A Nice Summary of Day 2

I wanted to check in with a brief synopsis of today before going into the gory musical detail tomorrow.

Nice: Firebrand of Florence was great. SO funny. Almost every line was a pun or a rhyme or something silly. It was almost too much. But goofball that I am, I just loved that. Details tomorrow.

Nice: Before the performance two different people said, "Hi Susan!" and I was like, "Do I know you?" Nope. They read me!!! This blog! That, like, 25 people read! Ok maybe a few more but still... it was so cool! So you both know who you are - thank you!!!! Post comments!! Jump into the fray! They both thanked me for "all the work I do" posting videos and NG news. One told me that she learned about the free concert at Goucher here on the blog, and she went! How cool is that! Seriously. Fan-to-fan communication is as good as, no, better, I think, than any press you actually pay for because it's honest. There's no ass-kissing, no pretensions, just people sharing info. And they were both so nice. It was really nice. Nice nice nice. I have now over-used the word.

I'll post more details about the show and about La Sonnambula tomorrow. But I know from various text-messages and facebook comments that many people are wondering about my Backstage Visit.

So here you go.

After the performance, I followed the signs to the Green Room. That meant going up three flights of stairs and through a set of doors where I was met by two guys with Lists. One List was typewritten, one was handwritten. So the Typewritten Guy checked his Typewritten List... doubled checked... nope. I was like, ok, and was about to leave, when he turned to the Handwritten List guy who looked and said, (nice)"Yep, she's ok, she can go." Great. Nice, even. Go... where? Ha! Back down a flight of stairs and "Make a U-turn at the bottom." What? No. That would have put me on the stage. But there was a set of double doors and I saw a bunch of people in the hallway so I figured I'd give it a try. The hallway was outside the dressing rooms. It was crazy back there. Ca-Ray-Zee. People were milling about, coming in and out of doors, running around, greeting visitors and so on. Soon it sort of cleared out except for a bunch of people along one wall and me on the other wall. Nathan came out of his dressing room and went down the line, greeting people. Ok, awkward. It was like a repeat of the Zankel Hall thing. Hugs and kisses, blah blah blah, and then... me. I just waited until he finished. He was constantly interrupted by people asking for autographs and photos. He was so very nice to everyone. Finally he turned to me and very nicely (and quietly) said, "Hi Susan, thanks for coming." Then we chatted about nothing for approx 20 seconds, I thanked him for putting me on the list, blah blah blah and then someone with a clipboard came by and told him that "his fans were waiting in the green room to meet him," as in, get a move on mister. I asked for a picture, he was rushed but said ok. The person who took the photo cut his head off. Oops. He showed him the pic and the clipboard person was practically tugging at him so there was no re-do. I don't even remember saying goodbye - it was that crazy and rushed back there. So then my next adventure was finding my way OUT of there. Back up the stairs and get this - at the top of the stairs this weird woman asked me for my autograph. I don't know who she thought I was but I was like, "Uh... I'm not who you think I am..." and didn't even stop. I was totally ready to get out of the shoes, into my sneaks and on the road. Some security-guard type led me through a maze that lead into the theater itself and through an unmarked door and suddenly I was in the lobby. I did my Mr. Rogers imitation (that means I changed from heels to sneakers), and since it was a nice night I hoofed it down to Penn Station in time for the next train. One more weird thing to report before I go to bed - my stop and the stop before mine are under construction and only 1 train car meets the platform at those stations. So they make this announcement for anyone wanting those stops to move to the front car on the train. Of course I was in the back. So we all made our way through the train to reach the car that would let us leave. Not sure I like going between train cars on a moving train... eep!

I leave you with this nice thought, as it's my new favorite quote:

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Words to live by, and I try to. But now I'd rather be sleeping, so off I go.