Steeltown, USA

I really dug my week in Pittsburgh.  I had no idea what to expect from the Steel City and really enjoyed the whole vibe.  Much like Milwaukee, Pittsburgh feels very comfortable and has an energy all its own.  The 'burgh has plenty of culture - their "Theatre Square" really does have a large enough collection of busy theatres to warrant the moniker - but the overall feeling of the city is very working class.  The steel industry that gave rise to the city is ever present, but this city really does seem to have found a new way to be relevant now that Andrew Carnegie and the other steel barons have, for the most part, moved on.

Pittsburgh's downtown "Golden Triangle" where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio River.  It's easy to see why the city is also known as "The City of Bridges".

As soon as I arrived in town on Monday evening, Sheila's cousin David picked me up from the hotel and took me out to dinner with his family.  David recently finished his MBA at Carnegie Mellon and has landed a job in Pittsburgh's significant medical industry.  (Though the city's economy once produced half of America's steel, it is now based on healthcare, technology & financial services.  The area's economy has actually grown in recent quarters, bucking the national trend.)  Familiar (and familial) faces are such a treat on the road!  I had a great time with David, Susan and their three adorable daughters catching up and stuffing myself at the Cheesecake Factory.

When I arrived at the Benedum Center on Tuesday morning I realized that I had been in this historic theatre before.  Several years ago, I came to Pittsburgh with the Radio City Rockettes to do a promotional event announcing the start of ticket sales for the Pittsburgh leg of one of the Christmas Spectacular Tours.  It was at the Benedum that I helped stuff Santa Claus out a tiny window so he could make an announcement from atop the theatre's marquee.  The Benedum is the reincarnation of Pittsburgh's Stanley Theatre.  The former movie palace that also featured live entertainment (much like Radio City) opened in 1928 and was overhauled to accomodate the larger musicals touring in the 1980's.  The auditorium was beautifully restored and an enormous stage house was added.

I can still see Santa and the Rox up on top of this marquee

In the renovation, this old marquee was left on the side of the building in remembrance of the historic Stanley Theater

With Thanksgiving in the middle of the week, my schedule got booked up pretty quickly.  Tuesday was eaten up, as always, with load-in, sound check and the opening night performance.  BT McNichol, our Assistant Director, flew into town on Wednesday to work with the company in the wake of or note session with Mike Nichols in Boston.  Between BT's rehearsal and work on stage with Alexa, our newest company member, all three Stage Managers worked on Wednesday as well.  BT gave more notes following the show and then we all gathered to fete our departing company members Justin Klynsma and Jen Rias.  Justin is headed off to be the Head Carpenter on the newest Wicked tour while Jen is headed home to be with her new husband (they were married on my birthday back in August).  Both will be missed a great deal.  Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving (more about that later) and we held Alexa Glover's put-in on Friday.

Jen (Rias) shares a going away drink with Jason at the hotel bar

Justin and Jen (Mathie) at the Thanksgiving meal

To celebrate Thanksgiving, the company hosted a very nice meal at the Omni William Penn Hotel (where I was staying).  The Spamily gathered in the Lawrence Welk Room (it was at the William Penn that the term "Champagne Music" was coined - during one of Welk's engagements in the ballroom, a patron commented that the music was as "light and bubbly as champagne") for an abbreviated cocktail hour before our Thanksgiving feast got underway.  We all enjoyed a Thanksgiving with the trimmings and retired to take naps before our evening show.

The Spamily lines up for turkey

The hotel, itself, might be the nicest of the tour thus far.  The William Penn is an grand old hotel that has maintained its opulence through the years (the hotel opened in 1916).  It's been through several owners and is currently part of the Omni hotel chain.  We stayed in a very nice Omni in Indianapolis, but in the interim I forgot just how much I enjoy the chain.  While all the hotel brands have loyalty programs good, in theory, for free nights - the Omni offers some other perks as well.  The free internet for club members was nice, but it was the free morning beverage that made my stay.  Each morning, I hung a tag on my door selecting a hot and a cold morning beverage (hot cocoa, tea, V8, apple juice, etc.), which newspaper I wanted and a time for them to be delivered.  The hotel fairies would collect the tags and leave my beverage outside at the appointed time.  I absolutely loved this free service!

TVFMHRW - The building across the street was the gothic-inspired creation of Frederick J Osterling.  The Union Arcade was built for Henry Clay Frick in 1915-16 on the former site of St. Paul's Cathedral.  When Frick purchased the land, the diocese included in the sale the provision that whatever building was constructed must remind people that a cathedral once stood there.  Today the building is owned by the Melon Financial Corporation and is known as the Union Trust Building.

The View from the Hotel Lobby Bar - the William Penn's lobby was magnificent.  In preparation for the holidays, the lobby was festooned with garland and a giant tree; the crystal chandeliers were also polished in anticipation.

In addition to the company sponsored gathering, Angelina and Nigel hosted a second Thanksgiving feast in their apartment after the show on Thursday night.  Angelina whipped up a full on Thanksgiving with turkey and stuffing in addition to a huge pot of sausage and spicy meatballs.  Her timing was brilliant - most everyone was hungry again by the end of the show and we packed their apartment for a second go 'round.  I have no idea how Angelina produced all that food from their tiny galley kitchen, but it was much appreciated.

