Arlington VA is paradise.

I love my new apartment! On Monday morning I woke up very early after an exhausting week, and was not happy about it. Although I was a little happy because I was moving out of hell! I took my last sneezy shower and threw the rest of my stuff in my bags, and then my friend Sarah arrived with her savior of an SUV. Miraculously, I loaded my two large suitcases, one small suitcase, laptop bag, purse, and GIGANTIC TRUNK (with Sarah's help) in about five minutes. I also managed to check out without much confrontation, although one of the maids did see me and say, "ooo you're leaving?" with an undertone of "uh oh girl, you're busted". So we piled into the last tiny spaces in the car, and were on our way to Arlington, Virginia.

I was originally a little hesitant about living a ten minute drive from the theatre, but the more I thought about it, the crazier I realized I was being. No one in New York demands that they live a block from the theatre. That's ridiculous! Every show I've ever done there, I've had to take the subway to... and it could take an hour when you add the crosstown bus. Here I've got it much easier. My apartment is one block from the Ballston metro stop, and the ride from there to Foggy Bottom is ten minutes. Then at Foggy Bottom, I can walk to the Kennedy Center (15 mins.) or take a free Kennedy Center shuttle that takes about three minutes. Love it! The metro here is also really cool. The walls are all covered with cement in a honeycomb pattern, and there are always escalators, not stairs. It looks like you're waiting for some kind of space-age Disney ride! So far (knock on wood) I've had no problems, and I love the extra reading time I get to have.

The apartment itself is lovely. I'm in a doorman elevator building, that of course (here comes karma) is owned by the same company that recently bought my building in New York, raising the rent by a million percent. I've got a business center where I can print things, a gym, and a fabulous outdoor pool where I plan on laying out *but not tanning if management is reading this*. Right now I'm sitting on my fabulous balcony looking at the Ballston Commons Mall and the bright sign for Chevys, which is practically in my backyard. I've got a full one-bedroom apartment with a large bathroom. The bed has a gorgeous sleigh bed, and the couch is super-comfortable. It's adorable! There is also plenty of room for guests... hint, hint to all of my poor friends.

After we arrived on Monday, I spent most of the day unpacking, until I ventured out and found my favorite - Chipotle! After more unpacking, I took a nap on the big comfy couch. I woke up when my friends Anne and Emily called, inviting me to a BBQ! They're living in an adorable (if college-y) townhouse with a huge deck, so they bought a grill at Target and some meat and beer at Trader Joe's, and had some people over! We grilled out various sausages and veggie skewers, and then met up with another group of friends to see the John Cusak thriller 1408. I obviously cried (because it wouldn't be a movie without me crying) and was very scared. Pretty good overall! And then I hopped on the subway, catching the last train home to my little paradise.

Today I visited the local Harris Teeter, a heaven of a grocery store. The only problem was that I shopped before lunch, and so therefore bought a boatload of food. Then I had to carry it two blocks home. I only made it halfway through the store before I made myself stop, knowing I couldn't carry more than the seven bags that I bought. Anyway, the bottom line is that I loooove my new apartment, and I am rather growing fond of my nightly commute. It makes me feel kind of normal. Oh, and the only thing that keeps me from knowing this isn't paradise? Bug bites. That's the problem with sitting outside at night and having sweet blood!

What a week!

I can't even tell you how exhausted I am right now. What a week! I already explained my horrific travel Monday, and in case you were still wondering, my luggage did finally arrive... at 2am. Nice. I passed out in my gross bed and slept in on Tuesday. When I did wake up, I set out immediately to look for apartments. I can't tell you how many hours I spent browsing the Internet, calling corporate housing companies, etc. And then, when I finally took a shower in the afternoon, I proceeded to have an allergic reaction to my hotel room. I've never had allergies in the past, but as soon as I stepped into the shower, I started sneezing. I made the mistake of putting my face under the water, and my eyes immediately started stinging. Soon I had mucous running down my face from the excessive sneezing, and I was blowing my nose one nostril at a time like a trucker. It was horrific. I loooove taking long showers, and I was out in ten minutes. Ask my old roommates - it's a new record! This is when I knew for sure that I needed to get out.

