Little Women Show Blog

Sad News

We received an email from Peggy Taphorn (ASM) that told us that Julie Burdick, the young lady who covered all of the women's roles, had passed away from meningitis.
Julie was one of those people that surprised you with both her talent as well as her great sense of humor. She had been seeing Keith Caggiano (Fluff the soundman) since the tour.  Our prayers go with him and her family.
Julie and Susan at the Christmas party.

All Good Things...

We knew this time would come and this shall be my last post for Little Women.
There are too many people to thank and too many good memories to possibly remember them all so I'm going to leave some pix of the final performance and the closing party.

ATTN:  I UPDATED WITH SOME NEW PHOTOS

This is the trio that gathered stage left before every performance.  Nuthin but trouble, I promise you.

Maureen, Doug Kinsley (Company Manager, and a great guy BTW) and myself.

Tony Garcia (automation) and Matty Rocha (sound).  About 50 tattoos between them.

Minarick and Varian (carpenter) finally not holding back their feelings.

Patty, Susan, Me, and Minarik.  If you look between Susan and myself, you can see the incredible jealousy on Varian's face.

The angelic Brenda Anderson (wardrobe) whom Susan found as delightful as she found her indispensable.  If you were playing Jo, she was your best friend.  She gave you "a pretty bow".

Coolin'.

No one can coax sweet, sweet music out of Mr. Laurence's piano like Stephen Patterson.

The last Days of Plenty.  I am not kidding when I say the wings were full of people weeping.

The Final Company Bow.

The final tableau had Cary Michelle bring Oscar to me.

As soon as the curtain came in we all posed for a casual cast photo.  What a mixture of sadness and exhilaration it was.  Glad we made it, but sad that it was over.

Afterwards, we gathered in the stage management office and had a champagne toast and a small goodbye song from Maureen that left everyone with tears in their eyes.

Thanks to all of you that stayed with me here on the blog, you all are the reason that I felt I had to keep this going.  Your "gentle prodding" made me realize that this show touched many people and that fact is nothing to take for granted.

Thanks for clicking in.  Be well.

Andrew

More pix

Alright, I'm back at the theater for more pix postings.

As all of you already know, Jo chops down Mr. Laurence's tree and, when Marmee objects, offers Laurie's services to take the tree to the Hummels.  Maureen arranged to have the company "adopt" a family hit by Hurricane Katrina and provide them with a better Christmas than they would've had otherwise.

The looks on the kids faces when they saw everything was priceless.

This is at the Christmas Party.  Maureen bracketed by Varela's.  I lost that hat in the Mall of America.  If anyone's found it, give it back to me.

Katie and Susan.

Me and Katie.  Look at the heat.

Patty, Susan and Me.

The story behind this one is that a rehearsal was held in a nearby dance studio and James Darrah found this alluring garb in a closet.
That's the story and nothing more need be said.

Here's me in the Winchester, VA, hospital with a staph infection in my foot.  Oscar is in the background fretting over my condition. (not)

San Jose.  Autumn is stuck in a glass enclosed kitchen.

Autumn, Renee, and Susan practicing for their Pussycat Dolls audition.

Me and O at Orchard House, where LMA wrote Little Women.

Minarik has a high school friend who is a pilot of the B-2 bomber and, when we were in St. Louis, we drove to the base and got the most amazing tour.

Minarik and his friend.  We got to have a look inside the cockpit and everything.  Strangely enough: all the instrumentation is in Spanish.

When we were in Ft. Lauderdale, the ladies of the cast had tea together. Gwen, Susan and Autumn in their Victorian best.

Billy Kimbley and Autumn enjoying the parks of Baltimore.

Me, O, and Minarik enjoying the bounty that is the Cheesecake Factory.

We were sitting in Denny's and, without warning, Oscar attacked!  We were able to pull him off, but it was touch and go for Patty.

James found another dress...

