Grantblings

Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – March 27, 2014 – Preview 1

Continued my trend of getting up and hitting the gym first thing this morning. Had a new episode of my current favorite podcast, Nerd Poker, to inspire me. Also very cool that it seems some of the stars of Sons of Anarchy are in town and several were in the gym working out. Puppeteer worked extra hard to keep up with the bikers.

After a shower, went out I to the streets of Melbourne in search of the one thing anyone who has been here before told me I must try…Australian meat pies. I located a spot that is considered one of the 5 best in Melbourne that was within a few blocks walking distance and headed for it.

One of the things I think is really great about Melbourne, at least downtown, are these little alleys that branch off from main and side streets. They aren’t dumpsters and trash and but filled with little shops and restaurants. Dinkum Pies was located in just such an alley.

I hadn’t made up my mind which type of pie to get. My friend Amanda told me to get Mince but they didn’t have any Mince. So I decide to go with Dinkum’s ‘Famous Steak’ pie and one of their sausage rolls.

I have to say, after all the build-up, I wasn’t that impressed. Not that they were bad, but they just sorta tasted how I thought they’d taste and they weren’t AMAZING. I’m not giving up though. I will try one again. I did have an amazing dessert at Dinkum’s though. I’ll just post the picture and let you decide.

Yeah. Good.

I then walked over to a comic book store, Comics R Us, and had fun talking to the owner and checking out an Australian comic book store. Looks just like ours.

After some relaxing back at the hotel, it was time to head to the Princess Theatre for tech before our first preview show. The Princess Theatre crew is just amazing. Our show is not easy to tech and not ‘standard’ by any means and the Princess crew just rolled with it and had us up and running in no time.

After a dinner break were ready for the 7:30 PM show. A preview show before our opening. We’re doing a 70 minute show here with no intermission so it’s a bit different than the shows we normally do. Without an intermission they seem shorter but they aren’t really. We do all the same stuff just no, um, intermission.

Tonight’s show was great. A really fun crowd. The Hot a Dogs were swimming in a shark tank. We learned about the bad manners of being a banker. And Tom, and audience member puppeteer end in a hilarious scene that saw him trying to become a Junior Mobster.

I was fortunate enough to get to do Lady Singer in I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face and Big Java in Java. I love doing those pieces so much. It was really cool at the start of Java when the piece got recognition applause!

A really fun show, the cast was all on point and the audience was great. This is going to be a really great run.

After the show we spent a relaxing time in Patrick and Julianna’s suite and just took it easy after the wild rumpus of last night’s after party.

Now it’s time for bed.