Oh thank the lord we are back in an English speaking country! We wrapped the show last night, celebrated with a few pints in our chosen pub for the week (located just around the corner from our stage door), then headed back to the hostel for the last time to pack up the suitcases. We met the coach this morning and started on our journey to Berlin Tegel airport. We managed to finally get all 14 of the wardrobe cases checked on-board (a new Rat Pack record we believe!) and hit the friendly skies for the United Kingdom! Upon landing in jolly ol' England, I could almost cry I was so happy to see all signage in words I understood. Maria got Michael and I sorted in our journey which included the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, then a cab to Charring Cross Station, then a train to Dartford. Those places all sound British! Due to someone running around on the tracks, we were stuck at the Heathrow Express Station for about an hour, totally ruining Michael and my plans to see Billy Elliot at night. Bummer. Anyway, once we got to Dartford, we took a cab to our hotels, and then I spent hours and hours both online and watching lots of trashy American television! How much do we love that The Family Guy is on every night here? So much. No worries to any Brits that may be reading along, I also watched Eastenders...
The load in/opening night went very smoothly here. The venue is much smaller than I'm used to back home, but it works very well for this show. I'm happy to have my crew/band back. It's nice to have some familiar faces to get me through the crazy start of this tour. When all was said and done, I took my extra heavy suitcase outside, and could not even seen my hand in front of my face for all the crazy British fog. I just prayed I was going in the right direction, and managed to find a cab. Thank goodness.
Wednesday morning found Maria and me on a train to London to meet all the people behind the email addresses at Flying Music, my new direct employer. They have a very nice office in very posh West London (Robbie Williams used to live around the corner!) It was nice having faces to put with the names I email a million times a day. I didn't get to see much of London still, but had a nice sandwich for lunch. We drove back to Dartford from London (which Tony told me would take about 45 minutes), close to 2 hours later, we arrived at the theatre. No harm done though, Chris was ready to go even though we had his suit in the trunk of the car! What's that you say, Chris? YES! Chris Mann, my original Frank Sinatra joined us for the show Wednesday night! It was so nice to see and hear him! (He even asked how you guys were Mom and Emily!) I hope our paths will cross again so I will have more of a chance to catch up with him.
This morning, I slept FOREVER and then came in for the matinee (which I totally thought started at 2, but it was really 2:30. Oh yes, I'm in charge of this show...) So I had some extra time and spent that doing office supply shopping. My favorite company manager pastime. Dartford left much to be desired in that area though, so I'm hoping next week in Wimbledon will prove to be a little better. The shows went off without a hitch, and now here I am! I spent most of the day working on Houston travel and info (wheeeeee!) and fixing things in my US books. You all know I love to overlap jobs! Though I still feel I have so much work to do on them, I am hoping the end is in sight!
Well, the show has come down, so it's time for me to write the show report. How strange is that? This job is much more stage management than it is in the US.
My random British news of the day: Last night, I watched a tv show about a girl who would only eat burnt sausage, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and French fries. WHAT?
Love to you all from lovely Kent.
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