The Midnight Train Crossing

I hadn't quite finished packing the night before, so Friday morning I was finishing up with trying to get all of the bears to fit in either my suitcase or my bag. My flight left at 1:30, which meant that we needed to get to the airport by noon. It doesn't take too long to get from my house to the airport. I wasn't particularly hungry, but I figured that I'd better eat something to keep from getting sick. And then I spent from 11:15 until about 11:30 bouncing around the house, and then my dad and I headed off to the airport.
I checked in and everything and then my dad waited with me for a few minutes before I went through airport security.
Then I said good-bye to him and headed off to my gate, where I had to wait for awhile.
People-watching in the airport is always interesting. There was a family traveling with three little kids and a guy traveling on business complaining on his cell phone that in Milwaukee, Starbucks do not have Internet access.

The flight from Milwaukee to Chicago was a short one, I think like 35 minutes or so and it was rather uneventful.
I already knew the gate that my flight to Omaha was leaving from. Before we got off the plane, the flight attendant said that we were at terminal F and if we needed to get to terminal C we ought to go to gate E3 and take the shuttle. ((So for future reference to anybody traveling through O'Hare…)) So I proceeded to gate E3 figuring that I'd find somebody to explain to me where to go. As it was, everything was pretty clearly labeled. As I was going down this looooong hallway to get to terminal E, I was sort of walking with these other three travelers.
This relatively older looking woman asked me if I was traveling by myself. When I said "Yes" she looked rather impressed. I know that wearing my hair "Rustie-style" (two braids) does make me look a bit younger, but I didn't think it made me look that young. But *shrugs* ah well.
At any rate, I found my way to the shuttle and then from there, made my way to my gate.
As I was walking through the airport I heard a "Last call" announcement, which wasn't strange, but it was promptly followed by another announcement in another language. Silly me assuming it was Spanish, until I listened to it and heard the flight numbers and realized it was German.
Of course my gate was one of the last ones in this terminal. Always is. But I made it in plenty of time.

The flight to Omaha was pretty uneventful as well – other then that I finished reading LOTR. (That's not as impressive as it sounds, I only had like three chapters to go).
When we landed and the use of cell phones was permitted again, I called Megan to tell her that I was safe and sound and to ask her where she was.
I met her coming up the ramp from the terminals. She was right when she said that she had decided to wear a bright yellow skirt because she figured it would make her stand out. So I found her with no trouble, especially considering that she was waving at me. So I also met her mom and her dad (okay, so I'd already met him before).
We went to baggage claim to retrieve my suitcase and I was very excited that I found it without much trouble.
Then we departed from the airport and headed off to Megan's aunt's house.
In the car, I have my first exposure to the Wicked soundtrack – it has some pretty songs. And I showed Megan various and assorted bears – Ferro and Trax and some other ones. I also got to talk to Krista on the phone for the first time.
So we got to Megan's Aunt's house and got settled in. I unpacked a bit and then presented Megan with the Caboose scarf that I had made for her. She was quite happy, and very surprised. I actually wasn't sure if she was going to hug me or hit me with the scarf after I gave it to her. Actually, she did both.

We decided that based on the time, we ought to start getting ready. I'd already had my hair in the two braids – considerably shorter then it was last time I dressed up! – and it didn't take me long at all to get changed, considering that my costume is essentially just clothes. Megan's costume is a bit more complicated, but not too bad. Then she did my eyes because when I take my glasses off I cannot see well enough to do my own eye shadow. So yeah, to answer the burning question, Rustie wears brown eye shadow J
The rest of my makeup I did. Megan spent a lot of time doing her eyes with the aid of several reference pictures and I helped her with her cheeks. But I'll be the first to admit, she's a lot better at makeup stuff then I am.
I did her hair and then we were off to get a quick fast food dinner while on our way to the theatre.

