The Midnight Train Crossing

The doors to the lobby opened an hour before the show started, so we went in to get programs and glasses and then I saw the call board:

I squeaked, much to the puzzlement of my friend, who hadn't seen Starlight and didn't know anything about it beyond "Yeah, I think it's on roller skates"
I had to explain to her the significance of Jeremy playing Rusty, but even so I don't think that she really understood it. As much as I adore Franklyn Warfield as Rusty, I was curious to see how Jeremy would fare and I was under assignment to take special note of Caboose understudies.
I spotted some one with a color program and quickly ran over to buy one for me and one for Megan. I also asked one of the ushers very nicely if I could have two extra programs. (I would need them later).

Upon entering the theatre I had to smile at the sight of the familar purple stage. Not that I hadn't been having fun doing other things in Tucson, but since this really was the purpose of my whole trip, it was very exciting - and even more exciting when we found our seats.
My lovely friend Lisa had been given the assignment of getting the tickets and she decided to surprise me by not telling me beforehand that she had scored front row ! I've been throughly spoiled I think :) I also don't think that we could have been any more centered if we would have tried.

Even though I knew about the "standard" announcment of turning off cell phones, I still laughed at it, along with some other people in the audience.

The overture/introduction is very different then it was. It's quite a bit longer and "Control" (Yes, I know he isn't called that) tries to argue more with his mother, but eventually loses.
The Entry of the Nationals was pretty much as I remembered it. Since I'd spend the past month or so before hand carefully studying the costume refrence pictures of the nationals for my bears, it was exciting to see them live and in person (well, sort of).
Rolling Stock was rather different then how I remembered. Well the basic choreography was the same, but the bridge ((for lack of anything better to call it, it's the bit when they don't sing)) was different. I think it's because the last time I saw it, we took special notice of how Greaseball would jump over all of his gang, and other points when they would jump over each other. There was hardly any of that this time around. Two of the gang would bring out a ramp and the other four would lay down in a line, as before, but then the last gang member (wearing blades, not quads) would jump over them.

As soon as Rolling Stock ended, I tensed a bit, for I knew what was coming. Part of the time I think that I was a bit distracted from the show itself because, well, the Red Caboose was playing Rusty... and Rustys are very important to me, so all both times before when I saw different people as Rusty, I would sorta tense right before his entrance on the first time that I saw him.

Stage Door

To make a long story short, there were two doors labeled "Stage Door" at this theatre and I went to the wrong one.
Some very kind memeber of the cast, I'm not sure who - it was a guy - (thank you mysterious unknown person!), yelled out of his car that the stage door was on the other side, so I know that I missed like everybody.
(Aparantly some of them were looking for me too!)

At anyrate, when I did get to the correct spot the first people I reconized where the components, Robyn Hurder (Wrench), Suzanne Wogisch (Volta), Kelly Stensland (Joule). They recognized me as well.
Robyn did ask me, (but in a good way) "What are you doing here?" Meaning, I think "why Tucson" as they already know that I'm a bit of a diehard.

While I was talking to the component girls, this other guy that they were standing with made some sort of comment to the effect of that he was tired of being ignored.
So Robyn introduced him by saying "He was Caboose tonight" which left me scrambling to think "okay, so who was Caboose tonight?"
So his name is Peelee Clark and he told me that he had joined up in Philadelphia ((oo okay, so I cannot spell cities very well)) which was why I didn't know who he was.
As he was Caboose that night, I said that he must take a picture with Caboose bear.
"Caboose Bear?" he asked.
While I dug out Caboose Bear, Robyn explained, "She has teddy bears of all of the characters"
He looked over my bear (standard proceedure) and then was trying to come up with an interesting way to pose for the picture so I asked him to salute. So he did :)

After that, I explained to them about the slight problem that I had created for myself in that I had volenteered to collect autographs for three different people. Kelly took my three programs and said that they would pass them around and return them to me on Thursday as that would be the next time I would see them.
Robyn declared that if she didn't sit down soon she was going to fall over, which was an interesting way of saying goodbye, but yeah :)

A large group of people came out next - one of which was Clarissa Grace (Pearl). She is from Tucson and because of this, most of her family was there that night. (By the way, she has a very cute little niece (who looked to be 4 or 5) "Aunt Clarissa! Aunt Clarissa! I'm pretending to be skating!")
I waited for a few minutes and then decided not to bother her, figuring that she'd probably rather talk to her family then me, so we headed off home.

