Tales From The Vig

Bye, Bye, Baby

2025-05-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

As quick as it started, it also ends.

After just 20 performances, we say goodbye today to the Studio Tenn production of Jersey Boys.

Approximately 6,600 patrons got to see our sold out show throughout the run, and jumped to their feet every performance on that last strong chord of "Who Loves You". They were great audiences; receptive, kind, attentive and they held onto every line of dialogue and song we sang.

The hardest part about saying goodbye to these shows are the people you step away from. You are complete strangers on day 1 of rehearsal, and form tight bonds so quickly. I will miss this fantastic cast and crew and everything they contributed onstage and off. I only hope, since I was finally cast as one of the Four Seasons, that I helped lead the show with the same type of grace and focus they all gave in return. Tommy is the "captain" in the group - the force that drives the show. I really tried night after night to set that tone for all of us. How lucky am I to have had this cast of 12 behind me lifting me up.

This show is instilled in me in such a way it's hard to explain. It is such a major part of my life, my story, for almost two decades. I am so honored and thrilled that I had the chance to once again tell the story of these flawed, troubled and incredible icons. Thank you to Jake Speck and Patrick Cassidy for trusting me in this role and thank YOU all for reading these posts and sending love and encouragement.

Until the next time - which will be sooner than later - bye, bye, baby.

Opened. Tired. Happy.

2025-05-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

After just 13 full rehearsals, a wanderprobe, tech runs and two dress rehearsals, we officially opened Jersey Boys at Studio Tenn on May 1.

Full house. Sold out. That trend seems to be continuing every show through this weekend and beyond. It's a good problem to have.

Truthfully, I'm so happy we're open so we can just have the performances now to focus on daily. I am beyond tired. Including the actual performances we have this week, as well as the full runs in tech and with the band earlier this week, it equates to doing the show full out 10 times since this past Tuesday. That's insane. And most of the nights this week, I have been waking up in the middle of the night, sometimes for close to two hours, for no reason at all. It's awful and it needs to stop.

With this opening, and with sharing the stage with Russell and Miles again (yes, Miles Aubrey is playing guitar for us in the band!), it has been a constant wash of memories from the original tour and my time on Broadway and in Chicago with this amazing show.

It's made me think of my dear departed friend, John Altieri, who I got to marvel at for close to 400 shows as our Bob Crewe and the delicious choices he made on stage. Makes me think of the awful pranks I would pull on stage - mostly consisting of random messages on random pieces of gaffe tape placed on various costume pieces throughout the show. The celebrities we got to meet in San Francisco and Los Angeles...the national anthems we got to sing at Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, United Center and Yankee Stadium. The stage door stories of fans sometimes getting a little too close for comfort (yes, I'm happy to sign your playbill, not your thigh or chest).

But mostly, I continue to go back to the line time and time again that Frankie says in Act One: "Family is Everything".

Many of us in the show joke about that line - because of what he says that precedes it. But at its core, it is what we who have done the show for so long stand by; THIS family. This Jersey Boys world which has brought so many of us together is 'everything'. I have been doing this show of and off now for 19 years...two decades of telling this story. And reaching out to my given family on days where it's hard - when you have to get through the choreography of the Big 3 on a matinee day when your knees hurt. When you have to give Nick the glare and spite that he needs in the sit-down to help elevate his performance. When you have to climb into the cannon at the top of the show as Tommy, and it explodes and you realize you don't stop flying for over an hour, and you can rely on this incredible family to lift you up and support you. Whether it's backing your vocals, or handing you jackets to make the reveal into Walk 2 look spectacular, or hold your guitars for a brief moment while you catch your breath before the next scene. Or give you a look onstage that they're there with you, and it gives you the boost you need.

That's the family we speak about offstage. And how lucky am I to have added this lovely cast and incredible crew into that fold.

One more show this week and 14 more altogether until this chapter closes. Come see us. See the family at work.

opening night shots courtesy of Samantha Hearn

It Ain't All Glitz and Glamour

2025-04-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday. It’s our day off. It’s our much needed and deserved day off. Tomorrow we go back to the theatre for a 9-hour day where we will add the band to the show and do our Wandelprobe; It literally translates from German as "walk" or "stroll" and "rehearsal," indicating a rehearsal where the actors move around the stage.

So today, in preparation for our long day tomorrow and then leading into our final tech and invited dress rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon/evening, I am staying in for the night at my hotel at the lovely Hyatt Place in Franklin/Cool Springs. I am doing laundry. And prepping dinner in the mini-fridge I store all my food and the 7” electric skillet I bought from Walmart for $13.71 so I can prepare hot food for the 5 weeks I am here.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not glitz. It’s quite lonely.

Tonight I am also going down a dark hole that, I imagine, many actors who might be reading this travel down: Uncertainty. Second-guessing. Self-critiquing. It’s not a great place to visit, but here we are.

I have been very lucky in my time with Jersey Boys that I have got to witness some pretty extraordinary people playing Tommy DeVito. The three that come to mind most are Deven May, Christian Hoff and Michael Cunio.

For me, Deven’s ‘Tommy’ was held all in his eyes. His glare. His connection. It was haunting to act beside him and have him look at you, really look at you, with those eyes.

Christian’s ‘Tommy’ was swagger. He was so fucking cool and he inhabited that role so deeply. I remember so vividly how he would hold his guitar - again, cool. Even when he played the character at his most flawed, he was still someone you wanted to please. As he becomes the true antagonist in the show, you still are rooting for him.

Cunio’s ‘Tommy’ was sexy; His dancing, his guitar playing, the way the lines were spoken - it made sense that the character “kept buying apartments to keep his girlfriends in”. Every woman wanted him and every man wanted to be him. He oozed this power that he had over everyone.

And so here we are, 18 years after first getting cast in the show, I am finally contracted as Tommy DeVito - this perfectly flawed, misunderstood and sculpted character. And I worry that I won’t have the presence that these other incredible actors had. Knowing that from the first downbeat of the show, I have to be focused and engaged. And it doesn’t stop until he gets sent to Vegas in the middle of Act Two. The relationship he has with Frankie or Nick or Bob is so difficult and layered and the way he manipulates and spins webs and ultimately, falls apart is so precisely and beautifully written by Rick and Marshall, that it makes me sick thinking that I won’t do it justice. Kicking myself for a missed line during rehearsal or a misstep in the choreography.

So tomorrow, I will wandelprobe. And I will find those moments I cherished from the other actors who played this before me, but I will embrace it as my own. I will never be Deven or Christian or Cunio or any of the others who have played Tommy. But then again, none of them are me. I need to remember that that’s worth something as well. And maybe, to someone, I am an actor that they remember and wish they could emulate in some way.

I am so thankful for this cast, crew and creative staff lifting me up as much as they are. It means a great deal, especially on nights like tonight.

Come see our show May 1-18.

Hold, Please

2025-04-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

We are on day two of tech rehearsals.

"Hold, please. Let's back up to the beginning of that scene."

We are on day two of tech rehearsals. 10-hour days with a 2-hour dinner break from 2-4pm. Full costumes, hair, microphones. Going scene-by-scene, moment-by-moment. Lots of waiting. Lots of adjusting. Our amazing wardrobe, sound and light departments working harder than all of us combined making us look and sound perfect.

It's a lesson in patience. For everyone.

You perform a scene. Well, really just a portion of the scene. Then stage management announces "hold, please." And you stand there so they can focus and adjust the lights on you. Then you back up a few lines and continue on.

"Hold, please"

(this is not our show, just something I googled to show you what a typical tech rehearsal is like)

And they re-program and adjust the sound board to make sure that everyone on stage who is singing is heard. Then you back up a few lines and continue on.

"Hold, please"

And wardrobe runs onstage to fix, alter or deal with any costume issues that might have arisen. Then you back you back up a few lines and continue on.

On and on, for two 4-hour block. For two days in a row. Then a day off. Then again on Tuesday - but we add the full band. Then on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for our full invited-audience dress rehearsal later that evening.

So yeah, after being on my feet pretty much nonstop for eight hours per day, in dress shoes, carrying a solid body Gibson reverse Firebird guitar, my back is a wreck. My left shoulder is a wreck. I have never wanted or needed a full day off in quite some time. The excitement of opening night next Thursday seems more like a distant dream than a sure thing.

Even now, on our meal break, as I sit here in the house typing this, our lighting designer is working on his cues, our female, swing, Abigail, is walking the stage script in hand going over the three tracks she covers and one of our amazing ASM's (assistant stage managers), Peyton, is reading a book while still wearing her backstage headset.

Everyone is working towards a common goal. And the city of Franklin, TN isn't going to know what hit them come next Thursday.

(oh yes, THIS is our show)

Jersey Boys 5.0

2025-04-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Does this blog still exist...?
How long has it been?
Does anyone read blogs anymore?

Guess we will find out.

Jersey Boys (version 5.0 for me) here in Franklin, TN (just 20 minutes outside Nashville) at the beautiful Studio Tenn Theatre. Rehearsals started 11 days ago. We open in 6 days.

They keep adding shows because we are selling so fast and so well. That's a good problem to have. Every theatre wants a problem like that.

Let's pause for a moment. Let's catch you up on things.

My last Jersey Boys related blog post was Aug.30, 2015. Now, almost 10 years later so much has happened; Sydney and Riley are now 14 and 16 years old, respectively. Sarah and I will be celebrating 18 years of marriage this month. We lost Toby the Puggle two years ago after over 15 years of an incredible life. We rescued Walter the beagle about a year before Toby passed, and added Duncan the beagle/schnauzer just over a year ago. We are still just outside the Detroit area, and life is good.

Sarah is an incredible cookier (@sarahscookiejar) and has built her brand to a really impressive following. She is respected across the country by thousands of others in her field. She surprises me weekly with the beautiful designs she creates on her edible masterpieces. I beg her for extras. There are rarely those. I am convinced I am cast in shows simply because they know she makes cookies for the cast and creative staff for every opening.

Two summers ago I was cast in Jersey Boys at the Saugatuck Center for the Perf Arts. It was a wonderful experience spending 6 weeks in West Michigan in absolute paradise performing for sold out crowds. I have been desperately trying to make my way back there again, but no luck so far. So much talent from so many places want to work there. Perhaps someday again. But at the time, it was interesting as it had been roughly 13 years since I had performed the show. And yet, all of those memories - and original choreography and staging - flooded back like it had been only a few weeks.

