Grantblings

Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 16, 2014 – Madison, WI

Our tour bus rolled into Madison Wisconsin around 4AM in the morning. I did not sleep at all on the bus, not that I can’t, just that I didn’t. When our buss pulled up to the hotel I was the first off, and up in my room in bed.

Let me just say, I’m a huge fan of the Madison Concourse Hotel. The rooms are so great. The beds are amazing and the pillows are even better. The only thing I wish was different was that the wifi worked better, but I was going to sleeping most of the time, so who cares?

I woke up after 12:00 PM Noon and showered and went for a walk downtown Madison. There was some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations going on downtown, so the area was full of people in green. It was a little chilly, but the downtown area is really great. I had a nice lunch at Brickhouse barbecue. It was pretty good. I enjoyed the sausage links I ordered. The Brisket was a little tough but nice. After Lunch I went back to get my gear as it was time to head over to the venue.

The Capitol Theatre is just an amazing venue. The inside has balconies and boxes and the whole thing is just perfect for our show. Pictures don’t do it justice at all.

The Capital Theatre crew was top notch as well. Super friendly and a pleasure to work with. We ent through our usual tech rehearsal and it was another breeze thanks to the leadership of Greg.

After a short break, it was soon showtime for our last show on the tour. And what a show it was. From top to bottom just a really fun time. The crowd was awesome, and was throwing out amazing suggestions and the cast was just in top form. An honor to get to work with them all. Peggy brought two suggestions together in a Flashback scene, really expert improv move there. Tim was killing me in his Understudy scene as an old man. Vanessa was hilarious in the date scene as the Democrat half of the bipartisan couple I brought up from the audience and she totally rocked the impromptu Shakespearean scene as well. Sean’s plant from Thailand was hilarious in the foreign scene. And Victor performed one of the best Usher sequences I’ve ever seen, including his banter with the audience beforehand. Hard to pick one thing for each puppeteer and all five of them were on fire the whole night.

After the show it was a blast meeting all the fans in the lobby. Met Puppet Up SUPER fan Conner Asher who presented us with some amazing drawings and a framed piece of art. Really great. Also met my pal John B deHaas’ nephew Jonah and his date as well. So much fun.

After the show, and the load out, we retired to the hotel bar and celebrated the end of the tour with drinks (a root beer for me) and discussion. Sad this one is over, but we still have one more day of travel to go.

Almost home.