Love Is All Around

Week 26: Minneapolis, MN

All I ever knew about Minneapolis was that Mary Tyler Moore came here to "make it on her own" and found herself living in an impossibly large apartment with a big M on the wall, and working at WJM. I also knew that the famed Guthrie Theatre was here, one of America's original and most prestigious regional theatres. Minneapolis is a theatre town, with many fine cultural institutions and performance venues. In fact, our arrival here on Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend was a real shot in the arm--a healthy dose of real, urban, gritty, city life after many weeks in small, sedate midwestern towns. Hennepin Avenue was hopping with activity that first night, the strip of nightclubs and bars rocking with hipsters enjoying their holiday weekend.
Our theatre this week, the Orpheum, is right along that same strip, and just yards away from the fine shops and department stores of the Nicollet Mall, where one can find Target (Minneapolis is the home of that mega emporium) as well as Miss Mary herself, captured in bronze, about to toss her tam in the air. A little bit of "Spamalot" trivia for you: there is a tiny musical snippet of the Mary Tyler Moore theme in the show that plays off the King and Lady of the Lake following her acceptance of his proposal and leads into the wedding finale.

The Orpheum Theatre was built as a vaudeville house in the 1920s and many of the greats of vaudeville, from the Marx Brothers, to Jack Benny, to Fanny Brice graced its stage.
In the 1990s, a $10 million renovation restored many of the original details of the theatre while expanding the stage to accommodate today's high tech Broadway touring productions. The result is a real jewel of a theatre. It is such a pleasure to work in a great old theatre building--the smell of dust and paint, the intimacy of the connection to the audience, the feeling of tradition. It makes me feel enormously grateful to be doing the work I love and to be a part of the theatre. Our opening night here was terrific--a wonderful, high energy performance followed by a nice reception at a local hotel. The organization that runs the Orpheum also runs the State Theatre across the street and this week the amazing stand up comedian and actor Eddie Izzard was doing his one man show there.
To our delight, he and some of his staff and crew crashed our party and my friend Bree and I had the pleasure of spending an hour with this very funny, very down to earth man. He amused with his stories--one especially where he suggested changes to the plot of "Spamalot" to Eric Idle. His idea was for King Arthur to be captured and thrown into a dungeon from which the Lady of the Lake, in Xena Warrior Princess mode, would rescue him--thus, in Eddie's view, motivating the wedding at the end of the show. Hilarious. What a pleasure to meet this talented guy and to experience his unique sense of humor one on one.

Minneapolis, like any great, sprawling, major city, offers many things to do and see. And after so many small and easily walkable cities, I found myself getting worn out trudging all around Minneapolis to try and visit some key spots!
I visited the Walker Center, a beautiful contemporary art museum with the wonderful Minneapolis Sculpture Garden right next door. The Walker is representative of beautiful new concepts in architecture that blend with the solid traditional structures of the city to give Minneapolis a very pleasing and interesting visual character all its own. Glass enclosed skyways connecting buildings throughout the city speak of brutal midwestern winters; the warehouse district where I have been staying this week is full of marvelous old brick industrial structures converted into high end condos and interior design showrooms.




Another stunning architectural marvel is the new Guthrie Theatre complex, located on the river front in the old mill district.
To those of us who have a passion for theatre as fine art, the Guthrie represents something very special and hallowed in American theatrical history. Irish director Tyrone Guthrie, whose early efforts at the Old Vic in England with such greats as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud revolutionized British theatre, founded an institution where he felt he could do the kind of work that was not possible in the commercial world of Broadway. The Guthrie was essentially the first important regional theatre in America and is still one of the greatest--its importance to the development of theatre throughout the nation and its significance to the careers of some of our greatest talents cannot be underestimated. I had the opportunity to audition for the company while I was here this week, and it was exciting to be seen at this illustrious theatre.
The Guthrie is located right on the river front where the mighty Mississippi rolls by a series of lovely public parks. The Stone Arch Bridge spans the river, affording a lovely view of the St. Anthony Falls, the only such falls along the entire Mississippi.



The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is absolutely INCREDIBLE. One of the really great museums. The collection is enormous and incredibly diverse, including extensive Asian art collections, period rooms, decorative arts, photography; the 17th century painting collection is remarkable, with many of the best artists of the Caravaggio school represented--including the female artist Artemisia Gentileschi, who was the daughter of a great painter and a great painter herself. Every significant Impressionist painter is represented. The Greek and Roman sculptures are rare and wonderful. It's an extraordinary museum all around and is entirely free to the public. What a gift! The complex also houses the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis, which is an excellent professional company. I tell you, Minneapolis is a top notch city with many great things going for it and a lot of beautiful recent developments.

