I woke up in a century old house and went downstairs with a book. Outside I heard the sound of a megaphone. A man was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. As we passed various cities on the highway, I noticed a sign: Arizona Centennial 1912-2012. Toto, I don’t think we’re in the colonies anymore.
We landed in Phoenix on Wednesday, Feb, 8 and checked into our hotel. We did a ten minute promo at Arizona Broadway Theater in Peoria, advertising our upcoming show and stayed to watch their production of Singin' in the Rain. The show was complete with original choreography, including the couch jump, and rain onstage! We were jet lagged afterwards and tucked into bed at 10:30!
The next day, we had a radio interview in Tempe and then headed to the town center to meet up with Heather’s friend Jeannie for sushi. It was delicious, happy hour, and therefore $30 for all four of us. The town was adorable with musicians lining the cookie cutter streets. On our drive back to Tucson after a second promo, we listened to our interview live on the radio! I’ve never heard myself live on the radio before! It’s either been a replayed recording or I’ve simply been in the booth live. We also listened to the interview that we had pre-taped in New York before leaving.
Friday night before we left, we were on our way to Swing 46 to sing with George Gee and meet up with Robert Shaw. Robert was making his Off-Broadway debut in Million Dollar Quartet the week before our tour together! The three of us met early to do a phone interview. For those of you who know the city, we were huddled in New World Plaza in the little alley between buildings hovered over the speaker phone on Heather’s cell phone. Very glamorous. The radio guy was pretty goofy and asked some random personality questions at the end of the interview. My personal favorite was, “Canada, funny or not funny?” This is a pretty fitting way to begin our tour. Canada comes up again on our last night. Read on.
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We arrived in Tucson at Robert and Kendall’s gorgeous historic home. It’s beautiful and creaky and I love it. Heather and Sarah went off to run some errands while I got right into my bikini and laid out on the terrace all lathered up with sunscreen. We had rehearsal with the band later that afternoon. I never want to play without a trombone and a saxophone again. Ever. Rob Boone, our piano player/musical director wrote us six-piece charts. I am now officially spoiled rotten and never want to go back to four-pieces!
Dancing Fools
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After rehearsal, we went to Heather’s parents’ house for dinner. Her step-dad, Michael made a beautiful coconut shrimp dish that was to die for. He is to die for. Sweetest, handsomest, most wonderful step-dad a group of dolls could wish for! Determined to cure our jet-lag, we went out afterwards. This was the night we planned to go dancing. Country dancing. Did I mention I am a born and bred New Yorker? A Yankee. I realized I was out of my element when I saw the sign outside the door that said, “No firearms allowed.” This is the wild-wild west folks. I had imagined line dancing. I honestly had no idea what a two-step was or that actual twenty first century humans were still doing contemporary partner dancing. That is a wonderful and encouraging thing to see. Regardless of how great I think partner dancing is I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully a very sweet older gentleman taught me the two-step and made me feel slightly less uncomfortable. We actually danced a waltz as well which I do happen to know very well thanks to years of onstage ballroom scenes. It was actually kind of fun to do that socially. The waltz lives!
Once the country bar moved past the Cuban shuffle and became a pumping night club, we left. It had gotten so loud in there that Heather hit a full voice high note with vibrato and no one so much as batted an eyelash. We took that as our cue to leave.
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| The Dolls with Charlie <3 |
Our trombone player, Sal was playing at the salsa club that we had planned to go to next. Heather’s friends from the Gaslight were going there after their show and we went to meet them. Sal taught me some authentic salsa between sets. Thank goodness because moments later, Charlie arrived. Charlie is Heather’s friend from the Gaslight who is famous for his exhaustive dancing abilities. I must say after just one song with him, I needed a break and a glass of water. I admit I have never had so much fun dancing before. As dolls, we have done our fair share of lindy hopping swing but I never get to salsa dance with someone who knows how to drive me around the dance floor. Thanks Charlie ;)
Arizona Basketball Game
Saturday morning we slowly dragged ourselves out of bed and into the car for the basketball game. We walked onto the court with blazing lights and cameras everywhere. Amber (Heather’s sister that traveled in Europe with us last summer) was with us on the court prepped with the flip cam. We rehearsed once in the bathroom below court where we were getting ready. Not the regular spectator bathroom. We were, well, what do you call backstage at a basketball game? That’s where we were. Regardless, there were still people in there and these lovely older ladies came into the bathroom just as we were about to run through it. We rehearsed our anthem. One woman came out of the stall and said, “I felt terrible sitting the whole time!”