But 13 years later. Once again back in the show that changed my life. But now, at the age I'm at, looking at the script and the characters in different ways. Finding nuances I hadn't really noticed before. Relationships between Frankie and Tommy, or Frankie and Mary, or Nick and Bob that were layered in ways I didn't really realize. Rick and Marshall wrote such a beautiful script - more of a screenplay really. And once again, I was under the streetlamp as Norm Waxman and Nick DeVito and Charlie Calello and a host of others small parts in the show; adding to the story. Adding to the pulse of the show.

And now two years later, here we are in Franklin, TN.

I've known about Studio Tenn for awhile; an old Jersey Boys Broadway friend, Jake Speck, co-founded the theatre 15 years ago. He since has left that position, went to Texas for awhile and is now back in Tennessee with his amazing family. Once the theatre got the rights to do the show, Jake was the obvious choice to helm the production as director. Not just because of his history with Studio Tenn, but also with his history with the show itself.

As soon as I found out he was directing it, I reached out to him via text:

>> Hey man. I heard you are directing JB at Studio Tenn. I shouldn't have to submit an audition tape but I'm going to anyway. I want to do the show with you.

> send me a tape as "Tommy". but if I cast the other seasons young, you have no shot.

>> I'll have it in your email within the week.

And two weeks later, I got a call from an old friend to come to Franklin and be Tommy DeVito in their production of Jersey Boys.

This show means a lot to me. This role, now at this age, means a lot to me. So many full circle moments already in just the 11 days we have been in rehearsal. More about that another time.

"Is this like being in a fucking time machine, or what".

Happy Trails, Miles Aubrey

2015-08-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

Miles Aubrey is leaving Jersey Boys...he's packing up his many guitars, his beautiful wife, and no doubt, a box of donuts, and moving to Nashville.

let me back up for a second...

why am i posting this blog? who is even going to read it? why is this blog still even active? let me answer those questions in reverse.

this blog is active because once or twice a year i find myself reading through old posts for a chuckle...to remember past experiences i shared with the show that changed my life.

i don't know who is going to read this. perhaps there is someone somewhere that still gets automated google alerts when i write something simply because they used to follow my exploits years ago when i was in the show.

and i'm posting this blog because i don't get to be there when Miles takes his last bow. i don't get to raise a glass and toast him at his 'Happy Trails' get-together at the end of the show. so this is my way to say goodbye.

but you have to understand, dear reader, that with Miles leaving the Broadway cast, something bigger leaves with him: my first-degree connection to the show.

you see, over the years, many cast members from the first national tour - and i'm talking ORIGINAL members from JBT1 - have gotten the call up to the big leagues; some to cover for a few weeks/months as people took vacation or leaves-of-absences, or some to be a permanent fixture on the Great White Way.

but to understand truly the reason for this blog post, you have to know more about my relationship with Miles.

Miles and I first forged our friendship in NYC when we were in rehearsals for JBT1. here we were, with dozens of other actors in a rehearsal studio in Times Square, learning the show that would shape our lives for years to come. as we went from city to city, Miles and i were placed in the same dressing room together, in every city we went, for a year. i have seen Miles Aubrey's ass more times then i would like to count.

Miles and i also had a shared bachelor-party for 48 hours in Vegas. he and Erica got married two weeks after Sarah and I did. that was a fun weekend; most of the male actors all jumped in a limo after our Sunday show in San Francisco and hopped on a place to sin city. and then we drank...a lot. at least i assume we did, it was all quite a blur.

but i digress.

one of my happiest memories of Miles was when i found out he was moving to the Broadway company after Donnie Kehr left the show. it was something i hoped for him the second i moved to NYC. and though we didn't share a dressing room on the 4th floor of the August Wilson Theatre, i still got to stand on his right side for half of the second act as we became Charlie Calello and Joe Long. night after night, i got to listen to him solo (a different sold EVERY night) and i stayed in awe of him and his talent for the two years i got to perform with him.

you see, Miles is a rare talent. he's a rare talent because not only is he an excellent singer and actor, but he's also one of the most talented guitar players i have ever met. i would easily say that Miles is the best guitarist on Broadway...and i'm not kidding. every other actor who plays guitar in any other show for the last ten years pales in comparison to the insane skill that Miles Aubrey has on those 6 strings. he's a thoroughbred on that instrument - a virtuoso powerhouse that makes your jaw drop in awe. and yet, at the same time, he is humble. he has that southern-charm "aw shucks" attitude where you feel lucky to sit and talk with him...about music, family, sports, anything.

but there are greener pastures for him and Erica down south. back to where they can lead a simpler, less chaotic life. playing and performing music together and putting down roots in their new house together - closer to family and a thriving community where they had already made their second home.

you have to understand that your "last show" is an out-of-body experience as you try to enjoy every moment on and off stage; soaking in those times that mean the most to YOU as the actor who always wanted to perform in a show like this. you are looking inward at your younger self - the self whose dream was always to perform on Broadway, and telling them "I'm sorry kid, but it's time to walk away."

for my last show on Broadway, i held it together pretty well...until the second act, when i turned to Miles on my left side, as we were behind the fence as Charlie and Joe, and he kind of just gave me a nod and a gentle smile...and that's when i lost it. my dear friend simply assuring me everything would be okay and that it was time to finish the show and take my last bow on that stage.

(please note, i was then a wreck for the next 20 minutes of the show and two hours thereafter)

so wih Miles taking his last bow on Sunday, it is truly the end of an era. He is the last of the First National tour actors to endure for so long. with his departure, many of us are now without a home. you see, dear reader, as an actor leaves a show like Jersey Boys, they spend a long time coming to terms with that decision. it's not easy leaving something as big as a show like that. and you spend years continuing to chase that dream - to try and find something that lives up to the adrenaline, excitement, and enormity. my hope is that Miles finds that in Nashville with his amazing song writing and session work. i don't doubt for one minute that Nashville will fall in love with him as easily as all of us did that were honored enough to work with him for years.

Miles: i so wish i could be there for your last show. in spirit, i will be to your right side in the second act behind the fence, continuing to watch in awe as your sail up and down the frets of your telecaster. NYC truly loses a master with your departure and the Broadway cast will never sound quite the same.

happy trails, brother.

At the Jersey Boys 3rd anniversary bowling party.

Closing for closure. Goodbye First National Tour.

2013-04-27T10:52:00.002-07:00

Well...it's been awhile. I don't think I have blogged for well over three years, or longer, about my experience with Jersey Boys. After all, I haven't performed with the show since January 2010 when I took my last bow back home at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit.

I have no reason to write this blog entry, nor do I imagine anyone still "subscribes" to this blog - but I am writing this out for personal therapy more than anything else. If any of you are out there and happen upon it, so be it, and I hope you enjoy it.

I think though, once I publish it, it will be the last you hear from me about Jersey Boys. That being said:

The first national tour of Jersey Boys closes tomorrow, April 28, in San Francisco, the city that started it all for that very same tour. No one from the original cast is still in the show (save for a few amazing tech folk and musicians) and yet, I feel like all of us from the original cast are still on that stage at the Curran Theatre with the current cast for the closing.

For me, Jersey Boys was a blessing. A life-altering show that made me grow as a performer and individual. That show saw me get married and give birth to one of my two amazing daughters. That show saw me travel across the West Coast for a year until I was lucky enough to be transferred to the Broadway company. That show welcomed me back with open arms to the Chicago cast (in an entirely different track) and then, coincidently, back to the tour that started everything for me to finish my incredible run back home.

And I will be honest. It was very hard to leave the show. I still fantasize about getting a call that a company is in desperate need for a Hank or a Norm or whoever, and who better to jump in than Gutman? I have had countless "actor's nightmare" dreams for over three years that I have been pushed back into the show without rehearsal time.

But perhaps, with the first national company closing, I can move on as well.

This is not to say that I don't think it was time for me to end my run. Chicago was ending anyway and I was lucky enough to be asked to cover for Buck those many years ago when he and Mary were having his first born. It was a string of coincidences and luck that fell into place which ultimately kept me employed for three weeks longer than my Chicago colleagues. Yes, it was time. I had performed in six different roles in three years, gone through more costume changes that I can count, and broken a different string on every bass or guitar (or mandolin) I played live.

But it still saddens me to think...to know...that I will never have that rush again of singing "Who Loves You" to a rabid audience exploding to their feet in applause. It saddens me to know I never get to stand next to Miles Aubrey in the second act on the back platform behind the fence together as the new seasons. It saddens me to know I will never get that call sometimes just an hour before a show saying I was playing a lead that night. It saddens me that John Altieri wasn't able to say "young, young man" thousands more times after his untimely death.

But how lucky was I...were all of us...that WE were the start of something amazing back in November 2006 as we took the stage for those first previews in San Francisco. Did we ever really know that we would make such an impact on the Country as performers? Did we truly understand what we were a part of? Certainly not saving lives, but without a doubt changing them. Changing our lives for the better without a doubt.

For now I can look to cast lists in Vegas and Broadway and see familiar names that I started with, still performing, night after night. And I know I can still call them friends...brothers...family. And yes, the weeks and months and years might pass where I don't get to see people like Doug Crawford or Erich Bergen or Tripp Phillips or Nate Klau or Sandy DeNise, but do I feel any less connected to them? Never. I follow their careers (and facebook posts) with such pride and love and respect.

For those of you in the first national who might be reading this (especially John, Chris and Kara), what an honor it was to come back all those years ago and have you welcome me back with open arms. I wish all of you an incredible closing night full of reflection and love. Let your voices shake the roof of the Curran Theatre and know that those of us whose spirits still share that stage and those roles with you are there as well. I hope the transition out of the show comes easily for you all.

To Des, Ron, Sergio, Danny, Kelly, West and to everyone else who helped create and maintain this show year after year, simply thank you. You took a chance on an unknown actor from the Midwest who just happened to have the look and swagger you were going for. I was in incredible awe of all of you. I hope my small part in the world of JB will always be looked at favorable and with a hint of a chuckle.

Lastly, for those people out there who have never seen this show, what the fuck are you waiting for?

Eric Gutman, officially signing off of this blog, and happy to get some closure. Thank you all for indulging me.