A game of hackey sack became a tradition in Dallas.  Matt Witten, Patty, Me and Oscar hacked from half hour to the 15 minute call.  We were allowed to use O as a racket, as Patty is doing here.  Matt Witten is awesome.

Alright, and now the pictures from the White Trash Party:

Gwen, Cary, and Renee.  Sassy.

This is backstage at The Maury Povich Show. Tatoos provided by Susan Varela
I will never wear that shirt again.   Chubbo...

The Ladies of Little Women.

Squatch and fiancee Janet (wardrobe super) showing us what they'll be wearing for the ceremony.  Its non-traditional.

Maureen arrives to great fanfare.

Suzy, and Anne.

Renee and Kevin Duda showing us what love really looks like.

Maureen and Anne on a man hunt.  Julie Foldesi is in the back there.

Billy and Autumn in their Dog the Bounty Hunter garb.

James found some pants...

Susan, maureen, and Peggy Taphorn.

Susan and Peggy.

Cary and Susan.

Ok, I gotta go.

Sadness in the Home Stretch

Here we are in Portland.  The final week.  WOW.  Seriously, we're all kinda freaked out that we made it and are looking back at this lifetime that we've spent on the road.

Sadly, Katie Fisher has suffered an injury and will be unable to complete the tour.  We hope she has a speedy recovery.  Katiekoo is a survivor, and there is no doubt that she will return to work stronger than ever.  Get well soon!

I'm going to share pix now:

This is us meeting Lynne Cheney and her granddaughters.  It was my first VIP meeting and the way the Secret Service scanned the room before she came in was a sight.

Me and Lynne. Note my inablility to look like a normal person.

Katie and Lynne.

Me and Chris Matthews from his eponymous Harball.  Tall guy.  I don't watch his show, too many interruptions.

Me and Jeffrey Ross.  This guy is a comedian and holds the record for the funniest joke I've ever heard.  I will not share it (its offcolor) but he was really cool.

I got the impression that Chris Matthews had a crush on Renee.  Who wouldn't?

Me giving Maureen the "Mrs. Varela treatment".
She digs me.

Susan and I.  I love my coat.  I shall miss it.  I'm keeping the pocketwatch tho, I bought it.  Its Thomas The Tank Engine.

Renee, Autumn and Patty at the Christmas Party.  Autumn had some knee probs during the run but she pulled through.

Susan with Squatch (flyman).  Yes, he is wearing a leather kilt.

I'll post more later.  Sorry for the hodgepodge, but internet here is spotty and you gotta get what you can.

Los Angeles

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I don't care for excuses so I will offer none.  D.C. was a great city to hang out in, although it is, I am sure, a single mile from the Sun.  We didn't get much walking done because it was incredibly hot for almost the entire month we were there.  I'm a big politics junkie so getting to the monuments and all that was a "must do" for me.
Cary Michelle Miller, using her Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO), got us into the Capitol for a great tour.  We even got to sit in the House chamber when it was full of our reps.  I had a good time picking out the ones that I knew.  Our guides said that if you could name 5 member of the House, then you know more than most Americans.

This is Me at the Capitol.  Man, it was so incredibly hot that we could only stay out here for a few moments before we all ran back in for the AC.   It was really busy and there were all kinds of press conferences taking place with SWAT teams all over.  There was a copy of the Magna Carta there as well as statues from every state representing important folk from across America.  There is also a mini subway tram that goes from the Capitol to the huge Congressional offices across the street. It looks like the highest in late '60's technology.  I half expected to see Sean Connery's 007 shooting it out with a bad guy as it started moving.

I managed to get us hooked up with a tour of the White House!  Thas right, I said it.  Deb Fiddelke, who is a Legislative liason, offered to take some of us on an after hours tour of the West Wing.
Lets see, who do we got here from left to right: Brenda, Katie, Renee, Susan, Me, Robin, Autumn, Cary, James, Gwen, with Kevin Duda down in front.  Again it was hot and security was considerable.

