We left NYC on a Friday, September 7th and flew to Louisville, Kentucky. The cast were on 2 different flights. One group flew out of Newark and the other flew out of LaGuardia. Both groups were on smallish planes. Abby and I were on the one flying out of LaGuardia and of course, on a Friday afternoon there were flight delays. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour and a half. It was quite warm as they needed to turn off the engines. When we finally got to Louisville the bus was there to take us to Owensboro.
After the day of traveling both Abby and I were very very glad to get settled into our room. Abby had the next morning off Abby and I went swimming which was fun. She did that a couple of more times with the girls while we were there. Tech was a very long week, but we knew it would. Even in the local theater productions tech week is long and late. Most days Abby had to be there by noon and then had a dinner break and then back at the theater until 11pm.
I learned how to get around pretty well to get laundry done and some groceries. Definitely a challenge when you do not have a car just ready to hop into.
They let the parents go to see the dress rehearsal. It was nice to finally see everything. It was very good but there were a few loose ends with props and costumes that needed to be fixed prior to the preview the next night.
The previews were great. Amazingly all the costumes issues and props were all corrected and there were 2 shows, one on Friday night and Saturday night. Both were sold out. It was an anniversary for the theater so they had a celebration after both shows. Lots of kids stayed for the cake and soda and just swarmed the orphans for their autographs. It was pretty weird to see Abby on the other side of it now. So often she has stood in line to get autographs and now she is the one. We left on a flight on Sunday to go to Orlando for the official show opening. I think everyone was really excited to get the tour officially started.
