So the king of michigan was chasing me down the parade route...
Well, I’m working Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the musical (or rather the Movical, since it’s part of the growing trend of stage musicals created from movies, see also The Full Monty). The show is ginormous – big cast, huge set pieces, expensive costumes ($850 shoes…) and my overall impression? Eh. Whatever. I liked the movie, but this staged version doesn’t really work for me. It’s more in the musical style of the golden age musicals like Oklahoma! And Guys and Dolls, two shows I could happily never see again. So, not really my thing. Added to which, for the majority of the show I’m trapped in the female ensemble dressing room, so outside of the small tiffs and spats that go on between dressers and other dressers and amongst the actors, I don’t ever see anyone. Ergo, story potential squashed.
However, my fellow dressers are riding to my rescue, story wise, as they so frequently do. So here are a few tidbits for you. And really, I think this post will be most appreciated by Kateri because she’s just like that.
Anyway, back to the dressers, specifically Kim. Kim is a rigger – a stagehand who deals with all the set pieces that fly up, curtains, scrims, sycs etc. - who also works wardrobe. And unlike many of the stagehands who double with wardrobe, she can actually do both jobs and I really like working with her. She has a very no nonsense attitude and doesn’t “suffer fools” easily, so we get along great. This will become relevant so I’ll tell you that she’s my age, pretty, bleached blond hair and skin that looks like she smokes too much and gets too much sun (both of which are true, though it turns out she’s quit smoking). And she works the NASCAR scene as a stagehand when she isn’t working theatre work. So there’s a snapshot.
I first worked with her on Lion King and she had one of my favorite non-show related stories of the run. One day she was bending over to get something and I noticed that she had a tattoo on her lower back that said “N-SYNC,” as in the boy band from the 90s. Now, of all tattoos I would never expect her to have, only one that said “Barry Manilow” would be more surprising. So I asked her about it and she just grinned and said, “Yeah, it’s the boy band. And it’s a great story, wanna hear it?” We all know the answer to that.
Kim’s been a stagehand for about 20 years now and she has several nieces and nephews that benefit from her job as she’s gotten them back stage passes to big concerts and they’ve gotten tours, met celebrities etc. So in the mid 90’s when N-sync was HUGE, they planned to be in Phoenix as part of their tour. As soon as her niece found out, she started telling everyone that her Aunt Kim was going to get her backstage to meet N-sync. Well, the problem was that the show had sold out within hours of the tickets being released and Kim could not get on the call for the show. She pulled in all of her stagehand favors but couldn’t even get tickets to the show, never mind backstage passes.
So one morning close to the show, she gets a call from her sister – her niece’s mom – telling her to turn on the radio. A local station was advertising a ticket giveaway for N-Sync that included back stage passes and a chance to meet the band. They were taking calls, they’d pick a certain number caller and if that person was willing and able to come to the radio station and get a tattoo of N-Sync while on the air, they would win the package. Kim says that as soon as she heard the advertisement, she knew that she was going to win. She got in her car, started driving toward the radio station as she called. She got through but was told that she wasn’t the right caller. They actually picked a different caller, that person got in their car and started driving and then chickened out, called the station and said they weren’t willing to get a tattoo. So they opened up the phone lines again, and this time they picked Kim.
She said that she drove to the station, got there and the tattoo artist took one look at her and said “really? You’re really going to do this?” because she does NOT look like an N-Sync fan. So she told her story about her niece, how she’d been trying to get tickets and couldn’t but didn’t want to let her down et. etc.. So the tattoo artist offered to tattoo her in some really unnoticeable place, like the bottom of her feet, but Kim said “no, if you are going to do it, you might as well do it.” So he tattooed her lower back and she got the tickets and the passes.
She said she cried as she drove home and then called her boyfriend and said “I arrived with Metallica on my windshield and I left with N-Sync on my a**!”
So yesterday, I’m working with Kim and via one thing and another she starts telling me stories about high school. Turns out she was part of something called the NCHA (National Campers and Hikers association) and this organization hosts beauty pageants. I’ll give you a moment or two to absorb that conundrum.
Ready? Ok.
So Kim competed in these beauty pageants all through high school – she actually went to charm school (I need to ask her what that is exactly) and had a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader as a dance coach - and at one point she won Miss Arizona NCHA and went to the national pageant in Oklahoma. There they organized a huge parade and she had a “float” consisting of an old Chevy truck with a toolbox in the bed covered by a blanket that she sat on surrounded by balloons. Another small moment to revel in that picture, maybe?
Ok.
So apparently most of the states elected both a Miss and a Mr. – a queen and king of the state – who went to the pageant but for some reason there was no king of Arizona. Kim says that the King of Michigan thought she was really cute and actually chased her float down the parade route until he caught up with her so he could ride with her. Needless to say, the queen of Michigan was not happy…
And while I love that mental picture, the corker of the story was Kim telling me that the talent section of the pageant was also not “beauty pageant traditional” because it was a camping and hiking association. Then she says, in the most off hand way imaginable – “For instance, the queen of California pitched a tent as her talent.”
