Halfway there!

As the audience filed in to the Giant Center in Hershey, PA, I was busy having dinner with the crew backstage, chatting with Dennis Alves, the Pops' Director of Artistic Planning, and Kathleen Drohan, publicist extraordinaire, who lined up a local TV spot for us before the show. Neat to learn about the Pops' perspective of the business, since doing a coloseum show is something we don't do on a regular basis!

Our collaborative pieces with the orchestra have been lots of fun, including the two Argentine carols by Ariel Ramirez and African carol Betelehemu that we brought along, and the pieces arranged by the Pops: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, White Christmas, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and of course, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols, a long-time favorite of both ensembles. It's great to hear their famous Sleigh Ride arrangement and other uptempo numbers from the wings every night--this orchestra can really swing!


After the show, the Pops treated everyone to a party back at the lodge. We got a better opportunity this night to mix with the orchestra at large (since we can't really do so when we are on stage), and many new friendships were struck up. Since we've broken off for a few days to do a solo show in Buffalo, we can tell you that we miss the orchestra a lot. Can't wait to get to the next leg of the tour with them.


As for the two previous nights, Schenectady's show was greeted with enthusiastic fans, and the Storrs show went very well--the audience was very appreciative on a very cold and blustery night. We finished the first half of shows in Bethlehem, PA, at Lehigh University. We stayed at the Hotel Bethlehem, a lovely boutique hotel on a quaint Main Street. -G