April 20th was the day of Jeremy's big show, "It takes Two." The show features him and our other female singer, Keewa. It's a review of all the best top 40 duets like "Islands in the Stream," "I Got You Babe" and of course the title song. The audience loved it - I was very proud of my husband! He and Keewa were phenomenal and with the gorgeous costumes they looked like rock stars. Now they're celebrities on the ship.
On the 21st, we started "Songbook," which is basically a tribute to all the biggest hits of the 40's and 50's. We sing a Rosemary Clooney medley, Three Coins in the Fountain, Unforgettable, It Must Have been Moonglow, etc. The second day of rehearsal we docked in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Jeremy and I were able to get off during our lunch break and we hopped on the back of motorbikes for a quick tour of the city! We had just enough time to ride to the beach, stick our feet in the water just so we could say we did, and ride back to the ship. However, when we went to pay our motorbike drivers, they wouldn't take our money. We didn't exchange dollars to Vietnamese Dong, but that wasn't the issue. Everywhere in Nha Trang accepts US dollars, but the rule in Vietnam is that torn and/or wrinkled money is useless. Our $10 bill was crinkled and had a small tear so they refused it. I guess counterfeit money is such a problem that paper money has to be pristine to be accepted. So I had to run back to the ship and go to the front desk for a brand new $10 bill!
Our performances of "Songbook" went really well and the audiences absolutely loved it - with our senior crowd, the show is a throwback to better and simpler times :) I think it's my favorite show too so I guess I'm an old soul...
On April 23rd, we reached my old stomping ground - Hong Kong!!! Unfortunately, we had rehearsal for our female doo-wop show, "Dinner Belles," during the day so I was only able to get off at night. "Dinner Belles" is Jeremy's show off so he was able to spend two full days in Hong Kong. We did meet up on the evening of the 23rd though and took the cast to Victoria's Peak for the breathtaking view of Hong Kong's unmistakable skyline. We had a classic noodle soup dinner at a local hole in the wall, but after walking all around the city until 1:00am, I'm slightly ashamed to say we had a late night snack at McDonald's...oh it tasted soooo good!
Our "Dinner Belles" shows were last night. This show is our only "book" show meaning it's an actual musical with characters and a storyline rather than a review. All of the music is popular girl group songs such as "Stop in the Love," "Where the Boys Are," "It's in His Kiss," etc. The set is amazing and because it's an actual musical, we have a lot of props, costumes and scene changes. It's a technical nightmare and we had to stop at least 2 times during every tech-run for issues like lighting, sound cues, curtain closures, scene changes and wig changes. There are a few costume changes that happen on stage right behind the main curtain and we rely on our stage crew to bring us our costumes and time the curtain just right. Well, opening night nerves set in and during our first show, the curtain guy jumped a crew and opened the curtain while we were changing on stage! Fortunately we were only taking off a wig and a cape, with dresses underneath, but we had to scramble off the stage half-changed. I had no time to grab my wig so it was sitting on the chair I was supposed to sit in for the next scene. Well, in live theater you have to improvise, so I went out and sat on my wig to cover it up for the scene! What a nightmare in the moment, but it's pretty hilarious in retrospect. The good news is the second show went off without a hitch.
Today we're rehearsing for "Amore," our more classical, or as we like to call it, "pop-era" (as in pop and opera) show. It's my most featured show and has a good mix of love songs, hence the title :) We are all exhausted from this grueling rehearsal/performance schedule but we only have two more weeks until we're done tech-ing the shows. Then, we'll only be performing at night with occasional brush up rehearsals.
For our anniversary tonight, we have reservations at the high-end restaurant on board, The Pinnacle Grill. All of the food on the ship is free except for the Pinnacle. Guests and crew pay $20 each for the Grill, but since it's our anniversary, and I guess they like us, the cruise director arranged for a complementary dinner and bottle of wine :)
Well, our Asian adventure is coming to an end but we still have Japan, South Korea and Russia. Then it's on to Alaska!
We love you so much,
J & J
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