Woodstock Vermont
I have never been to Vermont before and it is absolutely charming if Woodstock is a good representative of the State. With the snow on the ground and the Currier and Ives architecture I think we have been transported back to Christmas time. We are staying at the Blue Horse Inn, a bed and breakfast that is next door to the theater. I thought the hotel in Richardson was great, but this charming little place is even closer to the theatre.
Steve Bearse, the youngest member of the Two and Only, great guy and talented on almost as many levels as John Ivy, met John and me at the airport in Boston. We drove from there to Vermont. Since we are doing three shows in three nights, sometimes a six hour drive apart we needed Steve to help us mount this show quickly.
I met Steve when he did the sound for me at the Cape Playhouse. He is wise beyond his years. At the Playhouse I thought I was going to enlighten him on the superstition of whisting backstage. I said, "Do you know where that superstiion started?" Although I had the information all ready to go he informed me that sailors used to man the ropes at "hemp house theaters" in the old days. They were high up in the grid and usually drunk. On a ship, sailors communicate with signals from a bosins whistle. In the old days if you whistled on stage it might lead a drunken sailor to drop a set on your head. With that Steve told me that the Playhouse used to be a hemp house and the hemp rigging was still in the grid. Before long we were climbing up dark ladders to see the old top grid and spy the view from the Playhouse coupla. I heard myself repeating a line from the movie Casablanca, "This could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship."
Steve also ran the sound for us at the York Theatre last year in New York City. Like so many other members of the Two and Only Teddybears I am blessed by knowing Steve. Although I know that this next week will be a challenge, I have the feeling it will go way to fast for me. I love working with the likes of John and Steve. To have their level of artisty supporting my show is a fairytale scenerio. I could perhaps be the luckiest most blessed guy on the planet.
As you were,
Jay