Daytona, Gainesville, Niceville, Talahassee, Sarasota

The Florida string of one-nighters.

They were okay because I had my girlfriend with me for most of it!

DAYTONA, FL:

The closest to my hometown of Titusville that we got to on this tour.

My parents and siblings made it out here to hang out before the show.  

They didn't see the show here because the theatre was too small for our show so me had to make some cuts.  

I wanted them to see the full show.

My hookah broke here!  I dropped the acrylic base on some tile in the lobby of the hotel.

Sad day.

The family

 GAINESVILLE, FL:

Amanda and I made a road trip out of these one-nighters.

This city is home to the Florida Gators.  There's a character in the show named "Gator" and he has a dance called "Gator Dance" where he wheres a gator head.  

The audience naturally went crazy at this part.  I'm sure they thought we did that just for them...

We met up with some of my old friends from high school after the show.

NICEVILLE, FL:

A city I've actually never been to.  And I found out why....not much there.

One of my good friends and musician came to see the show here.  So glad he made it! 

I miss performing with him!

TALAHASSEE, FL: 

Met up with a lot of people here.  Some of the cast from SPRING AWAKENING goes to college here. 

They got to come see MEMPHIS and loved it.  We actually did they show in an arena here.

Also met up with another good friend here from high school.

SARASOTA, FL:

I spent a lot of time here back in college.  

I did the pre-Broadway run of BONNIE & CLYDE at the Asolo Repertory Theatre.

Really cool going back to perform at the touring venue.

We lost our reed player here (he left the show).  The new one joins us in Fort Lauderdale.

Charleston

Well, there's really no excuse for not writing for this long.

The schedule did get a little interesting and WIFI was also a little tricky at times, but I could have been a little better at entries.

Onward.

CHARLESTON, NC:

Great city and great location.  Our hotel (a Hyatt) was across the street from the venue!

There were plenty of food options as well as a nice clothing outlet about a mile away.

The gym facilities were great, but we had to take a cab to get there.  

Free breakfast at the hotel was amazing!

The cab to the gym

Clever advertising

Kalamazoo, Ashland, Lexington

KALAMAZOO, MI:

This is home to the alma mater of our associate conductor and keyboardist, Shane.

He set up a masterclass for he and I to give at the university.  Such a blast!

I love speaking about music, especially about the business side of the music industry.

The students were very receptive and even had a few questions for us.

Fun times!

ASHLAND, KY:

There was a frozen waterfall next door to our hotel.  I wish I would have taken a picture. :(

LEXINGTON, KY:

We performed at the Lexington Opera House!  Beautiful venue!

Go to Limestone Blue for amazing food!

It was also Valentine's Day...
I had to spend it separated from My Love.  Not cool!
She did send me this though. <3

Wheeling, Shippensburg, New Brunswick, Easton

WHEELING, WV:

Very cold!  Hills mixed with ice equals this Florida Boy slipping al over the place!

SHIPPENSBURG, PA:

I walked through the frozen tundra to a mall across the HIGHWAY to get to a Lensecrafters that I found to be closing for the day when I got there....I think I may have gotten frostbite on my feet. 

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ:

I did not get frostbite on my feet.

The creators of the show, David Bryan and Joe DiPietro, came to the show here!

It was David Bryan's Birthday, so we played Happy Birthday for him at the end of the show.

This was a highlight of the tour for me!

EASTON, PA:

Yet another beautiful little town; unfortunately we were only there for the night.

It took us about 30 minutes to get our tour bus out from the backstage area due to the weather.

We got stuck in the snow and ice and then one of the other truck drivers from the show came over and directed our driver out of the mess.  

I've never had to drive in the snow before, but I can imagine the difficulties...

Pittsburgh!

LOVE THIS CITY!

So much to do and eat!

The best part?  We didn't have any performances here.  Just time off!

WICKED was performing here the days we were there so I got to meet up with my friend, the drummer.  I sat in the pit and watched him play the show.  So amazing!

The hotel was beautiful!  Gotta love The Omni!

The food?  

I had some pretty fantastic meals here.

I had some of the best Thai food I've ever had at Nicky's Thai Kitchen.  I actually miss this food!

Thai Food

I had to go to the infamous Primanti Bros. Restaurant.  

I got the grilled chicken sandwich, but it's not your typical sandwich; this one is complete with slaw and french fries stacked on top. Yum!

The Monster Sandwich

A View From My Room

Some Crème Brûlée From The Hotel

We also celebrated the Trombonist's Birthday in this city, complete with hookah, a hockey game, and Chipotle.

Fun times!

Brookville, New London

BROOKVILLE, NY:

It was the weekend of the Superbowl in New York.  Hotel prices skyrocketed.  

We get a housing allowance to pay for our hotels weekly.  

We also get discounted rates on hotels which makes our housing affordable.

This hotel was about $110/night for a single occupancy room, so that means a double is about $55.

This is considerably more than we are used to paying...

Not fun!

This was especially unfortunate because it was a one-nighter so we hardly spent any time in the hotel, not that anyone would have wanted to in this gem...

NEW LONDON, CT:

A really nice New England town, complete with a Thames River.  I thought that was kinda cool...

Nice coffee shop right across the street from the theatre.

Me With Some Of The Other Guys In The Cast And Band

Syracuse

I contacted the local YMCA here and they were kind enough to allow us to use the gym facilities!

It's always nice to be sitting in a city long enough to go to a real gym.

Another plus in this city was the fact that our hotel was within walking distance to the venue.  

No bus call to the venue!

Great college town.  Nice local bars and food a bit of a walk from the hotel.