Random Musings (Oct.4)

2009-10-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

random thoughts:

********************

i realized today after the Donnie/Stosh car scene that i have really gotten a lot of the contents of the blood packet into my throat...

you see the problem is i have to hold the blood packet deep into my right cheek so by the time we get through the scene with all of the dialogue, i have amassed a pretty sizeable amount of spit in my mouth; so by the time i break the packet, it mixes with my saliva and runs pretty freely down my throat.

the worst part is i have no idea what's in the packet. i assume it's some sort of corn syrup with some sort of food coloring, but it tastes pretty much how it looks. it tastes "dark and red".

so if i figure that if about a teaspoon of "blood" goes into one of those packets, and if 6 teaspoons equals 1 fluid ounce, and if 33 fluid ounces equal 1 liter...that means that after about six months in the show (about 200 shows), i essentially am drinking half of a 2 liter bottle of soda that you would buy at the store...but filled with stage blood.

i should find out exactly what the hell is going into my system.

********************

i am horrible at blogging nowadays. but i also sleep a whole hell of a lot less and am working my ass off...so sorry about that but i guess it is what it is.

i don't think i can (or will) promise to do better at blogging.

but i'll try, i promise (i'm lying).

********************

the Chicago company celebrated their 1,000th show last week. that is 1,000 shows since the first public performance that the cast made back in San Fransisco when it opened there after the first national cast left for LA and before they moved onto Chicago.

what an amazing experience i have had being able to celebrate all these milestones with all of these different companies i have been a part of.

it's also amazing to me that i have been a part of three different companies with this show. Tour, Broadway and now Chicago; all so similar and yet completely different. I'd really like to do a show in Vegas so I can say I have done every North American company...

...or they can just send me to Australia for a few weeks.

********************

at intermission, everyone pretty much hangs out in the wardrobe room. not only because the wardrobe staff is freaking awesome, but because there is always so much junk food to eat.

today there were brownies, three different bags of chips/crackers and a birthday cake.

it's like a damn pot luck 8 shows a week and i can't stop eating...!

yet i have lost over 10 pounds.

so should i have more cake?

********************

i hated living in NYC but i can't tell you how badly i miss that city right now. i miss my friends in the Broadway cast so much and i want to see them right now. i miss going to a broadway show. i miss the really good halal cart on 56th and 6th. i even miss the subway a little bit.

********************

a few weeks ago i went with some cast members to this place called Stanley's Kitchen & Tap for a few drinks and, more importantly, for LIVE BAND KARAOKE!!!

they have an amazing live band, and as you would sign up at any other bar to sing for a crowd, you do it with a live band and it's unreal. i want to go back soon because i have not stopped thinking about how much fun i had.

i sang "Baba O' Riley" by The Who and "Everlong" from Foo Fighters and it made me feel just like i used to feel when i sang with my band back in college...

did any of you reading this knew i was in a band for seven years or that i recorded six albums with them...?

anyway - here's me singing The Who song - please excuse the poor video/sound quality:

********************

my daughter is the most adorable baby in the entire world. i look at her and i can't stop smiling. all i want to do is make her laugh and make stupid faces at her and for her to think her daddy is the silliest daddy in the world.

i go outside to do an errand for a few minutes and i walk back in the room and she turns her head to look at me and starts grinning from ear to ear and repeats the babbling of words, "ha da, da da, da da" - which obviously means "hello daddy! look it's daddy! i love you daddy".

she is everything to me and even with her sleeping in her pack and play near me right now, i am excited to spend time with her tomorrow and tell her i love her.

she is also crawling and it terrifies me because i know walking is next...

********************

i have fun news to share but i can't yet. i always love posting that shit because it puts some of you in such a frenzy to figure it out.

********************

good night.

Wrigley Field (Aug.28)

2009-08-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I was lucky enough to step onto legendary Wrigley Field and sing the National Anthem with the rest of the Jersey Boys cast (well, the majority of them at least). I am not a huge baseball fan (much to my father's dismay), but I can appreciate a ballpark like Wrigley. You just walk in there and the history kind of consumes you. A total "old school" park that still doesn't have a big jumbo-tron scoreboard...just literally someone that replaces the numbers of hits and runs every time they happen by hand.

I didn't stay for the whole game because I wanted to try and enjoy a few hours with Sarah and Riley before I had to head to the theatre, but I really enjoyed the time I was there. And of course, had my traditional dog, beer and cracker jacks...which my stomach was not happy with me about.

For those of you who missed it, here's us singing the anthem. I get a nice closeup as the song is starting:

Also, for those of you kind of wondering who is replacing Craig Laurie as Bob Crewe...all I can say is he is also singing the anthem and you can see him on screen. But I won't tell you his name because it's kind of fun reading all your posts trying to decipher it.

Oh, and another thing...I love whirlyball. It's 5 on 5 lacrosse in bumper cars...amazing. The tradition here in Chicago is as shows come into town (Chicago, Rent, Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening, etc), Jersey Boys challenges those shows to whirlyball for a few hours. It leaves me in pain and I am exhausted and yet it is the best time ever!

So that's all I got. Two shows tomorrow and then a final show for Craig on Sunday with a big party afterward.

Night.

Hello from Chicago (Aug.24)

2009-08-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

well...just when you think you're out, they pull you back in.

greetings from Chicago. it has now been a full month since i have been back in the show and holy crap, is there a lot of catching up to do. let's start, shall we:

a bit after leaving NYC and moving home to the mitten state, Sarah and i had our beautiful daughter, Riley Addison. she was born on Jan.24, 2009 and the past seven months (yes, already seven months!) have been amazing. she's the happiest baby and she always has a smile on her face. she is sitting up all by herself for huge stretches of time so she can play with her blocks and other various toys and we're pretty sure she's going to be crawling any day now. we started her on solid foods (well if you can call pureed veggies and fruit solid) and she loves things like sweet potatoes, peas, bananas and pears...but hates avocado. it's still amazing to me that I am a parent and right now, i'm just enjoying every second of my time with her.

here's a few pics of her in the past seven months:

a few minutes old

2 weeks old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

so...yeah...i have a pretty cute kid!

as far as Jersey Boys world is concerned, let me get you up to date there as well.

in mid-March, i was called to come to Chicago for 5 weeks as Michael Ingersoll took a one-month leave. so i traded in the gorilla mask for the mustache and debuted as Norm Waxman while Dominic Bogart played Nick Massi for the month.

cut to a few months later, Dominic gives his notice and i get the call to be the replacement.

so here we are:

Chicago marks my third company with Jersey Boys. all i have to do is perform one show in Vegas and i can say i have done every North American company.
With playing "Norm", i have now performed as six different characters through my tenure with the show.
Before the end of the year, i will hit over 1,000 performances.
Because of the basement crossover here at the Bank of America theatre, I have to climb or descend 462 stairs every show.
With this contract, I am no longer understudying any of the four seasons (sadly), but am understudying Bob Crewe.

i am sure there is a ton more to catch everyone up on, but honestly, it's my day off and Riley didn't realize it and i have been up for a good few hours already and i'm having trouble focusing on anything right now.

i will *try* to do some more updates here and there. i know i have kind of fallen off the blogging grid, but i guess with the baby, that free time i had before is slim to none.

until next time...

Guess Who's Back...?

2009-07-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

A new addition to the Jersey Boys family (Jan.24)

2009-01-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

Introducing...

Riley Addison Gutman

Jan.24, 2009

4:10pm

7lbs 5oz, 21 inches long

Mother and baby are doing splendidly. This was the most amazing day of my life.

The Final Blog (Dec.14)

2008-12-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

well...

a week has come and gone. i didn't find myself doubling in "Sherry". i didn't catch myself looking for a sunburst strat to play. and i didn't have to put on a wig to play a gay mute handing off a glass of milk.

a week has come and gone. i have found myself at our first birthing class. i have found myself installing a dimmer switch and custom shelving in the nursery. i have found myself drinking with my buddies at The Bench Pub in Livonia, MI.

how much can change in seven days.

********************

let's back up a moment to Dec.7. my last show was great. what a lame adjective to describe it but there it is: "great". it felt pretty much like every other show i've done lately with bits and pieces of the show almost as an out of body experience.

a perfect example was in the few moments i have before i enter as Handsome Hank were very cathartic; right before i walked onstage i found myself back two years ago in front of the entire creative and production team, as well as Bob and Frankie, auditioning at my final callback. And I realized that this was the moment that got me cast. I made them all laugh. In that small room at Chelsea Studios, i said my first "Hey!" and they all laughed. And that is what, I think, locked it in for me.

and so i walked onstage, and with as much excitement as i had in that final callback, i said my infamous line and that was it: "Hey". And everyone in the cast smiled at me.

********************

i wasn't sad at all through the rest of the show. i thought i would be but i wasn't. i was just thrilled to enjoy 150 minutes with some close friends making 1,222 people cheer and scream for us.

i was a little bummed out after "Can't Take My Eyes..." right before "Working My Way" simply because I had to say goodbye to Miles. Miles and i have been friends since day one with rehearsals for the National Tour and rocking out next to him upstage every show has been one of my favorite moments in the 800 shows i performed. having him make his way to Broadway was a thrill for me and to play my Joe to his Charlie again...to watch him play the shit out of that guitar every night...has been an honor to say the least.

and at the end of the show, while the band and i are performing the playoff, it was simply amazing to look stage right and see the entire cast cheering me on as i played my last rhythm guitar part in the show.

********************

the tradition in the Broadway cast when someone leaves is once everyone is out of costume, the entire cast meets back onstage once the house is cleared and we do a champagne toast for that person. a few people will say something for that person and then that person has a chance to speak as well.

Miles said some absolutely beautiful things. Mark and Peter showed love as well in some funny toasts and the Jersey Girls got me an adorable present for the baby (baby Uggs and of course, a "Big Girls Don't Cry" onesie - NICE!). then i got to speak.

i was very emotional the minute i opened my mouth. to see all of these wonderful people who have shared in this journey with me and to have to say goodbye to them...it was overwhelming.

i will try and sum it up the best way i can:

i love this show. i have loved every person i have worked with and feel lucky to have met them. the past two years of my life have been a dream come true and the fact that i have gotten to tour the Country as well as perform on Broadway...well...there are no words.

all my life i have wanted to perform. since i was a little kid, i knew that one day i would be on Broadway. i have achieved my dreams and the fact that Sarah was able to share them with me makes it that much sweeter. and i have lived the dream. i have performed in one of the most amazing musicals written in a quarter-century. i have seen people in the audience scream until they had no voice and i have seen the hardest of men cry when Frankie gets that phone call in Act II. i have performed as Bob Crewe, Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio and Tommy DeVito and i thank Des, Ron, Sergio and everyone else for seeing in me that i can be relied on as a solid understudy and dependable ensemble member.