On the court we sang for about 14,000 people all hushed and standing facing the flag. When Heather hit the high note, they started cheering and I got chills. There was so much energy in that room, it was infectious. Arizona won that day. I like to think we set the tone.
We went out to lunch for real Mexican food with Amber. The date on the door said 1939. We started with chips and salsa, a guacamole cheese crisp and tamales. After all that, we had entrees. Roll me out of the restaurant and back to the house to meet the musicians for our first drive of tour. We loaded up the company van and headed off to Prescott. Ron, the bass player was driving and we had Sal and Trish, the company manager with the three of us. The rest of the band was driving up separately.
The tire story
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Not twenty minutes on the road, we ran over some pieces of tire. The van was still running smoothly so we decided there was no possible way that it was ours. Then we heard a sound as if someone was knocking on the side of the van. Consider it our guardian angel because it prompted us to pull over to have a look. Turns out, the entire outer layer of our back right tire had completely peeled off. Trish called AAA but this gang decided not to waste any time. If one were even the slightest bit sexist, one would expect Ron and Sal to get manly and take care of business. In fact, I was looking forward to said manliness but then Sal and I got chatty, Heather got on the phone and Sarah…oh Sarah. She found the handbook and got down on the pavement. She and Ron had that tire changed in a jiffy. AAA eventually showed up. “You did it already.” Sarah made him check the others to make sure we’d be alright for our upcoming three hour drive. Less than an hour after pulling over, we were back on the road making up time.
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| Sound check in Prescott |
Since Robert was still in NYC with Million Dollar Quartet, we did a few extra Dolls only songs. I was lucky enough to do “Embraceable You” with a saxophone. It really became more of a duet than simply my solo. He stood center stage and we had a call and response. By the end of the song I was inching towards him, even getting a bit of a laugh. He got a big red kiss at the end. Thank you to Mike Koone for making that my favorite version of “Embraceable You.”
After the show, we went out to celebrate. We had dinner and then did a bit of a bar hop passing a real saloon with a real swingy door! Wild, wild west. We found a karaoke bar where Sarah and Rob Boone entertained us with “Hit the Road Jack.” Priceless.
Monday, February 13, we had our show at the Arizona Broadway Theater and I got the treat of seeing an old friend of mine from my Disney days. She lives in Phoenix and I haven’t seen her in five years. She was in the front row with her dad, beaming the whole time. Heather also had a bit of a high school reunion when her friends Meridith and Mike came to see our show with their spouses, Paul and Laura.
Kendall made blueberry pancakes, eggs, toast, and happiness Tuesday morning. After a relaxing day off, I had my first melodrama experience at the Gaslight. Did you know that melodrama, the silly kind, where the audience boos the bad guy, still exists in this country? I thought that went out with the 1800’s but there I was, eating popcorn and booing as the villain said for the hundredth time that he was going to “get” the “Two Amigos.” After the show, we joined the Gaslight crowd at Chicago bar to hear their friend Rebecca, sing. She was playing with “Johnny Guitar” who is slated to play none other than Rockin with the Dolls, our 60’s review!
Roger and Mary
The next day was our drive to Saddlebrooke to stay with Roger and Mary. An older couple, they have adopted various wandr’ing minstrels such as ourselves as their children. The caprese salad had prosciutto, the spaghetti bake had olives, the mousse was espresso and the strawberries were chocolate covered! There was also rosemary bread that Heather and I nearly lost our minds over.
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Sound check at Voyager RV Resort
with guest star, Robert Shaw
of Lonely Street Productions |
We had our first show with Robert at the RV Resort in ????? that evening. By this point, we had incorporated the tire story into our scripting. Heather would say, “Sarah does everything. She takes care of our costumes, she’s our business manager, she changes tires and she has taken down a mugger in New York City. That is a true story.” That it is.
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Mary & Roger's backyard
and gorgeous view! |
Ode to Roger and Mary…we enjoyed the hot tub after the show with a bottle of wine. I had one too many fajitas for lunch the next day. I sat beside their pool in my bathing suit all afternoon and then there was dinner. Everyone was invited to dinner. There must have been thirty people there. They served what we lovingly referred to as “Thanksgiving Appreciation.” It was chicken and breading and God knows what else in a casserole dish and I ate WAY too much of it. There was a layered pudding in a bowl so deep it looked like a giant vase and of course, puppy chow. Puppy chow is Chex and peanuts covered in chocolate and powdered sugar. Heather is completely addicted to it.
