WANZeGRAM...September 25, 2009

A SPECIAL MESSEGE FROM DOUG

By Doug Ba'aser

Hello everyone,

I just wanted WANZeGRAM subscribers to know that I am back in town. I have been traveling throughout the northeastern U.S. and Canada as part of a non-equity tour of Neil Simon's hit musical Little Me. The tour was exhausting, but I enjoyed every minute of it! In addition to playing nearly all of the male characters in the show, I was also dance captain. I KNOW! Imagine how I feel!

Ex-haus-ted!!!!!!

I met so many new friends that I know will be with me forever (in my memories, I mean, I don't plan on keeping in touch.)

Anyway, I digress. The evening I returned to town I was able to catch the opening night performance of There's No Place Like Home, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From start to finish the show is just a joy. Of all the shows that have played at the Footlight Theatre, that did not feature me, this is truly one of the best.

If you have a moment, and at that moment are not able to see me in anything and it is a Saturday at 8 pm, well then, please see There's No Place Like Home at the Footlight Theater.

Kisses,

Doug

P.S. Please don't forget to catch me at Hamburger Mary's on Wednesdays (7.30 PM) and Stonewall on Fridays (9:30 PM).

IMORTANT NOTE: We at the WANZeGRAM do not employ fact-checkers, and cannot be held accountable for certain claims made by those who submit My Two Cents articles in reference to non-Equity National tours and claims of dance captain employment. Additionally, we wish to state for the record that while we very much appreciate someone as theatrically insightful as DOUG endorsing a play written by Wanzie, we are also not clueless as to the fact that submitting to My Two Cents also allows DOUG to promote his trivia gig at Hamburger Mary's which plays directly opposite Wanzie and Miss Sammy's Beach Blanket Bingo at the Parliament House. There ya go. Yet another plug for the DOUG!

PART TWO OF MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE REPORT
By Rich Charron

Last week, I shared the first part of our Mediterranean Atlantis cruise, including the visit to Cairo and the some of the onboard entertainment. This week starts with Day 5, the first two of three stops along the Greek Isles.

After a night on the dance floor, we were perfectly happy with our late arrival in Rhodes. We docked an hour later than scheduled, but it was well worth the wait. We were in this beautiful little area of shops and restaurants, with long winding cobblestone streets and lots of very, very old structures. This is the most obvious thing about traveling anywhere outside of North America; the fact that there are structures hundreds and thousands of years old. The modern world is just built right up against them in the most jarring of juxtapositions. Never was this more true than in Rome, but more about that later.

We did not have a special excursion arranged for Rhodes so we were content with just exploring on our own. We had lunch at a little restaurant where Brian, Eddie and I drank beer out of a boot-shaped mug! We did a little shopping (OK, if you know me personally you know this means I walked around while others shopped!). We made our way into an old fortress area that bordered the port area, which appeared to be more of a public park today. There were a few guys juggling, a few folks hanging about reading, walking dogs, etc. Ask Eddie about what dogs leave behind in parks. Back on the ship we prepared for the Greek Isles Party. This was more like a fashion show of the gift shops from Rhodes as many of the passengers purchased their blue and white outfits in port earlier. I was saving myself for Mykonos, for which we would be docked (anchored) from 10 AM until 4 AM the next morning. An early night meant bedtime before 3 AM.

We tendered into Mykonos early so we could rent a jeep and head to the beaches. There were a couple of gay beaches and we thought we would try to get to them both. Both were very nice, with beautiful beach areas, packed with tourists and locals alike. We had some fun trying the find the second beach. Mike was trying to get his GPS going on his iPhone, but we weren't exactly in NYC, so it wasn't as effective as one would hope. Nonetheless, it gave us an opportunity to see much of the local neighborhoods. With Jason driving. We were a sight, I'm sure. All of the homes were white, with blue trim and the terrain was rock hard mountain. We did eventually find the other beach and had a drink in a bar that overlooked the cove. It was a great day. And we weren't finished. The best part of this particular port of call was that we still had the night. So we returned the jeep, tendered back to the ship and prepared for the evening.

Another bonus to cruising on a Celebrity ship was the food. That was the case on this ship as well. The Solstice has four specialty or "extra" restaurants, for which you need to make reservations and pay in additionally. There was the Tuscan Grille, an Italian restaurant, Silk Harvest, an Asian fusion menu, Murano, a steak house, and Blu, the private dining area for the AquaClass guests. (The AquaClass staterooms include "atmospheric indulgences" including mood lighting, music and ambient sound. We actually had booked one of these rooms but were ultimately talked out of it as the only ones available were directly underneath the dance floor. Probably would have ruined the "ambient music".) Anyhow, we managed to get to Blu on night, which regular guests are allowed to enjoy after 8:30 or something. It was just so-so and the service was rather slow. But we really enjoyed our meal at Tuscan Grille. All of the food was delicious, the wait staff was beautiful and the view, which is the entire back end of the ship opened up with glass, floor to ceiling, was breathtaking. So, needless to say, we had great dining options floating right along with us throughout the Mediterranean. So on this night as all others, we had dinner on board and then we made our way back into town for the evening.

There was supposed to big a big party at the gay club Pierros, but the place was supposedly very small and it was a little pricy for the evening. Instead, several of us gathered for drinks at Jackie-O. It was situated right at the port, with a view of our ship of in the distance. There was no pool-side party tonight onboard and we had until 3:30 AM to get back on the ship. People wandered around most of the night and believe it or not, everyone made it back on the ship in time head out. It was probably the earliest of any night for the entire cruise. Next stop: Santorini, Greece. You know, where they filmed Mamma Mia? I didn't know that. Tell you all about it, as well as the last stop, Naples, next week!

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