Jo’s Quantum Cafe

Tuesday I flew up to DC on Jet Blue and it was a great flight. Richard got me a Sony Reader for the holidays so I spent the time reading a new Ann MacCaffrey novel, “Dragon Harper.” I finished the book on the way home. Love the reader.

I landed at Dulles 35 minutes early, then killed that time waiting for my bag. There’s no direct flight to National from Orlando. So after getting my bag, it was about a 45 minute ride by bus to L’Enfant station and then a train to Gallery Place and a walk to the Hampton Inn at the convention center. It turned out to be a very good hotel with microwave and frig in every room and even a wall safe. I roomed the night with Gail Erickson before moving over to another room (next to Billie, Karen, Ann R, and Maret) and shared my room with Sharon and Jenna, and Kari - when she joined us on the 17th. Dinner was at the Chinatown Express with Gail. It was good

Wednesday the 16th, more people arrived . Sharon arrived around noon and we went to CVS for water, had lunch in Chinatown (this one wasn’t so good). I skipped dinner, chilled most of the day, then got ready for the first performance, the dress rehearsal.

The crowd for this was small. Maybe 80 to 100 people. I sat in the first allowed row, which was actually the 3rd row from the stage. Scott stopped a couple of times in the performance to find his place (Brad on the piano helped out), but he glided over these spots so fluidly you would think the misses were part of the show. For me, the highlight was “If I Were a Rich Man” because he sang a good portion of the first stanza and did the walk (that thing with the shoulders). This was cut to a short few bars the next two nights.

After the rehearsal, we stayed in the theatre lobby, chewing the fat, until we were chased out by the staff wanting to close. We never saw Scott. Found out later the stage door was around the side of the building, but I never stood there. The group (22 of us) just wandered over to Clydes and now I was hungry. Several of us ordered food. I had a great tuna salad sandwich but only ate half of it. A spitball fight started (not really spit balls, just wadded paper) that went on all evening. Yes, we did pick up the papers afterward.

We all sat in a back room of the bar area and Christopher, who seemed to be the head of the bar area, really hustled to fill our orders and get food to our tables in a very timely fashion. He was great and I made it a point of stopping by the bar on the way out to thank him and tell him so. I didn’t get back to the hotel room until midnight. Sharon was in bed and Jenna was sound asleep.

Thursday, January 17, it snowed and I was absolutely thrilled with the weather. Giant flakes fell. I took several photos. We got out in it and headed early to the MLK library. We watched a sparrow that had flown into the library. I was worried about it but the guard said the sparrows did that all the time and they found their way out again.

I got a visual migraine attack. Had to swallow a pill with a handful of water from the bathroom sink. There was no water to be had. The fountains didn’t work. Anita and the rest of the group arrived and we all watched the first act of “Shenandoah,” then took a pitstop break. When we sat back down to watch the second act, there was no sound. Helene tried to jerry rig the sound but it was mono and so low no one could hear it. After several minutes of this, we all decided the group was now small enough to watch it on the TV set. Apparently there was a bad wire or major loose connection in the wiring of the projection TV table and the table would have to be torn apart to be repaired - not something we could do to temporarily fix it. Everything started out fine in the second act, then glitches began to appear and finally it got so bad the disk quit working altogether. Something was really wrong with the player. A new player couldn’t be switched out because the TV and player were built together. We never did get to see Act II. No fault of Anita’s. The disk had worked properly in Anita’s laptop. A bit disappointed, we all left to return to the hotel and get ready for the VIP night.

This was dress-up night. Getting ready, I discovered my boots had a hole in the heel and it was raining and slushy outside. I decided to wear my hiking boots (I lived in them in DC) with my dressy outfit. I don’t think anyone saw or noticed. We were up in what I call the nose bleed section. It was theatre seating so there were no heads in the way, but I watched the whole performance through binoculars.

