Another Openin' Another Show

WOW
Thats pretty much all I can say at this point. I am having such a blast doing the show, and I love touring and spending time with this company! I officially opened in Milwaukee and got to spend some good rehearsal time with Michael Mayer and Kim Grigsby, who are the original director and musical director of the show.
Milwaukee was so much fun. The cheese was amazing, the local beer was great and our hotel was really nice! I'm pretty sure Miley Cyrus was staying in the same hotel as I was, although I never got to meet her. This is a picture of the theatre we played from the stage. My family came to Milwaukee for my opening which was great tooAfter Milwaukee we flew to Kansas City. Our hotel was right across the street from the Theatre which was nice, however it made it hard to see a lot of the city, since everything I needed was in such close proximity. This is a picture of the KC Music Hall:
In Kansas City we shot our B-Roll footage for commercials and press purposes which was utterly exhausting but a lot of fun. It felt almost like American Idol having a camera up on stage and in your face. We also did our photo call in Milwaukee which was a lot of fun. The bitch of living picture was hard to get. We all were chanting "What went wrong" and jumping over and over and over again so we could capture the perfect picture of the boys soaring through the air in angst rock star fashion.
Yesterday we flew to Austin TX where we are going to play for a week. We open tonight, and I'm very excited. Yesterday after we got here, Chase, Freddy, and I went to go see Toystory in 3D!!!
It was amazing. And of course we couldn't pass up an opportunity for this:
I think thats all for now.
Until Next Time,
Ben

Is it October 2nd yet??

The tour has been on a layoff for the past 5 weeks. I thought I would write a post to let you all know what I've been up to over my break. There has been A LOT of relaxing going on. I've been able to catch up on some much needed sleep and laze around.
I went to Ithaca, NY to visit my school. On my way up there, my car overheated. I had to call triple A and get my car towed to Finley Lake NY. The mechanics told me my car was not drivable ever again. Lucky for me, my incredibly gracious, sweet, and beautiful mother drove 2 hours to drive me her car so I could continue my journey. So amazing of her right?! Once I made it to Ithaca I got to celebrate Freshman Party with my friends.
Freshman Party is a big event at Ithaca to welcome all the freshman theatre majors and it involves a dance party and a show that the upperclassman put together that is a tribute to the department as well as a big "Welcome, you're going to love it here!" The show usually satires a musical and the lyrics are re-written and replaced with new ones about the department.
To my utter delight the theme this year was Spring Awakening. Some of the song titles were: The Bitch Of Dilly (the name of the theatre arts building is Dillingham), Totally Fierce, All Thats Tech, and finally to the tune of Mama Who Bore Me (reprise): Byron and Mary-The head of our department and the coordinator of theatre operations. It was an AMAZING show and it was wonderful to see all of my friends.
Following the show is a dance party. I'm proud to say I danced my butt off and this is the result:I completely sweated through my clothing. Gross.

After my visit to Ithaca I got my wisdom teeth taken out.
I've been taking it easy with my puffy cheeks and eating lots of pudding.







Also, the Totally Trucked BLOG put up a video where Steffi D interviews me about my first time on. The video can be seen here
I think that's all for now. I can't wait to get back to the show and I'm sure I will have many more updates when I actually have things going on in my life.
In the meantime, I am unchangingly and most fondly yours,
Ben

My first time on!

On August 14th and 15th I went on for the first time! The Oriental theatre is absolutely gorgeous and it was such a thrill performing there. This is the view from the stage: Besides messing up my chair a little bit in Bitch Of Living, I don't think it could have gone any better. I was pretty nervous before I got to the theatre, but then when it got closer to show time and I was in my costume everything was fine.
My hair for the show is like a helmet. Its so gelled/sprayed down and it's stiff as a board. It's nuts.
Doing Bitch for the first time with an audience was surreal. It was so much fun and I felt like a rockstar. I felt the same in Totally Fucked-what a BLAST! I always get worried though because I have a scene right after that song and I'm always worried about being out of breath, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.
I'm on vacation from the show now for a little bit but it is so awesome to think that it's official now. I'm no longer rehearsing and being put in to the show, I''m officially a member of the company!
So my next stop is Milwaukee where I'll make my official opening but maybe I'll get bored over the layoff and write some ridiculous blog posts. Who knows.
Here's a picture of me and Andy in costume--The new Ernst and Hanschen:





















Take it easy,
Ben

The Windy City

Chicago has been excellent so far! I love the area we're in and the theatre is absolutely beautiful. The weather has been so nice the past few days. Not a cloud in the sky, but not too hot. I'm having more realizations every day about being in the show. It's weird, perhaps it hasn't fully hit me yet. It probably will when I'm on stage for the first time in front of an audience. AHH!!!!