Unfortunately, this town is booked. Apparently with all the interns, etc., plus a society of workers who are constantly traveling, DC is a housing nightmare. Eventually I met some friends for dinner, and even afterwards was going to see apartments. I kept working, but eventually life went on. On Wednesday at 1 we had an orientation, where we learned what about the set and our blocking was changed in this location. This location being The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. WOW! It is unbelievably gorgeous and statuesque. It's huge, and luxurious, and overall truly epic. When you think about the people who have performed there - it's breathtaking! There's even a bulletproof box for the president to sit in. Awesome.

We learned where everything was, and then started a rehearsal. In every city we pick up local crew, in addition to our own, and with such a major set it can sometimes take a while to get them up to speed. We started rehearsal late, and still didn't even get through half the show. Then we were legally to our Equity limits, so we were free for dinner. Although Wednesday wasn't technically the opening(just a preview), it seemed so unreal! The stage is HUMONGOUS, with an additional seven feet at the proscenium. This may not seem like much, but doing the show can leave you seriously winded when you're not prepared. Also, a lot of the blocking was skewed, because we were supposed to stretch a little, and we'd get up there and then lose sight of where we were supposed to be. Add that to a conductor in the dark who we couldn't see, and some slight technical difficulties, and it made for an odd show. An odd show with a full audience.

On Thursday we had two shows, and we kept making adjustments. On Friday afternoon we had a rehearsal to clean everything up, and then on Friday night I believe there were press in the audience. Our official opening was Saturday night, although we had another two shows on Saturday and on Sunday. On Friday during our curtain call, I could see a little old man in the wings. As soon as the final curtain fell, he ran onstage and started hugging people. When the lights came up everyone gathered around as he said this, "Hello Everyone! You won't believe this! I was at an awards dinner tonight, receiving this medal (he gestures the the medal around his neck) and I was sitting between the Attorney General and George Lucas. The Attorney General turned to me and said, "Hal, I saw your show last night and it was great! I'm going back tomorrow because my wife really wants to see it." Then George said, "Oh yes, it's in great shape!". And I said, "Excellent - I'll have to stop by and catch the curtain call." So here I am kids - and you were great! I mean, I didn't actually see the show, but I could tell that everyone loved it!"

Who was this mini man? No other than theatre legend, Hal Prince. When I told my parents they were not very impressed, but to theatre people, this is huge. As Wikipedia.org says,
Hal Prince (born January 30, 1928) is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century. He has earned more Tony Awards (21) than any other individual, including eight for directing, eight for producing, two as producer of the year's Best Musical, and three special awards. His shows are known for their political context, new approach to romance, and characters who sing and dance with thematic import.
Is that cool or what? He talked to us for about five minutes, and then was on his way, leaving us star-struck in his wake. The shock wore off by Saturday night, when we had our opening night party.

We headed to The Watergate Hotel, site of the '72 scandal. It happens to be right next to the Kennedy Center, and houses a restaurant called 600, where we had our opening night party. The girl's dressing room took our time getting dolled up, and then joined the party where we feasted on food that might have been from Costco, but was delicious. We drank the night away, and then had to stagger home, sleep a little big, and then wake up to do two shows today. We're used to having Wednesday matinees and then only one show on Sunday (the schedule for four months in Toronto) but here in DC we don't have weekday matinees, but we have two shows on Sundays. It makes for a loooong weekend. So right now, I'm EXHAUSTED. I would like to sleep for a few days, but unfortunately I'm still living in MY HORRIBLE HOTEL ROOM. Attention: NEVER LIVE IN THE DC SUITES! THEY ARE HORRIFIC!!! I am sneezing right now. Constantly.

But the good news? I'm awake right now because I'm packing! Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, I'll be moving to a fantastic new apartment. I'll keep you posted, because this has been quite a week!

Where was I...

OK, my sister has been bugging me, so I'll try to remember my last week in Toronto. Now that I'm in DC though, it's hard to look back!