********************

lastly, i want to thank those of you who have read my blogs and seen our show once, twice or 32 times. you are the reason we are the jugernaut we are. you are the reason that more and more people keep coming. and it still amazes me to this day that the blog i started simply for family, has morphed into something that a few hundred people read regularly. i aplogize for not keeping it up as much as i intended to and i apologize if i forgot some of your names as you said hello at the stage door. i have appreciated all of your kind words, emails and comments and it was nice over the years to have "family" show up at the stage door.

********************

so that's it for the blog. i hope that this does not end my journey with Jersey Boys forever, but for now, it is.

goodbye.
********************

the early morning before the end (dec.7)

2008-12-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

this afternoon is my last show in Jersey Boys.

i tallied up all the shows i have done between the tour and Broadway and i happen to be leaving exactly on show #800.

it still hasn't hit me yet. maybe it will sometime in the first act. maybe it will later when the cast and i are out having drinks. maybe it will take two weeks when i find myself doubling Tommy's part in "Big Girls Don't Cry" while i put up shelving in the baby's room.

but it's happening. i am numb to it right now.

i think my cast mates are amazing. i feel blessed to have worked with such talented people both on the road and in NYC. i feel lucky to have had John Altieri in my life. i am amazed that tomorrow i get to walk onto a Broadway stage for 1,222 people and know that by the end of the show, the August Wilson theatre will erupt in applause as it has show after show after show.

800 shows.
11,200 costume changes.
84 blog posts.
i have covered and performed in four principal roles - three of which were Seasons.
i have performed for roughly 1.1 million people.

i will post one more blog after this one. and then...

thank you all for your love, support and encouragement.

quickly... (Dec.1)

2008-11-30T22:53:00.000-08:00

i can't sleep...again. i have been away from Sarah and Toby the dog for two weeks now and i don't think i have gone to sleep before 2am since i got back to NYC...not from partying or going out, but truly from sheer boredom and missing my wife.

i am laying here in an 85% empty apartment and i hate this bed and these shitty pillows and i am so exhausted that i can't fall asleep.

i want to quickly make something clear to everyone who posted on the JB boards or who have sent me emails; there is no new "project" or show that i am running to after my last show on Dec.7. i am running home, back to Michigan, to have our baby amongst family and our closest friends - a support team of dozens upon dozens that will help shower her with love and a great sense of family.

performing on a Broadway stage has been the highlight of my life - it is what i dreamed of as a child and what i worked so hard for when i went to college for music theatre. mere "thanks" would not be enough to Des, Sergio, Ron, Richard, the Dodgers, Tara Rubin...and the list goes on and on...for giving me the chance first with the national tour and then to be asked to go to the "big show" and i am forever grateful to this show for the opportunities it has presented to me as well as affording me the chance to provide and take care of my family.

but again, it goes back to that word: family. all of you that read this, all of you that come by the stage door sometimes dozens upon dozens of times - as strange as that may sometimes seem - know the true meaning of that word. we talk about it in the show and it rings true night after night. and as i leave the stage door, you will see me, without fail, holding a cell phone to my ear to immediately talk to Sarah...my family...

and that's why i am leaving. yes, this is a shit time to leave one of the only Broadway shows that has legs and is not folding up in the next 3 months and yes, the Michigan econmony is in the toilet...

but i get to go home. home to my amazing wife who has traveled with me for two years with constant support and home to Toby the Dog who finally gets to feel grass under his paws again. and right around January 19, my daughter will be born into a community of unbelievable and loving grandparents and a network of friends and family that she will never believe!

now i'm just rambling.

well maybe this blog is due for some rambling a little now and then in this next week. chances are, come Dec.7, i will shut it down for good anyway.

in any event, thank you for the emails and thank you for the comments. thank you for braving the cold and rain just to say hello and now, goodbye, at the stage door.

saying goodbye...

i played Gaudio this past Saturday night and Sunday matinee - Sebastian wasn't feeling great. it was weird in the diner scene with Jarrod this afternoon thinking this will probably be the last time i get to play the part. i love the role of Bob. i love the character arc he takes. i love singing "Cry For Me" with three other amazing actors and hearing that blend. and i love that in my head, by parting my hair to the right, i think it makes me look younger.

i would literally give Dom Nolfi $200 cash to take a show off this week so i can play Tommy one last time. other than playong Roy Cohn in Angels in America, Tommy DeVito is the best role i have ever played on stage. the power and sheer terror of having to hold the show in the palm of your hand for the first 30 minutes and then the slow defeat he has to face in the sitdown scene is just...well i'm just so proud that i got to perform it a handful of times.

okay - 2:23am - i need to try and sleep.

A 31st Year... (Nov.23)

2008-11-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

let's start real quick with a shout out to me. i turn 31 today. this year is going to be absolutely amazing.

********************

now then...

two months since the last post. two freaking months. who do i think i am?

let's catch everyone one on the last two months:

Michael Longoria left.
Please welcome Jarrod Spector as our new Frankie Valli.
Christian Hoff left to do "Pal Joey".
Dominic Nolfi took Christian's place.
Jake Speck from the Chicago cast took Dominic's place.
Travis Cloer left to be the 2-show Frankie in Vegas.
Please welcome Russell Fischer as our new Joey.
Dominic Scaglione, Jr. from the Vegas cast became our 2-show Frankie.
Bobby Spencer left to do "Next to Normal".
Please welcome Matt Bogart as Nick Massi.
John Leone left.
Please welcome John Hickman from the Chicago cast as our new swing.
Eric Schneider left to be Danny in the national tour of "Grease".
Please welcome Taylor Sternberg from the national tour as our new swing.

that is an ass-load of new faces and changes. in any event, if you wanted an excuse to see the show again - come now and see the new dynamics rocking all over the August Wilson stage.

********************

Still doing recording for "International Hareport" and we are into (I think) the 16th episode. Still have no idea when or where it will broadcast but i promise i will announce it as soon as i hear anything. i've really been enjoying getting in that studio a few times a month and really digging into Fred the Rabbit. i also have been doing a few other voices on the show - my favorite being an 8-year old beaver with a lisp named Doodle.

********************

I have another pet-peeve; people taking pictures during the performance. i mean, don't get me wrong, if someone sneaks in a shot at curtain call, i could care less - but when they take their digital camera out throughout the ENTIRE show and you see that annoying orange light in lieu of a flash...guess what...we can still see the orange light and it's distracting. and i'm sorry if you are not happy with your pics and you decide to get a clearer picture but actually turning on the flash...but we don't like that either. so stop taking pictures, stop leaving as we are taking our bows and stop putting your playbills and bags on the lip of the stage.

********************

Sarah is now into her 31st week of pregnancy and she looks gorgeous. we found out we are having a girl and as every week draws closer, i get more and more excited to meet her. you'll usually find me at night as we are going to sleep talking to her belly and telling her about my day. we're pretty sure that she is going to be a gymnast or a swimmer because all she does is roll around and kick Sarah all day. and yes, feeling your baby kick is about the coolest thing in the world.

i also put her crib together by myself last week:

i also installed a new light fixture in the baby's room and yes, i know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but i have never installed a light fixture by myself before and it was pretty cool. true, it took over an hour and i ended up with fiberglass all over my hands and face, but it was totally worth it. next project is installing a dimmer for the light switch. then we need to paint her room and finish getting everything she needs before she arrives in the world.

the other fun thing about the pregnancy is that Sarah gets updates once a week about her pregnancy from babycenter.com and one of my favorite things is going to the girl's dressing room every tuesday and giving them the update on how big the baby is getting. babycenter does a fantastic thing for us to visualize better what is growing with updates by comparing the baby's size to produce. this week she is roughly the size of 4 naval oranges (roughly 16 inches long and 3/3 lbs). my baby has also been a head of cauliflower, butternut squash and chinese cabbage.

Can't believe in two months I am going to have a baby!!!!!!!

********************

been having a really great time with the cast lately. i mean, it's actually pretty rare for all of us to hang out but there's been everyone seems to be getting along fantastic and maybe it's just the holiday season or something, but it's just a fun time to be in New York with friends. Bridget Berger and i had a great time between shows today and ordered Afghan food from this INCREDIBLE place on 52nd and 9th called Ariana Afghan Kebab Restaurant. Their lamb and chicken kabob dishes are soooooo good and i wanted to put their spinach samusa in my pocket for later. only crappy thing was we hung out in order to watch the MSU vs Penn State game...and MSU got spanked all up and down that field.

i also had a late dinner with Jarrod's mom and dad Friday night, Chuck and Beth Spector. we went to The Palm after the show and i just want to thank them again for a wonderful dinner and spending a little time with their favorite son...me. honestly though, it was great hanging with them and how great that they are now able to drive in from Philly and see Jarrod on Broadway performing in this dream role.

and the filet was freaking good!

********************

so we are starting to collect for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. it's been nice to see that audience members are so receptive to digging into their pockets even in these hard times. i did the curtain speech a few days ago and got a few good laughs (to the expense of the "Carols for A Cure" CD) and someone signed me up for the rest of the week and honestly, now i am not only feeling pressure to get people to donate, but more importantly to make them all laugh a few times. i am pulling all of my "A" material out but i am getting exhausted. i swear, the curtain speech is wearing me out more than the show. that's probably not the best thing to admit.

********************

so much more to talk about but this should do it for now. i will leave you with one other cast thing i forgot to mention above:

Please welcome back to the Broadway cast Matthew Scott.
My final show in Jersey Boys is December 7.

I'm A Rabbit (Aug.11)

2008-07-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

i don't even no where to start. i feel like in the past two months there has been so much to discuss, and yet i continue to be completely unmotivated to do another blog. i have no reason to be unmotivated; all of you that email me or call me or talk to me at the stage door are super nice about it and give me such nice feedback...

...maybe it's the freaking heat.

let's talk about that:

it's summertime in New York City. now, i want to make it clear i enjoy the summer. i really don't like snow and the summertime reminds me of when i went to camp and it's great for soft serve ice cream and playing softball.

but NYC's summertime blows. it's 96 degrees with 320% humidity and all the garbage on the street cooks under the heat so everything smells. and though i have a short 10 minute walk to the theatre, by the time i get there, i am absolutely disgusting and sweaty and just want to turn around and sit in my air conditioned apartment.

speaking of summer softball...

well last time i blogged, i started talking about the Broadway Softball League. i'm not going to lie...it's been pretty sad. in our ten game regular season, we were 2-8. and honestly, there were at least four games where we lost by one or two runs and we really should have won (damn you Grease!) but all in all, it doesn't matter because everyone gets to go into finals for double elimination...