We stopped at this restaurant called Spaghetti Works about two blocks from the theatre because it had an old coach in front of it. As it turned out, the coach had been sold and they were in the process of removing it, but it was still there, so we took a picture in front of it.

After that, we headed over to the theatre. A police officer/security/official looking guy was holding the door to the theatre and he liked our costumes. I had to fix Megan's hair again because we'd cleverly forgotten how many bobby pins it had taken last time to hold it in place. We asked at the box office where the stage door was, and, since it was still early enough, we went off to investigate.
It was sort of a nice setting I guess, but I liked doing the Stage Door a bit better in Tucson and Green Bay because it was a college campus and the actors had to wait for each other – making them easier to catch. And there was the bright blue sign on the door, which made me quite hopeful indeed that it was the right place.

We returned to the theatre and found our seats, which were pretty far back, but also pretty dead center. It turned out that the couple sitting next to us were from a city near Megan's. They had seen it before in Vegas and he was telling us about the tracks that went around the theatre.
In the row in front of us were some other people that we had seen on the way in. One guy had said that he had seen it in Australia I think. His date said that she hadn't seen it before. I think that someone else in that row said that she'd seen it on Broadway. Everyone around us was asking us what they were supposed to do with the glasses. (And they all got faked out by the third race). We just said "You'll see."
The guy from the city near Megan's was dubbed "the creepy guy" because he kept bothering her - especially with her costume.

And then the play started and we proceeded to basically ignore the people around us - except that at some point, the creepy guy got up and moved to the row behind us. The show gets it's own section :)

Sorta a combination of both performances

The first thing that we did when we got into the lobby of the theatre was to look at the call-board. There were quite a few names listed on it. Red Caboose was played by Peelee so Megan and I were both excited about that - since we knew that Jeremy was out. I think that Hip Hopper Two was Paul Lane but I'm not entirely sure. Nintendo and the Prince of Wales were also understudies, but since I don't know all of the swings very well, I'm not sure who they were. By process of elimination, the actors were Tony Andre and Erik Christopher Freese, but I don't remember which was which.

As always, I was very excited to see the purple stage. And after eleven times, I know this part well enough: "Ladies and gentlemen, please turn off all pagers, cell phones, alarm clocks and microwaves." *pause for audience reaction* "If you open your programs, you will find a pair of the flattest, weirdest sunglasses you have ever seen. These are your Starlight Express safety goggles, designed for use during certain hair-raising parts of the performance. Don't worry about when to put them on, we'll let you know. And now, sit back, relax and enjoy Starlight Express!"

And then the overture starts with the turquoise spotlights roaming around the stage in the half-lit theatre. This one I'm still not entirely sure of, but here's what I remember:

Control: Attention everyone! Attention everyone! Tonight is race night! The whole world is wondering who is the fastest locomotive in the world. Tonight we're gonna find out. All the greatest engines- *knocking sound*
All the greatest engines- *knocking sound*
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a technical problem. Please stand by
*opens door*
What is it mom?

Mother: What is it? It's an hour past your bed time, that's what it is.

Control: Aw mom, just five more minutes?

I'm pretty sure that there's something else in here, but I cannot remember exactly what it is

Mother: No. The race is postponed until tomorrow.

Control: Y'know mom, studies show that an hour of quiet play time before bed...

Mother: Lights out and into bed Maybe

Control: Okay...

Mother: Okay. Good night

Control: Good night mom.

The spotlights and the house lights go completely black and then the entry of the nationals starts up.
The most newsworthy thing of this time around was that Nintendo did rolling splits, which was very cool indeed.

Princy fell at the beginning of Rolling Stock, but he just got up again and continued on. It wasn't that noticeable I don't think, (well, other then to somebody watching for it) and that was the only fall.
Rolling Stock was basically the same that it was in Tucson - with two of the gang bringing out a little ramp and the gang member with blades going up the ramp and jumping over the others that are lying down.
It's not Trax though - the costume is different, well as different as the Trax costume is from the gang.