My Minneapolis dresser is Su.
Su is another of those amazing pros who know their jobs inside and out. She is wonderfully calm and efficient and quite funny with a real twinkle in her eye. The whole crew at the Orpheum is first rate, the theatre itself is a pleasure to perform in, and our audiences here have been terrific. Note to self: come back to Minneapolis sometime. It's a first rate city. And yes, I boycotted the Mall of America. Not that I was not interested in seeing that monument to suburban capitalism, but I am trying to rein in my spending and didn't trust myself to spend a day there! More from Oklahoma City next week.

La Grande Vitesse

Week 25: Grand Rapids, MI

"Things are more like today than they have ever been before."
--Gerald Ford

The most famous son of Grand Rapids was our 38th president, Gerald R. Ford. And tributes to Ford are everywhere in this city, from the Gerald R. Ford Museum to the Gerald R. Ford Airport and Gerald R. Ford Freeway. All I really remember about the Ford administration is my parents griping about inflation and the lines at the gas pumps. And Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford falling down all over the place on Saturday Night Live! Grand Rapids is also the home of Amway products and was at one time a leading center in furniture manufacture. "La Grande Vitesse" or "The Great Swiftness" (some might translate it as "Grand Rapids") is the name of a sculpture by Alexander Calder which has graced a downtown square here since the sixties. And it seems to have inspired a citywide love of outdoor sculpture. Fine pieces are peppered throughout the city and there is a very fine sculpture garden in the vicinity. There is nothing especially "swift" about Grand Rapids. It has a quiet, slow energy and an attractive skyline. The Grand River passes through town so there are some nice bridges spanning the water, much like in Milwaukee. The city is clean and in some surprising ways, architecturally quite interesting.

We are performing this week at DeVos Hall, which is part of a convention center.
It is a modern theatre, with a sprawling backstage area. The house has an interesting lighting feature--the concrete walls behind the frameworks of the seating areas are splashed with vibrantly colored light that shifts hues every few seconds--hot pink, vivid lime green, blue, purple. Sort of like a huge mood ring or lava lamp. The lobby looks like a cruise ship, with etched glass panels, art deco murals in aqua and green, and lots of tile. There is always an adjustment when playing a new theatre. In Madison, the orchestra pit and edge of the stage were much narrower, putting us closer to the audience. We were able to see the faces in the first few rows and this made for a stronger connection with the audience. Here in Grand Rapids, the audience is far enough away from us that all we can see much of the time is darkness out there and the reactions of the crowd feel very far away. These things have an impact on the way the performance feels.

I visited GRAM, the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
GRAM is a very beautiful, modern and airy space and the museum can boast that it is the only completely "green" museum in the US. There is a very strong environmentalist conscience in Grand Rapids and it is very encouraging. The museum collection is eclectic but there are significant pieces from some important American painters like Childe Hassam and Mathias Alten. There are also some very nice pieces of decorative art from the Bauhaus and Arts and Crafts periods, including a magnificent chair by Frank Lloyd Wright which I would have gladly tucked under my arm and walked away with! GRAM is currently hosting a very fine Andy Warhol exhibit which I found surprisingly illuminating. I always thought of his work as rather kitschy and this exhibit revealed a very deep social conscience and social criticism in his work; particularly his "Death and Destruction" series of prints, which treat tragic subjects like the assassination of President Kennedy and suicide in a way that is moving and biting at the same time.




Did I tell you about movie night? Back in Greenville, I held the first of what has become a weekly Wednesday night movie gathering. I enjoy introducing people to classic movies that they have never seen (and share them with those who already love them)--films that I feel are significant either because they are just great cinema or because they have high camp value, which makes them classics of a different kind! Thus far we have viewed "All About Eve," "Summertime," "New York, New York," "Valley of the Dolls," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and this week, "Some Like It Hot."
We usually gather in my hotel room, just a few folks from the company (although all are invited) with some snacks and a cocktail after the show on Wednesday. It's become a fun tradition and I really love seeing people discover my old favorites for the first time, and watch them become their new favorites.