...and we're halfway there. a few week ago we lost to Blue Man Group 10-0. i want to say that i will blame that on the sole fact that i could not be there to play second base because i was at stupid-rehearsal-for-jerks that day. but then again, it was also 94 degrees that day so maybe it's better i wasn't there.

the week after that, we were scheduled to play Altar Boyz but due to scheduling, they had to forfeit (thereby eliminating them completely from the playoffs).

last week though was amazing. we played New World Stages and...WON...in extra innings by one run. it really was a pretty intense game (for Broadway softball) and to win with a 2-out rally was even better than winning by a landslide.

this Thursday is going to be a tough one. we play Little Mermaid at 11:30 ("squish the fish") and should we win, we immediately go into a double-header against South Pacific. so all i can say is that if any of you wanted to show support for our team, this Thursday would be the day to do it...

...i mean, Toby is there every week and he loves sitting in people's laps.

********************

so i have been enjoying some really cool special appearances lately in the Jersey Boys world. you see, as an understudy for three of the four seasons, many times if Christian or Bobby are busy and can't do a special appearance, our press rep contacts me to take their place. a few of the things i've done (honestly) are kind of lame...doing a medley of the songs for random people that i don't quite understand why we have been invited to sing. okay, not "lame" but kind of strange that we are there.

HOWEVER, i want to talk about two events in the past month that have been great.

the first was the 2008 Friars Foundation Gala honoring Frankie Valli. It was hosted at Cipriani in NYC - which i have never been to - and other people who performed were legends like Steve Tyrell, Julie Budd, Norm Crosby, Tony Orlando and Joe Piscopo. oh, and yes, i hung out with Joe Piscapo for almost three hours in our shared green room and he was about the nicest guy i have ever met.

but we got to end the night with a medley of songs and Frankie was right there watching us and cheering us on. it was such a thrill and honor doing some songs for the man who has essentially changed my life in the past 18 months and how cool to get to perform last in the evening to close everything out.

the other event that we did, which was also probably one of the highlights of my professional career as a performer, was singing the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium for the 2008 MLB All Star Derby.

i don't know what was the most exciting part; it might have been getting to the stadium early that morning and stepping on that dirt for the first time and doing sound check right in the middle of the field before the place filled up. it might have been getting there later that night and hearing the crowd already roaring with anticipation. it might have been meeting Derek Jeter and having him sign my program and take pics with some of is. it might have been sitting at the Derby and watching history being made as Josh Hamilton crushed 28 home runs in the first round. but i would say it was hearing the crowd go ape-shit for us as we held out that note at the end of "the land of the freeeeeeeeeeee".

in any event, i will never forget the feeling of doing this event and being able to watch the game afterward. i just wish i could have had my dad fly in and taken the show off on Tuesday to go to the All Star game with him at legendary Yankee Stadium before they tear it down.

and for those of you that would like to hear it - here's a YouTube version of it (if you listen, you can hear Dominic Nolfi and i on the high notes in "and the rockets' red glare").

********************

so some other changes have been taking place in the show: first off, as of now you all know that Donnie Kehr has left the show to be in Billy Elliott (leave one big smash to start another smash hit) and my buddy Miles Aubrey has taken over the reigns in the Norm track.

i cannot tell you all how happy i am that Miles is in the NYC company. forget the fact that he is great in the show and truly one of the best guitarist i have EVER met. forget the fact that for almost 18 months, he was on the road without his lovely wife, Erica, with him - i don't know how people can do that - especially during their first full year of marriage!?!? but i am thrilled he is in the NYC cast because the entire time i was on the road, Miles and i were either sharing a dressing room or stationed right next to each other. he and i became fast friends and never lost touch after i left the tour for the Broadway cast and having him around is a real treat for me. only thing that sucks is that he and i don't share a dressing room anymore and now i have to walk a good seven feet to go hang out with him.

i also would love to take a quick moment to officially welcome our new female swing, Katie O'Toole to the cast. she is a sweetheart and has already gone on as Lorraine and Mary and we are so thrilled to have her in the family.

and with Miles coming in and Donnie moving out - what happens with the cover/understudy situation...?

well my friends, Friday, July 18 was my final performance as the understudy for Nick Massi. i have been moved out of that cover spot and Miles takes it over (he can sing the bass notes a lot easier than i can!) and I move over to cover Bob Crewe! all i can say is i am ready for the opportunity to do the role and i have been told (though things can change anytime) that next time Peter calls out sick or is swung out to note the show, that i will be on to make my Broadway debut as Bob Crewe.

*******************

some other fun things going on in the world of Eric...

i have been cast in a animated series!!!!!!

it's actually a great story: Rebecca Kupka, our vacation swing, came up to me a few months ago and asked if i did voiceover work. i told her that i had always wanted to break into it considering i talk in weird voices all day anyway and i would love to get paid for it. she mentioned that she auditioned for this new series and they were having trouble casting the two leads and she was going to give my number to her agent.

sure enough, the next day her agent calls me and tells me she might have an audition for me. i tell her to keep in touch with me and let me know but not to make it too late because it's already close to noon and i have a matinee to do that day. 20 minutes later she calls me and i have to fly over to 45th and 6th to Big Yellow Duck studios for this audition.

now please understand...though i have done lots of studio work in my life with the bands i played in, i have NEVER auditioned for a voice over gig and though i do consider myself very good at cold readings (that means that you get the script walking into the audition, not before to prepare), but i was soooooo pressed for time when i walked into the audition and i was just trying to concentrate on not rushing let alone getting all the words out without stumbling.

in any event, a few days later, after never auditioning for voiceovers before and never even meeting this agent face to face - i booked the gig!

it's a really cool series called "International Hareport" and essentially it's about the show's main characters, Fred and Ned, two rabbits who decide to build an international airport on their own garden after discovering that all animals can finally fly. I have no idea what network (if any) it will premier on, but all i know is that we are going to tape all 26 episodes and then see what happens from there.

*******************

a few other things happening in the coming weeks or months:

i am going on as Bob Gaudio while Sebastian is on vacation from Sept.16-21. i am thrilled to have a full week of shows and hope that a few of you might come check it out. i have tons of family and friends flying in from Michigan to check it out that week and i am so honored to have all of their support. even Bubi Goldie is flying in on Saturday morning with Sarah's dad and (new!) stepmom, Cheri, to see the matinee and then turn right around and fly back home that night! i am also scheduled to go on as Tommy on Sept.12 while Christian takes a personal day and Dominic is on vacation. this can totally change, but i think it's pretty much locked in. i really hope so because i haven't played Tommy in forever and i love what i do with my hair in that role.

my brother, Brian and his fiance, Allison are moving to NYC this Thursday. it's kind of freaking me out because here's my baby brother...all the sudden moving to the fastest city in the world. he is going to be going to law school and she is going to grad school and less than two weeks after they move here, we are all flying back to Michigan for their wedding. i'm very excited for him and just hope that the stress of a big move, being in a city he is not familiar with and starting freaking law school doesn't mess with the excitement of their big day.

Toby the Dog's third birthday is coming up on September 3. he's pretty excited because Chris and Jenna will be back from St. Louis which means he gets to play with Fender again (who he misses incredibly).

*******************

one other thing to report. we've been keeping it under wraps for awhile now and it's also one of the biggest reasons i have not been blogging lately. just wanted to share a picture with everyone:

Sarah is 17 weeks pregnant...

Random Thoughts (May 21)

2008-05-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

i love the Price is Right. i am sitting here blogging and Price is Right is in the background and i love it. i'm not thrilled with Drew Carey as the new host, but at least he brings a little more humor to the show that Bob Barker never really did (though how can you beat Bob Barker!). i remember back in college my roommates and i used to watch it all the time and we got to a point that we actually scheduled our classes around it our senior year...

...though maybe it was just an excuse to go to class after noon. either way, i'm really bummed out that while the tour was in LA, we didn't go as a group to a taping.

anyway...

first off, i want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all their touching comments and tributes to John Altieri from my last post. to hear from so many people including members of John's own family was a true testament to how many people he touched in his short lifetime. additionally, as i said i would, i would like to post how everyone can make a donation in John's name. all i ask is that if you saw John perform or ever had the opportunity to speak with him and share in his light, that you consider sending something...even if it's just a few bucks.

donations can be made to:

Idyllwild Arts Academy
Children's Center Summer Program
52500 Temecula Rd.
Idyllwild, CA 92549

*****
so i wanted to share a few pictures from mine and Sarah's vacation to Jamaica. as many of you know, Sarah and i were gone for a week at the end of April to celebrate our 1-year anniversary. we stayed at the beautiful Sandals Whitehouse resort on the southern coast and it was an amazing week. i can't tell you how nice it was to go back on vacation and celebrate our first year of marriage together in such a beautiful place.

highlights included:

the amazing chocolate bar that they had one night while we were there. i mean, we had to stay up until 11:30 to catch it, but it was well worth it! i have never seen so much chocolate in one place and it was delicious. they even had "white chocolate bread" which was liked fresh baked bread that when you tore it open, melted white chocolate pieces were in it...YUM!

we also went snorkeling about a mile or so off the main property. it was a little clouded in the water that day but we still saw some really cool reefs and fish. i got a little sea sick after about 30 minutes of floating in the choppy waters, but still a fun experience.

on the day of our anniversary, we were in the guest newsletter that came to everyone's room. kind of cheesy, but very nice to be recognized.

and of course, for desert that night, our waitress put a nice little spin on the desert we ordered:

sarah and i loved the little pastry shop that was always open. many times we would skip desert after dinner and just bring a selection of pastry's back to the room at night.

we got a big kick at one of the signs at the pool. i thought it was pretty obvious but i guess at a nice resort, they need to make sure of some things:

but most of all, it was soul cleansing just enjoying the great weather and sunny skies with my beautiful wife.

ahhhhhhhhhh.........

