First Blog of 2012- "It's a Doozy...Makes ya Woozy"

IT'S 2012!!

We return to tour!

After deplaning the second flight Chris...projectile vomits in the Greesboro Airport bathroom. GEE WEEE WOW we are back. So, unfortunately due to a questionable stomach and a definite fever (“Lexie, there's a slight chill in the air in here, right?” “Chris, it's like a sauna in here.” “Oh, mmm. I shall call out”) Chris called out for the first time as the beloved Igor. A real welcome back to tour indeed. However, his understudy Brett Figel was a star and in true understudy fashion bowed to thunderous applause while Chris sweated it out in the hotel.

The good news? It was all uphill from here. The next day was a travel day and we traveled to Louisville, KY..home of Lexie's gay fan base. We saw a fantastic production of “Boeing Boeing” at the Derby Dinner Playhouse and enjoyed drinks and merriment after at the Troll Bar in Louisville. It was inspiring to see other theatre and step out of the world of Mel Brooks for one night. 

"Nobody Crosses My Bridge!"- Troll Bar

After our night off in Louisville, Chris returned to the stage (along with the rest of the cast) in the bustling city of Joliet, IL. We had a suRprise visit from our classmate and Chicago celebrity, CARL! It was so nice to see Carl after we hadn't seen him in over a year.

Freshman Year Throw-back Pic

After the show, no resturants or bars were open, so in true tour fashion we ate tortilla chips and caught up on each other's lives over a sensible boxed chardonnay in the hotel breakfast kitchen area. The next day it was goodbye Carl, hello Fort Wayne, Indiana! The highlight of Fort Wayne was 30 minutes before curtain when we realized that our dressing rooms were only seperated by a mere sliding door. We threw open that sucker, turned on Pandora “Ceeloo Green Fuck you Radio” and did a D-la warm up in our new lululemon swag! That's right! The swag is in and is gorg. Now, at mall and rest stops we all look like homeless people who spent our entire life savings on expensive yoga wear.

After Fort Wayne we traveled to Rockford, IL where we had our first celebrity in the audience. DRUM ROLL....Dustin Diamond. Don't know who that is? Does Screech ring a “bell”? Although he was only there because he was dragged by his girlfriend (a friend of Chris' from high school), it is still official that YF now has a celebrity fan base.

Artsy Marquee Pic from Lexie's private dressing room

After dazzling Screech we drove into a double show day in Wassau, WI. WOOF! Obviously, by the second show Lexie was a little delirious and made this classic in the dressing room.

After the two do-shay, we headed to Mason City, Iowa. Our sixth one-nighter of the week, the exhausted cast and crew cranked it out and gave Mason City a great show. After the show, our favorite bus driver dropped us off for a 15 minute BOOZE RUN! It was a classy night in the Quality Inn filled with tequilla kisses (Lexie's term of endearment for shots), wine, beer, tortilla chips (yes, again), impromptu lip-syncing concerts, hall summersaults, drunk handstands, and all around night-off fun.

We started the following week with a glorious night off in Souix City, IA. Lexie and I got our hair DID at an Aveda-wannabe where Bob gave us new doos and plentiful restaurant suggestions. That night, we went to the one place Bob did NOT recommend, but had a lovely Italian meal all the same. I'm sure some of you have read that article that circulated Facebook (along with everyone's New Year's resolutions to loose 15 lbs) to implement a "phone stack" when dining with friends. The idea being everyone stacks their phones in the center of the table at the beginning of the meal, and aren't allowed to touch them until the end of the dining experience. This was our first experiment with the "phone stack." The result? After 5 minutes of separation anxiety, we returned the stone age of just good ole fashioned FELLOWSHIP.


Following dinner, we caught the critically acclaimed movie of the year "Joyful Noise." After two and half hours of fake southern sayings like "If you don't fit into a box; build a bigger box,"the leading girl's rich baritone vocals, and a whole lot of Dolly's ta-tas, we were definitely "joyful" it was over. The next day, we tried again with "The Muppets" and were singing "Life's a happy song" all the way to the theater that night.


The next night brought us to Columbia, MO where performed at U of Missouri. We don't really remember it, but we're sure they loved us. The following night we stayed at a lovely Clarion in Manhattan, KS where the closest food was an Asian buffet that was verbally raped on YELP as being "vomit-enducing." Needless to say, Lexie and I skipped THAT and trecked to a mom & pop mexican shack on the other side of the highway, where we had to hide out in an local dive bar until they opened at 4:30 for dinner. Big ups to the bartender for the free Equity diet cokes and the warm place to sit.


The following day, Lexie escaped to New Orleans for our friend Megan's wedding, while I was left behind to receive drunken gay-tells from Bourbon Street and fun wedding pictures from all my besties.
While I wish I could have been there, I would have missed out performing to sold-out houses in Souix Falls, SD and Lincoln, NE, where it was negative 10 degrees at night. Who got the better deal? I'll let you decide.

Igor's ready for the wedding.

Lexie and Gad pre-wedding.

After being reunited with my better half in Ames, IA, for a great show in a GIGANTIC theatre...

This really only captures 1/4 of the house...damn.

 ...we hopped on a plane to Butte, MT. That's pronounced "Byoot," folks, as in "beautiful," not "butt" as in "cut." And that is what we gave them, the most cut-down "Young Frankenstein" to date. It was as minimalistic as the dressing room situation, however we left the audiences on their feet. The cast then headed to my favorite Butte hot spot (yes, this is my second time in Butte. Get into it.)- Julian's Piano Bar. Where the bartender was a drag queen dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, and AJ tickled the ivories while the tipsy cast screlted out their favorite show tunes.

The Bartender giving face

Chris and Graham giving full-out harmony back up vocals.

After a long and hung over bus ride, we landed in a little gem of a city, Boise, ID. Who knew Boise had so much to offer? Highlights included a night of delicious cocktails made with gin distilled on-site, an EPIC game of Phase 10, and a hidden gem of a chain-lette called Elmer's. We highly suggest this establishment to anyone venturing to Idaho. Much like Betty White, the outside may look old and weathered, but the inside is hit and progressive with their organic greens and unique German pancakes. In addition to good food, another common theme in Idaho was attractive waiters. Then again, that could be our "tour goggles" talking.

Lexie's delicious Ginger-rum cocktail

The cool chalkboard Hotel display

Our 14 one-nighter stretch was over. What better way to wrap up this hellish leg of tour than a weekend sit-down in smokey, smokey Reno, home of Dolores VanCartie, for you "Sister Act" fans. As our tour-mate, Brett, compared- Reno::Vegas as  Staten Island::Manhattan. The theater looked like the Epcot globe buried in the ground, while our hotel, Circus-Circus came complete with spooky clowns and pregnant women smoking, drinking, and gambling. America at it's finest. 

"I loove Reno..." -random nun in "Sister Act"

EPCOT!

Smoking, Drinking, Pregnant, LIVING.

Needless to say we needed a break. SANK GOD that's exactly what we got: a week layoff.

CHRISTMAS IN THE MOUNTAINS

The quick three weeks back before the holiday break were a beautiful winter wonderland in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. We started back in Colorado. The highlights of Colorado, other than the wonderful audience response, were our choreographer, James Gray, visiting and this delicious Mexican restaurant we ate at before the show. The view of the mountains was also stunning.

I miss the mountains

Chris and I also met up with Chris's friend, Jesse, for brunch where I had a delicious quiche. Although the food was quite good, and the service prompt, the journey there was similar to journey that Catherine Martin takes in Silence of the Lambs. For those who need a refresher, “Catherine Martin” is the chunky character who is kidnapped by Buffalo Bill and thrown into a white van. In the movie Catherine Martin is played by Brooke Martin, more commonly known as the chunky lesbian doctor cut from Grey's Anatomy. Jesse, who was working in the Colorado Springs area, picked us up in their “company car” AKA Buffalo Bill's van. For those of you who are not scary movie fanatics like us, picture a white van that you would view as your stereotypical rape van with no seats in the back, just a hard, cold, metal bottom of the van. Yes, that was our ride to a delicious quiche brunch. Exciting and delicious.