Okay, soap box time. I have very strong opinions about things, and sometimes, as you know, dear readers, I just have to express them. Traveling as I do, I have the wonderful opportunity of really seeing our country and observing mainstream America. It's one of the great perks of this job. Those of you who follow this blog know that my outlook tends to be fairly sunny--I look for the good. But there are a couple of very disturbing patterns I have observed in our culture that make me terribly concerned for our nation's well being. The first is the prevalence of smoking.
I am a reformed smoker myself (the worst kind, you may say) and have not touched a cigarette in 18 years. I am astonished at the numbers of people in this country that are still engaged in this poisonous habit. We can no longer claim ignorance--the evidence is clear; the deleterious effects of smoking on the body are well known, yet people continue to light up. It is also crazy to me that more communities in America have not banned smoking from public places, bars and restaurants. If someone put you in a closed space and announced that they were about to unleash cyanide gas and carbon monoxide into the room, wouldn't you dash for the nearest exit? Incredible to me that more of this country has not gotten with the program in regard to the hazards of second hand smoke. Smoking is a habit that is simultaneously selfish and self-destructive. Please, if you smoke, STOP. It is very hard to quit but it's the best thing in the world you can do for yourself and your family.

The second dangerous health issue I have observed in my travels is that of obesity. America is an abundant country. All you have to do is walk through any suburban grocery store to know that we have everything we could possibly need to feed ourselves and more. It is not surprising then that we are the fattest nation on earth. Now, before you get angry with me, just know that I am incredibly compassionate toward people who suffer with eating disorders and health problems, both bodily and emotional, that contribute to being overweight. I have worked for several years as a Pilates teacher, working with people of every body type and with all manner of health issues. I think many Americans carry around a few more pounds than is healthy for them, and there are an astonishing number of people who are extremely overweight. All you have to do is watch a documentary like "Super Size Me" or read "Fast Food Nation" to know that Americans feed themselves a steady diet of crap. Processed foods, meats pumped full of toxins, and sugary drinks laced heavily with high fructose corn syrup (which has been found to release a chemical in the brain that signals the body that it is still hungry, thus causing people to eat more than they need to eat) are at the heart of the American diet. Restaurants serve plates of food intended for one that could easily feed three. And don't get me started on the "all you can eat" buffet restaurants that line every highway in America. We need to get conscious in this country about what we are putting into our bodies. There are great programs and wonderful nutritionists who can help people who have problems with eating. We Americans spend a lot of energy working to invest in our retirement; yet most spend no effort at all investing in their miraculous bodies to ensure that they will be healthy and vital to enjoy their retirement. As we become more and more green conscious, let us not forget that if we cease polluting our own bodies, we may be less likely to pollute the planet. At least this is my opinion. Let's love ourselves and cherish our bodies so we can be strong and caring for each other. End of soap box. Still with me? I have a feeling I may get a few comments this week!

Here I am with Marianne! Marianne is my Grand Rapids dresser. Unlike my novice dresser in the last city, she is a thorough pro. She has been a stage hand for over 20 years and used to manage a theatre company in the region. She knows theatre and loves it. Her friends and family can't fathom why she continues to work and don't really get that this is what makes her happy. Her enthusiasm and devilish sense of humor have been great fun this week. Thanks Marianne!

Minneapolis is our next stop, so more from the land of Mary, Rhoda, Lou, Murray, Ted and Phyllis next week.

Mad City

Week 24: Madison, WI

"Philosophy is common sense with big words."
--James Madison


Our Wisconsin odyssey brings us at last to the capitol city, Madison. Madison is super cute.
An artsy, ultra liberal college town that has been described as "70 square miles surrounded by reality," the city is built on an isthmus between two lakes and has a very comfortable and charming feel. It reminds me of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the areas around Harvard Square. The impressive capitol building is the heart of Madison with the various neighborhoods radiating out from it in four directions. State Street is the main drag, lined with funky clothing boutiques, cafes and restaurants. At its furthest end it terminates in the middle of the very beautiful University of Wisconsin campus. I indulged in a little retail therapy on State Street, adding a couple soft summer blazers and a new hat (a distressed leather "Gatsby" cap) to my growing wardrobe. I am developing something of a natty style, caps and vests and designer jeans and boots. Eccentric and classic at the same time. I hope. Well, that's what I am going for anyway! I strolled around the university campus, enjoying the spring weather, the blossoms on the trees and the sparkling lake. There is a happy energy around town as this is graduation weekend. I visited the Chazen Museum of Art on campus which has some very nice pieces representing all eras of art. Visiting museums has become one of my solitary pleasures on the road.