*****
so every thursday for the last few weeks, we have been heading to Heckscher Ballfields in Central Park to play in the Broadway Softball League. now i know what you all are thinking: "Broadway performers playing softball...? like in uniforms? like with choreography?" well all i have to say is we are having a blast.

sure, we are 0-3 but we have played powerhouses like Mary Poppins (who are 3-0) and to be honest, there are barely any actors who show up. it's mostly the tech staff that plays. but i have been there every week, even through exhibition games, and it's nice to get some exercise and meet other Broadway folk. and this Thursday is one of the biggest games of the season so far as we play Altar Boyz. this game is important for a few reasons: 1) they are also 0-3 and someone is going to finally come away with a win for the season and 2) Eric Schneider (one of the swings in Jersey Boys) is playing for THEIR team because he did the tour before he was cast in our show and has good friends on the team. that freaking traitor.

i will have Schneider's head on a plate come Thursday at 11:30.

*****
the last thing i want to blog about is some promotion for Sebastian Arcelus (who plays Bob Gaudio in our show).

Sebastian is involved in an AMAZING web video blog called iChannel.

“iChannel” is a collaborative web series about a young man who has his life magically taken over by an audience...YOU. Their goal is a compelling original series where the audience can interact with the creators and the show’s characters in unique, unprecedented ways.

suffice to say, each of their episodes are anywhere between 3-7 minutes long and i guarantee you that if you watch about the first five episodes, you will be HOOKED! it's unlike anything i have ever seen before and Sebastian is really proud of it and that's all i needed to become a fan.

check it out here:
http://connectwithi.com/index.htm

or on their YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ichannel

*****
guess that's it for now. sorry that this blog was all over the place. just wanted to chat a little bit and get my family and friends up to speed.

until next time.

John Altieri (May 5)

2008-05-05T14:30:00.001-07:00

as many of you already know by now, John Altieri, the gifted actor who originated Bob Crewe with the first National Tour of Jersey Boys, passed away yesterday.

i, as is many of the people that grew close to John over the past two years are devastated and trying to make sense of what and why has happened. he was so young and had such an amazing and healthy spirit that one would beg the question of why should he have suffered the way he did and why, after spending a month in a hospital, could they not find the way to help him.

in any case, his spirit, laughter and friendship will live on forever in those of us he had touched. i feel, more than most, that i was one of the lucky ones that got to know him so well. i played "Mika" to his "Crewe" for over 400 shows and we were very much inseparable in every scene we were in together. some of my most fondest memories was the shit we would pull on stage together (both of us constant troublemakers) and how much we would make each other laugh...even when we definitely were not supposed to.

one of my favorites:

at the end of "Dawn", Crewe and Mika end up on the stage left stairs facing upstage applauding the Four Seasons on their big ending. The lights are up so hot on the audience at that point and we are facing away from them that John would usually applaud and the momentum of them would smack me in the face and head. I would then applaud slightly broader and the momentum of my elbow would try to catch him in the groin. then when we turned downstage as the Mary and Lorraine characters greeted us, i would pull on his pant leg just enough to have his pants sneak down and he at the same time would pull my shirt from inside my jacket to have it untuck...and so on and so forth.

that was John. always in high spirits and always ready for a laugh.

he was also completely devoted to his pets, Goose (his cat) and Spyder (his Shepard-mix dog). he loved his animals so much that much of his housing was due to their comfort (like we did with Toby, John drove to every city so his pets did not have to fly). thinking about it now, i remember him once telling me that one of his biggest decision in taking the Vegas company was so Spyder could live out her short remaining years (she is, i believe, about 13) in a comfortable environment where they are not always driving to a new destination.

but my favorite thing about John was watching him work. he put so much thought and energy into his lines and knew exactly where each laugh should be. his "metaphor" line was always a show-stopper and i just wish that all of you could have seen him on stage...because he shined so much up there.

he shined upon all of us.

i thank God that i have known John. that for over a year, i got to see him and spend time with him every day. that he was able to come to my LA house and enjoy a fun BBQ. that he and i got to carpool almost every day while we were in Orange County. that he and i had to struggle like hell to get that fucking yellow couch on stage and afterward would both laugh about it. and for a year, it was my pleasure and honor to be his "personal assistant" on stage and i had never had larger shoes to fill when i was asked to understudy him...i only hope that the few times i went on in his part, that i did justice to what i learned from him.

as the days go on, we are hoping to get some more information on what we can do to help his family. one of his friends is hoping to get a scholarship for young actors in his name and as soon as i know what the details are, i will post them. my hope is that for all of us that John touched or made laugh, that we all might give a little to his memory.

i don't know what to say from here. i have nice things to blog about but that is for another time. the lump in my throat and the tears and my eyes are enough for now.

i love you, John. we thank God your suffering is over and you are finally at rest. none of us will ever forget you...

...and i will always have a glass of milk waiting for you.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks (March 30)

2008-03-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

hello everyone. blogging tonight after a very long day...long week really. just thought i would catch everyone up on some things.

last Sunday night, Rick Elice, Marshall Brickman (the show's book writers) and Bob and Judy Gaudio (no introduction necessary) threw a great party for the cast and crew of Jersey Boys to celebrate not only the cast album reaching gold status (that's over 500,000 records sold), but to celebrate the milestone of the show reaching its 1,000th performance!

personally, i was honored to be included considering between the tour and now my 3+ months in the Broadway company, i have probably only done about 500 or so, but what an amazing achievement for a show to hit a number like that. and though the room we all mingled in was way too small for all of us to move comfortably (they say "RSVP" for a reason you damned fools), it was nice to be crowded with such great people who i have grown so fond of in the last few months. congratulations to the entire cast, musicians, crew, and production and creative staff who deserve to celebrate 10,000 more shows!

moving on...

i played Tommy a few times in the last two weeks. on one hand, it was so weird playing the role again after not doing it for over 4 months with an entirely different cast than on the road...on the other hand, it was like slipping on a familiar pair of shoes and going to work again. and it felt great. sure, there were a few little line slips and some staging issues (on the road, we crossed more stage right than here on Broadway...seriously), but man did it feel great getting that lift back in my hair, putting those cards in my pocket and jumping on that roller coaster. everyone in the cast was super supportive and i felt like i had everything in control and i'm just saying...anytime Christian wants to take vacation or a personal day is fine by me.

i do want to thank some of you JB Superfans for coming out for the support...you know who you are and i appreciate you staying after the show to say hello...it really meant a lot. and for one of my email buddies who came by (she knows who she is), don't think you are coming back in April without some of that delicious Hamantashen!!!!

as far as future Seasons dates...i really have no idea. i think Bobby and Sebastian have one or two personal days in either April or May but i'm not sure about it as well as whether or not i would go on or one of the other covers...but i will of course post it as soon as anything becomes official.

and kind of on the subject of seeing the show. if you or anyone you know (friends, family, clients, colleagues, etc) might be interested in seeing the show this Tuesday (April 1 @ 7pm), i have up to 4 tickets available in mezzanine row P for $75/ticket. if anyone wants them, email me at eric@ericgutman.com with your contact info and we can set it up.

so let's briefly chat about my experience with Derek Jeter...

this evening, Sebastian, Michael Longoria, Dominic Nolfi (for Christian) and I (for Bobby) were invited to go to the Sheraton Hotel and sing a brief medley for the Yankees Homecoming dinner. "great", we originally thought, "we'll go in there, bang out a few songs for the Yankees biggest donors and call it an evening."

not so much.

we find out that not only are we singing for some of the Yankees biggest supporters, but for the entire Yankees organization. from the front office staff to George Steinbrenner to the entire Yankees lineup: Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and just about every other MVP in major league baseball.

so we get to sound check today and when we see our "stage" (stage being really a 10' x 3' riser) it is in front of this grand dais and we find out through the stage managers of the event that the players are all going to be sitting there...right behind us...about an arm's distance away.

we got to the event and were lead to our table...had a lovely sit down dinner...then was escorted to our green room to relax for a moment or two and go over our choreography. after a short time, we are escorted back down to the main ball room and are placed behind a curtain to get ready for our entrance (at this point, Steinbrenner is at the table directly across from where we are sitting with about four secuiry details flanked around him).

now...for those of you familiar with the show: remember the part in "Walk Like a Man" where the three Seasons look to Frankie and then quickly turn around and walk upstage for a few beats befoer turning back to the mics and stomping downstage...? well the only difference between doing that exact part in performance and doing it tonight was that when i turned around, Alex Rodriguez is staring at me and if i wanted to, i could have literally taken the steak off his plate...that's how freaking close i was to A-Rod...and Shelley Duncan is just looking at me as if to say "are you dudes really singing musical theatre right now. there's no singing in baseball".

in any event...it was quite a surreal evening.

and with that, i just want to wish my Detroit Tigers a killer opening day game tomorrow at Comerica Park against the Kansas City Royals.

well folks, guess that's it for now. have my day off tomorrow and hoping for some good weather so Toby can get outside and enjoy the day.

blog soon.

Random Thoughts (March 19)

2008-03-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

just a really quick blog tonight...and there's gonna' be lots of rambling.

i went on as Nick last week for four shows. all in all, i was very happy and FOCUSED. sarah finally got to see me on tuesday night and it was great having her there for support. both shows wednesday went without a hitch and although i was exhausted after a two-show day, it was great to start getting comfortable in the role. maybe too comfortable...? thursday sucked. full on sucked. i apologize if you were in the audience because i dont know if i was doing "Nick Massi" or Nick's slower brother, "Scotty Massi". i wasn't connecting to the lines, my staging was a little off and i didn't get one laugh on the "Ringo" line...not one...not even a chuckle...good lord.

suffice to say, i'm looking forward to redemption the next time i'm able to go on.

but for those of you who want to see me as Tommy, just a reminder that tomorrow (Thurs, March 20) is the big debut! Followed by Friday night and next Tuesday and both shows Wednesday (March 25-26). if you are in the city and can snag a standing room or actual seat, i would love to have some support out there. if not, send good thoughts my way...

i bought tickets to see Kids in the Hall in a few weeks. i love the Kids in the Hall - i have since high school. i saw them about six years ago on their last comedy tour but was so hopped up on cold medicine that i literally almost fell asleep/passed out before they even started. i'm really looking forward to seeing them without any sickness from my 3rd row center seats this time. sarah is not really a fan so i think Peter Gregus is going to be my date...good times.

