San Francisco rocks. I'm so glad that we're staying here for more than a minute and I'll get to keep on exploring this great city, though I managed to see and do quite a bit in my first week in town.
We arrived Monday afternoon after a leisurely flight from Denver. Rather than the crack of dawn flights that have so often been a part of my touring experience, we left Denver at a more civilized hour and arrived on the West Coast around 2:30. DVZ, Roy and I piled into a van and headed straight for the house we're sharing. The house is a beautiful Victorian on a quiet street in the Castro neighborhood. DVZ and I share the upstairs while Roy has the studio apartment below us. We share a two level backyard that features a gas fireplace. All three of us are very, very happy in our home away from home.
Our rental house in the Castro
Monday was all about getting settled and feathering the nest. We grocery shopped and wandered the neighborhood. As the sun set, I made dinner for Roy and I, opened a bottle of wine and put my feet up by the fire (in what has come to be a nightly tradition).
Tuesday was the start of work for the Spamily in San Francisco - the crew started our long load-in period first thing in the morning. Since I didn't have to appear at the theatre until after supper, I went out exploring. I started with a walk along Market Street - sort of the Broadway of San Francisco. As I walked, I enjoyed the procession of street cars that run down Market Street. They date from all eras of the electric street car, come from many cities (including some trolleys from Milan, Italy) and are painted to represent the electric railways in cities across the continent. While other cities have modernized or phased out their electric streetcars, San Francisco has refurbished them and put them back into service! It wasn't long before I had bought a pass and hopped on board for a ride.
My travels that first day took me to the Ferry Building that sits at the foot of Market Street and, until the Bay Bridge, served as San Francisco's water link to the rest of the Bay Area. I went on around the waterfront to Fisherman's Wharf where I strolled out along Municipal Pier and enjoyed views across the water toward Alcatraz and back toward the city's downtown. I caught a few glimpses of the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was almost entirely enshrouded in fog on Tuesday afternoon.
The view from Municipal Pier back across downtown San Francisco
Soon, it was time to head to work. From the pier, I hopped on a cable car for the ride back to Powell and Market Streets. I immediately fell in love with the cable car system. That the city still operates three cable car lines with technology invented in the late 19th Century is unbelievably cool. The cars and the technology are unchanged from when the Clay Street Hill Railroad began operation in September of 1873. I hopped aboard a car on the Powell-Hyde Line and couldn't stop smiling as I stood on the running board and hung on. I was still grinning ear-to-ear when I arrived at the Golden Gate Theatre for work.
In advance of our San Francisco opening night, we took some extra time to spruce up the show a bit. Our lighting and projection designers had a bit of time to retool and refine the work that was done in West Point. For this engagement and the LA engagement, we have added a front truss with a few more lighting instruments and we also added some more lights to the on-stage package. The orchestra has also been beefed back up to its pre-West Point numbers. We also added some more sound reinforcement equipment. All these changes, as well as some maintenance on the set and props, meant that we needed some extra time to load-in and retech the show. The crew worked all day Tuesday and Wednesday with the actors coming in for a dress rehearsal and notes on Thursday.
At the dress on Thursday, things looked pretty good, so we all got the evening off! I took advantage of the opportunity to meet up with my friend Kelly Tighe who's in the Bay Area working on a production of Cabaret. We met up near my house for dinner and were joined by one of Kelly's friends and a mutual-friend, Christopher Lentz. I've been so lucky to be able to visit with so many good friends on the road, and Thursday night's dinner was just another example of how much fun that can be!
w/ Kelly outside Tangerine on Thursday night
Not only was Friday Spamalot's first preview in San Francisco, it was the night my wife was set to arrive! Sheila Marie took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend to make a dash to the West Coast. It was to be a short visit, but we packed a lot into it.
Saturday we were up and out of the house in time for breakfast and a second visit to Fisherman's Wharf. As soon as we stepped off the streetcar, we could hear the sea lions barking and growling and followed their sounds to the end of Pier 39. On floats near the pier, lots and lots of California Sea Lions were lounging, playing, splashing and fighting for position. The noises they made were amazing. They are wild, male sea lions that come up onto the floats to relax between hunting trips. Later in the summer, the guys will go meet their lady friends south of here for mating season. Until then, though, it's guys only at Pier 39.
Some of the sea lions at Pier 39 - they are huge & loud creatures
w/ SME and the sea lions
Once again, I was at Fisherman's wharf and needed to get back across town to get to work - time for another cable car ride! As I had been gushing about how cool the cable cars are since before Sheila Marie arrived, I was relieved when Sheila enjoyed the experience as much as I did. The two of us were both giggling and smiling the whole time.