As I’m falling apart laughing at that statement, Kim looks at me, starts to laugh and says, “And that’s not even the funny part.” I said “You must be kidding!”
And she says, “Oh no, she did it while dressed as a California Raisin.”
Once again, I have the best friends ever.
I’m out, have a good day everyone!
However, my fellow dressers are riding to my rescue, story wise, as they so frequently do. So here are a few tidbits for you. And really, I think this post will be most appreciated by Kateri because she’s just like that.
Anyway, back to the dressers, specifically Kim. Kim is a rigger – a stagehand who deals with all the set pieces that fly up, curtains, scrims, sycs etc. - who also works wardrobe. And unlike many of the stagehands who double with wardrobe, she can actually do both jobs and I really like working with her. She has a very no nonsense attitude and doesn’t “suffer fools” easily, so we get along great. This will become relevant so I’ll tell you that she’s my age, pretty, bleached blond hair and skin that looks like she smokes too much and gets too much sun (both of which are true, though it turns out she’s quit smoking). And she works the NASCAR scene as a stagehand when she isn’t working theatre work. So there’s a snapshot.
I first worked with her on Lion King and she had one of my favorite non-show related stories of the run. One day she was bending over to get something and I noticed that she had a tattoo on her lower back that said “N-SYNC,” as in the boy band from the 90s. Now, of all tattoos I would never expect her to have, only one that said “Barry Manilow” would be more surprising. So I asked her about it and she just grinned and said, “Yeah, it’s the boy band. And it’s a great story, wanna hear it?” We all know the answer to that.
Kim’s been a stagehand for about 20 years now and she has several nieces and nephews that benefit from her job as she’s gotten them back stage passes to big concerts and they’ve gotten tours, met celebrities etc. So in the mid 90’s when N-sync was HUGE, they planned to be in Phoenix as part of their tour. As soon as her niece found out, she started telling everyone that her Aunt Kim was going to get her backstage to meet N-sync. Well, the problem was that the show had sold out within hours of the tickets being released and Kim could not get on the call for the show. She pulled in all of her stagehand favors but couldn’t even get tickets to the show, never mind backstage passes.
So one morning close to the show, she gets a call from her sister – her niece’s mom – telling her to turn on the radio. A local station was advertising a ticket giveaway for N-Sync that included back stage passes and a chance to meet the band. They were taking calls, they’d pick a certain number caller and if that person was willing and able to come to the radio station and get a tattoo of N-Sync while on the air, they would win the package. Kim says that as soon as she heard the advertisement, she knew that she was going to win. She got in her car, started driving toward the radio station as she called. She got through but was told that she wasn’t the right caller. They actually picked a different caller, that person got in their car and started driving and then chickened out, called the station and said they weren’t willing to get a tattoo. So they opened up the phone lines again, and this time they picked Kim.
She said that she drove to the station, got there and the tattoo artist took one look at her and said “really? You’re really going to do this?” because she does NOT look like an N-Sync fan. So she told her story about her niece, how she’d been trying to get tickets and couldn’t but didn’t want to let her down et. etc.. So the tattoo artist offered to tattoo her in some really unnoticeable place, like the bottom of her feet, but Kim said “no, if you are going to do it, you might as well do it.” So he tattooed her lower back and she got the tickets and the passes.
She said she cried as she drove home and then called her boyfriend and said “I arrived with Metallica on my windshield and I left with N-Sync on my a**!”
So yesterday, I’m working with Kim and via one thing and another she starts telling me stories about high school. Turns out she was part of something called the NCHA (National Campers and Hikers association) and this organization hosts beauty pageants. I’ll give you a moment or two to absorb that conundrum.
Ready? Ok.
So Kim competed in these beauty pageants all through high school – she actually went to charm school (I need to ask her what that is exactly) and had a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader as a dance coach - and at one point she won Miss Arizona NCHA and went to the national pageant in Oklahoma. There they organized a huge parade and she had a “float” consisting of an old Chevy truck with a toolbox in the bed covered by a blanket that she sat on surrounded by balloons. Another small moment to revel in that picture, maybe?
Ok.
So apparently most of the states elected both a Miss and a Mr. – a queen and king of the state – who went to the pageant but for some reason there was no king of Arizona. Kim says that the King of Michigan thought she was really cute and actually chased her float down the parade route until he caught up with her so he could ride with her. Needless to say, the queen of Michigan was not happy…
And while I love that mental picture, the corker of the story was Kim telling me that the talent section of the pageant was also not “beauty pageant traditional” because it was a camping and hiking association. Then she says, in the most off hand way imaginable – “For instance, the queen of California pitched a tent as her talent.”
As I’m falling apart laughing at that statement, Kim looks at me, starts to laugh and says, “And that’s not even the funny part.” I said “You must be kidding!”
And she says, “Oh no, she did it while dressed as a California Raisin.”
Once again, I have the best friends ever.
I’m out, have a good day everyone!
posted by KBARRETT at 10:48 AM
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