Nate Klau left the "Sherry" tour...so very sad for the tour but i am thrilled he is back in the city. Nate-O is the best...an amazing friend and a neurotic mess and i can't wait to hang out with him again. some other dude took his place on the tour but i'm not there anymore so i don't really know who it is. i think his name is Huck or Buck or something.

what's going on with this weather...? why is it 50 degrees yesterday and then cold and rainy today? and why is it supposed to be beautiful the rest of the week? why can't it just be spring already so i can put my sweatshirts and heavy coat away? and why haven't i bought a second umbrella so i'm not stuck getting soaked every time i walk out of my house?

next Monday is going to be a great day. it's the day i go to Duane Reade or Rite Aid and all the Easter Peeps are 50% off. i love Peeps. i love them even more at 50% off. i love taking the plastic off the top of them and waiting a day or two to eat them so they harden up a little. freaking peeps and your marshmallowey goodness - you will be the death of me.

to end, i want to share a fantastic commercial sarah saw on the TV and then found online just so we can laugh some more. it's a great commercial - especially if you are a dog owner/lover like we are. enjoy.

until next time...

"Fight on, Fight on for Western..." (March 8)

2008-03-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

well everyone...true to my word, i am blogging again. lots to catch you up on so let's get started. in true Eric form, it will probably be a lot of rambling.

let's start with a little story about Western Michigan University...

i went to WMU for college and got my music theatre performance degree there. i truly LOVED my four years there and was extremely lucky and blessed to have gotten the opportunity to perform in main stage shows throughout my career there as well as work with amazing professors and fellow students.

well this past Monday, the senior music theatre majors were in town doing their annual showcase for agents and casting directors, and i was invited by the music theatre director to come on down, see the show and talk to some of them after the show.

i have to say, i had a great time. i mean, let's face it, there were a few numbers i could have done without...but all in all, absolutely fantastic. the craziest part about it though was realizing that 1) this graduating class is 9 years after mine and therefore i feel old and 2) apparently, when you have graduated from their college and are now performing in a hit Broadway show, they really have a lot of questions.

honestly, it was great for the ego though and i hope i was able to answer some questions they had...and if for some weird reason any of them are reading this, it truly was a pleasure meeting and talking with you and i hope nothing but the best for your careers. please call on me (or any of the other alumni) if we can help you out when you get here.

and for all you others - here's some ridiculous pics of me in shows back in college:

in "Berlin to Broadway"

in "Arsenic and Old Lace" (that is my real hair)

in "Return to the Forbidden Planet"

moving on...

oh - can i just say for a second how much i miss my wife...? sarah got a "real person" job about three weeks ago and now our schedules are completely opposite. she is up every day by 7am and out the door by 8:40 and by the time she gets home at around 6:30, i am slowly starting to get ready to leave for the show. and when i get home around 10:40, she is getting ready for bed. and i would say that we have the weekends together, but with my two shows on saturday, the only real day we look forward to is Sunday because we get the morning and early afternoon together and then try to do something fun for Sunday night. in any event...i miss her...a lot. i can't wait for our vacation when we will have a week of just us being together in paradise.

...and have i even mentioned our vacation?

i will be out of the show April 29 - May 5 as Sarah and i head to the South Coast of Jamaica to the Sandals Whitehouse European Village & Spa. this much-deserved vacation will coincide with our one-year anniversary as well as be our official "honeymoon" since we were not able to take a honeymoon right after our wedding last year as the tour was getting ready to move to Los Angeles. in any event, we are super excited and, let's face it, really need to start working on our base tan so we don't get fried out there. i hate fake-baking but i think it's going to be a necessity.

i guess to finish up this short post, thought i would share that today at understudy rehearsal, i put on some nice pants and a button down shirt and jumped back into the role of Tommy DeVito. man, i'll tell you, after not doing it for over three months, it honestly took a good 30 minutes to get it back into my body, but overall it felt great. i have such a love for the role and am just so pleased i get to cover it again and other than now having three harmonies mashing my brain in all different directions, what a thrill to be working this hard again. in any event, it was a good rehearsal and looking forward to doing it again next week to really nail it down and get out all the kinks before i go on...

oh wait, did i mention i am going on as Tommy DeVito!?!?

mark it in your calendars people - March is a busy month now:

March 11-13 (4 shows) as Nick Massi
March 20-21 (2 shows) and March 25-26 (3 shows) as Tommy DeVito.

so that's it for now. i think there is a lot more to talk about but honestly, i am exhausted and need a little sleep before a two-show day tomorrow.

blog again soon...

Nick Part II, Electric Boogaloo (Feb.21)

2008-02-21T20:34:00.001-08:00

so a real quick post before i head to sleep.

Bobby was sick again so I got the call (or really, the text) right before 6pm. It was a great Thursday night crowd and though I have only now done the role three times, I am really starting to love the Massi character. his subtleties are the best thing about him and it's so interesting, as the "quiet" one in the group to really get to listen not only to the scenes and react accordingly, but really get the opportunity to see some great actors next to me make some amazing choices throughout the show...

in any event, i am really looking forward to March 11-13 when i get 4 in a row as Nick.

only weird this is after concentrating so hard on Nick the last few days, i have to pull a 180 as tomorrow at understudy rehearsal i am playing Bob...

...i literally have three harmony parts going on in my head at all times. i'm a one-man choral group.

lastly, i want to end this blog with something Sarah did when she was bored yesterday. i loved it and wanted to share it with everyone. just hit "play" and enjoy.

peace out!

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Shame on Me (Feb.21)

2008-02-20T21:02:00.000-08:00

okay, i have to apologize. i honestly had no idea the last time i blogged was New Years. i mean, that means that i haven't blogged in over 50 days. that is absolutely ridiculous and i should be ashamed of myself. but seriously, you ever feel in a rut or kind of just get...i don't know...writer's block? i don't know what it has been; perhaps the fact that i am not in a new city every 4 weeks has added to it, but hey - i AM in the most exciting city in the world, right? and i AM performing in an amazing Broadway musical, right? so no more excuses (at least not right now). i am really going to try to blog at least once a month so you lovely people that have been emailing and calling can get all the dirt on mine and Sarah's life.

so let's get you up to date:

January went by really quick. like really, really quick. however, it was the tail end of January when i finally started feeling relaxed in the show. it's funny that after doing the show close to 400 times, you move to a new company and a new city, and it takes you over a month to really find your rhythm again, you know? but i have to say - honestly - this cast and crew have been fantastic. everyone has been so welcoming and supportive and it's nice to see that i am starting to make good friends here on the Broad-way. in any event though, i truly have begun to feel more at ease and the show seems much more manageable to me than when i first got here.

also in January, our good friends Kelly and Bob visited us from Michigan. Kelly is a few months pregnant so this was kind of their last hooray before she delivers the baby in the spring and we had a blast with them! we went to some great places for food (i HIGHLY recommend Essex for brunch - can you say "unlimited mimosas"?). also found this weird little store in the lower, Lower east village for your candy fix - anything you can think of - called Economy Candy Market. but it was so great seeing them and Toby had a blast as well as Bob wanted to take a little walk with Toby and sure enough, 2 1/2 hours later, they came back and Toby has never been so exhausted in his life.

lastly, mid-January saw the show bid a fond farewell to our friend, Daniel Reichard, who originated the role of Bob Gaudio. as those of you who have seen the show and gotten the opportunity to meet Daniel, you know that you will never meet a friendlier and truly sweet person. we are very excited and proud of him as he pursues other aspects of his career (go see him in Candide at NY City Opera) and personally, it was a pleasure getting to work with him again since our time in Forbidden Broadway many years ago. however, with his departure, we have gained an amazing new Gaudio in Sebastian Arcelus. my favorite part about Sebastian is the fact that I was fortunate enough to rehearse a lot with him before he started his run and it was such a treat to see him really grow into the magnificent character he has created on stage. in any event, it is such a delight having him with us and if you haven't seen the show in awhile, come on out and check it out!

another highlight of the month was when Jackie Seiden, Erich Bergen, Chris and Jenna Jones and Sarah and I all were in NYC in the same afternoon and we all had lunch together. i can't tell you how much fun it was just sitting for an hour and the six of us really just catching up on each other's lives and seeing some great old friends. i miss Jackie immensely and am so happy the strike in LA is over so she can get to what she moved out there for, and i am so excited for Bergen to open Vegas in April! and the Jones's...? we freaking love Chris and Jenna and other than the fact that their dog Fender is best friends with Toby - they have without a doubt become our closest friends and we cherish the (very little) time we get with them.

i will say however, that though i love Chris and Jenna - i did not love helping them move. holy shit, i have never seen a storage unit used to the capacity they had. seriously, how they even got everything in there is a mystery and a move from a storage unit to a studio apartment...even a big studio like they have...should not take almost seven hours. but it did. seven hours. two boroughs. almost 100 boxes. and easily over 1,000 stairs. they are never allowed to move again.

February finally reared its ugly head and the city was abuzz with the Super Bowl. i mean, without a doubt, NYC goes crazy for their Mets and Yankees, but to have the Giants make it to the big game and then not only beat the Patriots, but beat them in probably the best fourth quarter football game in the history of the sport was a huge highlight. Travis (Cloer) had some people over to his place to watch the game and it was nice to hang out with a few cast members outside the show. his wife, Jen, made this freaking incredible chili and some brownies (i think i might have eaten half the pan) so a big thank you to them for having me over.

oh...a quick side note: a few of you have contacted me regarding my website that some of the links are messed up and my blog isn't posting correctly. the deal is my gorgeous web designer (my wife, Sarah) broke her computer about a month or so ago and when she got her new one, it turned out that she hadn't backed up the most recent publication of my site and some of the html or other computer jargon i really don't understand got a little screwed up. anyway, she is going to try to work on it when she has some free time (not much now that she has a full-time job), but in the meantime, just go ahead and bookmark this link to just get to my blog directly to check up on it: MY BLOG . In addition, you can also "subscribe to my blog HERE or if you want direct notifications to your email when i post a new blog, click this link HERE. i think that should cover all bases.

random thought - can i vent here for a second: why do people who sit in the front row think it's okay to put their playbills on the front of the stage? do you not see 15 actors walking around up there? do you think that is really the best place for it...like, better than under your seat or in your stupid lap? because i know, personally, when i have been directed to go downstage or "toe the grate" (the grate is the metal grate that is at the farthest edge of the stage closest to the audience that we sometimes gave to literally stand on so we don't fall in the pit) i like to worry about slipping on a glossy program because someone is too stupid to put it in their jacket pocket. how about this, next time you are at work and in the middle of a meeting, i am going to walk onto your conference table and literally stand on your file folders.

arghhhhh!

also, when there is a show with narration, why do people think that the fourth wall doesn't exist and they can just yell random shit out? perfect example: this evening, Tommy is doing his final speech and this is what we hear:

Tommy: "By the way, you're ever in Vegas, walk into any casino and say 'Tommy DeVito'..."