I went to New York again on Monday for another costume fitting. This time I was able to try on my whole outfit. My jacket was a little bit small so they made a couple alterations. Taylor was also at this costume fitting and it was awesome to see him try on his suit "outlines." It was also so hot in New York though, I was dying .

Rehearsals have been going really well. I definitely feel ready to do the show. My put in rehearsal is coming up which is frightening but SO exciting. Kim Grigsby is going to be there, so I'm excited to work with her and hear what she has to say. A couple nights ago I trailed Ben Moss, so I basically watched from the wings and then followed him around backstage so I could get a sense of what I need to do not only onstage, but backstage as well.

I got a hair cut last Saturday! It is very short. I also have no sideburns it's quite weird actually. But its very Ernstie.

My favorite moments of Chicago: Running the show with full sound--Having a hot tub in my hotel--Krystina Alabado's birthday dinner--New Hair--Hotel suite--Chipotle--and many others.
This week we are playing whirly ball with the Chicago cast of Jersey Boys! That should be a ton of fun.
This is my view on my way to work every day:Until next time (which will be after my first performance :D)
Ben

Busy, Busy, Busy!

My week was terribly busy but so much fun. I'm finally done blocking the whole show! I learned my whole track basically by myself, which was challenging but exciting. The understudies and swings have been in rehearsals with the new cast members, which has been very helpful. In a week and a half the newbies get a "put in" rehearsal, which means that we will run the show with sound, lights, and costumes so we will be ready to go on for our 2 shows in Chicago. I'm getting soo excited to start performing.
Last Sunday I saw the Color Purple, which is in the same building (The Kennedy Center) as Spring Awakening. I though it was AWESOME and I loved Fantasia. My costume fitting in New York went really well. I got my shoes and vest and shirts. The costume shop is amazing!! It's so massive and it was really incredible to see all the Broadway shows that have their costumes built there. I put on a muslin outline of my jacket and had Mai the associate costume designer for the show and her assistant making alterations on it. My arms were getting really tired from holding them up for so long!
Last night I went to the Washington Monuments. It was so amazing especially at night. We walked a lot but it was really quite fun. The Lincoln memorial is actually really moving. Something about the simplicity of his statue and reading the Gettysburg address was really powerful. Also, looking out over the reflection pool and seeing the Washington monument was absolutely stunning.
Well thats all for now...I have to pack. Tomorrow is my day off and on Monday I'm flying to Chicago!!!
More to come soon.
Ben

Rehearsals are in full swing

My experience in D.C has been excellent so far. The area we're in is very nice, although it is a long walk to the theatre, but that's OK. Rehearsals have been going really well. It's moving VERY quickly and it's definitely been challenging trying to keep up. Yesterday we had a put-in work through. First we sang through the show and singing with the cast was a ton of fun and got me really excited. It's been hard rehearsing vocals on my own, because I've had to practice my harmonies with no sense of dynamics or ensemble because I hadn't had the opportunity to sing the score with everyone until yesterday. Then we worked through act 1 with the rest of the cast. It's been very odd doing Bitch Of Living with just me and Taylor (the new Moritz) so doing it with all they boys was definitely helpful. The same goes for Touch Me.
I'm happy to report that I'm finished with act 1 and am learning act 2 next week. I can't wait to get on stage and do it for real.
On Monday (my day off) Taylor and I have costume fittings in New York so they are putting us on a train out there. It should be a fun day trip to the city and we might chronicle our adventure on the company VLOG "totallytrucked" we'll see how all that goes. The cast has been so nice in welcoming the new people it's been a blast getting to know them so far, and I can't wait to start performing with them.
I'll try to right again soon, but I've been so busy it's hard to find time!
Until next time,
Ben

D.C.

I just arrived at my hotel in D.C. I left this morning and flew through Chicago to get here. My hotel room is nice and very comfortable. I guess I can look forward to great hotel t.v. (on my flat screen) wake up calls and a window that doesn't open! It has a little kitchenette too which is nice. Tomorrow is my first day of rehearsal as well as a costume fitting. I can't wait to get started with rehearsals and everything! Hopefully I'll be able to do some sight seeing while I'm here too.
Ben