Thursday

Thursday night I went with my uncle who had agreed to go to the Stage Door afterwards. We got to the theatre and I noted the callboard:

So still no Franklyn. I had seen Brandon as Rusty the night before and liked him a tiny bit more then Jeremy, but Jeremy was still a pretty good Rusty, and as Rustys and Cabooses like to alternate, I was looking forward to another take on Caboose.
We found our seats near the front of the balcony, which I don't think was much of a Balcony . It was really more like the back of the theatre sloped dramatically upwards.
It really wasn't that bad up there. I couldn't see facial expressions as well as I could from the front, but there was definatly a lot to see, and most of the actors over-exagerate things that go on in the background anyway, so all was well.

Jeremy, as Rusty, still didn't wear a hat (yes, very important I know. :)) so I concluded that he just, well, doesn't wear one. He still also looks very brown-haired on stage.
Things were pretty much the same as they were on Tuesday night.
Rolling Stock, however, was slightly different everytime. This time around, Greaseball did jump over his gang while they were all lying down, but he jumped diagonally, so that he only really jumped over one of them, and then Trax (or one of the Gang on Roller Blades) jumped over all of them.
In Call Me Rusty, Jeremy seemed to be a bit better at being rough on the coaches then he had been two nights before. (Yes, even from far away I could tell.)
Whole Lotta Locomotion was just as neatly done as ever, as was He'll Whistle at Me. I was mildly disappointed in the quantity (Yes, quantity, not quality) of the ad-libs from the other coaches.

One (of the many things!) thing that I will give Jeremy in that he did a bit better was that he really did make the freight train look heavy when he first pushed them slowly out onto the stage.
However, as my first impression of Brandon's Rusty before was that he was quite tall and skinny, Caboose also was very tall. (Considering that it's the same guy, that's not terribly hard).
This is interesting because if Brandon Warner is indeed the guy that I think he is, he isn't terribly tall... Well, taller then me yes, but most people are.
So yeah, we had the normal freight train heights followed by a tall Caboose and a short Rusty. It looked sort of funny.
I still like the "almost crash" between the two trains. I don't remember it from before, and I certainly would have written it down, which leads me to believe that it just wasn't there before :)
When Brandon-'boose ((oo that's clever, I just made it up)) stopped them he did have a bit of a slightly questionable grin, but I think that, again, if you didn't know, you wouldn't know.
Actually, that was pretty much how Brandon did Caboose. Wide Smile would have been quite a surprise, but more of that when I get to it.
Each night there were progressively more ad-libs during Freight. I never did catch Buffy giving the Hip Hoppers drinks, but I didn't always watch for it.
I did still think that it was odd that Rusty almost never looked over at Pearl during Freight, but thinking about it now in the context of the overall show, I guess it wasn't that surprising ((Wow, I sound like I'm writing a paper)).
Pearl alternated between doing her makeup and joining the other coaches in either dancing along, or making fun of the freight cars.
Brandon as Caboose isn't quite as stiff and jerky, he's a bit smoother in his motions.

From where we were sitting this time it was difficult to see the people at the back of the stage during AC/DC so I don't know what they were doing.
Rusty was a bit more protective of Pearl during AC/DC this time around. Although he kept looking at the side ramp - examining it I suppose would be the better word - and I'm not entirely sure why. He would do it during Pumping Iron as well.
And, as before, aparantly steam engines simply aren't effected by Electra's pull, which is still wierd.

This might be largely due to the fact that I generally do pay more attention to Rusty, and especially since I knew that once I got home (or, for that matter, on the phone) I would have to field lots of questions dealing with every little detail about Jeremy's performance as Rusty, so this is what I took notes on.
At anyrate, by this time I was now throughly convinced that the components don't have sunglasses anymore, but then again, I have been known to just totally miss things.