Here is Me and the Missus by the Rose Garden.  The Prez makes lots of announcements and ceremonial hoohahs from the stairs just behind us on the right and the Oval Office is right behind that with the glass doors.

Here's a closer shot of the Oval Office doors.  And us.  The President was in Russia so he was unable to say hello.
Did I mention that I'm totally psyched that I figured out how to post pix?

The gang at the door where the muckety-mucks get into the White House.  FYI: if the President is here, there would be a Marine at this door.

Stephen and Robin Patterson.

When we got to the Press Room, I was asked to give an impromptu press conference about the situation in Latin America.  I didn't have my slides but I think I laid out a compelling case for saving the Puffin.

Stephen Patterson hates the Puffin.  Passionately.

As I mentioned before, I'm a political junkie and thus I am a regular watcher of Special Report with Brit Hume.  I figured that I should at least try to invite Brit to the show but I had no illusions that he would actually come.  Well, not only did he come, he came backstage, met my family and then invited me to come sit in on a taping of his show the following week.  I was flabbergashted.  and delighted.

Man, I am smiling like I've been kicked by a horse.  Really, I think he thinks I'm a complete dork.

Susan and Oscar were there that night so we all got in the pic.  The woman with him is his wife, Kim Hume, who is a biggie at the division.  I am still smiling like I've got no sense at all.

I took this photo. Oscar chased this duck for a half an hour.

Susan and Kim Hume during our visit to Fox News.

Flora Balog is Brit's assistant and she is the one who arranged for the Hume's to come to the show as well as for my subsequent visit to their offices.  She gave us out tour and is a complete sweetheart.  Thank you, Flora.  It was the experience that made my time in DC.

She even let me sit at Brit's desk.  I touched nothing.

Me and Brit.  He asked me to read some news but I couldn't.  I'm still smiling like a dweeb.

I'm also a big fan of Fox News Sunday.  They let me sit in on the Panel when we discussed Puffins.  Left to right: Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal, Maura Liasson of NPR, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, Juan Williams of NPR and, of course, The Brit Master.

I gotta go, I'll post some more later. 

Washington D.C.

We're here in D.C. for a month so we can put down some roots for a while and feel like we're not living out of a suitcase for once.  After almost a year on tour, that means alot.
Opening night at the Kennedy Center is really quite a thrill.  The hallways around our theater are these capacious marble and flag-festooned passages that look like something out of the original Superman movie.  The theater is reminiscent of the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC: deep red walls and huge chandeliers.  We've already had some VIP's come to the show (The Vice President's wife, Lynne Cheney, was here and she brought her granddaughters who are cute and love chocolate) and we're expecting some more to come see the show throughout our run here.
At the opening night party, Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, was there and graciously agreed to pose for photos with many of the cast members.  Jeffery Ross, a comedian who has my record for the funniest off-color joke I've ever heard, was there, as well as Joe Pantoliano, who is much taller than I had envisioned him.
D.C. is very civilized (recent crime spree notwithstanding).  Riding the Metro here, you will see a courteousness that is sorely lacking on the NYC subways.  I've hypothesized that it has to do with the presence of so many military personnel, who have strict codes of personal conduct, that raises the bar on everyone's behavior.  It makes me think of all the young DC men who have the benefit of good examples around them on a daily basis and how in NYC I've seen small boys witnessing men behaving in the most deplorable fashion.  I'm a big fan of military people and all that they do for us.  Be good to them, they deserve it.
We took a tour of the Capitol building, courtesy of Congressman Ike Skelton via our own Cary Michelle Miller.  It was really amazing to sit in the House of Representatives and see all of your reps doing that thing that they do.  The Capitol is really an amazing place and if you every get a chance to have a look at it, it will take your breath away.  Next week, we go on a tour of the White House! I'll let you know how it goes.
My offer of backstage tours has been quite a success.  I've given a bunch of tours to all of you lovely people who managed to get out here and I look forwad to a bunch more.

