To all of you who happened upon my little blog page after seeing The Secret Garden, WELCOME!  For the moment this is just a blog page while I build my actual website.  I truly hope you enjoyed your visit to The Secret Garden.

The show holds a very special place in my heart.  When I graduated high school in 1991, my mother gave me my first trip to see Broadway shows in New York City as a gift.  I saw three shows; The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, and The Secret Garden.  As wonderful as all of the shows were, there was something magical about The Secret Garden.  I will never forget hearing Lily’s Eyes for the first time…as I watched tears stream down the faces of Howard McGillan and Robert Westinberg.  From that moment, I have dreamed of being able to sing that song for an audience.  This year, that dream came true thanks to the amazing Joe Sturgeon trusting me with the role in his production here at Artisan Center Theater.  I hope the shows themes resonate with you as they have with me.  Please feel free to share how it made you feel in the comments below.  Good or bad!

“This is your home.  And this, my lovely child, is YOUR garden.”

-E. Scott Arnold

So, just like that we are over half way through the run of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  I have no idea where the time went!  This has been a really fun run of a show.  Which is a nice thing, because a new adventure awaits.

I am now announcing that after nearly a year of unemployment, American Airlines has hired me back.  I will be going into the Crew Scheduling department.  It’s a challenge that I am pretty excited about, but there are some things that are going to change in my life.  This position will leave a lot of uncertainty in the way my life is scheduled, so The Adventures of Tom Sawyer may be my last show for a while.  The first thing that will happen is that I have to move to Pittsburgh, PA for about six months.  Anyway, I will go into details about this new position on a future post.  For now, I appreciate any good thoughts or prayers that I will be able to continue my theatrical side as well!

I have a couple of travel adventures coming up, though!  There will be a quick trip back to Orlando to see a premier of the new live-action Disney film, Cinderella.  I am heading down right after we close Tom Sawyer.  I am also putting together another theater trip to NYC.  I have some FUN surprises in store for you on that trip!  So, stay tuned!

Here is a little something about theater that any of you non-actors may not know.  Many times, some of the most exciting moments of a show come out of sheer happenstance.  In Tom Sawyer, during the song ‘Wayfaring Stranger’, I have a really exciting moment in the second verse that came about by accident.  One day before rehearsal I was running through music here at home.  I decided to toy with popping up the octave for the second verse..something definitely outside of my normal ‘musical theater’ styling.  This was going to be much more American Idol than I normally sing. At rehearsal that night, I told Joe (the writer/director of our Tom Sawyer) that I thought I might be able to pull it off.  We didn’t have time to rehearse it in advance (which would have been my preference!  You know…just in case I STUNK at it!) so he said to go ahead and try it during the normal run through.  Well, that is a bit nerve-wracking!  The first time you are going to attempt something like that is going to be live in front of your cast and whomever else is hanging out in the theater that night.  Anyway, as the moment came, I threw caution to the wind and just wailed it to the heavens.  Suddenly I hear behind me my cast start cheering.  Wow…what a wonderful experience!  So, we kept it in the show.  And now every night, the audience seems to react in a similar (if quieter…it is the theater after all) manner.  Its an exciting moment for me.  Something outside my comfort zone.  Something that people aren’t expecting to hear from Muff Potter.  And all coming from one thought in my bedroom and a quick ‘Hey, can I try this?’ moment with the director.  The creative process is truly a wonderful thing.  You never know when these moments may come…

OK.  That’s it for now.  Thanks for reading.  To those of you who are visiting after seeing Tom Sawyer, first of all, THANK YOU.  Please feel free to comment about the show here.  If you haven’t seen it yet, well, come on down and join us!  I look forward to meeting each and every one of you!

-E. Scott

Well, here we are. Backstage before another preview night. Tonight we put The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on it’s feet. This will be the first time this cast has gone through the show without stopping. So, say a little prayer!

It’s always exciting, this crazy feeling before you put yourself on the line. Wondering why you do it…

Well. Time for a mic check then we take off.

Merde, everyone.

Well, time to talk about another show. I didn’t write at all about my time doing the role of Roger Strong in ‘Catch Me If You Can’ at Theatre Coppell. Suffice to say, I loved it! Now I am back at Artisan Center to play Muff Potter in Joe Sturgeon’s adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It’s a play with music…most of which I will be singing. So, if you want to get to hear my take on folk music, get your tickets now. I am single cast in this one so you can see me at every performance.

I did a Broadway trip two weekends ago. I was able to see my amazing and talented friend Arbender Robinson go on as Marius in Les Miserables. I also saw Sting’s The Last Ship and Matilda. It was a perfect weekend of Broadway!

This is a short update with the promise of more to come. Thanks for reading. I leave you with the image of my The Last Ship Playbill…autographed by Sting himself!

This weekend I will tie my longest length of time doing one show as we hit the 5 week mark. The previous record was in Jekyll and Hyde at Theatre Winter Haven. However, I did have many more actual performances in the previous record. At Artisan, you only get 3 shows a week because of the double casting. I guess by the end of the run I should be pretty close on with the two. I wonder if I have the performance schedule for J&H somewhere to see? Hmmm. I am really having to work harder on keeping my voice in shape to last. Roaring as Kerchak takes it’s toll on the vocal chords!