From as far back as we were this time, it was difficult to see the Nationals at the top of the stage during Pumping Iron, so I just sort of gave up on watching them and decided to focus on something else.
Rusty ducks when Greaseball comes in, sparks flying, which is cute. He still doesn't really fake being excited when Pearl bounced around, but apart from the sparks, he just sorta stayed safely behind the ramp while Greaseball was skating around.
Since his mild "complaining" about the diesel on Tuesday night was very difficult to spot, I did not really look for it.
Purse didn't seem terribly interested in Greaseball. He really only did it (that I noticed) on Tuesday night, and then Electra just sorta pushed him off stage.
I do adore the Hip-Hoppers up on top during Pumping Iron though and Brandon's Caboose was rather cute as he watched Greaseball with thinly veiled respect. (But then, he gave that look to everybody).
(Hey, has anybody else noticed how I totally focus on the background of everything?)
I've also come to the conclusion that, fun as they are, a lot of the choreograhpy, particularly this song, just looks a little... well... silly at times. Particularly the bit when the girls are all on hands and knees sorta wiggling as Greaseball skates past.

The trouble with trying to do a seperate report for every night after seeing the show so close together is that I often don't have time to get as detailed in my notes as I would like, and then when I finally do try and type it up and make it coherent (particularly when I do it in the wrong order), I forget which went with which show.
Even though I always say that it's a bit different every time, a lot of things DO stay the same, and so, I forget.

Stage Door

Being clever enough to discover that the correct stage door was now labeled with a bright blue sign (It was not on Tuesday! Really it wasn't!) this time I went to the right one.
This is more or less the order that things happened on account of me not having a video account of things this time to help me remember.

There was another guy there who didn't look like a fan type person really. (No camera, no pen). Really he just looked like he was waiting for somebody (Though I never figured out who. He just sorta vanished somewhere along the line). He asked me how I was waiting for :)
While waiting at the door I'm sure that a lot of swings came out, said "Hi" and continued on their way. Many of them looked familar, but I wasn't entirely sure and I wasn't quite as determined to catch "Everyone".
I'm pretty sure that I saw Franklyn Warfield (Rusty) come out, but then do an about face and go back inside, so I'm not 100% sure of that.

The first person who DID come out who I was postive who it was was Katie O'Toole (Dinah) who most certainly remembered me. (That and she sorta knew I was coming as I'd sent her an email). So she came out (She had her hair in some rather pretty french braids too), called out my name and rushed over to me, giving me a hug.
She confirmed (again) that she did indeed see me on Tuesday. It would have been difficult not to, but she saw me and knew that it was, well, me.
We talked for awhile because she was waiting for the other people in her carpool. (Quite logically, the other coaches). She usually gets changed pretty fast, and as she put it, there really isn't any reason for her to take any longer, and so she usually ends up waiting for the others to come out.
So she camped out outside of the Door with me, perched on these railing things (If you saw it, you'd understand) looking for all the world like a normal person just sorta waiting at the Door.
One of the things we talked about was how I had heard that she was out for awhile and that I was glad that she was back in. She proceeded to tell me all about how she totally tore up her knee and had to be out for 8 weeks, but she was bound and determined to do the shows in... I forget... but somewhere on the East Coast because that's where she's from.
She said that 8 weeks to the day after she was told she had to take 8 weeks off, she was back in the show because she missed it, although seeing the show from the audience was fun too. (I can agree with that!)

While I was talking to Katie, Leesa Osborn (Dance Captian) came out. I said Hi to her and she said Hi back, but I don't know if she really remembered me.

A very sparkly Dustin Dubreuil was the next actor that I caught. (("He's Electra," Katie explained to the other guy)).
I asked him to sign Megan's program, while explaining to him who Megan was. ("The Caboose-girl with the long hair") and he did sort of remember.
While he signed it (He had also come prepared with a Sharpie) he asked me if I noticed many things that were different. I told him that I did but didn't go into any great length because he had finished signing and off he departed.

Scott Bolt (Dustin) came out, but sort of whooshed past. ("He plays Dustin, he wears a big costume" Katie informed her "audience") and I didn't chase him.

Kelly Stensland (Joule) and Robyn Hurder (Wrench) came out and said "Hi" and Kelly handed off the programs that she had gotten signed for me saying "We didn't get everybody." All I had a chance to say was "That's fine, thank you" before they vanished off into the parking lot.

Jared Lee (Prince of Wales) came out next and greeted me and I gave him a hug, thanking him (again) for the use of his pictures and I showed him my Nationals, and then he posed with Prince of Wales Bear.
While I was talking to Jared, Robert Roby (Nintendo) came out and also oo'd over my National bears as well as posing with Nintendo Bear. He was happy that Nintendo "Even has a gray hat". He also liked my Ruhrgold bear.