SME on the running board of a Powell-Hyde cable car with Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz at the foot of Hyde Street
Sheila got this great snap of me "perpendicular hanging off a cable car" with the Transamerica Pyramid in the distance
Saturday night we went for drinks at the famous Tonga Room. Located in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel, the Tonga Room is a classic tiki bar. A large pool dominates the center of the room (in fact, the Tonga Room was constructed in the room that used to house the hotel's swimming pool) and a barge floating in the "lagoon" serves as the stage for the house band. Every half-hour, a "thunderstorm" of sound, flashing light, and piped-in rain disturbs the lagoon. The joint was jumping on Saturday night: the band was playing covers of all kinds and eras of dance music and Sheila Marie was even briefly swept away as part of a conga line! Jeff Dumas joined us at the bar and the three of us had a grand time sipping our industrial strength rum drinks in comedy glassware.
Jeff, SME and JV at the Tonga Room
On Sunday morning, we nursed our hang-overs with some comfort food at Chow, a neighborhood favorite before I had to head in for the matinee. Sheila Marie's Great Aunt June and Uncle Dean live nearby and came up for the matinee performance. We met up with them between shows and shared a tasty German meal as we got caught up. I saw Dean and June in Florida, but it had been an awfully long time since Sheila saw them in person, so I, once again, felt fortunate that the tour had brought me close to more great people.
While I did the evening performance, Sheila Marie made a trip to the grocery and laid in some supplies for an evening of entertaining at home. Karl and Gurr came home with me after the show and we had snacks while we sat around the fireplace in the garden and talked. It has been lovely to be able to have people over to the house!
Monday morning, Sheila Marie and I hiked over the hill to visit Haight-Ashbury. San Francisco's hills are no joke. There's a reason these people invented the cable car to carry them over some of these monsters. The view from the top of the hill in Buena Vista Park was quite something though... We wandered down Haight Street and found ourselves at Golden Gate Park; remembering Dean and June's recomendation, we decided to check out the Conservatory of Flowers. Constructed in 1878, the Conservatory is an elaborate Victorian greenhouse filled with a wide array of beautiful flora from around the globe. Palm trees and a giant philodendron tower over tiny, jewel-like orchids. It was a beautiful way to pass the morning!
SME outside the Conservatory of Flowers
The two of us in the "Low-Land Tropics"
After we wandered around Golden Gate Park for a while, we caught the train and headed for a meet-up with some of the Spamily at the ballpark! The Giants hosted the Braves for a Memorial Day matinee game and also welcomed Spamalot. Our very own John O'Hurley sang the National Anthem with his son, William, at his side and a dozen of us also led the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at the 7th Inning Stretch. We got some great seats to the game just behind first base and the chance to appear on the Jumbotron! We all had a great time and Giants easily beat the Braves 8-2.
The Spamily gathered in Centerfield: Karl, Lyn, Nigel, Jen Mathie, Roy, Matt, Angela, Chris, JV, Jeff and Merle.
SME caught the singing on video!
We gathered under the Giant baseball mitt in Centerfield for our broadcast on the Jumbotron
(I've ordered a copy of the footage that appeared on the giant screen which includes Jeff's Harry Caray-esque introduction.)
Christopher and SME got to tag along to the game as well! Here they are with the Giant mitt in the background.
Outside AT&T Park with #24, the "Say Hey Kid", Willie Mays
After the ballgame, several of us retired back to the 'hood for some AMAZING ice cream at the Bi-Rite Creamery and a relaxed dinner at home. Unfortunately (or maybe very fortunately) we were a bit TOO relaxed as we were late getting Sheila Marie to the airport and she didn't make the red-eye flight home on Monday night. We were able to rebook her for the next day and I got to spend 15 bonus hours with my beautiful wife!
Tuesday, we did our best to take advantage of the extra time. After breakfast at a great sidewalk cafe (too bad I can't find anything decent to eat in this town...), we rented a car and headed across the Golden Gate Bridge. Tuesday was bright and clear, but some of San Francisco's famous fog was racing through the straight, obscuring various parts of the bridge as it passed. This only made the views more interesting, though:
We continued on up into the Marin Headlands and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We stopped to take a brief hike down to the water's edge and discovered a beautiful black sand beach. Though it was quite chilly up in the wind, the beach was sheltered from the wind and the sand was quite warm. We each took the opportunity to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean.
As you might be able to tell from my face, the water was FREEZING!
Not far from the beach was the picturesque Bonita Point Light
Not wanting to have Sheila Marie miss her second plane, we had to head back across the bridge and toward the airport as soon as our feet dried off. We said goodbye outside the airport and my wife was back on her way home to the other side of the continent. I'm glad for the wonderful visit, but I'm also looking forward to the time when we aren't saying goodbye quite so often.
My first week in California flew by. I've been having a great time and don't want to let a moment get away. I'm very happy out here and am excited about all the adventures that still lay in store for me; including a visit from my Mom & Dad as well as a visit with Paul & Jenny!
JV
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