On Monday, the day after the Tony's, my parents and I did some serious sightseeing. We woke up early (ugh) and took a boat around the harbor, to the Toronto Islands. Toronto is this serious city, but if you take a ferry ten minutes South into the harbor there are like ten islands that are so cute! A lot of them are wildlife preserves, one contains a teensy airport, some are just for your average yacht clubs, and two have cottages! There are only about 200 cottages built on these islands, and no more can ever be built. The way it works is, people own the houses themselves, and lease the land from the city. The lease is like 40 bucks a year and it's a 99-year lease. If you want a house on the islands, you have to enter a lottery. IF you win the lottery your name is put on a list of 500 people. When someone who owns a house dies, or wants to sell for some bizarre reason, the first person on the list gets the house. CRAZY! The islands are so cute and have tons of parks and things, and I totally want to get on that list. The weather was beautiful, and we cruised around checking everything out, before we continued on our way.

Afterwards we headed to the "Historic Distillery District". There are a few blocks that used to be a distillery up until 1990, when they were converted into what's basically a tourist area. There are some cute restaurants, a fantastic chocolate shop, beer from the original distillery that's not bad at all, some shopping, and some beautiful art galleries. It was a great place to walk around and enjoy. We ate some TO-DIE-FOR fish and chips, and then unfortunately had to be on our way. My parents packed up and caught a flight, while I napped off the early morning and stress from family visiting. It was so fun to see everybody!

On Tuesday I knew my time in T.O. was running out. I decided to head over the Castle Loma, and get some exploring done. Of course I slept in, and by the time I got going I was already running out of time. After some failed maneuvering on my part (who knew that the Canadian subway doesn't take credit cards?) I didn't get going in time, and ended up shopping in the underground maze of downtown. It is huge and fantastic, although a little like a casino... they might be pumping in oxygen and artificial lighting because time seems to stop.


On Wednesday we had two shows, and I thought about packing, but didn't. On Thursday, I realized that this really was my last day, and I took advantage of it. I woke up super early, and headed to Casa Loma. Casa Loma is this beautiful castle up on a hill overlooking Toronto. It was built by the man who brought electricity to Toronto, a bigwig who was the star of the city for quite some time. He bought the land and started building the castle for a projected $250,000. It was supposed to be a dream home for he and his wife. A few years later the castle had cost him $3 Million, and his business ventures had all gone bad. He died penniless, and the city took the unfinished castle from him when he was in his sixties. It was a fascinating story. The castle itself was gorgeous, with "100 rooms", secret passageways, stables, turrets, etc. I took my time walking around and learning the history, and enjoyed the weather outside in the gardens. After a few hours, I moved on, taking the subway to the ROM.


The Royal Ontario Museum is a fantastic place. It used to be a classical structure, and a few years ago an architect was hired to build "the crystal" onto it. It's this freaky glass and metal contraption that holds a bunch of the galleries and the gift shop, and that's designed to contain no right angles. It's true too - even the doors are slanted. I spent some time checking it out before I hopped on the subway again to head to the Eaton Center. Also, just so you know, this was the first and last day that I took the subway in Toronto. It reminds me of a mix between the NYC and Japanese subways, with jaunty red touches like the Canadian maple leaf that the northerners love so much. Not bad, a little urine smelly, but with the cool clock that tells you when the next train is coming.


Anyway, I headed to the Eaton Center, which is basically just a huge mall. It's very pretty, with a glass roof and three stories of shops. I shopped and shopped, although I was on my best behavior and didn't buy that much. Especially because I had to pack everything up in the next few days, and I didn't want to have to pack too much. After that exhausting day, I did a show and then headed home. My friend Shane, who lives in Toronto, was having a sleepover with my friend Sean, who joined the cast a few days after me. They coincidentally know each other from working together, like Shane and I know each other. On Thursday night I crashed their boys night, bringing them nail polish and chocolates as a joke. Of course we ended up drinking scotch and talking and eating pizza (because they're real straight men), and I didn't get back to my room until after three. At this time, I had to pack my truck, because it was being picked up the next morning!


