1 venue down

We're finally up and running,although it was VERY dicey the first night. We spent literally right up till half hour restaging stuff. But the Hasbro people seemed pleased. We're still all anticipating more changes when we get to Providence,which is where ALL the Hasbro bigshots will see the show,but for now things are going fairly smoothly. There are still some bloopers,as we're all still not 100% solid on the new choreography,but it's getting there.

So last night we closed our run in Wilkes-Barre. Day off today and tomorrow we make the grueling 60 mile trek to Bethlehem PA,where I will get to see one of my closest friends from college,whom I have not seen in 7 years.

A note to all you Worcester-ites reading this: we ARE scheduled to hit the DCU Center on this tour,but it won't be till late spring-early summer. I'll keep you posted.

...so very sleepy...

We open tonight.

We're not ready.

"Whaddaya mean you're not ready? You've had 4 weeks!!!"

Actually,no,we've had 2 days.

"Huh?"

Here's the story - we blocked the show back in Minneapolis and during the first few days in Des Moines. No problem. But then once we got it up on the stage and with lights and costumes,the producer saw some things he didn't like. So we spent a few days doing some restaging. Some of it major,but most of it was little things. We worked on it and ran it,and everyone agreed it was a good show,and with just some minor tweaking in once we got to Wilkes-Barre,we'd be good to go.
CUT TO: SAT AM. FINAL RUN-THRU IN DES MOINES W/INVITED AUDIENCE -
We do the final run. Performance conditions. About 200 little girls in the audience,who are loving every second of it. The Hasbro people are there too,and after the show they are giddy,and couldn't be more thrilled. Well,unbeknownest to us,they have a list of changes they want made. "OK,no problem",say our producers. Then they see the list...

The whole show.

Staging,dances,characters,dialogue,plot points...literally the whole thing. So while we're enroute to Wilkes-Barre,the artistic team is frantically trying to reconceive the whole thing. We arrive at the venue Tuesday morning and spend 12 hours Tuesday and another 12 on Wednesday basically starting from scratch and completely reblocking and rechoreographing the ENTIRE SHOW. We ran the new version last night and Hasbro still wants more changes. We're spending 7 more hours today before opening to do more restaging.

I will never understand the mentality of non-theatre people who seem to think that you can just flip a switch and the show will change. Unfortunately for us,our producers are under orders from the head of our company to give Hasbro whatever they want. Hasbro even wants 3 actors fired. We're fighting that one. We're trying to reconceive the characters instead.

NEVER LET CORPORATIONS WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND THEATRE DO THEATRE!!!

Can't sleep on planes

Had our final run-thru in Des Moines yesterday with an invited audience. Supposedly we were a hit - I couldn't tell. Once we get those heads on,you can't see or hear a damn thing. The Hasbro people were there as well and were very happy with what they saw,so that's a good thing.

We're now at our 1st venue in Wilkes-Barre PA. Any of you East Coast Caravaners from last year reading this will remember Wilkes-Barre as the site of our annual tech spa. It was a RIDICULOUS time getting here. Apparently you can't get from Des Moines to Wilkes-Barre. Well,you can,but it would have cost the company about $750 per person. So instead,we left Des Moines at 3AM and took a bus to Kansas City,from where we flew to Atlanta. We changed planes in Atlanta and flew to Newark NJ,and in Newark we caught another bus to Wilkes-Barre. About 12 hours of travel and I've been up since 1:30AM,so I might be typing gibberish for all I know.

A few more days of dress rehearsals and our "official" opening is this Thursday.

What you've all been waiting for...

Sorry It's been awhile folks! We've been in tech hell!

Thanks to all of you who have been asking about tour dates. Keep checking www.mylittleponylive.net for info. It gets updated once or twice a week as cities get added. If I'm coming your way give me a shout!

More pics to come...

Perhaps not so minor...

Okay,so apparently some of you have tried to leave comments but it still won't let you. I'm workin' on it!
We continue to occasionally be visited by the Hasbro folks,including Cheryl McCarthy,who is the VP of Creative Development. Cheryl is affectionally known as "Mama Pony",since she's the one who initially created the My Little Pony line of toys back in the early 80's and has individually designed each Pony since. And there are over 400 of them. So far she and the other VIP's seem to be very pleased with what we're doing so far.

