Thursday, April 12, 2007

Today was my first day back in the office and it was pretty hectic - but great! I started the day spending some time with the MARCO POLO cast at the rehearsal studio. Claire Williams was working with the dancers on choreography and Brandon Thomas was drilling the singers on vocal parts for "Hit Me With a Hot Note". The cast is doing a great job with the shows, and our team is very impressed with their energy and enthusiasm. The cast, Claire, Brandon and Garris Wimmer also graciously agreed to allow a photographer from one of the local newspapers to come take a picture of all of us - its for an article that's running next week on corporate entertainment. Here's a picture of the MARCO POLO singers warming up before a run through.

We spent the rest of the morning interviewing a new tech director candidate for our scenic department. After lunch, Jonathan Yeaworth, Jim Sheridan and I had a production meeting with the staff of "L'ete du Vin", one of the largest and oldest charitable wine auctions in the United States. Their first event is coming up in a couple of weeks, and we are in full gear getting prepared. The rest of the day was spent catching up on paperwork and calls. It is REALLY busy at GMC right now...and that's when we are at our best!

Just a personal note to my friends Ricky and Debbie Steiner from Kentucky. Their daughter, Morgan, had a seizure over the weekend. It was pretty serious and their family spent a tense couple of days at the hospital trying to figure out what caused the seizure. She is fine now and there are no indications of any medical conditions that would be cause for alarm. In fact, her doctors encouraged her to get right back into all the activities and sports that she loves so much.. Ricky and Debbie are great parents and very special people. We are all praying that this was a one-time thing that can be monitored and easily controlled with medication. Our daughter Anna has epilepsy that came on in her senior year of high school. It can be a very disturbing thing to see your child go through the challenges associated with epilepsy. Fortunately, it can be controlled with medication.

I promised more shots from last week's cruise on the SUMMIT. Here are a few more from "NIGHT OF STARS". Here is Derrick in an exciting Ray Charles medley, He sounds awesome!

Rusty and the dancers doing a tribute to Elton John...

The cast in one of the opening production segments...

Rusty, Julie, and Jennifer in a Las Vegas revue segment.

And here's Julie (singing) with Sam and Erin doing a beautiful adage to "Hero". Their performance was especially impressive since the ship was more than a little rocky during the show. The audience loved this performance!

That's it for now...TGIF!

Wednesday, April 11, 2009

This is from the Pirate scene in the finale of "Classique la danza"

Sally and Alex, the adage team on the Summit, are an audience favorite - they are absolutely amazing!

Jennifer and the girls wow the audience with "R-E-S-P-E-C-T!"

A shot from the opening of "Night of Stars"

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I am in the Miami airport on my way home from the SUMMIT. Stephen Kummer and I were on the ship for the past week working with the new cast on fine tuning their performances. This is a great cast, with wonderful potential to have a fantastic contract together. They come from several countries, including Britain, Canada, and the US. We loved their energy and the obvious love and respect they already have for each other. Here are some shots I tool of two of their shows..."Night of Stars" and "Classique la Danza". I will post more shots over the next few days...too many to post all at once!

Sunday,April 8, 2007

Good morning, and Happy Easter! I am still on the Summit sailing somewhere off the coast of Costa Rica on the way to the Panama Canal. The last two days have been a little overcast, but no rain to speak of. It seems strange to be Easter…there really isn't much happening on the ship to indicate it’s Easter, except for a couple of early morning devotional services. I hope all of you have had a meaningful celebration of your own, wherever you may be around the world this day.

We have rehearsals today, so that will keep us busy on this sea day. I think we’re getting close to the Canal – we’re passing a lot of small islands and there seem to be a number of ships passing us in both directions. Passing through the Panama Canal is an awesome experience…I am definitely looking forward to doing it again! This is my third time through.

The SUMMIT cast did an amazing job on their shows two nights ago. The internet here is like molasses (and VERY expensive), so I will wait until we’re in port to upload any more pictures. This is a great cast and they are going to be a big hit with their audiences. Yesterday, I had a nice chat with Amy, the production manager. She is very professional – and congenial - and is looking forward to working with our cast to make this a great contract.

More tomorrow…Hope the Easter bunny brought you lots of goodies!