I hadn't realized just how often Greaseball adjusts his gloves throughout the course of the show. Anyway, Rusty looked throughly confused while they were all yelling at him, and definitely a bit frightened when Greaseball stopped him at the end. I didn't notice Greaseball smack him "accidently".
Rather then whistling and heading off to "fetch the cars", this time around, Rusty sighed, rolled his eyes a bit and then headed off.
He flinches and tries to slow down when the gang circle around him when he's with the coaches.
Like always, the general ticked-off-ness of Rusty comes out when he's pushing the coaches - he shoves the three up one of the ramps quite hard.

The dancing to Whole Lotta Locomotion keeps getting smoother. I don't think that Buffy's ever had exactly the same accent - it wasn't as "New York" this time as it was in Tucson. While I'm sure that I couldn't do it, I'm definitely picking up on the choreography - and it's nice to finally know all the lyrics.

Ashley stole the show during He'll Whistle At Me. I wound up watching her more then Pearl. And her "cigarettes" sometimes give out smoke, which I hadn't noticed before. All that she was doing was basically finding cigarettes in various places on her, lighting them differently, depositing the ashes, smoking them a bit, and then putting them out, but somehow it was very entertaining.

The whistle and the bursts of steam at the beginning of Freight have stopped scaring me. Pearl still exclaims, "Not that whistle!"
I'm pretty sure now that the coaches' lines at the beginning of Freight are the standard arrangement.
It's pretty obvious from his expression that Rusty prefers to pull/push the coaches around and they give him plenty of encouragement.
There is an almost crash between the trains that has gotten progressively better when Rusty, pushing the girls, cuts right in front of the freight cars who - with the aid of some quick braking by Caboose - come to a stop just in time. The Hip Hoppers at least call out a warning to Rusty - and don't look particularly pleased with him. As they can't get moving again without an engine, that's when they do the climbing over each other bit (I've gotta figure out a better way to describe that). It seems that it depends on how fast Rusty gets over to them if Dustin tries to do it or not, because Friday night he didn't, but Saturday he did.
It still doesn't look to me like the coaches are in dramatic need of being stopped, but that's what causes the freight cars to crash. Rusty most assuredly eeps when he sees them crash, but the coaches laugh.

During the introduction of the freight cars, Ashley is smoking, Buffy's doing that trick with her tray that I'm still not sure what it is, Dinah's going through her orders and Pearl was fixing her makeup and occasionally talking to Rusty.
The Hoppers again didn't get any drinks from Buffy.

Friday night I didn't quite understand why Pearl went between Caboose and Dustin, but Caboose moved her over between Dustin and Flat Top so that he didn't participate in the flip. Considering that this didn't happen on Saturday - and she just automatically went between Dustin and Flat Top - I thought that it wasn't planned.

I was mildly amused by the thought that at the intro to AC/DC there are five engines on the stage, but Rusty's the only one that pushes the cars away to "safety". The freight cars always look pretty surprised when Rusty pushes them into each other. Subtle hint to hitch up? And note how he pushes the coaches away first.
I like how Buffy and Pearl just sort of materialize on the other side of the stage (as does Caboose)

Purse still rolls his r's which is still cool. The components still wear sunglasses and I was watching to see how they smuggle them out. Purse gives his to Ashley and one of the girls - not sure which - gives hers to Caboose. Joule has a new wig! Well, sort of, it's her old wig, but with the addition of a long white braid and thin red bows at the top and bottom of the braid. It looks nice.

While Electra was singing, the Hip Hoppers, perched up on one of the ramps, making fun of the electrics. It was rather amusing. They were also doing this complicated looking hand shake thing. This was disrupted when Electra roared up the ramp, almost knocking into one of them - I think it was 2.

Rusty is back to fighting Electra's pull after everybody else gets pulled in (Thus making me think it's more of a actor thing).
After Electra releases all of the coaches, Rusty steadies Buffy and then rushes off to catch Pearl.