One of the bonuses of this tour is the fact that we all get huge trunks. The company picks them up in our hotel room in one city, and delivers them to our room in the next city. We can put whatever we want in them, which for some people is cooking supplies or hobbies, but for me was clothes and toiletries. Hey - at least I'm consistent! Anyway, I stayed up until six packing my trunk, before being woken at 11 when someone came to pick it up. I went back to sleep and then did a great show on Friday. On Saturday we did two shows, and the mood in Toronto was changing a bit. It's always sad to leave a city, with your dressers and local crew people. We'd made some good friends, and the amount of food they brought in over the weekend was astronomical. So... two shows on Saturday, then a few beers afterwards at the Duke of Argyle, our fave pub. I know I'm forgetting a few fun meals with my new besties (because yes, I'm finally making them) and some beautiful weather.


On Sunday we did our last show, which went really well. There were actually tears at our curtain call, because our Meg is retiring. She's been doing this tour for four years, and Phantom in other incarnations for about fifteen. Her husband is in the show as well, but apparently she's done, and maybe wants to get pregnant. She's very sweet, and so her bows were bittersweet. She was presented with flowers, and I cried, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Toronto gave us a great send-off, especially since there were apparently a bunch of people in our closing audience who acted in the Toronto production of Phantom a few years back. It was sad to leave, but we tipped our dressers (actors be aware - apparently on bway and national tours you are always supposed to tip your dresser $10 - $15/week. who knew??!) and were on our way.


I went home and packed for a wee bit, and then went out with some of the girls. Which I think I already told you about, so I'm caught up! Now I'm totally ready to immerse myself in DC.

Exhaustion plus hassle = suck

I am very glad to be back in the states. Let me just lay that out there. BUT - today was a sucky travel day. I decided to have some fun on my last night in Toronto, so I made plans with some of the girls to do dinner and a night out on Sunday!

I met up with Anne, Emily, Pamela, and Triana, and we decided to hit up "The Keg". Now to me, The Keg is the karaoke bar in Evanston, IL that you tried to get into with your fake ID as a Northwestern student. In Canada though, it's a lovely steakhouse! The five of us had a fabulous dinner and some fun girl talk, and wished Triana luck, since she was a temporary hire and is done for now. It was delicious and luxurious, and then we continued the night walking through downtown Toronto. It just so happened that the Much Music Video Awards were last night, which are like the MTV Video Awards of Canada. Because of that, there were tons of people around, trying to get into clubs because they thought celebs might be in them. The streets were filled with temporary stages for performances, and the garbage left behind. It was an exciting atmosphere!

Emily, Triana, and I headed to The Hideout, where there was a live performance. A few weeks ago when Emily and Jason and I were in Niagara, we saw a guy play at the restaurant we happened to be eating at. Emily thought he was awesome, and had a teensy crush on him. Over the past week she's been online stalking him, and figured out that he was coincidentally playing IN Toronto on our last night. And she figured she'd "accidentally" bump into him at the bar, and they'd fall madly in love. Of course when we got there he'd shaved his goatee, and was looking far less cute than she remembered, and the band was so loud it was bad. We stayed for a bit, until the band blew a fuse and we were mercifully saved. We had a great time, but at 2am it was time to start packing.

Of course I packed all night, finally heading to bed around 5am. I got up at 8am to get ready and finish the last of my packing, said goodbye to THE BEST APARTMENT EVER, and headed to the airport. When I got there, two hours early for my flight, I was told that I was on standby. Apparently Air Canada (bastards) always overbook their international flights. I had tried to check in on line last night, but since the company booked my flight I didn't have enough info. I was put on hold while they waited to see who would show up, and told to request a seat assignment at the gate. I headed there, but on the way ran into Maroon 5! They were on their way back to New York after the Much Music Awards! Adam Levine was cute, but shorter than I had guessed, and pretty tiny. One of our ballerinas, Janice, said "hi Adam!". He said hi back, and looked confused for a while. Hilarious.