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Steve Kummer and I finally made it to the SUMMIT yesterdat just in time to board before the ship left port in Acapulco. Flights were delayed in Nashville and Houston, so there was no time to spare once we made it to Acapulco. They pulled the gangway literally 5 minutes after we boarded! The above photo is a shot of the INFINITY as we were pulling away from the dock. Both ships happened to be in port yesterday, but we arrived too late to visit with anyone on the INFINITY. Sorry you guys - wish we could have seen all of you! That is the city of Acapulco in the background.

This is the shot of Acapulco's downtown area as we were leaving port. It was a much bigger city than I expected (it was my first time there). And our cab ride from the airport to the hotel was probably as harrowing as ANY big city cab ride in the world. definitely some white knuckles by the time we arrived at the ship!

Stephen and I met with a few of the cast members on board the Summit last night. They have a tech rehearsal this afternoon and two shows tonight. We will be working with the cast on final notes and "swing" preparation while we're here. We are looking forward to seeing the shows this week! Today wea are in port in Huatalgo, Mexico, and I am at a local internet cafe. This is my first time here, too. Pretty nice town, actually!

Have a good week you guys - more postings to come when we're in port again.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Hey gang! Tonight I am packing for a week long cruise on the SUMMIT. I leave for Acapulco tomorrow morning, along with assitant musical director Stephen Kummer, to go visit the cast and see them in action! Can't wait to see them on stage! All reports indicate this is going to be an awesome cast.

We spent the morning working on the new shows for NCL's GEM. Rick Stetson (scenic designer) and Skip Stewart (costumes) were with us to review the creative concepts and scenic layout of two of the shows. David Patton talked us through the music for the shows, and we all had a chance to ask questions and chime in with our own creative ideas. It was a very productive meeting! Ben Alexander, a TD candidate, joined us for the day to give us a chance to talk about his skills and how he might enhance our team. It was a pleasure meeting Ben and seeing his work. Creative people are always energizing!

Congrats to GMC producer Curt Wallen for his headway in mounting an exciting new production show concept for us. We are working with one of the most prestigious theatrical agencies in the world to bring our productions to major corporate events and theatrical venues around the country. More details on this project as they develop! This is going to be a lot of fun!!

I will try to do posts along the way this week, internet permitting. Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Monday, April 2, 2007

Well, I finally had to face the reality that I would have to do my taxes tonight or be that guy waiting in line at midnight at the post office on April 15. So, I made myself sit down and go through all those receipts and other tax documents that I've been throwing in a box for the past year. In truth, it was not as bad as it has been in the past. For those of you who are waiting for the tax fairy to come...don't hold your breath! Just do it!! If I can, you can...

Tomorrow is going to be busy. Steve Kummer and I are headed to Celebrity's Summit on Wednesday, so I have to get a lot of work done before leaving. And I want to stop by to see the Marco Polo cast do a couple of numbers. I'm not really ready to go, but being on the ship gives me a chance to focus on writing and creative time when we're not rehearsing or doing performances. This trip will start in Acapulco and end a week later in Aruba. Ok, I know...there are WORSE places to work! I will try to post some photos during the trip just to make you jealous. :-) This cruise will take us through the Panama Canal - an awesome experience that everyone should do at least once. Here is a shot I took last fall when I went through on Celebrity's Infinity.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Today we welcomed the new cast of the Orient Line's MARCO POLO. The MARCO POLO is managed by Norwegian Cruise Line. This is going to be a great cast, with a mixture of experienced cruise performers and first timers. They have fantastic energy and a great desire to see the world! We had a brief orientation and "get to know you" session, followed by pizza and pictures. They start rehearsing first thing tomorrow morning. We're still missing one more cast member who will be arriving late tomorrow evening from Paris. Robert Hertenstein, NCL's staff production show coordinator, is going to be with us this week teaching the cast a new show called "Night of Stars". Then our own Claire Williams will take over and continue with the next two shows. This is our first time to do a remount of the MARCO POLO shows, but everything is in place for the cast to have a great rehearsal experience. We're all looking forward to seeing and hearing this new cast in action!

For more info on Orient Lines' Marco Polo, go to http://www.orientlines.com/