one nighters and Gettsberg

Just before Newark, James, Ray, and I went to Gettysburg. It was fascinating, haunting, sad, and enlightening. I have always wanted to visit there since I was a child, and we did the five hour tour via car before our night show in Hershey. I am so thankful I got to go. The two pictures below are from there.

Devil's Den Gettysburg

a cannon in a field

Then we had a string of one nighters after Newark, this pictures of which I am posting below.

being random somewhere a theatre we went to that was really pretty Joe's Birthday

Louis as Judas for the first time in Buffalo I think it was-he did awesome!

The last couple weeks besides Newark have been filled with one nighters around the Northeast, from Massachusettes to PA. The cities, although beautiful, start to really meld together after a while when all you see is the theatre. Above are some highlights in pictures.

Holy Week, Newark, and the Show

at Hair the first night with a bunch of the cast

This weekend we spent Maundy (spelling?) through Easter in Newark, NJ for a six show sit-down. As a Christian, it was such an unbelievably powerful experience getting to do this show during Holy Week. Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter shows were so overwhelming for me. I was so grateful to get to be a part of this show and really live the story I was celebrating in church at the same time. I am always grateful to be a part of this show, but this time was particularly special for me.

On top of the shows, I did the following things:

1. Auditioned for the Broadway company of Spiderman and a summer production at Gettysberg

2. went to see "Hair" on Broadway with Ted, JD, Shannon, Daryl, Raz, Ethan, Daron, Craig and Misty, and my mom went with me...Loved the show!!!!!

3. went to Baptist Church on Sunday in Newark and had a wonderful Easter Sunday service and a fabulous brunch with our amazing company manager, who I ran into at the service! If you are ever in Newark, go to Don Pepes! Then my mom and two of my best friends, Dominique and Colleen, came to the show!!! Then I hung out with a couple guys in the cast who were hanging out with some awesome people from last year's company before heading into the city! It was a fabulous Easter day! And I ended it by eating way too much Easter candy and Peeps.

4. received a BEAUTIFUL Turkish charm from a lovely couple who I met at the stage door. It meant the world to me- Thank you!

5. had wine and dinner in the city with my lovely Joe and his friend from college

6. had dinner with one of my most favorite people in the world. His name is Stanley and he was a drummer in the days of Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, all the greats. The most amazing stories you will ever hear.

7. I slept. Oh wait, that hasn't happened yet. I'm going to do that right now.

Off to Providence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Goodnight!

XO

Haley

The Florida Leg of the Tour

me and my beautiful mom and grandma in Tampa Friday night

some of the girlies in Daytona

By the end of the FL tour, I was tired and loopy but so grateful to have seen family!!!!!!

I had SUCH a fabulous blast in Florida when we were there just a short while ago. My family is all from Florida, so it was really neat to be traveling through my hometown, and to sleep in my own bed when I was home! It was a week of beaches, pools, and tans for most but for me, it was a week of catching up with family and old friends. I cannot tell you how grateful I was to be able to see my family and friends after six months! They all came to my show at Ruth Eckerd, which was so fabulous!!!!!!

Clearwater at Ruth Eckerd Hall was the big day for me. It was a two show Saturday, but for me, it was so much more than that. I met up first with the woman who first got me into theatre, named Roseann, who I had lost touch with for 10 YEARS! This lady cast me in my first lead role in a musical ever, and was the first to ever be like, hey you're pretty good, kid! She continued to be my first voice teacher for two years or so. Needless to say, without her, I not only would not be an actress, but I never would have gotten through middle school. It's teachers like that BELIEVE in you that get you through those tough years. Despite the social toughness (and boy was it rough) of middle school, I had theatre to get me through, and people that believed I was good at it pushing me. I gave her students a tour backstage and talked to her class at the conservatory next door to the theatre. It was really cool.

Then my family came to both the matinee and the evening shows. My mom's friends, my teachers from high school, my dads friends, my grandparents, my grandparent's friends, my uncles and aunts and cousins were all there!!!!!!!! It was such a wonderful feeling to walk out of the stage door and see a ton smiling faces waiting to hug me!!!!! After the evening show, the theatre threw us a reception, and the theatre director gave me a shout-out for being from the hometown and says he always loves to see local talent coming through. He was so wonderful, and it was really special.

The whole day was just magical. It was a dream come true, really, finally getting to show family and friends what it is I do.

DC

me and the Lincoln Memorial

me and Judy's slippers

at the cast party with Joe and Ted

Ok, so it's been an awfully long time since I've written, so I'm just going to start with DC. DC was a fabulous week, even though I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked because I was trying to catch up on things that one has to catch up on during sitdowns on tour. Case in point, my hair was brown at the roots and blond on the bottom, so I needed to get it dyed one way or another. The first day in I traveled into Maryland and got it done at the Saks Salon, and now it is super, super blond!

The rest of the time I did the following things:

1. Saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Great War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial in an hour and half, would have liked to have spent more time, but glad I saw them regardless.

2. went to the American history museum and got to see Judy Garland's ruby slippers (well, one pair of them-apparently there were like 10) from The Wizard of Oz, as well as Abe Lincoln's tophat, many of the old first lady's dresses, and the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the anthem.

3. had a cast mixer with the cast of JCS, Chorus Line, and Civil War, thanks to our marvelous casting director Dave, who happened to be in town to mount his production of Civil War at the Ford's Theatre

4.Troika threw us an awesome cast party opening night. We had such a blast, and everyone from the Troika office was there as well as cast and crew for food, drinks, and fun!

5. pretty much spent the rest of the time either sleeping, eating, or at the Warner Theatre. I ate sushi like four times that week, I have not the foggiest idea why.All and all, it was a good time, and my friend Caroline came the last night which was fun!

A Carolina Girl Again (well, for three days)

I just spent the last four days in Durham, NC, about 15 minutes away from where I spent the last four years of my life. It was a really weird mix of emotions being back- a simulatenous finality (I didn't go to my graduation so it was my first time there as a "graduate," and an intense pride I had in my school.

I flew in a day early to Chapel Hill because I wanted to go to my dear friend Eve Carson's one year memorial. It was a beautiful day, a day she really would have loved. Hundreds of people came to the campus meeting place, the pit, for a celebration of her amazing life. I felt in that moment how lucky I was to have known her and to call her my friend. She made the kind of difference in this world in her short 22 years that most of us cannot achieve in a whole, full life.

The rest of the company joined me in Durham the following day. I was excited to do the show for my friends, family, and teachers.
First off, they wrote an article about me coming back
http://www.dailytarheel.com/news/university/former_lorelei_part_of_jesus_rock_opera_tour-1.1598537
in which two of my drama teachers said really sweet things about me. I didn't expect many people to come see me, but SO MANY people were so supportive and came out. The first night, around 30 of my drama friends showed up at a bar in Chapel Hill to celebrate my return on tour to the Triangle! I had such a blast with these people, and it was such a blessing to get to see them again. I also spent some quality time with my brother and my Mama!

All in all, coming back to college was a wonderful experience. For my first time back as a single woman in four years (I dated a guy all through college,) it felt freeing, and I realized how independent I have become. I realized I needed the time off to really learn to try to respect myself. It was great to visit old haunts, spend time with old friends, see the fam, and re-connect to the real, non-tour world, if only for a few days.

Now we trudge forever onward unto a week of one nighters. Knoxville, TN was sold out and one of the best audiences we've had!

XO FOR NOW!
Haley
“I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.” Mae West

my mom and I

My Mom came to visit me in Durham and we have had a blast!!!!!!!!!

Playing Mary

MY ROOMIE AND I (WHO WENT ON FOR ME AS MAID BY THE FIRE WHEN I WAS ON FOR MARY AND DID FABULOUS!)
On February 28th, 2009, an extremely sleepy girl awoke around 12:30 from a long busride from Cleveland to Flint, Michigan, to find out that she would be going on for Mary Magdalene at 3PM that day. Thrilled and frightened to death, said sleepy girl quickly woke up from adrenaline, left her hair and makeup to her dear fellow cast member David Baghat, and got ready to play the role of a lifetime opposite Ted Neeley.

And what a day it was! The first show I did decently well, but there we were technical aspects I had to work out. For example, how not to trip over my skirt when I stood up and exactly how long it would take me to get to x space by y line. Adrenaline, nerves, and Ted guided me through it. I was so thankful for the one opportunity, I cried at curtain call.

And how lucky was I to find out that the music directors and stage manager wanted to me to have another go at it at the evening performance? It was this show that I felt I was able to truly allow myself to trust the work I had done and really just live in the moment. I immersed myself in the piece and every moment. It was truly one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. When it was over, I couldn't sleep for two nights straight. I was just so thrilled and thankful to have had the chance to play Mary opposite Ted, and it took a few days for the excitement of what I had done to really settle with me.

I am so lucky and so thankful.