Garbage Party

Just came back from my first "Garbage Party".  Its a great tradition whereby people on tour about to move on to the next city, bring all of their uneaten food and we throw together whatever ingredients to make food for a party.  I've never been to one, but I had a great time (I was going to write "I had a blast" but I'm over 35 and that would just be pathetic) and Eleanor Norton (no nickname to date), Orlando, and I took a dozen eggs, a pound of cheeses (plural), pounds of vegetables, and a hint of cinnamon (Orlando's suggestion) and made a frittatta.  If you don't know what that is, its a big omlette that you bake.
At first I was worried that the egg hadn't cooked enough and that I would risk salmonella if I ate it (everyone else did, I didn't share my fears.  Lesson: don't eat anything the cook won't eat) but it was delicious and, so far, without health repercussions.  Found out that Renee doesn't understand the sun dried tomato, it upsets her like an eclipse upset the Aztecs.

Our musicians are leaving us.  Here are their names, I know I'm going to miss someone and if I get your instrument wrong, don't complain: I didn't have to even mention you.
Chris Miele-reeds
Sheila Abate-French horn
Claudia Chopek-violin
Orlando WonTwentyDollarsFromMeAtPoker (found out he was half Puerto Rican tonite, explains the cinnamon)-Viola
Kevin McManus-trombone
Stephen I'mFromVirginiaButIDontWantPeopleToThinkI'mAHick

SoISayI'mFromDC-I forgot what he plays but he used to cause trouble with Eleanor, who plays the cello on that side of the pit, so I'm going to say woodwinds.

You all were great, you know that.  The musicians on our tour add a great energy to whatever we were doing and we will truly miss them that are leaving.

The one's that are staying, well, they're nothing but trouble...

Alright then,

Its clear that this show has enough devoted fans (who come on this site) and the group is, shall we say, exclusive enough that if any of you out there are in a position to see the show again (fyi, DC from 6/26-7/24) you will get a PERSONAL backstage tour from me and a chance to meet Ms. McGovern (who is an actual angel) and all that nonsense.   Heck, I'll throw in dinner after whatever performance you happen to see!

To reiterate: If you post on this site, and you can make it to a show, I will attempt to arrange all of those glittering experiences for you.  So write to the webmaster at LittleWomenonBroadway.com and he'll forward your email to my address. 

I guess I need to put the disclaimer in there that if anyone, in my opinion, turns out to be crazy, or if someone who knows about these things advises me that this is an unsafe idea, then we're gonna forget it.  But I'm just puttin' it out there...

-V

Press Day

Yesterday I did a press all morning here in Cincinnati: the FOX morning show and two radio interviews.  It was a surprise that they asked me, let's put it this way: the Professor Bhaer action figure is not selling as well as the Marmee in flying battle armor.  The lovely Nancy Parrott picked me to do the interviews because she reads this blog!  Fancy that, she's gotten the mistaken impression that I've got some sort of engaging personality.  Poor kid.
Nancy picked me up (in a Caddy, thank you very much) and took me to the tv station, and when we pulled up, the M&M mobile was there in the parking lot!  It was awesome and the girls who were driving it let me have a look inside and everything.  Let's put it this way, no gps.  Actually, I'm not sure they even had a cd player.  But man, they had a load of chocolate in that thing.
I was waiting in the green room and one of the other people being interviewed walked in and it was Sharon Wheatley.  Now Sharon and I go WAY back, we both worked on my first paying job back in '91.  She's just written a book about called "'til the fat girl sings" about her experience being an overweight teen whom everyone said would never make it, to being in THREE Broadway shows!  Sharon is a good egg and she's not used to talking about herself this much but people are emailing that she's really helping them with their own weight issues.  She and I went back and forth, just like old times, and she even managed to get Sheila Gray (my interviewer) to give me a little grief.  It was great, I love doing press.
Then I went and did a taped interview with Mark DeWitt WAIFand then did a live interview with Kelly St. James on WAKW.  That last one I was worried about.  I'm kind of gregarious and that can rub people the wrong way, but I don't really have another setting.  WAKW is a Christian station and I had this image that I was going back into the Catholic school that I'd left 30 years ago.  Let me tell you how wrong I was.  Kelly St. James gave as good as she got, (why are women always hassling me ;-), and the front office girls at the station are having a ball behind their desks.  I've been glad to be wrong few times in my life, and this is up there.
Like I said, I love doing press.  If I gotta get up at 6:30, I'm glad its cuz I'm gonna have fun.