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| Roger, Mary & The Dolls |
We had our show around the corner that night and then as if they hadn’t done enough already, there was an after party at Roger and Mary’s. I ate more “Thanksgiving Appreciation,” Heather downed the puppy chow and we both ate just about everything else we had already eaten at dinner. Mary, bless her heart, “You girls are working hard. You must be hungry.” No Mary, I just eat a lot. Heather and I had eyed a bottle of red wine earlier and claimed it before the show. Not wanting to drink beforehand, we announced it was ours and promised curses to those who would take it from us. We paired it with the chocolate covered strawberries and the ten layer chocolate pudding tower. As the party was winding down, we got back into that hot tub, with our wine glasses in hand.
Roger made breakfast the next morning and then sadly we had to leave the land of plenty. The drive to Green Valley, I’m told is the farthest Southwest I have ever been. Amber was there and we all met up with the Gaslight crowd in Tucson after the show. The bar had batting cages. Of course Sarah gets in and hits homers. Eventually we left the outdoor (read: cold) batting cages in favor of the indoor (read: warmer) dart boards. Heather was throwing dud after dud the whole game. One on the outside rung, one off the board entirely, one on the ground…Her last throw, she nails a perfect bulls eye and screams. She and Sarah even played another round because she was doing so well. She had told me that she gets better at darts as she drinks. I thought that meant that she doesn’t notice or care how bad she is when she drinks. Not true. She really gets good.
Band shout outs
On our last day in Arizona, we had a matinee at the Historic Yuma Theater. Lunch was in the Marilyn Monroe room at the local Italian restaurant. It was decorated with photos of Marilyn Monroe, obviously and also a heavily made up moose head. Because what else would you see in a Marilyn Monroe inspired room in Yuma? I was sorry this was our last show. This band is so incredible and I have fallen in love with the talent and the personality of every one of them. John’s tribal drums and Rick’s slutty trumpet in Is You Is, the Dixie sound of three horns in Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Ron’s uncharacteristic enthusiasm and tire changing ability, Rob’s chart writing and karaoke singing, my sax duet with Mike and Sal’s smile and fantastic attitude. I want you all to tour with us all the time!
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The Manhattan Dolls with AZ Winter Tour Band,
(left to right) Rick Peron, Jon Westfall, Ron Kadish, Mike Koone, Rob Boone & Sal Lopez |
After the long drive back to Tucson, we walked to the “Kick Cancer’s Ass” benefit for Tylene Hall, Charlie’s sister. It was in a back room at a bar. To leave, we had to walk through the rest of the bar. Here is the treat for those still reading. Remember, Canada; funny or not funny? Here we go.
Three guys stopped a rather tired Heather and Annemarie. They asked my name and out came, “Elizabeth.” Now in all fairness, that is my middle name. Heather chose “Tarreyn,” an actual friend who happens to be there that evening. Then she decides that we’ve been at an after party from a Bar Mitzvah and we are headed to the after-after party. Kendall walks up to us and Heather pulls out this gem, “This is Kim. She was the officiate for the Bar Mitzvah.” Kendall’s face goes from, “Did she really just get my name wrong?” to “Oh, I get it…”
“Nice to meet you,” she says, shaking hands. They ask where we’re from and Heather says we’re Canadian.
“What part of Canada?”
In unison we say, “Toronto.” Then, believe it or not, they start to make fun of our Canadian accents. I say, “We don’t all talk like that!”
Heather adds, “Yea that's not all we are abOOT.”
I truly feel, this is the greatest improv we have ever performed because it was based on truth. We did in fact have an after party at Robert and Kendall’s. Heather and I pooped out before the party was over. I found a sleeping Charlie on the couch the next morning. He helped us with our bags and packed us into the car for our trip home. I made it back to New York without a single prick from a cactus!
*Special and huge THANK YOU to Trish, Robert, Ron, Kendall, Eric and everyone with Lonely Street Productions for having us on this wonderful tour.
Until we sing again,
Annemarie Rosano, Manhattan Doll
The event started off with a warm welcome from Father Bob, a cheery
and sweet man we instantly fell in love with. The Master of Ceremonies
was Kacey Morabito of WHUD Radio, who
looked as though she was having more fun than anybody! Featured early
in the program was a beautiful video entitled “Sowing the Seeds of
At-one-ment.” The Franciscan Friars continue their mission of promoting
interreligious understanding as well as helping those who suffer from
alcoholism and other chemical dependencies, those living with HIV/AIDS
and those needing shelter. They staff parishes in a number of dioceses
in North America and abroad, serve as chaplains in colleges, hospitals
and prisons, and provide spiritual renewal programs for youth, senior
citizens, healthcare providers, and religious groups.
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