When I got to the gate, I had to wait awhile, but they eventually gave me a seat assignment. Next to a 400-lb man. Now I love big people, and I wouldn't ever want anyone to change. BUT - this was one of our techies who'd been loading out the show for the past 24 hours. They get no sleep, and they're doing manual labor. They are gross and stinky!! This guy carried his own seat belt extender, and seriously, was in need of another seat. Instead we cuddled for an hour. What fun. And, right before we took off I heard some garbled message about standby passengers, and I knew things would end badly.

As soon as we arrived I was paged, with two other guys from the show who were also on standby, and we were told that our luggage was still in Canada. It was supposed to come in at 5pm, and they'd "do their best" to get it to us. It is now 12:30 and I've been calling to check... apparently "the deliver company will be there between 1am and 3am." WHAT?! Plus, my room is crap. I can't even tell you how much I'm paying to live on Pennsylvania Ave in an old, ugly, dirty hotel room. I worked all day to remedy this situation, house hunting, etc, but with no real solution yet. We'll see what happens, but for now I'm too tired to deal with it!!! Hopefully things will look better in the morning.

P.S. I did get to walk around DC this afternoon - and it's GORGEOUS!! Seriously so cute and pretty and I love it!

Sorry!

OK, I realize that I'm horrifically behind on my blogging, but I got busy! This is good news, since in many ways I've been less than busy while I got my footing.

On Thursday (a week ago) I woke up early to prepare for the arrival of my FAMILY!! I got a pedicure, and walked Queen Street West. Toronto-ans (is that correct?) describe this street as a kind of Haight-Ashbury shopping mecca. I think they're kind of being cute. It's basically a street that kind of reminded me of Korea! You know, cute boutiques, coffee shops, chain shops... plus some punky street people sitting on the ground and playing music. Add in a few stands selling silver body jewelry and bongs, and it felt a little like a clean East Village. Regardless, it was fun to wander. I cleaned my whole apartment so my parents wouldn't think I was messy, although now they'll know the truth. Then on Thursday night I did the show, and then went out with some friends for a bit.

On Friday, my family arrived!!!! It included my parents, sister, uncle Dave and aunt Lynn, and cousins Annie and Daniel. It was quite a group! My parents and sister were staying with me, which was one of the reasons for all the cleaning. Friday night after the show, most of the group met me at the stage door (even though they hadn't seen the show yet) and we all went to Alice Fazooli's to eat. It was great to see them! Of course they're all exhausted at night when I'm raring to go, but we made it work. On Saturday and Sunday while I worked they sight saw -- and I must say it was impressive how much they got done. We met for meals in between shows, and I got to get their opinions on Saturday night after the show. I think overall everyone had a good time, and of course, since they're family, they only had nice things to say about the performances.

On Sunday morning, Katherine and the extended family unfortunately had to head out of town. But my parents were still here on Sunday night so we decided to head to the "Historic CN TOWER", currently the tallest freestanding structure in the WORLD! We ate dinner at 360, the revolving restaurant, and then checked out the sights. I must say it was gorgeous to see the city as the sun set, with the water and the beautiful islands south of the harbor. I only wish I had done it sooner, since it really helped me get my Toronto bearings!

My parents and I finished the night with The Tony's! An old friend of mine from high school was actually performing, so we rushed home to catch it. I love the fact that as I get older and more established in the business, and meet more people... I actually know people on the Tony's! I like to picture myself up there someday, with all my closest friends around me.

OK, I'll keep filling in soon, but right now I've got to pack. DC TOMORROW!!! I can't wait to be back in America!!

NIAGARA!!!

Since I've officially been in Toronto for about a month, it finally dawned on me that I only have two weeks left here! Because of that I decided to use this Monday off to do some major sightseeing, which included Niagara Falls!!

