Gearing up for NY

I just got the paperwork for our annual trip to NYC for the Spring Road Conference of the League of American Theatres and Producers. Paula won’t be able to join me this year as she’s right in the middle of some special school projects at that time, so I guess its all business this year. Well come to think of it, last year she brought along so many projects and errands that we spent most of our time working anyway. Maybe this year will be less business. There are a bunch of corporate parties that I didn’t attend last year because Paula and I were working. Oh well, we’ll see.

My biggest frustration is that one of my favorite shows 110 IN THE SHADE is starting previews the week after our convention. It’s a limited run but I hope it is a big hit and sticks around long enough to for me to get back to NY and see it. Maybe it will tour and we can get it in San Diego. Or maybe there will be a performance put together just for conference attendees! I’m dreaming but I just hate to be only a week away from it.

I’m cranking up the hours for subscriber renewals for Tucson and LA. To top it off I just got word today that there’s a venue change in LA for one of their shows and it has to be done right in the middle of all this work for renewals. The venue change alone is a major project and the renewal work constitutes the biggest project we have all year. I mentioned to my boss that I don’t mind playing Scotty in Star Trek and bringing off a miracle under impossible odds. She just smiled at me.

I feel like a broken record but, we are so close to getting our Annex done I can taste it. Perhaps smell it is a better metaphor because they are painting the interior now. After that the Electrician does his finish work, then Carpet and Counters, Phone and Inet, then Tim and his department move to the new digs. I’m really looking forward to this because it puts Operations in a separate building from subscriptions. It will force subs to become more self reliant and it will force Ops to stop doing for them and to do more teaching them to do for themselves.

Elphaba has gotten huge! Well huge to us anyway. She must be 11 pounds. Funny I just brought her back from a walk and during that walk she stopped and stared at the Golf Course (pitch black) and then all of a sudden turned tail and ran. Sitting safe and sound here in the dining room, I just heard that familiar blood curdling cry of Coyotes. Ever since Bryan and I had that backpack trip to Coyote Valley, that sound has set the hair on the back of my neck on edge. Now I know what she saw, or sensed in the Golf Course. Funny to be in such an urban area but still so surrounded by all that is wild. It’s the blessing\curse of San Diego having been built among all the mesas. It makes for lots of wild land in and among civilization.

We just closed Altar Boyz at the Civic. It’s a spoof of the Boy Bands of the 80s and of Christian Music all at once, a catholic boy band with members Mathew, Mark, Luke, Juan (from Tijuana) and Abraham (he’s Jewish). It was so much fun. Paula and I were giggling through the whole thing. It’s an off-Broadway production that has created enough buzz to launch a national tour. That’s rare for off-Broadway. The show is not used to playing such large houses and the Company Manager told me that Opening night in San Diego was the largest audience ever for the show (just under 3000). It’s a good show and it deserves big audiences. I hope it continues to do well. See it if it comes to town. And if you buy tickets, get the Cast Album. Musicals are always more enjoyable if you are familiar with the score.