Savannah's Curse

I think that my experience of Savannah thus far is a unique one because I am experiencing it on the week of All Hallow's Eve. Yesterday was the day of the dead, and I was given quite the history lesson on a ghost tour last night...a lecture that was kind of unexpected... I thought that I was at least going to see a grunting zombie chasing me with a chain saw, but no. Just a lot of stories about the tour guides experiences with ghosts, and a story about his friend who had been lost forever on the inside of an abandoned house after hearing of several murders and ghoulish happenings at this address...apparently, he was lost in another dimension?... I experienced this lecture tour with several of my White Christmas comrades...that made it a lot more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, this would have been awesome at 1:30 in the afternoon, but at 1:30 in the morning, I needed to be on the party hearse pub crawl tour or in with the gaggle of college kids who kept screaming "ghosts" as they drove past our lame, dry tour. Oh well...next year, it is the party hearse for me!

So, I am walking down Oglethorpe St. in downtown Savannah (close to the theatre and the SCAD-Savannah school of art and design), and I hear someone yell, "Hey, I have a present for you!" I turn around to see a blurry blonde face (I am near sighted)..I still don't recognize his face...he screams..."MEATBALLS!!" I now realize that it is one of my backstage tech friends-I told him about my Halloween costume. I was an italian dish for Halloween. I bought hair from a shop in Savannah that cost 2.99, and it looked and felt like spaghetti..this is how I got the idea. I used those kiddy elastics with the plastic balls as my meatballs...I thought that he thought that it would be funny to buy me actual meatballs...cute...but, I just got an email from him saying that he had a bottle of red zinfandel to go with my italian dish...I like red zinfandel...but, I never got it from him because I didn't see him after the show.

I stayed at the Staybridge for the past week. I don't have anything bad to say about this hotel. Triple chocolate chip cookies served in the front lobby, enough complimentary green apples to live on for the length of your stay and bring some home as souvenirs, anomalistic continental breakfast that includes waffles and eggs, fireplaces in the lobby, and a free shuttle to and from Walmart all make for a joyful stay. The only negative happening during my stay was when I had just gotten out of the shower, and I heard the house keeper at the door. I had the door bolted, so I didn't expect it to swing open, but it did. The housekeeper jumped, screamed, and almost dived into her bin of dirty towels. I kind of stood there shocked. I mean, I am used to fast changes backstage and changing in the locker room at Broadway Dance Center, so I am never embarrassed if a girl sees me naked, but apparently, she was. I felt bad..but, on the other hand, I had the door bolted, and I had a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

I love the trees in Savannah. Have you seen Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil? Well, that movie was filmed in Savannah, and adequately shows off the unbelievably beautiful Oak trees with multiple pieces of moss hanging off of them like long, grey wispy manes of hair that would hang from the heads of ninety-year old women. These trees create an eerie setting that compliments the fact that Savannah has won plaque upon plaque for being the most haunted city in America (I told you my ghost tour was informative). The tour guide told us that one of the main reasons why Savannah is so haunted is the fact that many slaves were not given a proper burial and because of this, they continue to haunt the town. Slave owners would give the slaves an hour a day for dinner, and this was when they had to bury their dead. Because they didn't have enough time to dig a six foot hole for their loved ones, they dug three foot holes. The city of Savannah approved the building of city parks right on top of the places where slaves buried their families. This is a big no-no for almost any race and/or religion. When their was flooding in Savannah recently, many bodies floated to the top ground in these parks. Apparently, every single house that surrounds this square is haunted. In fact, the movie Poltergeist was filmed in one of these houses and was based on events inside the house. According to the hoodoo religion..and many other religions, the greatest sacrifice is one that is within the family. My tour guide told our group that five families had experienced deaths of six year old children in their houses. Creepy. I don't know if I buy all of this, but I have to admit that I had a some nervous butterflies in my stomach when I shut out the lights at 3:30 AM.

So, White Christmas had three previews this past weekend at the Johnny Mercer Theatre. Prior to the two performances on Saturday, our director talked with the audience and let them know that these would be our very first run throughs of the show in the theatre with sets, costumes, make-up, and an audience. We did have to stop the show several times because of scenery and quick change problems, but the audience was very supportive. In fact, I think that they were very excited about being a part of the process. This is such a beautiful show, the choreography is brilliantly dynamic and flowing, and the take on this version of White Christmas is really unique.

I bussed it last night to Atlanta. We arrived at the Extended Stay Hotel in Atlanta at 12:30 AM after watching Mean Girls and The Incredibles on the bus. After I schlepped my 64 lb. suitcase up to my room, guess what was the first thing to greet me when I opened my door? Walking from the inner darkness of room 227 into the outer world of the hallway of the second floor of the Extended Stay was a bug that looked like a hybrid of the biggest cockroach that I have ever seen in the Big Crab, a June Bug, and a lizard...or some small dinosaur. It was sooooo scary. I was afraid to reach in and turn the lights on, but I did after I took several deep breaths to alleviate my anxiety that there would be a cockroach after-party happening in my room. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought, but I have killed seven large cockroaches already. It was very difficult getting to sleep last night...I dreamt about roaches being in my bed sheets. So, my opening night is tomorrow night at the Fox Theatre...Once the show gets rolling, and I have a little more free time, I will be blogging and choreographing a lot, so stay tuned!