Drama Ensues...
The closer we get to the end of this tour, the more the drama intensifies. Now I realize that whenever youre around "theatre people" you should expect a little drama, but this is getting out of hand! The drama began months ago, with a cast member who created some internal drama. When she was fired two weeks ago, we though things would be smooth sailing from here on out. Little did we know...
The biggest drama of all has been The Great Who Will Come Back to Hong Kong drama. Basically, the SOM tour is going to start back up in August, and tour through December. Since the contracts of the whole company are up in May, they could have hypothetically fired us all. Instead, they decided to extend a blanket offer to the whole adult cast. They offered us all a little more money and a sign-on bonus so that we would all come back. Troika also pulled a fast one and sent us their schrewdest negotiator for a week... Roberta Roberts. Roberta is a super-nice lady, but she is one of the best business people I've ever encountered. She can talk her way out of anything! You can go to her with the best laid plans, with questions and requests and a million other things, and when you walk out of a meeting you feel like you didn't say anything you wanted, because she's had such a good answer for everything!
Roberta showed up on Tuesday and gave the offer, and then we all asked questions. She came back on Wednesday with answers, and then we all had to decided YES or NO by Saturday morning. Of course there were people from the very beginning who had decided. Some of the men in the cast have Chinese girlfriends, and were dying to get back to the country where fat middle-aged white guys are Gods. Some of the people had been with the tour since the US leg, and after 400-plus shows were pretty sick of The Sound of Music. For a great majority of the cast though, there was a lot of wavering. We all scheduled meetings with Roberta, planning on asking for more money, single rooms, first class air tickets, and when we left... nothing. As the Saturday deadline drew closer it became more and more tense in the dressing rooms. Finally Saturday came, and by the time today's matinee started, everyone had answered.
Everyone that is, except our Maria and our Captain and their respective husband/fiancees. Since they're super stars, they can ask for thousands of dollars and parts for their lovers. It's crazy! I'm just hoping somebody will throw me a bone here. Also, if you're wondering, my answer was YES. It was a super tough decision, but the money looks good. Hopefully my agent will be able to negotiate better with Roberta than I was. Anyway, after all that, we thought the drama was over. But no, it was just beginning!
Since Roberta was in town, a lot of other issues started coming up. One of them was the issue of per diem. Per diem is the money we get every week (paid in local currency) to pay for our food. We usually get a certain amount of money per day. On this (cheapskate) tour, they are not planning on paying for our food past Saturday, even though we leave on Sunday and don't arrive home for more than 36 hours. Because we're sponsored by Malaysia Airlines, they're flying us super-cheaply around the world for a million hours. We have layovers for days, and tons of tiny flights to get us an hour away. Usually it wouldn't be a big deal if we just flew from Singapore to LA and then home, but we're talking 5 stops for some people. Because of this, we don't get food on most of our flights, and since our contract says we should be fed until we arrive at our home, we're pissed. We begged and pleaded for days (crappy cast representative job again) until they finally decided that we could have $15. But, they're not giving us the cash, we instead have to buy $15 worth of food, and then send Troika the receipts so they can reimburse us. WHAT?! This is ridiculous. I'll probably lose the receipts, and that's what they're counting on. Anyway, this is not yet resolved, because people are pissed and trying to figure out what to do. DRAMA!
The third piece of dramatic arts is actually kind of funny. One day during the show we were given 30 programs backstage and asked to sign them. Now it's not unusual that we would sign programs... sometimes for orphans or sick kids, or something like that. This was however, a pretty big number. We asked what they were for, and were told "starving children in Cambodia". Riiight. Imagine our (and Troika's) surprise when we discovered a sign in the lobby selling a limited number of signed programs for $75!!! Now we're pissed that we were lied to, and Troika's pissed that they're not making that money. Craziness! Somebody's going down for this, that's all I know!
Anyway, to escape from the drama we keep sightseeing. Yesterday Dana and I ventured to the zoo, which is INCREDIBLE. No fences, just animals up in your face. I have never been so close to lions and tigers... and we skipped the bears. My pictures are wild! Then last night after the show a whole group of us headed to Raffle's for a nightcap. Mr. Raffle was the Englishman who basically built Singapore, and his hotel is the oldest and most beautiful in all of Singapore. It's also the place where the famous Singapore Sling was invented. We sat on the veranda and drank what I would definitely consider the most disgusting thing I've EVER had to drink (and it was $25 - US), but luckily they give you free peanuts so it was a pretty fun night. From here on out, hopefully it will be downhill, since I think we only have 8 days and 9 shows left! Oops, not counting the million I'll do in Hong Kong. Oh well, I'm a working actress!