Day off again tomorrow. Des Moines is one of those downtowns that completely shuts down after 7PM. Last night the entire company converged on the hotel gym since there ain't nuthin' else to do!

Coming soon - pictures!!!

A minor variation...

I've changed the settings on this thing so that anyone can now leave a comment,not just registered users. So let's go with some comments here,people! What the hell am I paying you for!!!
We are now in fabulous downtown Des Moines. We'll tech here for the next 2 weeks.
Yippee-skip.

DAY OFF!!!

Finally a day without an enormous pony butt strapped to my back. A few of us took advantage of the free day to visit the Mall of America. For those of you unfamiliar,the Mall of America is located in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington,and is the largest mall in the USA. And it was freakin' huge! 4 levels of stores laid out in a giant square,with an anchor store at each corner and an amusement park in the center. It also has a movie theatre,an aquarium,a big LEGO display,a dinosaur museum and not counting the food court,about 16 restaurants. We spent 7 hours there and my final tally was as follows:

Lunch in a delightful little Italian place - $16
4 pairs of shorts to wear under my costume - $24
A "Univ.of Minnesota" hat - $10
A ride on the roller coaster - $4.80
Bottled water - $1.50
A Dale Earnhart Jr. sticker for my mother the NASCAR junkie - $1.75
Dinner at a little sandwich shop - $6
Train fare - $1.50
Finding out the Yankees got eliminated from the playoffs - Priceless (sorry Kendra!)

About 65 bucks. Not bad. Others in my party were not so lucky.

Tomorrow: Des Moines!!!

LOST,spacesuits,and corporate bigwigs

I'd like to digress for a moment and just say that if you haven't been watching "Lost",then you need to go out RIGHT NOW and get Seasons 1 and 2 and watch them! Season 3 premiered tonight and it was one of the most compelling season premieres since...well,since last season's premiere. Truly the best thing on television today.

Now,back to Pony talk...

The show's starting to come together slowly. We've been working with our feet and backpacks for the past 2 days. Getting into these contraptions is like suiting up for a spacewalk. There are 8 buckles that need to be hooked up,and more straps than I can count. And that's just the pony's torso and back legs. We haven't even STARTED with the front legs,chest,or head. But we're slowly getting the feel for them and how we're going to move in these things. My shoulders and quads are hating me right now,but this is going to get me into great shape. Or cripple me for life. I can't decide.
Just 2 more days of rehearsal here in Minneapolis and then we relocate to Des Moines IA where we will tech for 2 weeks. Since this is a brand new show,we're going to have a couple VP's from Hasbro at our rehearsals the next 2 days,making sure we're staying "true" to the whole My Little Pony universe. They might actually change eveything; we're not sure. So if I'm fired tomorrow for being too "un-Ponylike",y'all will be the first to know!

And I thought the Dancing Doll was bad...

Had my costume fitting yesterday. The dance routines in the show are simple enough,but now imagine doing them with a 40 lb. backpack that extends for 4 feet behind you,as well as round feet that are about 13 inches in diameter. Top it all off with a giant pony head that covers your entire upper body and your vision is limited to a diamond-shaped hole that's only about 9 square inches and a good 10 inches away from your eyes. Did I mention the hole is covered with thick netting? They do look spectacular,I'll give them that. My legs are the front legs of the pony and they are connected to the back legs by a wire and pulley device,so when I walk the back legs move with me. I control the mouth with my right hand and the eyes with my left,and I move the head with my elbows and shoulders. I'll get some pictures posted once we start working with full costumes. Unfortunately,they don't allow pictures of partial costumes due to copyright issues. But it's quite a piece of engineering,although heavy as hell. This show's gonna simultaneously get me in shape and destroy my back. They're actually kind of like the Lion King costumes,only you don't see the actor at all.

We've just done dance numbers so far. Tomorrow we start working with the director on blocking. He's completely out of his mind,but in a good way. Imagine Dave Chappelle crossed with JJ from "Good Times". Should be ...um...interesting. More later!