The highlight of this week was a drive out to Gennessee Depot, to visit Ten Chimneys, the home of legendary theatrical couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. It is a magnificent compound which has been lovingly restored and turned into a wonderful museum. A group of us were given a terrific tour by one of the very knowledgeable docents, Bonnie, who took us through the houses and grounds, which have been preserved and set up as if the "Lunts" have just gone out on an errand and will return at any moment to entertain their guests. If you are a theatre lover then you will know that the Lunts were America's first couple of the theatre. In the 1930's they were the darlings of Broadway and an extraordinary, talented and beautiful pair. They were friends and collaborators with all the greats of their time--Noel Coward, Helen Hayes, Laurence Olivier and many others, all of whom at one time or another came to visit at Ten Chimneys. The house is an extraordinary record of a wonderful time in theatrical history as well as a living portrait of this amazing couple. Lunt was multi-talented; he was a great actor, a wonderful visual artist and a Cordon Bleu trained chef. Fontanne was not only a supreme actress but one of the most influential women of her time, a fashion trendsetter and style icon.
The house, grounds and outbuildings are exquisite, at once country cozy and elegantly theatrical. Scenic designer Claggett Wilson spent two years in the home with the Lunts, painting sublime tromp l'oeil murals on the walls and ceilings of every room, and even on furniture and a wonderful piano. Each room is a delight for the senses and a treasure trove of theatrical memorabilia and souvenirs of a glamorous life. For a theatre geek like me it was sheer heaven. I was also delighted to explore the place with my coworkers, among them Gary Beach, with whom I was finally able to remember to take a picture--here we are with Ten Chimneys in the background. If you are ever in this part of the world, make a point of visiting this unusual and beautifully managed piece of our cultural history. For me, the place inspired feelings of great pride that I am part of this marvelous industry. I hope that my career to come will be even a fraction as successful and creatively fulfilling as the Lunts'.




We are performing this week at the Overture Center for the Arts, a brand-spanking-new facility, only three years old, which incorporates several performance venues, including the restored movie palace, the Capitol Theatre, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The Overture Center was funded through the single largest personal endowment to a cultural institution in the nation's history-- $100,000,000 from a single benefactor. The interior of the main theatre where "Spamalot" is performing was designed by the same architect who created the theatres we played in Miami and Dayton. All blonde wood and pewter colored seats, the Overture Center is very modern and very elegant. The backstage facilities are very fine and the dressing rooms comfortable and pristine. My dresser in Madison is Angelina.
Angelina had never dressed a show before and is training on "Spamalot" this week. So I had the honor of being one of her first actors to dress ever. Angelina is a sculptor and visual artist and stumbled on wardrobe work quite by chance. She is doing a very fine job and dealing with the nerves admirably! Dressers in each city we play get thrown into the deep end of the pool rather--given a set of notes and some rudimentary instructions, a little rehearsal of some of the more tricky changes in the show, and then bang! The show is running and they have to basically run alongside and keep up!

Madison has been very pleasant indeed. Allergy season continues to be brutal and I am still doctoring my sinuses and my vocal chords in order to get my eight shows a week out there, but in general I am experiencing spring fever and having a nice time. Grand Rapids, Michigan is our next stop so more from there next week, friends.

A River Runs Through It

Week 23: Appleton, WI

"My brain is the key that sets my mind free."
--Harry Houdini

The transition from Milwaukee to Appleton was a strange one--leaving a bustling city full of activity and arriving in small town America. Appleton is one of 14 cities known as the "Fox Cities" because they are all situated along or around the Fox River, which passes right through Appleton. The river has long been a part of one of the leading industries in this area, paper making. Appleton is situated near Lake Michigan and at the north end of Lake Winnebago. Green Bay is the nearest large city. The town was established in the early 19th century by a man named Amos Lawrence, who named the place after his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Appleton. The town is home to Lawrence University, which was one of the first coed colleges in America. And Appleton feels like a college town; in fact the main street is College Avenue. Some well known people came from Appleton, among them actor Willem Dafoe and Maury Laws, the man who composed songs for beloved holiday animation classics like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman." However, the favorite son of Appleton is Harry Houdini, who grew up here and reportedly as a kid went up and down College Avenue in the middle of the night picking all the locks of all the businesses along the street. The local History Museum has a whole exhibit dedicated to Houdini and the town even hosted a magic convention at one time. What's interesting about Houdini is that in an effort to be more American in the eyes of the public, he claimed to have been born in Appleton. Actually, his given name was Weiss and he immigrated from Budapest and was the son of the first Rabbi in Appleton.
Another famous Appletonian was Edna Ferber--novelist, author of "Giant" and "Show Boat," member of the Algonquin Round Table--and also part of the close knit Jewish community here in this little Wisconsin city. So I guess you won't succeed in Appleton either if you don't have any Jews!

