Godspell National Tour: Week 8

Another Friday has come... It's the end of Week 8 of the Godspell National Tour!

If you've been following along, you know that last week (our first week back from the Christmas hiatus) landed us in Florida. Leaving our Canadian winter for the Sunshine State had us all very excited, although it wasn't quite as hot and balmy as we'd hoped. We most definitely made the best of it though, still dressing much more summery than the locals (shorts, tees, tanks, dresses) making us highly identifiable as foreigners. We're performers though, so not only are we used to getting extra attention... we bask in it, lol. All the strange looks and queries we got while we sunbathed and "they" bundled up, bothered us none.

Last Friday, we made the long drive from Bell Glade to Orange Park, Florida.  We had little more than an hour in the hotel we arrived at before having to dash off to the Thrasher Home Center for a 7:30pm show. 

On Saturday, we made another long drive, this time to Miami where we'd be staying for 3 days! We had two performances at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts centre: a Saturday night performance and a Sunday matinee.  

The theatre was bright, colourful and fun, much like our production. Even when we're tired or a little under the weather or our bodies are a little banged up from the last performance, our Godspell is always, always a great show - truly! Somehow, we are always moved by some energy or force that's larger than us, even when we're not sure how it's going to be possible. I like to call it, "blessed"! :-)

The blessed faces of Rebecca, Janelle, myself and Jake

Monday January 20th was our first day off of this tour leg so far, and coincidentally, it was also the HOTTEST day we had in Florida - about 25 degrees (Celsius, obvi)!  Most of us spent the day and night in South Beach, Miami: sand, sun, shopping, dining, and club-hopping. I even started my day with mimosas and scrambled eggs because... why the hell not? It was amazing how such little time off can feel like a full-on vacation when you're in the right location and with the right people.

Our bassist Mark Laidman and Alessia Lupiano working hard in Miami

On Tuesday, we got up to drive to our last stop in Florida: a performance at Youkey Theatre in Lakeland, Florida. This venue was literally attached to our hotel, which was pretty cool because a) it was a really nice hotel and b) we had more time to lolly-gag before sauntering over at the last minute for our soundcheck. 

That night after the show, we had a little soirée in Jake's room. Drinks, hummus, jokes, friendly massages on grateful shoulders, more jokes and as always, crazy amounts of laughter. It was a much needed get-together after a full week of performing and city-hopping with little rest and stability in between.

Wednesday afternoon, we braced ourselves for the cold and flew to Ohio. We arrived around dinner time, so some peeps immediately dropped their stuff and headed out for food. Others called it a night and knocked out almost upon arrival. Ok, I knocked out almost upon arrival. 

Our stay in Ohio was a quiet one until our Thursday night show at Kent State University's Performing Arts Centre.  They were a lively crowd that gave us lots of boisterous laughs and loving appreciation. 

Kent State University - another beautiful venue

As I write this, we're making our way to Toledo. Just three more shows until we have another, albeit shorter, hiatus beginning on Monday. Though we were just home two weeks ago, I think we're all still looking forward to seeing our families and sleeping in our own beds. It'll only be a week off this time, then we come back for our 3rd and final leg of the tour. 

That being said, I won't be posting another Godspell blog update until we complete our 9th tour week... So that's two Fridays from now. 

Most of the cast is on Instagram and Twitter, so you can keep up with us there in the meantime!

Much love and talk to you soon!

~ Lisa Michelle

Twitter: @itslisamichelle

#GodspellNationalTour

Godspell National Tour: Week 7

... Aaaaaaand we're back! 

I'm one of ten cast members on the first National tour of the musical Godspell, and we're back on the road after a 5-week hiatus over the Christmas holidays. We all live in Ontario, where the weather has been cold, dry and icy for a good chunk of that break. So you can imagine how excited we were that our first stop on this second leg of the tour is in freaking FLORIDA!

(Sorry, I don't know what the question marks on this poster mean. Not sure if anyone does. That's why there are question marks)

We flew from Toronto's Pearson International Airport into the warm, welcoming skies of West Palm Beach.

*Sidebar: why doesn't anyone clap for pilots when the plane lands anymore? Like "hooray, we didn't die! Great job!" Stacey Kay and I are reeeeeally trying to bring that back.

Most of my cast mates learned their lessons well from the first leg of the tour and packed lighter this time around. For some, that meant bringing only ONE super-sized suitcase instead of their previous two. For others it meant leaving the beloved, yet non-essential ukelele at home. Be the star of a post-show jam session or lug less weight around from hotel to hotel? Priorities.

From the airport, we were reunited with our tour bus (aptly crowned "the Soul Bus") as well as our favourite driver, Robert. It was a short drive to our hotel in Fort Pierce, and we were settled into DAY 1 before dinner time. 

By settled, I mean it almost felt like no time had passed since we'd seen eachother last. Yes, some of us saw one another over the break, but I still thought it was pretty cool how quickly we got right back into the groove. Ugh, it's probably that 'love' thing again. It won't really leave us alone ;-).

A bunch of us headed across the street to Red Lobster for dinner that evening, but overall it was a quiet night. We all wanted to be rested and ready for the rehearsal AND show we had the next day.

Enter Tuesday morning: hotel breakfast, sunny walks and poolside chillin. We all did our own thing, but most of us partook in some combination of the aforementioned activities until rehearsal began. It went great. Then we performed in front of a full, enthusiastic crowd at the Sunrise Theatre that night. Also great. I said "we're back!", did I not?

Sunrise Theatre

Wednesday morning, we drove to Sarasota. Sadly, we've been experiencing unseasonably cool temperatures in the Sunshine State. Gladly, it's still warmer than it is at home. So, there's that. And in Toronto, we don't have mini-putt courses with live alligators, either.  Jake (Godspell's Jesus) was all about it, but the nearest alligator-captivity-golf-course was a bit too far from our hotel. Also, it's weird.

In Sarasota, we performed at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall: all-purple everything! It's my favourite colour too, how did they know?!?!

Thursday we drove to some other town in Florida. I'm really not sure where the heck we were, but it wasn't a long drive, the theatre was small but nice, and they kindly prepared dinner for the entire cast and crew before the show. We like food. Especially of the 'free' persuasion, so thank you Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Centre.

*Another Sidebar:  I don't know what Lauren (our wardrobe lady) was doing to Jake's costume here... but I AM certain that taking this picture and putting it in the blog was the right thing to do.

It's super-early on Friday morning right now (some might call it "Thursday night"), and we'll be making the long drive to Orange Park, Florida, where we'll perform inside the Thrasher Home Center. Sounds intense. Surprisingly, I don't really dread the longer bus rides as much as I thought I would. I've got books, movies, games, music, snacks, a pillow, blanket and good company.  Just yesterday, I turned around in my bus seat and saw this staring back at me:

That's Michael Hogeveen. He enjoys acting, singing and long walks in and out of Crazy Town  (...and no, the picture has not been photoshopped. His head is indeed floating between the seats, lol).

So! That sums up our first week back after our big break... Making it officially the end of Week #7 on the Godspell National Tour. Remember, I'll be posting Godspelly updates every Friday, so come back and read it! :-)

Ciao for now,

~ Lisa Michelle

My Twitter: itslisamichelle

Tweet us! #GodspellNationalTour