After rehearsing in Ontario for 3 weeks in August/September we are back again to take Canada by Storm. About an hour from Kitchener (Where we rehearsed) we're setting up Shop in London, Ontario. The city is beautiful and ironically enough looks a little like a miniature London.

The hotel is beautiful. The gym is fantastic. And tonight's show was, well interesting. It was sort of the evening of sound issues. An RFX box (I think that's what it's called) wasn't working at sound check which meant for of the wireless mics weren't patching into the sound board. Luckily our sound guys fixed the issue before the show. Then during 'Keep it Gay' the sound board crashed for about a minute and a half losing all mics, key boards, monitors, basically every sound thing that plugs in. And let me tell you, vamps sound very unique when played on two flutes and drum kit.

To add insult to injury, the theatre is an ice-skating arena. That's not the strange part, we've played those before on occasion. But for some reason the ice under the plywood we were sitting on was particularly cold. All of the brass and reed instruments were freezing, as were most of the musicians. I think I might be coming down with a cold from it for which I'm popping vitamin C like it's my full time job.

Despite the technical difficulties the show was fun. The cast is great at just going with the flow which helps immensly. The boarder crossing was fairly uneventful.

In Huntsville about two weeks ago we had our first 'walk-on' role. To publicise the show they will occasionally have a 'Producers' radio contest and the winner wins a walk on role in the show. Below is a letter 'Walk-on John' sent to his acting liason in the company.

Hey Alison,

I had a great time last night and thanks for being my
“leading” lady. The cast and crew of “The Producers”
were absolutely great and truly made my weekend
memorable. It was amazing to see the production from
the backstage and to watch all the “goings on”. You
and Chris were particularly kind to make sure that I
made it safely across stage. After the show, my wife,
friends and family (a.k.a. adoring fans) were waiting
at the stage door and presented me with a dozen roses
to commemorate my stage debut. We all went back to
the hotel to celebrate and party.

My wife’s included a blog on her professional website
(the Writers’ Playground) that I thought you and the
other cast members might enjoy. The link is
http://writingplayground.blogspot.com/ and the entries
are January 13 and 14th. The pix from last night are
posted too.

Again, tell everyone I said thanks much for being so
warm and welcoming and “break a leg” on the rest of
the tour!

John