After Colorado, we headed to Montana and Wyoming. Highlights of our time in Montana and Wyoming definitely include the world premier of Young Frankenstein in an ARENA. It was an arena spectacular. Our audience members chomped on popcorn and shoved hotdogs down their throats while we put on the Ritz. RICH. Definitely not what you are used to when looking out into an audience, but they enjoyed it none the less, and I got some delicious arena popcorn at intermission. WIN WIN.

After our trips to Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, we left the high elevations behind and put some oxygen back in our lungs in Wichita, KS. Wichita was a blast. We stayed at a gorgeous Hyatt Hotel with an awesome bar and half price appetizer menu. Their spinach artichoke dip was pure crack and we had it pre AND post show most nights we were there. The YF cast also had our first holiday party! One of our cast members is from Wichita and invited us to her house for holiday music, games, and delicious booze. There were plenty of photo opts including this lovely family picture by the Christmas tree.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

After Wichita, we had a 4:30 AM bus call to catch a plane to Seattle for a GOLDEN DAY(a day with no show and no day of travel). Our day and a half in Seattle was nothing short of incredible. We landed in Seattle around noon and we hit the ground running trying to fit in as much tourist activity as possible for our first night. We visited the Public Fish Market for lunch and shopped until we dropped around the Market.

After a quick nap at the hotel, we gathered for a late night dinner in downtown at a restaurant called McCormicks. Don't worry, we are not talking about the chain McCormick and Schmidts. This place was absolutely incredible and we did not hold back. We had wine, cocktails, several appetizers to share, entrees, and dessert. We highly suggest this restaurant to anyone visiting in the the Seattle area. My rainbow trout was like crunchy heaven on a plate.

Golden Day Delights

The next full day in Seattle we went to the Space Needle for a lunch reservation at the SkyCity Restaurant. We splurged on delicious crab mac-n-cheese and fish and chips while the restaurant slowly rotated allowing us to see all of the beautiful Seattle skyline.

This was truly one of the best days yet of tour. The view was stunning and after a leisurely lunch we headed a few stairs up to the observation deck to soak in some more of the view.

SPACE NEEDLE

After lunch, we jumped on the monorail and headed to the downtown area to the Seattle aquarium. Upon walking into the aquarium there were plenty of photo ops with the touch tank of starfish.

We also got to see a octopus feeding. While at the octopus feeding the following happened:

blue-haired hip marine lady who was also the octopus feeder: “Octopus are gooey, fleshy creatures. However, there is one part of the octopus that is hard. Does anybody know what body part that is?”

little kid: “rocks.”

blue-haired hip marine lady: “nooo, not rocks. But yes hard like rocks.”

RICH. Rocks.

MAYHEM and Kevin...lovahs

After Seattle, the tour ventured to Yakima and Spokane. It was beautiful and nice to have some of our days free to eat at various restaurants in the Spokane area. We found a delicious french restaurant that we ventured to on two separate occasions...I just realized that we talk about food a lot. You see, when we are not traveling to do a show, or performing a show, we have just enough time to find somewhere to eat before the show...or we are starving after the show and looking for someplace to feed the monster in our stomachs. AND I think Chris and myself are little fatties at heart. I sometimes can't remember where we were a week ago, but I can recall a delicious meal wayyy to quickly for it to be normal. Fatty mc Fat Fats. Always blogging about our meals.

We also did a fun game of secret Santa amongst the cast and crew and had a small Christmas party at the hotel. Santa this year gave a lot of alcohol. That was the number one gift from Santas. What does that say about this tour? We like to eat AND drink.

The three weeks were a whirlwind of shows and fun, but I think it is safe to say that everyone was ready to go home to their families for the holidays on December 19 when we left.