (see pics below)! It's amazing that for a role where you are only on stage for about 12 minutes, you really have to own scenes you are in. It was such a thrill being in the driver's seat for most of the studio scenes and the laughs that i got were fantastic. and i have to say, with apologies to the real Mr. Crewe as well as John Altieri who does the role on tour with amazing precision and style, but it was a real treat getting to play that part as gay as the day is long.
as Donnie (in the car scene)
as the man himself, Bob Crewe
my favorite part of the first day i got to play it is in the Donnie/Stosh scene where they fake the gunshot in the first act, i go to reach into my inside jacket pocket for the gun and it is stuck on a piece of fabric. so i have to jerk my hand out pretty quickly to nudge it loose and in doing so, the gun literally flips over itself in the air about three times and...i caught the damn thing! it was like some sort of horrible slow motion scene in a movie where all i was thinking was "you have GOT to catch this gun". but i did, and i shot Miles next to me, and it almost looked choreographed. suffice to say, the next night was much smoother.
last highlight of the city was the fun Halloween party the company had for us. costumes were mandatory and all i wanted to do was make fun of my buddy Nate who is also on tour. so i decided to dress like him and act like him all night. the catch is though, someone ratted me out to Nate and so Nate decided to dress like me. suffice to say, we wanted to fight each other all night because we were both making fun of each other so much that it was getting ridiculous. here's a pic:
for those of you that know both Nate and I, notice that i am in a cut off Abercrombie shirt, Yankees hat and holding a Myoplex Body for Life shake. Nate is talking on a bluetooth headset, wearing my Hebrew National shirt and pretending to sell tickets. the hottie in the middle is Sarah dressed as "slutty" Harry Potter.
but alas, the car had to be packed up, and we made the drive to Costa Mesa...
...and let me tell you about this new place we are staying!
so we are about 20 minutes or so from the theatre living in a beautiful small beach community called Laguna Beach. the whole town is steps from the ocean and it's full of artist's studios and quaint little places to eat and shop. in one way, it's kind of a tourist trap, but still really quiet and peaceful.
we, however, are a little bit away from the main strip because we scored a beach house in a gated community up a big hill. turns out that Sarah has some extended family that owned this beach house and when we went to dinner with them in LA, the offered us their place. so now Sarah, Toby and I are in this gorgeous house all alone in this secure gated community where every house looks like a palace. and the best part? we have a private beach! that's right - the community all backs into this private beach that is about 1/2 mile long between two coves and the only way you can get into it is by having a house in the complex. and even better than that is if we don't want to walk up and down the street to get to the beach, we just get in the golf cart that they own and drive it down. i love driving golf carts. they also have a Vespa but that is never going to happen.
Costa Mesa has been a lot of fun other than the trips to the beach and cooking in our pimped out kitchen (the place has a warmer tray for goodness sake!). i got to play Tommy the other night which is always a blast. and since i still have family and friends in town here, i had 11 people in the audience cheering me on.
but this coming week is also going to be a little rough; with our schedule here just a short 3 weeks, they are obviously trying to cram in as many shows as possible. so with our show this past Tuesday, we are going all the way through to December 1 without a break or day off. and we think our assistant director West is coming into town so that means we will be doing two understudy rehearsals as well so whoop-de-fucking-doo.
i really don't know what else to post at this time. do i just leave you with the above mentioned vulgarity and call it a day...?
of course not.
i want to wish everyone who might be reading this a very happy Thanksgiving! the company just had a very nice dinner for us near the theatre tonight and though i am very homesick today, it was wonderful being with my "road family" for yet another holiday. tomorrow will consist of hanging out with our friends Kim and Vipe for some massive leftovers that they are bringing over, maybe do some "black friday" shopping and celebrating a milestone day for myself (the big 3-0 baby!).
so that's it for now. no promises on when a new post will happen, but i will TRY to do one more, even a small one, here in Costa Mesa before we head off to Seattle!
and lastly, to our new family in San Fran, the soon-to-be Vegas cast, congrats on your opening night preview and we wish you all success for your holiday run there!
blog later,
eric
p.s. some GREAT pics up on my website (www.ericgutman.com) in the Misc Theatre page of some shows i was in back in college. thanks to Sandy Duke at WMU for finding them for me!
posted by The Guter at 11/18/2007 06:24:00 PM
11 Comments:
Happy Thanksgiving, Eric! Thank you for the update on you, Sarah, and the entire JB cast. My sisters and I went to see the matinee this past Sunday (Our fifth time) and while waiting for the backstage tour to start, we saw you walk into the door and as if in unison said, "Oh my God, it's the Gutman." The woman who was leading the tour along with Taylor heard us and laughed. You're doing an amazing job and I hope that you enjoy the rest of your stay in So. Cal!
Hi Eric! We saw you guys on Wednesday and you were great! Cant wait to see the show again on Monday. Happy Birthday!!!
Hey Eric!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Hope all is well; the house sounds beautiful! We still miss you, but your blogs definately help!
Take care!
Happy birthday! It was great to hear what you are up to. The Halloween stuff made me laugh, and it sounds like Costa Mesa is treating you pretty well. : ) That's so cool that you got to meet Jonathan Groff. I just saw him on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... Anyway, best wishes and thanks for the update!
"so, you're growing up, huh, kid"...happy 30th!
saw you that night with the stuck gun, there was a little nervous laughter from the audience, but you handled it very well.
seems like the show is having more tech. probs. in the oc than in la and san diego: the screen projection conking out for the whole erich bergen segment (poor erich, falling through the trap door in la, now this), static in the sound system, the microphone cutting out on courter for the big number "can't take my eyes off you", deven hitting the piano with his guitar during "cry for me". but you all handled all that with aplomb like true professionals.
isn't it amazing that ritzy rich OC is responding enthusiastically to the story of four blue-collar guys. And it's all because the whole cast kicks ass..every night.
keep blogging...
Happy Thanksgiving, Gutty, and most of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Thirty years ago I labored for 21 hours and pushed for 2-1/2 hours until you finally came into the world (sorry, I just had to share that with your fans)! Jeff and I can't wait to see the show again next weekend (our 5th time!) and spend some time with you and Sarah. Maybe Deven, Erich or John (Altieri) will decide to take the day off so we can see you as Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio or Bob Crewe. :-)
Love you lots! Love, Mama xxooxx
Eric - I know I wished you a Happy Birthday when I spoke to you on Thursday but I really meant to call you Friday to make it official - I figured Nan & Ron's beach house would be nice but the way you discribed it WOW - By the way what is a Vespa? Thanksgiving was great at Cheri & Sandy's - the only thing missing was Michael, Sarah & you - hopefully next year we will all be together
Love you both,
Bubi
Hope you and Sarah had a wonderful "turkey day" and shared some turkey with Toby!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my very favorite nephew and OMG..........are you really 30 already!!! Hope your day was wonderful..........love to you guys.......Aunt Sha
P.S. Remind your Mom to let the "labor" thing go...........look at the great package she got!!!
happy birhtday and such! i can't believe it's been a year since we were in yall's first tech having thanksgiving in San Fran. Hope all is well...
Got to see you on Wednesday night as Tommy DeVito....and wow, Eric Gutman delivers! GREAT job - you were spot on, and I just loved your take on the role. My friends who went with could not stop laughing at your Pesci imitation in the final monologue. Thanks for a great night behind the Orange Curtain!
Also, thanks for all of your efforts to raise funds for Broadway Cares --I work for an organization that receives grant money from BCEFA, and your hard work is truly appreciated!
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