I didn't go hungry in Pittsburgh.  If two Thanksgiving meals weren't enough, there were many great dining options.  The local must-have meal comes from humble origins: legend says that local steelworkers needed a mid-shift meal that would sustain them through the rest of their day, but had neither the time or inclination for a sit-down meal.  The answer?  A Primanti Brothers sandwich: grilled meat, cheese, coleslaw, french fries and often an egg between two thick slices of Italian bread.  Genius!  The original Primanti Brothers location is in the Strip District (it was once Pittsburgh's produce and warehouse neighborhood; now it maintains some industry but is also the nightclub center) where it took up residence in 1934 and continues to churn out mini-heart attacks 24 hours a day.

My first Primanti Brothers meal (in a feat of amazing self-control, I only ate there twice!)

Christopher Gurr and I ventured down to the Strip District on Friday morning for a progressive breakfast.  We knew we were in the right place when we had to wait in line outside Deluca's in a fast-moving line for a table.  Deluca's was a roadfood recommendation and has been voted Pittsburgh's best breakfast a number of times.  I worked my way through a huge pile known as the "mixed grill" (eggs and sausage on top of hash browns, onions, peppers, mushrooms and zucchini) before I surrendered in deference to our next stop.  Just around the corner is Deluca's main competition for the "best breakfast" title: Pamela's P&G Diner.  Gurr and I were there for our dessert: Pamela's crepe-style pancakes.  These thin hot cakes are clearly grilled on a buttery skillet because the edges are crispy and sweet.  We ordered the blueberry version which comes rolled around sour cream, blueberries and brown sugar.  I was glad for the walk back to the theatre before rehearsal!

Gurr's photo of part two of our progressive breakfast - I believe he captioned it something like "We are such pigs!"

Before I left town on Tuesday morning (to accommodate the long distance trucking, Spamalot took a whole day off in Pittsburgh before moving to Sioux City, IA), I fit in one more gustatory adventure.  On the recommendation of our King Arthur, Jonathan Hadary, several of us had dinner at Lidia's Pittsburgh.  Lidia's is the PA outpost of the restaurant empire of Lidia Bastianich the PBS cooking show magnate.  The four course dinner was amazing.  The specialty of the house is a pasta tasting menu with three different pastas on offer each night.  I enjoyed gnocchi with squash and chestnuts, pappardelle with pork ragu, and a tasty rigatoni with fresh herbs.  Once again, I was glad for the walk home...

I was thankful for the extra day in Pittsburgh, as rehearsal and the holiday had precluded much sight-seeing.  I took full advantage of the day with a trip across the Monongahela to visit the Duquesne Incline.  The incline train climbs the side of Mount Washington, rising nearly 400 feet from the riverbank along an 800 foot track.  The train is a funicular (what a great word!), meaning that its two cars share one operating cable and travel in opposite directions on parallel tracks (so as to counterbalance one another).  The Duquesne Incline opened in 1877 and operates today as designed and built back then.  The red train cars have been restored and are operated by a non-profit caretaker corporation, but are still very much part of the daily life of the neighborhood atop the hill. 

 Riding up the incline as the opposing train comes down.

(The track is a 30% grade and the trains travel at about 6 MPH.)

After I wandered back across the river into downtown, I was taken by the Christmas Spirit that is everywhere all of the sudden and decided to go ice skating beneath the giant Christmas tree in PPG Place.  PPG Place dominates the Pittsburgh skyline with it's neo-gothic towers of smoked glass.  The complex is headquarters to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and was completed by architect Philip Johnston in 1984 as a counterpoint to the nearby Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh.  Each year the giant obelisk that sits in the center of the plaza is redecorated as a Christmas tree and surrounded by the Rink at PPG Place.  I had an nice time skating in circles (after remembering how to ice skate) with the families and the after-school crowd.  Afterwords, I took in the holiday train and gingerbread house show at PPG Place, the Macy's Christmas windows and the giant creche on Mellon Square.

The Rink at PPG Place and one of the shorter towers

One of the rink's monitors took this (slightly blurry) photo of me in my rental skates

I have never been anywhere that has as much pride in their professional sports team as the entirety of Pittsburgh seems to have for the Steelers.  (Though it turns out that I was mistaken in my earlier post about Steely McBeam - the vast majority of Steelers fans think a more appropriate name for this Johnny Come-lately mascot would be Steely McStupid.)  Everywhere I went, Pittsburgh was bedecked in Steelers gold and black.  The cab that carried me to the airport had Steelers seatcovers, a pennant fixed to the window and a medallion autographed by a player.  Everyone wore Steelers hats, gloves, coats and scarves.  The Steelers are the unifying religion in Pittsburgh.  Before our show on Sunday we could hear people shouting out the score of the Steelers/Pats game and a great cheer went up at the beginning of intermission as fans checked the score on their cell phones; the Steelers won 33-10.  The Knight of Ni got a huge cheer each time he whipped out his "Terrible Towel" and swung it around.

The Steelers' Home, Heinz Field, sits on prime real estate directly across the Allegheny River from downtown.  The House Manager assured me that we were lucky there was no home game while we were in town as a game can delay the start of a Sunday performance by up to 1/2 an hour!

It is not an exaggeration when I say that the WHOLE LOCAL CREW came to work on Sunday in black and gold - of course, most of them favored more black than Bob (a local sound man) pictured here with Keith (who has returned as our new Head Carpenter).  Bob didn't even blink when I asked him where to get Steelers colored camo-pants.  Doesn't everyone have an outfit like this?

Even Graham's birthday cake was Steelers themed!

On the topic of Graham's birthday, a bunch of us celebrated with a "guys night out" at the aptly named "Pittsburgh Cigar Bar"

Pittsburgh was a great place to spend a week!  The extra day was much appreciated and, as I say so often in this blog, I could have spent much longer in this great American city. 

JV