It will never not amuse me how actors who can sing and dance in front of a crowd of thousands are terrified to make an announcement on the backstage PA. 😂 Half hour admittedly is complicated and has an expected flow to it, and we always make a big deal when an actor tries it for the first time.

It was Simba & Nala photo day for Broadway Cares. Once the photo line was closed off I got to hop over to our table to watch the keychains being sold for the first time. I was even recognized from the photo on the top of the display!

The keychains I make for Broadway Cares are flying off the rack as we finish up our collection season. Spent my morning making another boxful. One more box of empty keychains to make! Hoping for some more dashiki fabric so I can make my rare “One By One Confetti” design, but I need lots of colors.

I knew the sign on my mirror wasn’t going to be enough to remind me that we have an ASL show this afternoon so I left myself a little more.

Swings, man. Bam-bam-bam. 42 minutes to get through the whole show, and we’re walking out the door. Listen, don’t remind everybody when I say “But I did the one last week” that the rehearsal was just long enough for me to finish my exit photos.😁

I volunteered for the one rehearsal this week in the hopes it will allow me to say “not it!” at some later date when I need it. It shouldn’t be too bad: doesn’t start until 2:00, and it’s just one returning dancer swing with the dance captain, onstage, flat deck, just in their shoes.

In today’s game of “What Is This Lion King Thing?”, we had a bolt that I would have started with Puppets on, except they’re in the basement, so I started with everyone on the deck.
Answer: props uses them to attach the pole holders to the show deck.
Not the answer I was expecting.

Sitting in traffic entering Grand Rapids and this truck pulls alongside. Hi friend!

We’ve been talking a lot about Grand Rapids, Norfolk and Providence all at the same time, and when that happens it can be hard to keep a mental picture of which venue is next. So now I’ve taken the time to focus and make sure I have a mental map of the whole house and how I expect to set it up.

I wasn’t planning to work on this drive, but having a desk I was able to get my whole advance done while waiting to depart. It was already done sufficiently, because I knew I wouldn’t get my usual airport time, but now it’s overdone.

Very short bus travel day from Detroit to Grand Rapids. I’ve grabbed my snacks and I’m claiming the Designated Adult seat. Really looking forward to a relaxing drive and half a day off.

Score at the “free” box this city! I contributed a power strip and an HDMI cable, and I got a Bluetooth full-size keyboard. We’ll see if it’s useful enough to keep, before it goes back in the “free” box in some other city.

It occurs to me that I haven’t done a load-out since December. Tonight is one I’m happy to be in my own track for, as there are a number of locals here that I love, both FOH and backstage, and I’m sad to say goodbye to them. Hopefully we’ll all be together a third time someday.

There’s always something to learn about this show. I’ve been here more than 4.5 years and tonight I noticed the crocodile has a tongue.

Cathy and I switched tracks for Circle of Life, and then switched to our scheduled assignments before Grasslands, and I literally walked right up into a lost-object crisis.
As Cathy observed from across the stage, “KP, you’ve been on SL for 30 seconds and you’re on the floor.”

Found out at the 5 call that I’m calling the matinee. Hold onto your butts, but I got so little sleep it might actually be easier to get it over with early. My day has already been made by the kid in the 2nd row with the light-up bunny ears. I called it in to our FOH SM but the mom turned them off.

It was fun to have to use that skill, and try to push it to the absolute limit. I went to the CMs to get an advance ruling on how long we could wait. They said 10 after. I love how this FOH runs. I love the house managers. So I confidently sat patrons until 9 after, and we started at 10 after.😎

Half the audience was stuck in traffic 10 mins to curtain. We had to send someone out to find an actor and take over his car so he could walk to work by places. In ye olde days I very often had to push the show start right up to the point of overtime. Now we start so early it’s not even a concern.

I love seeing a city that treats its baseball team’s home opener like a national holiday. But it’s also like if SantaCon was a baseball game, across the street from our stage door and in our parking lot.

Had a successful put-in for a bunch of understudies and internal covers today. I’ve been laying in my bed for the past half hour, and I can’t imagine having to get out of it in 5 minutes and do another Lion King. But we don’t have rehearsal tomorrow, so maybe I can make it 5 more hours.

I kept the flashlight on her departing back, and then I saw the thing that wasn’t normal. The strap was hooked under some kind of big round button-like thing on her back. Just as she was about to break the plane of the wing I reached my arm out, hooked the strap with a finger, and flipped it free.🏆

I saw the distinctive tugging that signals trouble and got my flashlight on, but there was seriously like 5 seconds and I couldn’t see enough of the big picture to identify what was wrong. She guided my hand to the strap on the whisk. But time was up, she said, “Never mind” and started walking on.

It’s so that if one of Rafiki’s many accessories gets tangled on one of the many baubles on her costume, the SM has a flashlight and can untangle it. This was the first time I was called upon by our new Rafiki, and very close to her entrance.

The half hour betw the 15 call and the 1st 15 minutes of the show was pandemonium, but I was proud of how one part of it came out: I always say the reason the SR SM is with Rafiki for all her R1 entrances is not because she and the local carp can’t figure out how to negotiate a curtain on their own.

Finally got to do SL for one show today, at least. Actually was able to coast through it just letting my body do the track. Biggest tech difficulty I encountered was Scar’s battery-powered fan getting a Tic Tac stuck inside its cage, which we couldn’t get open. I’m as confused as you.

It’s Saturday night in Detroit, and I’m calling the world’s #1 musical. I’m practicing more craft than art tonight, but I’m choosing to be proud of the times my difficult decisions have been correct.

Today is a day I’m like, “Another Lion King? I’ve been back for almost 2 weeks, how many more weeks could there possibly be? Like 600?”

We’re at the point where most people are dead and there’s maybe a dozen of the most ruthless assassins all gunning for each other. It’s hilarious to watch. Nearly every conversation I observe in the halls is people asking the stone cold killers if they’re still alive, and if not, what happened.

The stage house of course is a safe zone, but interestingly the lobby isn’t (nor are the aisles, though that falls under the category of “come on, don’t ruin it for everyone.”) I predicted at the start the lobby would be a bloodbath, and indeed that’s where I was slain by a hyena on Tuesday.

If one catches their assassin approaching they can yell “Sarabi!” for 10 minutes of immunity. There are show-critical safe zones which are clearly marked by neon tape on the floor. Our office is one, so some people have taken to spending most of their preshows with us.