During Pumping Iron the Hip Hoppers weren't quite as organized in their dancing as they usually are. The Nationals also didn't do as many interesting adlibs, but I couldn't see that part of the stage very well either night from where we were sitting.
It's still cute how Rusty gives Greaseball "death glares" but only to the diesel's back - it's so perfect.
This time around, he never looked fake excited to Pearl (he still had the "my Pearl!" expression though) and he tried a bit harder to get her to come back.

This wasn't the first time that I noticed this during the "Electricity is taking charge" part, but on that line, the components all sorta sink down to the ground. I just don't think that I ever put that down before.

Crazy is cute. That is all. :)

Purse still looks rather shocked that Pearl would even think that Electra whistles. After that line, Pearl looks to Rusty, who shrugs. I cannot remember if it was this production or London where he would sorta mime pulling a whistle cord and then look quite smug.

Perhaps it was the angle, but after Make Up My Heart, I couldn't see Rusty anywhere on stage. It looked like he came out just in time to see her go off with Electra, which meant that she didn't see him at all?

After the first race, Megan noticed for the first time the insulting that goes back and forth between Electra and Greaseball

Greaseball: See you in the final fuse-box!
Electra: Whatever dirtball!
Unlike in Tuscon, Dinah didn't respond with "It's Greaseball!"

Megan leaned over to me and was like, "Dirtball?"

I don't have any particularly interesting comments about Poppa's Blues other then that it was as good as ever

While we were waiting we had a few people tell us "good job" before they realized that we weren't actually in the show. I rather wondered why they thought that members of the cast would be standing around in costume outside after the show, but hey...
So a lota people that I didn't know came out. One guy said that "they were coming" another asked who we were waiting for, I answered "a whole lot of people" but I suppose I could've said anyone.
Graham Harvey (Turnov) came out and came over to us. He said that he didn't actually know us, but I suppose he did by reputation. I didn't know who he was right away either so I suppose that was fair enough. But he introduced himself as Graham and I knew right away that he was Turnov - he looked sort of impressed that I knew straight off which character he was. So we told him our names and he commented on our costumes. I told him that I had a Turnov bear and I asked if he would take a picture with the bear.
Then Kristofer Stock (Ruhrgold) came out while I was digging for Turnov bear. I didn't know who he was until he started to talk, and then the first thing that he asked was if I had a Ruhrgold Bear yet. When I said yes he was quite excited, and then the look on his face when I pulled it out and showed it to him was just wonderful. He really liked the ICE on front and the flags. Graham liked Turnov bear - he also liked the flags. They posed for a picture (of course) and they wanted to see them, so I told them that I put the pictures up online and that I send the links to Jared and Katie so to ask them in a bit.
While they were signing the programs (yes, we were collecting autographs yet again). Kristofer asked us what sort of reactions we were getting to being dressed up, because he said that he thought it was great. And they also both complimented us on our make up. He said that it was just like how Jeremy would do his makeup. (That made Megan very happy) They also asked us how we were able to get so accurate. We told them that we spent a lot of time looking at pictures.

Then Steve (Hip Hopper Three) came out. He yelled at me (while simultaneously giving me a hug) for telling him that Tucson was the last time. He was like "you lied to me!"
This was a very good segway into the presentation of Hip Hopper Three Bear. Steve was excited that he had a bear of his own now. So I took a picture with him. Steve, by the way, has a shirt that says "Hip Hopper Three" on it - in yellow.
Franklyn (Rusty) came out somewhere in the midst of all of this. So once again, I hugged a steam engine. And as Megan has just pointed out to me, I *still* haven't told him my name. I told him that it was his fault that I was there - because I didn't get to see him in Arizona. He said that now he could hear, and he even remembered that it was indeed in Arizona when I was last there. He also said that he was glad that I was happy that I got to see him as Rusty. I suppose it must be sort of flattering for him.
But it was sorta cold, so he left, saying that he'd make sure to come out the next day - since I told him that we were coming to the matinee.
While we were talking to them Drue Williams (Greaseball) came out, but I was a bit occupied because, well, yeah. And I didn't chase him.
Leesa also came out and said hi to us before heading off.

