The Wiz report for Tuesday

What a day we had today! In the afternoon we celebrated Bob's 29th birthday with a very large (and very tasty) cake and ticket offer. Next we were off to Sardi's for the unveiling of Jay and Bob's caricature. From there we raced next door to the theatre for our pre-set call. Jay and I walked in the door a few minutes late for our call and went right from the stage door to the stage, where we found the crew doing their thing. I'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to the crew. We have a terrific group of guys - all very hardworking, nice and extremely funny. We all have our pre-show routine. Jay sets the puppets, I make sure he sets them and then I set the few things I am in charge of, Roger sets the props and Doug sets Spaulding. All of us laugh through the entire call. Jay tells stories. We tease each other. We have a great time. Now keep in mind that when we first got to the Hayes, the crew did not know what they were in for. They didn't know that the puppets have names. They didn't know the "care and feeding of a puppet". And they certainly didn't know how much we would enjoy being there. Over the past few weeks, they've learned these things and we all enjoy those moments together. They now know that puppets have names and sometimes they talk to the puppets, or puppets talk to them. It's like this crew has been with us from the start. So today Jay and I are running a bit late, throwing off our pre-show routine just a tad. We're on stage and Doug comes over to Roger and says "the ball is set". Roger quickly jumps in there telling Doug that "the ball" has a name - "Spaulding". What ensued was a five minute comedy routine featuring Roger and Doug about the names that the inanimate objects have. According to Doug, the mop is soon going to have its own name. We had a great laugh. It's a wonderful feeling to have such an involved crew and one that cares so much about the show - thanks guys, you are all the best!

It was a terrific show tonight - full of energy and laughter. For those of you keeping track "the ball" (a.k.a. Spaulding) rolled and rolled and kept on rolling right off the stage. Darwin did a very fast version of "Glad Bless America". Victor (the substitute for Joe on lights) was the clear winner. He got it right off the bat. He's much better at this game than I am. I was the clear loser. Either way, it was one heck of a night.

Until the next one,
Wiz