On Sunday immediately after the show, I raced home and packed. I met my friends Emily and Jason at the car rental, and we started for the falls. The drive took a little over an hour, and when we arrived we had a little difficulty discerning which one of the FOUR Days Inns was ours. Luckily we finally figured it out, and it was only the second crappiest. The woman at the front desk took her time checking us in with her bass voice and her dirty jokes about octogenarians having sex in the rooms until we managed to escape to our room. Only to find the door unlocked, the sheets out in the hall, some rancid take-out food on the desk, and the fixtures missing from the bathroom. We had to go back and talk to our manly friend and get a new room. This one was better, although it was lacking a deadbolt and the door to the balcony wouldn't close. For sixty bucks a night for Emily and I, it was worth it.

We dropped our stuff, then met Jason to hide our valuables in the car, and took off for the Fallsview Casino. We grabbed some dinner, and then hit the slots! The casino was pretty funny, full of some serious aged gamblers, but not bad overall. You can't smoke there, which made it much better than other casinos I've been in. Canada is also, in my opinion, usually a more upscale crowd in general when you're at big events, than what I'd expect. Does that make sense? Basically, at the amusement park and the casino I didn't see any spandex or matching outfits. It took us some time to warm up, but I eventually found a machine where you got to go to a bonus round and make jewelry, and I was in heaven. Luckily we kept our eyes on our watches, and at five till ten we ran outside to catch the Sunday night Fireworks!! The weather all day was pretty overcast, so we were nervous that they'd cancel them, but luckily they went ahead. We ran down to the edge of the cliff we were on, and had an AMAZING view of the fireworks, and the Falls! At night they light them up and they change colors, and the view was Spectacular! Afterwards we headed in for a little more gambling, caught part of some hilarious band's set, and eventually headed home to our luxury suite.

On the way we stopped at my favorite, a huge 24-hour souvenir shop, where I proceeded to blow money on tacky souvenirs. We made best friends with the cashier, and goofed off checking out the weirdest things we could find. By the time we left we were exhausted, but my hands were full.

On Monday we woke up at the crack of dawn to get in line to ride the Maid of the Mist. It was still raining a bit, but it cleared up as we went along. We caught the early boat, and were lucky enough to share it with a huge group of Japanese tourists and a huge group of Irish schoolboys. It made for a funny ride. The Japanese were pretty aggressive about pushing to the edge of the boat, and we eventually just got out of their way, realizing that we could see right over their heads. The boys were all in high school, and were more concerned with ripping each other's ponchos than seeing the falls. We did our best to stay out of all the commotion, checking out the amazing sights and getting soaked the whole time.

From the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, you can see two falls. I think technically it's three, but it looks like two. One is the huge Horseshoe Falls, the Canadian falls. The other is the smaller American Falls (which I believe has a smaller piece to the right that is technically the third fall). On the Maid of the Mist, we passed by the American falls, getting close up to the giant boulders, and the miles of seagulls that hang out there. Then we headed right into the middle of the horseshoe of the Canadian falls, where we were soaked in a monsoon of mist from the power of the water. It was incredibly beautiful, and a ton of fun.

After all that excitement, which included a ton of picture-taking, we headed up the main street of downtown Niagara. It's one of the tackiest things I've ever seen, with four wax museums, a Ripley's Believe it or Not, tons of 4-D movies, and other craziness. We walked it from end to end, stopped for lunch, and then proceeded to shop. I bought more kitschy souvenirs, and we all splurged on some major fudge (which can not compare to any Michigan fudge) before continuing to sight see. As it got even sunnier we stopped for more pictures, before realizing that we had to start packing it up. We tackled as many stores and ridiculous places as we could, and then piled back into the car. On the way back to Ontario, we took a short detour to see Niagara-On-The-Lake, a quaint little town nearby. It's where the famous Shaw festival takes place, and it's famous for its Ice Wine. Ice Wine is apparently wine that can only be made in certain climates, where they pick the grapes only after they've frozen. Then when they're made into wine it's sweeter, and more concentrated, and packed into smaller bottles. Niagara-On-the-Lake was adorable, with little shops and B&Bs. I only wish we had more time!

We drove back, and returned our rental car just in time. Then I came home and took a nap! Fantastic but exhausting!!!