It's nice to have time off.
After a few weeks of rehearsal, and then a weekend of shows, I was REALLY ready for some time off. My brain and body were exhausted, so I decided it was time to take it easy.
Monday in Canada happened to be Victoria Day, which someone tried to explain to me, but I'm not sure I got it. Apparently Victoria Day is celebrated on a Monday before Victoria's birthday (May 24). Victoria was the queen of England, and apparently Canada. I don't really get this. Anyway, it's still celebrated to honor the reigning monarch. In Toronto, slang for the holiday includes "the long weekend" and "may two-four". The second is apparently because a case of beer in Canada is 24 beers, commonly called a "two-four", and a lot of people use this holiday to get drunk! Nothing is open on Monday, and there are usually fireworks on Sunday and Monday nights.
On Sunday after the show, one of my cast members and his boyfriend threw a fireworks-watching party! Of course I got lost walking around Toronto at night, but I eventually found their fantastic apartment, and a big group of us watched the fireworks from the roof. Not to be prejudiced, but American fireworks are way better. Although they did have a lot of those melty sparkly ones I like. We could also see other smaller fireworks shows, and our Carlotta proceeded to argue with some locals we met on the roof about where the ones we were seeing were coming from. Great fun! Afterwards we all went inside to get warm, and ate and drank and chatted. I'm getting to know people better, and that's always fun. Eventually I had to leave, since on Monday I had to get up early!
I woke around 9 for a ten-thirty drive to Stratford, Ontario. A few months ago one of our wardrobe ladies had organized a trip to the Stratford Festival, and I got lucky and took the ticket of someone who could no longer go. I rode with Anne, our ASM, and our PM's adorable dog, Lucky. It took about two hours to get there, whereupon we had some lunch and let Lucky run around an adorable park. Stratford was so picturesque, with a little river running by and lots of trees. The Stratford Festival itself is a huge Shakespeare festival that apparently runs for almost ten months a year. A lot of famous Canadian actors come work there, and they now do a lot of Shakespeare, along with some other cool plays and occasionally a musical. We had tickets to 'The Merchant of Venice' starring Graham Greene.
The name didn't sound familiar to me, but you'd recognize him if you saw him. He's native American (or Native Canadian as they say here), and has been in tons of movies. Most recently TransAmerica, but he's an Oscar winner for Dances with Wolves. He was playing Shylock, which was some interesting casting, although I'd have to say in the future Graham should probably stick to film. Overall though, the show was great, with some FANTASTIC performances. A bit too conceptualized for my taste (masks, etc.), but very good.
After the show we walked Lucky, and then Anne and I drove back to Toronto. She grew up here, so it was great to have her drive around and point out some of the sights. I still say Toronto reminds me of Chicago, but it does have it's own adorable personality. Did you know there's a wooded ravine that cuts through the center of the city? The city just built around it! There's also a great range of architecture, since the city has been built with no plan, just spreading out all over the place. Downtown you'll find shopping and office buildings, and then a random neighborhood of old houses that were probably originally built on the outskirts of town. I can't wait to go check out some of the sights we drove by, like the Saint Laurence market, and the CN tower, and the castle right in the middle of downtown. We saw so much that I didn't get home until almost 9 pm.
I spent Monday night in, with the sounds of people downing "two-fours" outside my window. And most of Tuesday, I spent asleep! It's been a long couple of weeks just getting ready for the show. Luckily that rest and sightseeing was the perfect amount of just what I needed, and tonight's show was great!
Monday in Canada happened to be Victoria Day, which someone tried to explain to me, but I'm not sure I got it. Apparently Victoria Day is celebrated on a Monday before Victoria's birthday (May 24). Victoria was the queen of England, and apparently Canada. I don't really get this. Anyway, it's still celebrated to honor the reigning monarch. In Toronto, slang for the holiday includes "the long weekend" and "may two-four". The second is apparently because a case of beer in Canada is 24 beers, commonly called a "two-four", and a lot of people use this holiday to get drunk! Nothing is open on Monday, and there are usually fireworks on Sunday and Monday nights.
On Sunday after the show, one of my cast members and his boyfriend threw a fireworks-watching party! Of course I got lost walking around Toronto at night, but I eventually found their fantastic apartment, and a big group of us watched the fireworks from the roof. Not to be prejudiced, but American fireworks are way better. Although they did have a lot of those melty sparkly ones I like. We could also see other smaller fireworks shows, and our Carlotta proceeded to argue with some locals we met on the roof about where the ones we were seeing were coming from. Great fun! Afterwards we all went inside to get warm, and ate and drank and chatted. I'm getting to know people better, and that's always fun. Eventually I had to leave, since on Monday I had to get up early!
I woke around 9 for a ten-thirty drive to Stratford, Ontario. A few months ago one of our wardrobe ladies had organized a trip to the Stratford Festival, and I got lucky and took the ticket of someone who could no longer go. I rode with Anne, our ASM, and our PM's adorable dog, Lucky. It took about two hours to get there, whereupon we had some lunch and let Lucky run around an adorable park. Stratford was so picturesque, with a little river running by and lots of trees. The Stratford Festival itself is a huge Shakespeare festival that apparently runs for almost ten months a year. A lot of famous Canadian actors come work there, and they now do a lot of Shakespeare, along with some other cool plays and occasionally a musical. We had tickets to 'The Merchant of Venice' starring Graham Greene.
The name didn't sound familiar to me, but you'd recognize him if you saw him. He's native American (or Native Canadian as they say here), and has been in tons of movies. Most recently TransAmerica, but he's an Oscar winner for Dances with Wolves. He was playing Shylock, which was some interesting casting, although I'd have to say in the future Graham should probably stick to film. Overall though, the show was great, with some FANTASTIC performances. A bit too conceptualized for my taste (masks, etc.), but very good.
After the show we walked Lucky, and then Anne and I drove back to Toronto. She grew up here, so it was great to have her drive around and point out some of the sights. I still say Toronto reminds me of Chicago, but it does have it's own adorable personality. Did you know there's a wooded ravine that cuts through the center of the city? The city just built around it! There's also a great range of architecture, since the city has been built with no plan, just spreading out all over the place. Downtown you'll find shopping and office buildings, and then a random neighborhood of old houses that were probably originally built on the outskirts of town. I can't wait to go check out some of the sights we drove by, like the Saint Laurence market, and the CN tower, and the castle right in the middle of downtown. We saw so much that I didn't get home until almost 9 pm.
I spent Monday night in, with the sounds of people downing "two-fours" outside my window. And most of Tuesday, I spent asleep! It's been a long couple of weeks just getting ready for the show. Luckily that rest and sightseeing was the perfect amount of just what I needed, and tonight's show was great!
posted by Beth at 8:49 PM
2 Comments:
Great to see you blogging aain..I had no idea.
Love, your secret admirerer
Bets - can't wait till the show gets to Birmingham so we can come see you! Sing pretty!!
Love you, N
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