Friday, March 5, 2010

5th Avenue star returns to Seattle - on tour! Pt 1.

by Jason Kappus, Ensemble, Legally Blonde The Musical (Seattle-native)

Week 6 - SEATTLE! (Part 1 of 3)
The Return or "Let's Go Home Before Someone Cries"

Week 5 was great, and Portland's a great town, so we had a good time. After a few weeks away from home and my wife, though, I was READY to be home. Lucky me, that's exactly where we were headed. Since it's so short, we took two buses instead of flying for this trip. It was really nice not having to deal with security, baggage weight, or keeping your elbows to yourself. I couldn't keep a stupid grin off my face as we rolled past Olympia, Tacoma, finally hit Southcenter and then Seattle proper. How cool is this?! Not only do I get to do a national tour, but I get to do it AT HOME for three weeks! I was a little worried that I may have talked the town up too much to the rest of the cast - but of course, the city did not dissapoint. Everyone LOVES it here (duh).

The coming home feeling I got driving up I-5 was just enhanced the first day at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Especially after the amazing experience I had here this summer with Catch Me If You Can, I was ecstatic to be back.

A few unique things about the 5th Avenue:

1) I had been telling everyone about how beautiful the theatre is, and it was fun to watch everyone taking in this gorgeous house on the first day. The bulk of the theatres we play are more multi-purpose performing arts center types. This theatre, as most of us here know, has more class and character than most you come across, including a lot of the theatres in New York.

2) A somewhat less well-known fact is that the backstage area at the 5th Avenue is particularly small. In fact, a lot of the national tours specifically take this theatre into account when planning their sets, as we have one of the smallest backstage spaces they will come across. Our tour is not particularly set-heavy, but even so, everyone really has to work hard to fit backstage!

3) The audiences here are FANTASTIC. I heard happy comments from a number of cast members on opening night, and it hasn't quit since then. The good ol' PacNW theatre goers are theatre savvy, but know how to show their appreciation! Makes for a fun show on our end!

I could ramble on forever about how great it is to be back here on tour. I've had friends at EVERY performance so far, get to work in the heart of my FAVORITE city, and sleep in MY OWN BED every night. Are you KIDDING ME?! And as if things weren't fun enough, I got to make my debut in a new track in the middle of week one. More on that in part 2, coming soon!

Don't miss Legally Blonde The Musical - it closes in just over a week on March 14! Tickets and info, here.

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