Stephen Maestas (Hip Hopper 3) came out soon after and gave me a very forceful hug. :). He was sort of in a hurry, but he certainly had time to stop and say "Hi" and that he had seen me in the front row on Tuesday. He asked where I was sitting the next night, but I told him that we were very far back so he probably wouldn't see me.

Jeremy Kocal (Caboose U/S Rusty) came out. I gave him a hug and asked him to pose with Rusty bear, and then he sped off. He said that everybody in his car was waiting for him, but in my opinion he also looked really really tired.

Katie (Who was still there) had by this point been wondering about why the others were taking so long to come out.
Finally Kait Holbrook (Ashley) came out. Katie was like, "You remember her right?" (Okay, so yeah she did use my name) and Kait was like, "Of course"
So it was established that it was just Katie and Kait were the only ones in the carpool that night so they didn't have to wait for anybody else.
Katie asked me where we were sitting the next night, but I told her that we were too far back to wave. This started a whole new discussion on waving. She said that she loves waving to people in the audience and was pleased when I told her that she would make my brother so excited when she would wave at us.
Katie is really rather adorable. Where most of the cast comes out looking tired, she was sorta bouncing around as she left.

Somewhere along the line, Franklyn Warfield (Rusty) had emerged from the theatre again, but he pretty much came out, set his stuff down and started talking on his cell phone. He did look up at me and smile, but continued on his phone. I did not listen to him ;)

Aaron Coulson (Purse) came out with a large group of people who I didn't recognize (hence, I figured that they weren't in the cast).

Here is where the order of things happening starts to get a bit fuzzy. I was talking to somebody but I cannot remember if it was Aaron or Robert.
Logic tells me that this was said sometime after Jeremy had been and gone. At any rate, one of these two guys observed that I had seen three different Rustys (I didn't bother to say that really I'd seen four), Jeremy, Brandon and Franklyn of course.

So eventually, Franklyn finally got off the phone and the rest of the company that he was with was kind enough to stick around so that I could talk to him for a bit.
He gave me a hug (I suspect he remembered me enough to expect it 'cause I like hugging steam engines). I said something to the effect of "You aren't on" and he proceeded to settle the mystery of why he wasn't on. He was sick - with an ear infection which meant that he couldn't hear properly, much less sing. He did appologize for it, which was sweet.
Right when I asked him to sign Megan's program, the really annoying light by the stage door which would periodically turn on and off, went off, so we had to wait for it to turn back on.
When it did come back on he spend a good five minutes trying to decide which picture to sign on. (He did have quite a few options) and his complaint about how "all of my pictures are so dark!" But he eventually did sign it.
As he was doing so ((I was in a pretty brave mood by this time)) I told him about how Avian and I had been comparing handwriting once and he had "won" for having the nicest signature - it was the only one that's completely ledgable. (And it is too! Even on my skate wheel). He laughed at that, and Aaron agreed with me.
While Aaron was signing the program, I told Franklyn that I wanted a picture showing just how much taller then me he is, because of the other one that I have of him towering over me.
("I was on skates though, right? That would be why") And yes. He is taller then me, like most people.

The next (and last) person of the night was Clarissa Grace (Pearl). She came out and gave me a hug. I had never thought that she was not friendly, but I haven't spoken with her as much as I had with Katie, for example, so I was plesantly surprised that she rushed over to me just as Katie had.
She also told me that she had seen me at the Door on Tuesday night, but she was swarmed with family members and by the time she was able to get away from them, I was gone. She said that she felt bad.
She declared me to be a truely devoted fan while doing the autographs and pictures and then she left.

After she left, I went through a mental checklist and realized that I'd gotten pretty much everybody that I wanted to catch and it was likely that most of the others had slipped past, so we headed home.

Friday - Stage Door

My friend Lisa decided to stay at the Door with me (Now that we knew the right one) provided I would introduce her to "Rusty" (Jeremy). Since I knew that Jeremy was rather easy to catch, I told her no problem. Her brother Alex wanted to meet Electra, so I told him that I would try.

Dustin (Electra) was the first one that I got to stop. He hadn't signed the three programs, so I asked him to, but felt a bit bad about it because he looked very tired. But he also said Hi to Alex. After he left, Alex said to me that he (Dustin) is very tall, which is very true. :)

Katie came out soon after because she is faster then everyone else.

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