Thursday, May 3, 2007

The cast of the MILLENNIUM is one really talented bunch! Here are some photos I took a couple of days ago during the first run-though of "I Love the Nightlife". They are really coming together in a great way. They head for the ship in a couple of weeks, so its coming down to crunch time for them. I'm looking forward to seeing them in their other shows when I get back next week. Keep up the good work, gang!

Thursday, April 26

Today is Thursday, and the Marco Polo cast is just about ready to leave for the ship. They ran their last show for us this afternoon, and we were all blown away with the amount of material they had learned this week. WOW! Way to go you guys! So many songs, so many dances, so little time. Here's a picture of Garris and Rochelle (above) and Brandon and Sarah (below) in a number from the show. Garris and Brandon were there to observe, but were "recruited" as stand ins for this audience participation number.

Awww, isn't that sweet?!

Here is Sarah singing "Hey Big Spender".

Claire Williams has done an amazing job of teaching this show. It is non-stop choreography for nearly an hour!

The Marco Polo features the dancers throughout every show. We are fortunate to have a GREAT group of dancers in this cast! They are workin' hard, too!

After the run, the choreographer, music director and I sat with the cast and gave notes.

While the Marco Polo cast was doing their final run, the cast of Celebrity Cruises' MILLENNIUM was rehearsing next door. Today they were working on "FANTASEA". All of the cast members are now in Nashville and they are looking like a really strong group!

Tomorrow, I am going to Birmingham to attend a retirement celebration for Leon Precise, my high school youth director. Leon was a huge influence in my life, as well as hundreds of of other young people who have grown up in his youth programs. I am supposed to sing at the dinner, but I've been sick all week and things are not looking good for having much of a voice by tomorrow. I'm kind of bummed. Maybe I will have a dramatic recovery between now and then!

This is a busy weekend with several major shows happening between now and Monday. I will post more pics as time permits. TGIF!

Saturday, April 21

It has been a few days since I updated this blog. Sorry about that! It has been incredibly busy this week, so I'm just now finding time to post some new images. Here are shots from a rehearsal with the cast of the MILLENNIUM. The entire cast is finally here and they are doing a great job together. We will post some more pictures from rehearsals later this week.

Dave Patton left yesterday to go to Europe to meet with cast of the CONSTELLATION in Ireland. He emailed me today to let me know they performed last night to standing ovations! Way to go you guys!

Another MILLENNIUM rehearsal shot...

Monday, April 16

Mary Catherine Musick

Hey gang! We had some "proud parent" news today...our oldest daughter, Mary Catherine, was awarded a dance scholarship to MTSU, the university she's been attending for the past 2 years. She was originally on scholarship at Cincinatti Conservatory, but had to withdraw due to a fluke injury to her toe (not a good thing for a ballet dancer!). After surgery and a couple of years of recovery, she is back dancing with a passion. She is an amazing dancer (and singer) and has thoroughly enjoyed her time in the program at MTSU. Way to go MC! Here is a shot from her spring concert last year.

I had a chance to see another run of "Hit Me With a Hot Note" today. This cast is learning quickly and doing a great job of making corrections from the vocal and dance notes they've been given. David Patton, our GM and the show's musical director, observed today and seemed quite pleased with the performance. They have a lot of new material to still learn, but they are in good shape for an on-time completion.

Monday's are always busy at GMC. We started the day with staff meeting and production meetings to make sure we are on track with everything coming up in the next few months. We have a great number of projects happening in the next 3 weeks, and they just keep coming! Thanks to a staff with a lot of depth and commitment, we are able to handle almost anything that comes our way. We are currently working on projects that range from new shows being created for state of the art cruise ships to a new show for Dollywood's children's entertainment program. Numerous corporate, association, and charitable events are also underway. And, the cast of Celebrity's MILLENNIUM arrived today with rehearsals starting tomorrow, so our rehearsal facility is in full swing!

Speaking of the MILLENNIUM, I had a nice conversation today with Jim D'Amico, a former director of entertainment for Celebrity Cruises. He is now a freelance producer with clients in the cruise, casino, and corporate entertainment businesses. Jim was instrumental in helping us get started in the cruise ship entertainment production world. It was great to catch up with him!

On personal note...my taxes are done! Whoo hoo! We've actually filed on time for the second year in a row. Believe me, that is an accomplishment for us! Thanks to our accountant, Kay Quinn, for helping us make this happen. Hope you are all in the home stretch on your own taxes. Good luck hitting that deadline!