We are performing this week at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, a beautiful new complex built only six years ago through corporate and private funding.
The theatre serves the entire Fox River area and brings in top Broadway tours, like ours, as well as great music and dance programming and international theatre productions. This week I am staying across the street from the theatre, which is great, because I have been under the weather. I may be allergic to Wisconsin. I started feeling sick in Milwaukee--the onset of sudden seasonal allergies, which attacked my throat and voice box and has progressed to a painful bronchial cough. I began to lose my voice, which is scary for a performer and painful and nerve wracking to work through. The Appleton weather has not been helping--it can be warm and sunny for a couple hours then suddenly drop twenty degrees with a bone chilling damp. I am told this is due to the proximity to Lake Michigan. I have gotten treatment here in Appleton, but despite my best efforts to get well, and pushing through most of my shows this week, I finally had to sit out a performance to rest my ragged voice. This is very hard for me to do, and is only the second time in my career I have missed a show. Many people can do a day's work at their job while sick but we performers rely so much on our bodies to do our work that illness can sometimes make doing the job impossible. And no actor wants to disappoint a full house of over 2000 people. We are all human and sometimes we just need a break. Being sick really sucks.

Do you remember the movie "Fargo?" Remember the funny midwestern accent that Frances McDormand and the other actors executed so beautifully? Well, damned if people don't really speak like that out here. Oh yah, they doo, doen't ya knoe. It's a very distinct and very heavy accent. Something to log into the actor's mental library of sounds for a future part that might require it.

One of the other freak Wisconsin specialities is cheese curds.
These are the fresh curds from the making of cheddar cheese. Their flavor is mild with about the same firmness as cheese, but have a springy or rubbery texture. Fresh curds squeak against the teeth when bitten into, which some would say is their defining characteristic. Cheese curds are sometimes referred to as "Squeeky cheese." They are a popular snack and I have seen them in bags with bits of ham or little Vienna sausages. Are you saying yuck or yum?

I did get a very nice review here in Appleton. We tend not to look at reviews much--the nice things that are written can give one a lift, but if there are negatives, they can stick in your craw for weeks. That said, I will occasionally indulge my ego and Google myself to see what has been put into print about the show and my Sir Robin as we have made our way around the country. Below are the Appleton review and a very nice notice I found from a Florida publication. These both made me feel a little warm and fuzzy in my sniffly, sick state this week:

Beaman, Shakespearean trained and weaned, is always on task. His face and gestures are flawless. Though an actor who sings, he certainly carries the day.
--Post-Crescent

James Beaman (Sir Robin) is a particular joy to watch on stage. With his shock of ginger hair, he resembles nothing so much as a hyperactive leprechaun filled with the spirit of song. He’s got stage presence in spades and the hilarious send-up “You Won’t Succeed On Broadway” number was just an absolute joy both for the shockingly funny lyrics and the chance to watch Beaman kick up his heels.
--Neapolitan


My Appleton dresser is Janis. Janis used to work for an insurance firm and decided to have fun instead, so she became a stagehand. She has been a pleasure to work with this week and she has genuinely loved the show so much she and her husband are driving to Madison next week to see it from the audience. As for me, I am going to tough it out through the last few shows here, enjoy a quiet day off in Appleton, and then climb aboard the bus for Madison. A special shout out to my Mom: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Schlemiel! Schlemazel! Hassenfeffer, Incorporated!