After they all had left we waited a bit longer, but then some of the Orpheum staff told us that everyone had gone. I know that the girls didn't sneak past us, so they must have gone out another door.

Megan, Krista and I had all done rather toned down versions of Caboose, Electra and Rusty make up. (Yes, in that order). Alas, it was sort of windy, but that didn't stop us from waiting.
While we were waiting for the cast to come out, some of the stage crew people who had seen us yesterday came out. We had one "No costumes today?" and another "You're here again?" A few of them asked us if we were coming back again all weekend, but we sadly said that this was the last time. One other woman asked us if we ever got tired of seeing it. Megan and I both answered with a prompt "No." She told us that we ought to see some other plays, teasingly of course, before heading off.

Dustin Duebreuil (Electra) and Katie O'Toole (Dinah) came out around the same time. I told Dustin that I had seen Starlight fifteen times now, and he had been in it every time. I told him that I had seen him in London, and because I'd seen him every time, I had a bear for him. He was happy to get one. He was like, "Yeah, you showed me him before, but you didn't let me keep him." Katie chimed in and said that I make different ones for the actors in their style costumes.
And then I told Katie that, according to tradition, I had cookies for her. She laughed at that. I told her that this time she had to share. She responded with, "I did share last time" Dustin said something to the effect of "I didn't get any last time." Katie: "I shared - I shared with.... Jeremy." So she handed the cookies off to someone else to take inside - I don't remember who it was.
I introduced Dustin to Megan and Krista (though Krista had met him before) and I took a picture with the four of them.

Franklyn, Aaron Coulson (Purse), Scott Bolt (Dustin) and Steve came out around the same time. I gave Franklyn the pictures that I had for him. Megan was talking to Scott for a bit while I was talking to Franklyn. Aaron said Hi, but then left quickly, so I forgot that Krista had never gotten to meet him.
Kristofer came out, but he wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather, so he left to get his jacket.

I told them that I didn't want to say that it was the last time, for fear that Steve would yell at me again, but I was running out of cities. I hugged Steve again and he was nice enough to give me his info so I could send him pictures. Ditto for Franklyn.
I did appreciate that Steve and Franklyn stuck around for awhile to talk to us, even though I'm sure that they were hungry.
While I was talking to them, Drue Williams (Greaseball) came over and I asked him to wait a minute so that he could talk to Megan (She wanted to meet him) and take a picture.

I got a good bye hug from Franklyn - which was, admittedly, pretty nice :) and then he wished me a safe flight home. I forgot that Kirsta needed to meet him yet too, so we "chased him" and then finally he went on.

After that set of actors had left, Megan recognized Dennis LeGree (Poppa). He started to leave, but I called out to him. I had a temporary mental block and couldn't remember his name - which is why it's good that the performers also respond to their character names. He did an about face and then he defiantly recognized me. He was like, "You're here again!" I told him that I had a Poppa Bear now, and he sort of lit up. He was rather impressed with Poppa bear and he took a picture with me and the bear, then asked me if I'd email him the picture. Of course I said yes.

He left and we waited a bit longer, but it was getting later and closer to the time that I had to go, but I still hadn't seen any of the girl components. So I wrote a note to them and gave it to this guy who worked at the theatre - I'm not sure who he was, but he looked pretty official and he said that he'd deliver it for me.

Megan and I said goodbye to Kirsta and then Megan and I went to the airport. They dropped me off and Megan and I said goodbye.

While I was in the airport I got two comments on my make up - as I still sorta had Rusty make up on. I washed it off after I had gotten through security.

US Tour Page

---

===============================
===============================