Some Jackass: "...Tommy Who?"

okay, first off, you have now brought 1300 people out of the scene because you thought it was a good time to yell something out. secondly, Christian Hoff's last monologue (and subsequent laugh) is now lost because you threw him off. thirdly, what do you mean, "Tommy Who"...? where the hell have you been for 2 1/2 hours?

double arghhhhh!

back to the blog...

...last weekend, one of my great buddies from back home, Dave, came into town with his wife Julie. i love seeing friends from back home because they bring a little bit of "back home" with them, you know? i have knows Dave since high school and we lived together for all four years in college and it was so great to have them in town and for them to see the show and spend a little bit of time with them. they really enjoyed the show and our lovely mild weather we had last weekend and i just wish we could have had a little more time. weekends go by so quickly when you have 4 shows within them. i will say one of the biggest highlights of having them here is we went to this sassy burger joint in Union Square called Stand and though their burgers were only pretty decent, i have finally had the PERFECT milk shake. it's called the Toasted Marshmallow milkshake and for any of you that are marshmallow freaks like i am, this was, for real, the most amazing milkshake i have ever had - it was seriously like drinking a marshmallow right off the campfire...but with ice cream.

damn, i love writing about food...

...i also love writing about making my Broadway debut as a Season.

today, Bobby Spencer was sick and i was not. so this afternoon and the subsequent evening performance, i went on for my first (and second) time as Nick Massi.

okay, the first show was a first show. i haven't rehearsed the role in almost three weeks and i never got a put-in for the role so it was kind of like getting shot out of a cannon, but it went smooth. a few harmony problems (it's so easy to jump to old Tommy harmonies) and a few spacing issues (i couldn't find my spike marks for the church scene so i might have been in the right wing i was so off the mark) but a lovely matinee audience. the evening's show was great. i was more relaxed and certainly more confident in my spacing and i just let the nerves settle themselves so i could do a better job. not as many harmony issues this time and an ear plug helped as a monitor so i could hear myself better on those low notes and the audience was fantastic (and that always helps). what i like about Nick is the fact that he really doesn't say that much in the play, but when he does, it means so much to the development of his relationship within the group and with the other characters. in a way, i feel he's so quiet because he's always listening and that's what makes him so interesting to play.

one of the nicest things about playing the role was that my dear friend, Michael Ingersoll, who as you all know is playing Nick in the Chicago company sent me flowers to congratulate me. my friend, i miss hanging out with you to chat over a beer and thank you again for that incredible gesture.

so suffice to say, today was a great day. and though i'm pretty certain Bobby will be feeling better tomorrow. it was such a treat debuting as a lead in this show on Broadway - what a thrill! and i'll be honest with you - a person could get used to the attention at the stage door. everyone was so nice and complementary and it was a real treat to sign so many playbills and posters...i rarely get that opportunity in my ensemble track. and in case any of you would like to see me in the role, i do know that i will be going on as Nick March 11-13 for all four shows while Bobby is on vacation. can i announce that? i have no idea.

to end this blog, i'm real excited to announce that in addition to covering Bob and Nick, i have just been contracted to cover Tommy again as well. it's kind of crazy to me that i am now covering 3 of the 4 Seasons but i am beyond thrilled for the opportunity. a big thank you to the creative staff as well as my stage and company managers here in NYC for having faith in me for triple coverage!

so that's it. it's almost 2 in the morning and i have a sleeping wife and dog next to me and i think it's time to join them.

until next time...

Happy New Year (Jan.1)

2008-01-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

my oh my...what a crazy 16 days it has been.

first off, can someone tell me why the hell people bring their 5 year old children to Jersey Boys? and then sit them in the first three rows where 1) in NY, they are paying broker prices of at least $300/ticket and 2) every time we say the words "fuck", "shit" or "asshole" - which is a LOT in this show - we can all see them turn to their parents because they are uncomfortable that they heard what we said and they're not sure if they are allowed to enjoy it. listen up parents - Little Mermaid is only 6 blocks away and the scariest thing about that show is that their Heely's are supposed to pass for swimming.

thanks for letting me vent.

the Broadway debut came and went and every show since has been a lot of fun. it still is completely surreal, in a way i still can't comprehend that i am performing on Broadway. i mean, i am still walking down 52nd street to the August Wilson theatre, there's still a ton of tourists in the way of the stage door, and i'm still paying 30% more than i'm used to for groceries, but am i really here...?

one thing is for sure...Sarah and Toby are!

after securing our long term apartment in Hell's Kitchen about 4 days earlier than i anticipated, and after being on hold or talking to every stupid asshole that works for Northwest, i changed Sarah's ticket from the 24 to the 20th on a JetBlue redeye, and before i knew it, she was here.

Toby's flight was a little more complicated: you see, we couldn't put him on sarah's flight on JetBlue because the only airliner that has temperature controlled cargo area (a MUST when flying cross country in the winter) so Toby had to keep his flight on the 21st all by himself. Chris and Jenna were amazing by taking him to the airport in Seattle for us and making sure he was calm (and drugged up) for his flight...if only they would have done the same thing for Sarah!

here was the problem; we gave ourselves PLENTY of time to get to Newark from the city. well over an hour before we was scheduled to land - let alone the extra 15 minutes it would have taken for him to get to the pickup area. but as soon as we got to the NJ Turnpike, it was a parking lot. it was seriously some of the worst construction traffic i have ever seen and we were at a dead stop for almost over an hour. and of course, because by now we knew Toby's flight had landed and he was probably just sitting there...stranded and alone...Sarah had a full on breakdown in the car. please keep in mind she had just gotten in from a red eye that same morning and was probably on three hours of sleep for close to two days, but she was a mess and there was nothing i could do but call everyone who has ever worked for Continental to finally get through to the Continental baggage department at Newark and plead with them to please watch over our poor dog.

once we got through the construction zone, i floored the accelerator and the minute we got to the airport, i threw the emergency lights on and ran like a bat out of hell around the airport to finally find Toby...asleep in his crate. my dog is fantastic - what a good boy making a cross Country trip like that by himself just to chill out near baggage without a care in the world.

now, with my full family in tow, NYC felt a little better. we enjoyed the next few mornings together, waking up to each other and it felt great.

the day before Christmas was a rough morning. i got a call from my family back home and there was a death in the family, so Sarah and I scrambled to find a proper boarding place for Toby (every place was booked up months prior for the holidays, but "D is for Doggy" in Chelsea were happy to help us with Toby for two nights under the circumstances). so Sarah and i jumped on a plane Monday morning and headed back to Michigan, where i have not been in over 14 months, for the funeral.

i will say this: i will miss this family member dearly. she was an amazing woman and the only memories i have of her are good ones (best homemade applesauce in the world). she was a constant support of my life and career and when i have children one day, they will all hear wonderful stories about her as she will always have a place in my heart.

and though it was for sad circumstances, it was still amazing to see all my family. and i mean ALL my family. every one of my cousins flew in and all my aunts and uncles were there and it made me realize just how lucky i am with my family; my cousins, there are about 9 of us, are all within about ten years of each other and pretty much all grew up together and it's so nice to see them and share some stories and laughter...even amongst the sadness.

let's move on...

i have been working my ass off on Nick Massi. i have done nothing but eat, breathe and sleep Nick Massi's staging, vocal parts and bass charts. i am DYING to get a full run this Thursday and/or Friday as we continue to put in our new Bob Gaudio, Sebastian Arcelus (who is freaking fantastic i might add). for those of you that know him and his work, they cut his hair on Sunday and he looks ten years younger. and though Daniel is absolutely magnificent and has built an amazing life into this role, Sebastian is going to be a fantastic Gaudio.

the worst part though about learning Nick is i have had no time to do any staging for Gaudio. you would think it's not that big of a deal, but Daniel was out sick for six shows last week and i couldn't do any of the shows because there is no way i could just do the show blind on a new stage with different staging than the tour. so although Dominic (Nolfi) did a great job through the majority of the week, i would be lying if i said i wasn't a little jealous that i wasn't allowed to get up there and make my debut as a Season on Broadway!

but i'm sure, when i least expect it, i will have another opportunity to go on as Bob or Nick and it will be a thrill! i just hope it's with enough time to get some friends or family in town to see it as well!

not much else to report. Sarah and i have been all over the internet and Manhattan desperately trying to find nicknack's and some decent furniture so our home can look more like a home and not a college dorm room and that's for sure the next step to get us more comfortable in the big city. in any event, we spent some major time and money at Bed, Bath and Beyond and all of those random items (ironing board, baking sheets, frying pans, towels, etc) now have a space in our apartment and it's just one less thing we need to worry about.

lastly, i want to wish everyone a fantastic and prosperous 2008! 2007 was one for the record books for me and as always, i want to thank all of my family, friends and blog readers for your constant support, emails and comments that made touring much easier.

Sarah and i had a wonderful New Years as we stayed in, rented some movies, brought in some food and made some fantastic Pomegranate sangria to bring in the new year. oh, and if i can vent about one last thing...

we were watching Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve and this young group, The Jonas Brothers, came on screen to chat about their year and their upcoming 2008 tour. can someone please explain to me why the hell two of the lead singers were dressed like they just came out of Oliver? seriously, one of them was in a freaking top hat and looked like the Artful Dodger while the other one looked like he just crawled out of the Hobbit's squire. please, watch this youtube video of them being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest and tell me you don't want to punch them in the face:

lastly, as far as the Sherry cast is concerned, i want to wish a heartfelt congratulations and bon voyage to my dear friends John Altieri and Erich Bergen. i wish i could have been there for both of your last shows but know that i am thinking of you guys (and the rest of the touring cast) like crazy.

John - i know you already put the cat out of the bag that you are going to Vegas and have a fantastic time - make sure you get a nice place to Sarah and i have a place to stay when you visit. our love to Spider and Goose!

Bergen - i can't wait to see you here in NYC so we can hang out again. but no, i will not go with your to "cast party" on Mondays and no, you cannot hang out backstage with me at the August Wilson. i personally know what is in store for you next and am excited for you - so best of luck with those rehearsals and i want all the exciting gossip!

so that's it everyone. again, Happy New Year and will blog as exciting things happen.

-Eric