Week 22: Milwaukee, WI

When you're a secretary in a brewery,
it's hard to pretend you're anything else.
Everything is beer.
--"All About Eve"

All I ever knew about Milwaukee was that Laverne and Shirley went there to "make all their dreams come true," and that there was a lot of beer. And there is a lot of beer in Milwaukee, primarily because it is home to many generations of German immigrants. And there is plenty of delicious authentic German food and beer to be had here.
On my first day, I found Mader's, a Milwaukee tradition and an unmistakable German restaurant. Dark wood, stained glass windows, beer steins, and waitresses dressed as beer maids--it's like the German pavilion at Disney World on steroids. And the food was fantastic, as was the beer. I was the sole person eating at the bar and I witnessed not one, but two transactions between the owner and beer distributors. The bartender, Gary, told me that all the major brands of Milwaukee beer--Pabst, Old Milwaukee, Schlitz--have moved their bases of operations out of Milwaukee and now it is the microbreweries that are keeping the tradition alive here in the city. Mader's was an authentic taste of the town.


We are performing this week at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, beautifully situated on the Milwaukee river. It is one of a wonderful cluster of theatre venues downtown; the massive Milwaukee Theatre, the historic Pabst Theatre, as well as the city's major regional theatre, Milwaukee Rep, are all in the neighborhood we are working in. Milwaukee is a real, working city and it has a feeling of solidity to it. There is a lively cultural scene and an enthusiastic audience for live performance. This week, I had the good fortune to be able to attend a midweek matinee at Milwaukee Rep. The theatre is highly reputable and I was excited that our schedule allowed me to see something. I saw a performance of a new play by Jeffrey Hatcher called "Armadale." Hatcher has written several plays based on classic literature, particularly 19th century literature and he is also the author of screenplays including "Boys Don't Cry." "Armadale" is based on an obscure Victorian gothic novel by Wilkie Collins, who also wrote "The Woman in White," which was made into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The production was very fine, and the design of sets, costumes, and lighting, as well as an original score were all first rate. The show didn't exactly know what it wanted to be--a straight out melodrama or a campy over the top spoof. The inconsistency in the director's point of view made it a mixed experience but it was nice to see well produced, quality regional theatre and it gave me a little yearning for the classical work I was doing during the years before I got "Spamalot."


Thursday I visited the Milwaukee Museum of Art. Beautifully situated on Lake Michigan, the grandest feature of the place is the new pavilion designed by Santiago Calatrava, which is very much like the dock for a starship from some sci-fi movie. It is crowned by the Burke Brise Soleil, a huge kinetic sculpture with enormous wings that close around the glass roof of the Calatrava atrium, and are opened to spectacular effect a few times each day. I visited the museum's permanent collection, which has some very nice pieces from every era of art. As you have probably already figured out, I am a big fan of visual art. The Milwaukee Museum of Art did not disappoint. And I had a very nice lunch at their cafe with a sparkling view of the lake.


Thursday night, our resident party girl, Piper, organized a pub crawl to celebrate three birthdays that are happening this week--Jen, Tim and Bree-- and also as a sendoff for Piper herself, who is leaving the company after a great run as one of our swings. She will be sorely missed, as she was always the organizer of the various parties and outings along our trail and is a genius at it! Anyway, she hired a "party bus," complete with keg and stripper pole and we did a Milwaukee bar crawl. I will spare you the gory details but there was much carrying on and a good time was had by all.




Friday was a rainy day and I took my umbrella and made my way down the Riverwalk to the historic Third Ward, which is the "funky" part of Milwaukee. An old warehouse district, today the neighborhood is sort of like Soho in New York: art galleries, funky shops, and design stores and interior decor showrooms.
The Milwaukee Public Market is here also, which is a large covered market chock-a-block with gourmet goodies, fresh flowers, etc.; on the weekends there is a farmer's market here as well. All in all, Milwaukee has everything one could ask for to make a satisfying city lifestyle--plenty of culture, lots of nice bars and restaurants, ethnic and cultural diversity, and a very nice style in general. It has been a pleasant place to be for a week and the audiences have been great.


My Milwaukee dresser is Aggie. Aggie married into back stage work. Her husband is a sound guy and traveled with rock bands for many years. Aggie has done all manner of tech work and was also a restaurateur for a time. She is a very pleasant, level headed and delightful dresser and has been great this week. We have a day off here Monday before moving on to the next stop in our Wisconsin odyssey, Appleton. More from there next week. I want to take a moment to congratulate Clay Aiken on his successful run as Sir Robin on Broadway, as he performs his last weekend! Bravo! Maybe we will see more of Mr. Aiken on the Great White Way. And maybe you'll see me there in the not too distant future (God willing)...!