The biggest drama of all has been The Great Who Will Come Back to Hong Kong drama. Basically, the SOM tour is going to start back up in August, and tour through December. Since the contracts of the whole company are up in May, they could have hypothetically fired us all. Instead, they decided to extend a blanket offer to the whole adult cast. They offered us all a little more money and a sign-on bonus so that we would all come back. Troika also pulled a fast one and sent us their schrewdest negotiator for a week... Roberta Roberts. Roberta is a super-nice lady, but she is one of the best business people I've ever encountered. She can talk her way out of anything! You can go to her with the best laid plans, with questions and requests and a million other things, and when you walk out of a meeting you feel like you didn't say anything you wanted, because she's had such a good answer for everything!
Roberta showed up on Tuesday and gave the offer, and then we all asked questions. She came back on Wednesday with answers, and then we all had to decided YES or NO by Saturday morning. Of course there were people from the very beginning who had decided. Some of the men in the cast have Chinese girlfriends, and were dying to get back to the country where fat middle-aged white guys are Gods. Some of the people had been with the tour since the US leg, and after 400-plus shows were pretty sick of The Sound of Music. For a great majority of the cast though, there was a lot of wavering. We all scheduled meetings with Roberta, planning on asking for more money, single rooms, first class air tickets, and when we left... nothing. As the Saturday deadline drew closer it became more and more tense in the dressing rooms. Finally Saturday came, and by the time today's matinee started, everyone had answered.
Everyone that is, except our Maria and our Captain and their respective husband/fiancees. Since they're super stars, they can ask for thousands of dollars and parts for their lovers. It's crazy! I'm just hoping somebody will throw me a bone here. Also, if you're wondering, my answer was YES. It was a super tough decision, but the money looks good. Hopefully my agent will be able to negotiate better with Roberta than I was. Anyway, after all that, we thought the drama was over. But no, it was just beginning!
Since Roberta was in town, a lot of other issues started coming up. One of them was the issue of per diem. Per diem is the money we get every week (paid in local currency) to pay for our food. We usually get a certain amount of money per day. On this (cheapskate) tour, they are not planning on paying for our food past Saturday, even though we leave on Sunday and don't arrive home for more than 36 hours. Because we're sponsored by Malaysia Airlines, they're flying us super-cheaply around the world for a million hours. We have layovers for days, and tons of tiny flights to get us an hour away. Usually it wouldn't be a big deal if we just flew from Singapore to LA and then home, but we're talking 5 stops for some people. Because of this, we don't get food on most of our flights, and since our contract says we should be fed until we arrive at our home, we're pissed. We begged and pleaded for days (crappy cast representative job again) until they finally decided that we could have $15. But, they're not giving us the cash, we instead have to buy $15 worth of food, and then send Troika the receipts so they can reimburse us. WHAT?! This is ridiculous. I'll probably lose the receipts, and that's what they're counting on. Anyway, this is not yet resolved, because people are pissed and trying to figure out what to do. DRAMA!
The third piece of dramatic arts is actually kind of funny. One day during the show we were given 30 programs backstage and asked to sign them. Now it's not unusual that we would sign programs... sometimes for orphans or sick kids, or something like that. This was however, a pretty big number. We asked what they were for, and were told "starving children in Cambodia". Riiight. Imagine our (and Troika's) surprise when we discovered a sign in the lobby selling a limited number of signed programs for $75!!! Now we're pissed that we were lied to, and Troika's pissed that they're not making that money. Craziness! Somebody's going down for this, that's all I know!
Anyway, to escape from the drama we keep sightseeing. Yesterday Dana and I ventured to the zoo, which is INCREDIBLE. No fences, just animals up in your face. I have never been so close to lions and tigers... and we skipped the bears. My pictures are wild! Then last night after the show a whole group of us headed to Raffle's for a nightcap. Mr. Raffle was the Englishman who basically built Singapore, and his hotel is the oldest and most beautiful in all of Singapore. It's also the place where the famous Singapore Sling was invented. We sat on the veranda and drank what I would definitely consider the most disgusting thing I've EVER had to drink (and it was $25 - US), but luckily they give you free peanuts so it was a pretty fun night. From here on out, hopefully it will be downhill, since I think we only have 8 days and 9 shows left! Oops, not counting the million I'll do in Hong Kong. Oh well, I'm a working actress!
posted by Beth at 9:44 PM
1 Comments:
hang on to those receipts and eat EXACTLY $15 worth of food!!! They owe you!!
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