The Prodigal Son

Week 7: Boston, MA

"Tomorrow night I appear for the first time before a Boston audience:
4000 critics." --Mark Twain

As the bus pulled into Boston, and I saw the B.U. campus on my right, the Prudential building to my left, and the ubiquitous Citgo sign flashing over Kenmore Square, I had only one thought... HOME. I have not lived in Boston since 1993, but having grown up on the coast north of Boston, received my early acting training here, started a long term relationship, and begun my professional career here, Boston feels like home to me. In a very different way than New York feels like home. New York is the gritty, intense center of my adult life, while Boston is the city of my youth. I am very happy to be here, and excited to open at the Opera House for an audience that will include my nearest and dearest.

While I was in DC, I did a series of interviews for Boston area papers and some of them have appeared in print. The Boston Globe did a very nice piece on me and it can be viewed online:

http://tinyurl.com/264k3w

Before we left Schenectady, I went back to Earthly Delights to exchange hugs with the proprietors, Lori and Jen, and grab some healthy snacks for the road trip. I promised I would include the web address for their myspace page so here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/2ejkln

Thanks, Earthly Delights, for your warm welcome and delicious eats!

But back to Boston. When I awoke today, Boston was a winter wonderland. A Nor'easter swept over the city, blanketing the streets with snow and sugar coating the trees. Of course, as always happens in Boston when there is a significant snowfall, everyone gets a day off! Schools close, businesses shut their doors. When I was a kid, these snow days were prayed for and eagerly anticipated. We would half dress for school, sitting by the radio with cups of hot cocoa listening to the list of school cancellations and sending up fervent prayers that they would mention ours! And on snow days, we would bundle up in our snow suits and go tobogganing down the big hills at Lynch Park (our local public park and beach in Beverly, MA where I grew up). Well, today being what is termed a "Golden Day" for the company (a day off on which there is no travel), I felt like a kid again as I ventured out into the slush and snow to take photos on Boston Common and the Public Gardens. As you can see from my shots, the place was a fairyland. And there were kids pulling sleds, families walking dogs, and nuts like me trudging into snowdrifts to get that perfect shot. Boston is a beautiful city, full of old world charm, and today it was a picture postcard.



I ventured beyond the Common to Deluca's Market on Beacon Hill, one of those nice old neighborhood markets, and as I stepped inside, coated in snow, I said "How ya doin?" to the young man at the counter, and in typical smartass Bostonian fashion, he replied, "I'm wahm and dry." I said, "It's beautiful out there!" To which he responded, "Yah. For a snowman." I love the salty sarcasm of the people of this city. Not to mention the accent, which is 'wicked ahsome' and always makes me chuckle. I picked up groceries to fill my hotel mini-fridge. I am determined to learn to stretch my expense allowance as far as it will go, so I am experimenting with just what kind of meals one can make in a hotel room with a tiny fridge, a microwave, and no plates or utensils. I was a bit greedy at Deluca's salad bar, sticking plastic forks and knives and napkins into my shopping bags with abandon. I felt a bit smugly satisfied with myself as I trudged back to the hotel with my grocery bags, determined to become a savvy touring actor. Of course I felt odd walking through the gleaming lobby of the luxurious Hyatt with bags of food, but the luxurious Hyatt is, like many fine hotels of its ilk, a luxurious ripoff when it comes to food and room service. A pot of coffee brought to your suite costs $8.00 and a simple breakfast of eggs and toast $17.00! Come on now. I lived as a struggling artist for too many years to fritter my money away that way. So with the exception of the occasional meal out (for seafood and chowdah--wicked ahsome!), I will see how I do roughing it in my hotel room.

Our company managers did arrange a free membership for us all at the luxe Sports Club LA at the Ritz Carlton up the street so this afternoon I will enjoy a swanky workout, and then catch a movie this evening before turning in early and resting up for our opening tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes...