The St. Louis Puzzle Challenge!

Hello from glorious St. Louis! Home of one of my favorite foods - FRIED RAVIOLI! (And the best part is, in St. Louis, they use MEAT ravioli so even Brian can eat them!)

We are performing at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, another wonderfully historic theatre that any person in theatre should visit. The backstage is covered in show logos and signatures of casts from years and years of touring companies coming through (including the smash hit, The Drowsy Chaperone!).

Company and Stage Management have continued the puzzle tradition that we started in Seattle and do we have a doozy here in St. Louis! It is a 1,000 piece Jackson Pollock puzzle. Yes, that's right, the artist who is famous for his paint-splatter paintings.

We started it Tuesday night and so far have gotten this much done...

Tonight, as we stood around during intermission, Taylor set forth a challenge: If we can finish the puzzle by the end of the show next Saturday night (our 2nd to last performance in St. Louis) he will give us a $50 gift certificate to somewhere.

Can we do it?? Only time will tell...

8, no, 5, no 3!

So we are officially on a 3 Week Layoff. We couldn't be more excited! Last week the tour was in Wallingford CT. Because of some financial issues with ticket sales, the presenter decided to cut down to 5 shows. So we flew to NYC on Monday, and the Crew bussed to Wallingford. Beth and I hopped in a cab and went home to hoboken for the day. We had some friends over for dinner and wine, and desert, and hunt out for the night. Tuesday we got some things done around the house, and then packed the car and drove up to Wallingford. Load in started at 6pm on Tuesday, and continued Wednesday morning, and we opened that night. Thursday was a dark day, so Beth and i hopped in the car and drove up to Attleboro to visit and hang out. Friday i had a wisdom tooth pulled and got a check up at the doctors.

After that, we drove back to Wallingford for a show Friday night. Saturday everyone awoke to the news that a huge storm was rolling up the East Coast. Saturday's matinee was uneventful and between shows, there was a chili cook-off and secret Santa reveal. At 7pm, the presenter, fearful of the snow coming, canceled the show that evening. We headed home and waited for the snow to fall, and waited, and waited, and then finally at a little after 10pm, the storm ripped thru the area, kicking up high winds, and a dusty snow. It came down in heaps, and by morning, around 9am, the snow had stopped, and we had probably 12" or more on the ground. at 9:30am, the presenter, fearful of making people drive, decided to cancel the matinee. For those of you keeping track at home. That means, we'd done 3 of the 5 scheduled shows. They set a 3pm call for the load out, and we went in and tore it out. I was in the car with Beth by 6pm and home in hoboken shortly before 8.

And now the craziness begins. Going to be traveling up and down 95 a bit this coming week+ visiting family and friends. Time to head into the city and do some more xmas shopping and other errands. If your in the Boro from December 23rd-26th let us know. And if your in Bel Air from December 26th-30th let us know!

B

and

B

Madison Wi

Checking in from the great midwest. It's between shows on Saturday. We came to Madison, from Charlotte NC. Because of the length of the trip, we didn't start load in, until 2am Tuesday morning, and worked all day, to get the show ready to open at 7:30 Tuesday night. As we left the theatre Tuesday afternoon, the snow started to fall. By the time it stopped around 4pm Wed, there were 15" on the ground. One of the biggest storms to hit the area in recent memory, and to boot, classes were canceled at the University of Wisconsin for the FIRST TIME. The student body went nuts.

Im not sure who still checks in, to see the going ons, of this blog, but i promise you now, it will get better! It's been about a year since I (Brian) really settled in and did some blogging. Plenty has happened to Beth and I in the past... Year.

Here are a few of the Milestones:

We just celebrated a year of being open, on Grease. We celebrated with a cake, at the opening party in Charlotte NC.

We celebrated 6 years of dating, on November 14th. Which coincided with the wedding of Dusty and Mercury Amodio. Beth and I were lucky enough to be able to take off a few days from tour, and be with them, and all our friends on their special day. It was a beautiful service and a fun reception. The space was amazing and the bride looked beautiful to boot.

We are in our 4th month of marriage now. It seems like Sept 5th, just happened. I couldn't be happier and I'm looking forward to the future!

We hosted our first holiday! We had the Renoni Parentals and the Cochran Parentals over for Thanksgiving. It was a little hectic, with sinks not working, toilets not working, pilot lights going out and the general mayhem that is being a homeowner. But all in all it was a fantastic few days we got to spend with our parents, in our new home. Things are shaping up nicely. Hopefully we will get some pictures of everything up soon!

Coming up next.... We are going to be heading into a 3 week layoff. It will start on December 21st and run until January 10th, when we will be heading to one of our favorite stops, St. Louis. We've got lots planned for the time off. Visits to Attleboro for Xmas, Bel Air for fake-Xmas, and Hoboken for New Years thru the 10th. Plenty of projects planned for around the condo, maybe some painting, and some more cleaning, fixing, setting up.

The spring lines up nicely for the tour. There is plenty of time off mixed in with some work. It seems we are out for 3-4 weeks and then followed by a week off. This is nice for us, because we get to spend more time in our home!

We're Married!

Well, it's official! B&B and now Mr. & Mrs. Brian Renoni!

Saturday was possibly the most perfect day ever! We could not have asked for better weather, better friends & family or a better party!

Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Delaware, and to those who tuned in via webcast for the ceremony!

You can still go on our website to watch a recording of the ceremony...

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bandb-wedding

And, our amazing photographer, Joel Plotkin, posted a preview of our wedding pictures on his blog. Check them out here...

http://www.plotkinphotography.com/blog/2009/09/beth-brian-winterthur-gardens-and-estate-september-5-2009/

Off to Aruba tomorrow!

Cold Foot!

Hey Gang!

Brian's turn to write a post. Been a few, I know. But with the wedding slave drivers cracking the whip lately, i havent had much time for blogging. But since I am mere hours from my vacation, i thought i would drop in and update folks from Orlando!

We loaded out of Tampa sunday night, at a pretty good clip i must say, and then hopped on a bus and drove to Orlando. About a 90 minute drive, we were in bed by 3am. Not bad, by touring standards. Slept on and off for the better part of 12 hours yesterday, surfacing now and then for food and water. Load in at the Bob Carr performing arts center was to start at 6:00pm. We started dumping the first truck and it didnt look pretty outside, weather wise. The first carpentry truck unloaded, they backed in the Electrics truck. Wouldnt ya know it, they open the doors and the skies opened up. It was raining sideways for a good 20 minutes while June dumped the truck, her first time. Fun right?

Ah, backing up. June Abernathy is filling for me while i take a month off for the wedding and the honeymoon and what not, and is doing a little extra fill in time for our deck electrician. Wonderfuly lady i met on Drowsy, she is married to our flyman from Drowsy, Kevin Lowther. Another great person in this biz. She lives in the tampa/st. pete area, so training was no problem. She spent our week in Tampa learning the rig and the show call. She is making 3 or 4 jumps with Grease. Previous work includes, but is not limited to, Phantom, Lion King, Les Miz, Beauty and the Beast, Showboat, and the list goes on. I am hoping she can teach me a thing or two about the show!

So the load in here in Orlando, i was letting her do it on her own, so she got a good feel for how it was doing it with herself and 4 locals. As the 2nd to last piece was rolling into the building, off our truck, someone pushed a double stack of lighting truss riiiiight into my ankle. I was facing away from the piece, so i never saw it coming. See below.

Below is my wound. Pretty nasty bruise going on now. Fun. But after X-rays, No damage! Yay!

So I went to the hospital, they took x-rays, didn't see turn up anything, and they sent me on my way. Got back to the hotel, just as the load in was ending, so I met up with the crew at the bar. Also joining was Chad Decaprio, an old college friend of Beth and I's. He held his own with the crew and it was a good time. Getting up in the morning, not such a good time.

But now we are at opening night, they are running soundcheck and June is doing this one on her own! Should be a good show, and then hanging out after, and some sleep before my flight home tomorrow! WooHoo!

Updated Tour Route!

We've gotten an updated tour schedule for GREASE and we're booked through June of 2010! Check the Route to the right to see if we're coming to a city near you...

p.s. be sure to scroll down past the Hoboken entry for NEW past-dated entries!

12 Days to Go

I am sitting here on my parents couch in Bel Air, for one of the last times as a single gal of the Cochran name. While there have been many exciting things happening recently, I'm feeling a little melancholy. I feel like every time you get to an exciting new point in your grown up life, there's more anticipation to grow up and get older and do that thing you've never been able to do before, and that overpowers any sad or scared feelings hiding in back. Or maybe I'm just forgetting the sad and scared part, because what's the point in remembering that? The happy feeling at the end of the road is really all that matters.

Now I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here - I have never been more happy, excited and 100% sure about anything in my entire life than getting married next week.

I think I am just really feeling the emotional weight of everything. And maybe it's hitting me a little harder than I expected because I'm an only child, and I feel like I'm leaving my parents, who truly are 2 of my best friends in life, with no one else around to annoy the crap out of them. (Although grandma can get feisty sometimes... )

The concept of "home" is a little confusing these days too. Bel Air has always been home. But now, none of my stuff is really there, and I have to sleep in the guest room because we took the bed. Day to day, the hotel of the week is where we call home. And while Hoboken is where all my stuff is, we haven't spent enough time there to really make it feel like home quite yet. Plus it wasn't any fun being there all by myself on Saturday night! (My cheerios weren't really interested in discussing what color we should paint the living room walls.)

I know things won't really be that different from how they are now, but there's something about it that's just getting to me. Maybe it's the anticipation of this day that has been building for 26 years, and more specifically the past year and a half. Or maybe I'm just not used to having this many emotions so close to the surface and randomly popping out in public places. And maybe stress and exhaustion are playing a tiny little part in all this too.

Ah well. Tomorrow is another day. If nothing else, typing this up made me feel better.

And I will finish this post off with the news that our fabulous new dining room table that I have been pining after for 2 years is being delivered tomorrow! I guess growing up isn't all bad :)