The last week of shows was nice in the fact that I had visitors at each show. Tonight, my old AA work friends Katie, Mikel, and Erma came to see the show. Tuesday, the amazing Mark Miller stopped by. For someone of his stature to come and see my work when there are so many other bigger and higher profile shows going on is quite flattering. I was also visited by the uber talented Kyle Montgomery. He is currently in Uptown Player’s fantastic production of The Boy From Oz. I had the pleasure of working with him on ICT (now MILC, I guess)’s production of Urinetown. He is one of those class acts that I know will go far, so watch for him! Then, last Saturday, my friend of many years from Disney in Florida, Aron, surprised me and showed up with his family that live near by. So, it was a nice week for seeing friends in the audience.

It’s hard to believe I only get to do this show 7 more times. If you haven’t seen us, come on by. Say Hi. We would love to have you!

Hello from Row 16 on a Super 80 traveling from Newark to DFW! Today was pretty awesome. I took a bus into the city and walked from Port Authority to One Shubert Alley, where I picked up the music book from BIG FISH. I want to learn ‘Fight the Dragons’. While checking out I saw they still had Tarzan the Musical lapel pins! So I picked one of those up too.

I decided to take a shot and see if there was anything for Of Mice and Men…but only premium seats left…boo. Well, yay that people are selling out an American Classic. But I just can’t afford those premium seats. So…off to the Rocky box office I went. A great guy there got me a PERFECT aisle seat at the Playbill.com discount rate!

After grabbing a quick bite and picking up the new program from If/Then (it wasn’t made when I saw the show), it was show time!

I was shocked at how much I loved ROCKY. Maybe it’s because I never saw the film, but I just loved it. LOVED. IT! I cannot begin to tell you how incredible the finale was. Truly the most exciting moment I have seen on stage. It was THAT exciting. They actually transform the entire theater into the boxing arena right before your eyes. The center section of the orchestra for the first about 7 rows have to get out of their seats and go on stage to a big bleacher section. Then, the boxing ring moves out over those seats. A jumbotron like screen descends from the ceiling above the ring. Lights appear in all the walls.. Banners unfurl all around you. It’s just incredible. And incredibly exciting. The audience all got involved, cheering on Rocky. It was something like I had never seen before. A moment that could only happen in live theater. It’s truly ashamed the show is closing so soon. I think many more people should have the chance to be thrilled on that level.

So if you are in NYC between now and August 17th, go check it out.

Now, after a weather delay, I am en route back to DFW. Ready to do Tarzan again tomorrow night.

I will add that today I have seen a lot of travel habits that..well…just annoy me. Let’s discuss:

1. CROWDING THE GATE BEFORE YOUR GROUP IS CALLED
Look, I know we are all wanting the overhead bin space. But if you are Group 4, please stand back so the earlier groups can get to the gate. We can’t see your boarding pass. We don’t know if you are in line or just standing around. We are all going to get on. Worst case they gate check your bag. Is that really so bad?

2. LEANING YOUR SEAT BACK, THEN PROCEEDING TO LEAN FORWARD
This one makes me crazy. First of all, on a domestic flight outside of sleeping hours, just don’t lean back your seat. Yeah,yeah, you are entitled, but it’s still rude. Airlines have crammed coach seats closer than ever, and really, I don’t want to have the top of your head under my nose. If I had to sneeze right now, the bald man in my lap would be covered in mucus. If my fat self can sleep upright, you can too. Overnight flights…different story.
HOWEVER, if you choose to recline your seat and THEN lean forward…well, now you are just being a douche. If you are not using the recline, put your seat up! Don’t be this guy:

3. CHARGING UP THE AISLE AS SOON AS THE SEATBELT LIGHT IS OFF AT THE GATE
Wait your turn. We ALL have some place to be. That’s why we are on an airplane. You are not exclusively the one who has something going on. Not many are on a plane, you know, for the heck of it.

What about you? What are your travel pet peeves?

Hello from 37,000 feet!

Today I don’t have a show and since it’s Wednesday, Broadway has matinees. So, I am on my way for a day trip to see a show! I had really hoped to catch James Franco in Of Mice and Men before it closes this weekend but the show is sold out save for some of those $300+ premium seats. That’s just a bit ridiculous for me, so my second choice is the musical Rocky. Yes, based on the Sylvester Stallone film. The original music is by my favorite contemporary composers, Flaherty and Ahrens and I understand the last 15 minutes are some of the most incredible theater ever put on stage. The rest of the show has had issues. Still, I think it could be really cool to experience!

The real fun will be making it out of the City in time for a 6:50pm flight back to DFW out of Newark. I think I may try the train out of Penn Station for the first time today. That will be a new one for me. Normally I take the super convenient Newark Liberty Express bus from the Port Authority. Now that they keep making the last flight out earlier and earlier, Broadway day trips are more challenging. Still worth it!

We had a great performance of Tarzan last night. Still a few tech issues, but the cast gets better and tighter every show. With a seven week run, I hope I can find more depth in the character. Really try to solidify some acting choices.

Anyway, I am excited to see whatever show I happen to see today. Any moment in a darkened theater is truly a gift.