Dallas

So on this tour we've taken to having a monthly paintball day, and it is something that we all look forward to and take very seriously.  Its the day that we leave "Little Women" behind and become "SWAT".  This past Thursday, the usual cadre (Billy, Squeege, Fluff, Patty, Me, Dan, Minarik, the new guy Matty, John Mark) were joined by GIRLS!  Julie Foldesi and Autumn joined the men in our ritual of sweat, fury, and pain.
If you've never been to paintball, you're biggest worry is the pain.  A nickel-sized sphere travelling at 300 fps can leave a nasty welt.  That's part of the charm.  After any day of paintball, there is the obligatory "comparison of the wounds".  Everyone lifting their shirts to show the rainbow of colors that surround the telltale white welt.  Autumn and Julie handled themselves well and even proved invaluable to their teams. Julie appears rather unscathed while Autumn has a bruise on her leg that looks like a purple fried egg.  Patty, who turns out to be a killing machine, took home the men's trophy bruises, the one on his back is particularly gruesome.
A great time was had by all.  I was thinking of posting some of the bruise photos, but Susan advised against it.

Last night was a party hosted by Julie and Cary Michelle, the theme of which was tacky clothes.  The entire company thought about this for weeks since the announcement and the parade of costumes did not dissappoint.  Big hair, blue eyeshadow, tattoos, and trucker hats everywhere.  Ann Kannengeiser's striking red hair was handsomely coiffed into something of a cross between Opie and Darth Vader.  Billy and Autumn came as Dog the bounty hunter and his wife, with Billy as the wife.  Duda was a hillbilly and concertmistress Susie was a pregnant smoker.
Maureen graciously catered the whole affair, even as many of us brought our own favorite trashy foods, including a chili dip that I dispatched almost singlehandedly. 

Katie Fisher will be joining us this week and performing this weekend's matinees and resuming her regular schedule next week in Louisville, KY.  It will be good to have her back.

Julie Foldesi's last performance will be the Thursday matinee.  We will miss her. Meet her and you'll understand why.

The Games People Play

Someone asked what sorts of things we do to each other to mess around.  I have to explain that there is a fine line on those sorts of things.  If you intend to mess around with someone, you have to be reasonably certain that that person will be able to continue with whatever stage business they have to do, that means you can't do something that will affect the flow of the performance.
Sadly there are some of us who, regardless of how subtle the particular trick being played is, will have a hard time keeping it together.  I am, unfortunately, that sort of person.  I get tickled even thinking that something is being done.  Susan is better at it than me, but we really don't mess with her because she's ususally the focus of every scene she's in and that's off limits.
Steve Patterson once appeared in the wings, directly in my view, carrying a coil of rope, and started acting like he was a mountain climber.  Now, you may wonder why that's funny but I was facing offstage directly at him and I had to bite the inside of my cheek.  I am the worst.  Patterson also is the king of the zinger snuck in during general hubbub.  Susan is always telling me the things he's saying when there is the upset in the March home over Amy's fall thru the ice.  "Jo, go on forgive her.  Have you been drinking?"  Stuff like that.  You can always tell when he gets her with one because when Jo tells everyone to be quiet, Susan yells it furiously, trying to get it under control.

Congrats to Sutton Foster on her Tony nomination! Haven't seen the show but heard she's incredible.