Show #1: Brainerd,MN

Tornstrom Auditorium
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Piano du jour: 7’ Baldwin – beautiful touch and tone

Here we are at Day One of our tour! Six weeks, thirteen states, over 7,500 miles, and thirty-three shows.

At 9:30 this morning, we gathered at the home of our director and producer, Perrin Post. We are traveling in a 15-passenger van and a truck. The set, props, costumes, sound equipment, musical instruments and our luggage travel in the truck. (We’re not traveling with a keyboard, so I am at the mercy of every venue. I’ll be keeping you posted on what I get to play.) There are eleven of us in our little company – five in the cast (Jody Briskey, Michelle Carter, Stacey Lindell, Patty Nieman and Susan Yeager), four in the band (JenDeen Forberg, Patrick Harrison, Travis Schilling and myself), a stage manager (Tim Wilkins) and a sound man (Josh Bjorkman).

This is shaping up to be our typical day: Once we have driven to our new town, we check into our hotel. Tim and Josh arrive at the venue mid-afternoon to load in the set and sound equipment. The cast and band then arrive at 5:00. We in the band set up our instruments, music stands and lights, while the women in the cast start hair and makeup, figure out where their costume changes need to be preset, and get their wireless mics on. Sound check is at 5:30. Once that is completed, we are free to warm up onstage until the house opens at 7:00. Curtain for most of our shows is at 7:30.

In Brainerd, we performed in the 900-seat auditorium of the former middle school. The building is now used for school administration. The renovated auditorium was beautiful, but there were no dressing rooms, so we tried to make do in the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms. Judging from the appearance and smell, they hadn’t been used in decades. Ah, ‘tis a glamorous life!

If you want to know where we are from day to day, you can check out our itinerary at http://www.buffalogalproductions.com/.

Miles traveled: 135
Hotel: Ramada Inn