During the day, Kari called me to say she had been in an accident. She had hit an icy patch and the car rolled sideways down an embankment. She recovered from this and was shook up. We had talked earlier in the day and I suggested that if she were already packed, she should try driving to DC while it was still light. Originally, she was supposed to come in for Friday only. She said there was damage to the right front but the car was drivable.

A group of us, actually most of us, went back to Chinatown for dinner. The restaurant was Tony something and was very good but Kari said when she saw it that that was the dim sum restaurant we went to last year. I missed the dim sum. We ordered dishes for the table and everyone shared.

I called a few more times because after this call, I didn’t hear back from her and I worked myself into a tizzy. I was well on my way to becoming a basket case. Finally, at 7:30, just before the show began, she called to let me know she was safely in the hotel. I turned off the cell phone, the tension drained out of me, and I sat back to watch the new show.

I can’t tell you the songs that were cut but there were a few changes between the rehearsal and this performance. Fiddler was, as I said earlier, much shorter and only one or two shoulder rolls. To me, the performance was toned down from Wednesday’s. It might have had something to do with the tension I was just coming off of. The audience, while it did respond, was reserved (except for us fans of course).

Scott got emotional over the LaMancha medley and I know it affected several of us as well. It was powerful and commanding and full of passion.

I think the crowd went back to Clydes after the show but I bee-lined for the hotel.

Friday, January 18th, our room relaxed in the morning, then went to a tapas restaurant for lunch. This was Kari’s birthday gift to me and Sharon and Jenna joined us. The restaurant was great - very near Ruby Tuesday’s where we ate dinner that night. After lunch, since the sun was out and it was a beautiful day, we walked down to the bead museum and the Navy museum, then walked around the area enjoying the sites including the Capital. Returning to the hotel, we changed for the evening and I decided to wear my boots as the sidewalks were now dry. We were late getting to Ruby Tuesday’s. Nancy and a group were already into their dinners when we arrived. The food was good but we had a poor waitress. It was after 7 when we left the restaurant for the theatre.

My seat for this performance was to be in row 2, stage right. Since I’d seen the show, I gave my seat to Kari and went up to mine in row T, which turned out to be the very last row in the theatre (beneath the balcony). I was hoping to get closer if there were any empty seats. As it turned out, Trish had an emergency and had to fly home Thursday morning so she didn’t get to see the last two performances and I took her seat in row one. It was wonderful to see the show from here.

This performance seemed longer than any other, especially the first act. The audience was enthusiastic and upbeat and that kept Scott hyped. He never stands still on the stage unless the number calls for it but I swear he was burning more nervous energy tonight than both the other nights combined. He kept up a steady patter with the audience, heard them and responded to them. It was such a great rapport. This audience was definitely “his kind of people.”

The reception was crowded. Scott’s parents, brother and sister and his children were in the audience at the show and some of the family came to the reception. When Scott arrived, he talked to a few people, then got behind a table in the corner and a line formed for the usual schmoosing session. Clydes provided the food and drinks. I had a tonic and lime but no food. There was such a crowd in front of the table, I hardly got any photos of Scott with people. I had to shoot over heads.

Kari and I got into line. I had bought an unsigned poster and the card from Helene. When I got up to Scott, he wished me a Happy Birthday and wrote that on my poster. I was blown away. Since my birthday was Thursday and this was Friday, I was past it and it was no longer in my mind. I took a photo of Kari with Scott (she had taken one of me), then left the line to talk with friends. I also spent some time talking with Phillip (guitar) and Brad and his wife (piano), Kate and her friend JC, and others. Just as I was leaving, Chelsea popped back into the room and I got a great photo of her. I told her how wonderful her performance was and how glad I was that she was in the show. It was heartfelt. She did a marvelous job. When I talked with Scott, I told him he definitely belonged on a stage. If he was nervous, it didn’t show at all. He was fantastic. I didn’t think anything could top “Shenandoah.” For a powerful show, it still can’t be beat. For the best performance I’ve ever seen from Scott, it will be hard to top this show and Friday night’s performance.