Winter's Here

I thought I had to wait until tomorrow to see beautiful snow at the Yuki Matsuri in Sapporo, but Tokyo surprised me tonight with a beautiful downfall of the wet white stuff!

Now I'm just hoping that it doesn't mess up my 6 AM bus to the airport or my 8 AM flight... fingers crossed!

It was amazing seeing so much snow in a place I never thought I'd see it, and I really never thought I'd be in DisneySea walking through it! Despite the fact that it was ridonculously cold out, I already had a ticket to tonight's Valentine Nights show, and we had to brave the yuki with everyone else.

And tomorrow I'll be knee deep in the stuff in Sapporo and I couldn't be happier!

LET IT SNOW!

And on that note, since I need to get up in 5 hours... good night.

Back to the Studio

So let's start with recording this week...

Basically, I'm not cast in the Valentine's show, but the Japanese are worried about covering their bases this year, and so I was recruited to be Adam's "understudy". I use air quotes quite literally here, because usually in my experience, understudies observe rehearsal, take notes, and are officially put on the schedule and cast breakdowns.

An "understudy", on the other hand, is given music and told he will be recording that 10 days down the road without any rehearsal or instruction besides a copy of the sheet music and last year's CD. He is NOT taught the music or given the backing tracks he will be singing a long to or invited to any rehearsals.

Until the last minute, when his presence is requested at a couple final dress rehearsals which amount to basically observing the final product of the show.

Now, I might sound like I'm being passive aggressive, but I'm really not. I get it. They want me to be ready in case of an emergency but they don't want to pay me. And the Japanese only have 2 modes of preparedness: INSANELY over-rehearsed or INSANELY under-rehearsed. You don't get any other options.

Luckily, I've been here long enough to know how things work, so I practiced and prepared as best I could for the recording session, since I would be expected to sound perfect and be perfect.

With no rehearsal, direction, guidance, or one of the selections I would be recording.

But I'm a rockstar.

I had a GREAT recording session with our head music director for most of our shows. He works closely with our director, but she had to head back to the theatre for the rehearsal, which as I'll remind you, I'm not requested to be present at.

Now our music director has a ridiculously good ear that can discern a slightly out of tune attack, or a tired voice that is singing the right pitch but not in the direct center of it. It was amazing. Seriously, I mean, I know I was getting tired after singing the same octave jump on a "oh" vowel for about 30 minutes, but he was insistent! And I LOVED it, because it was that inspiring mentor sort of insistency where you just want to do it right because you know how happy it'll make both of you.

So I recorded my songs. Most of which was relatively uneventful. There was the big solo right before the finale that I didn't know was a solo (since both the recording and the music do not indicate as much) and was singing in absolutely the wrong way (trying to blend in with the track) until "Mike" clarified the situation. Again, an instance where even one rehearsal with a translator would have helped heaps!

Oh. Meanwhile, didn't I mention that our music director speaks very little English and I speak very little Japanese yet we never really had any lost in translation moments the whole hour and a half? I'm obsessed with the way we work together... A man with vision and a worker who wants to be perfect. NICE.

But I'm delaying the good stuff... back to the "oh" vowel. See, I was singing the "Heigh Ho's" section for the dwarves. They were having the 4 guys all record it in the studio to have new voices for them this year. Now, this is about to sound crazy coming from a tall, skinny, gangly man, but I have played both a dwarf and the smallest man in the world onstage.

Yes. It's true.

And not as a joke, either!

My first "real" mainstage show was at 7 as Sneezy in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and my chin was so narrow that even with the spirit gum my beard would fall off half the time! HA! But the director told my mother she was always impressed that I stayed in character and was so professional at 7.

They start 'em early in the mountains.

And then, 2 or 3 years after that, I played Tom Thumb in "Barnum" and sang a wonderful boy soprano version of "Bigger Isn't Better" while two high school guys danced around me on stilts and lifted all dangling-by-the-arms 65 pounds of me up with two broomsticks held between them.

And yes, there're photos and videos of these crucial, crucial moments in my life.

So I kind of felt like I was 7 again and they asked me to record "Heigh Ho". And not just 1 time. I had to sing the main line, and then all 3 harmony backup lines. Which then have to be recorded twice so that you get a natural double effect.

There was this point when I was literally singing along with 5 of myself, harmonizing this kick ass minor chord modulation and I was GID-DEE!

Seriously, I tried to do that when I was 8 (yes, now we have all established why I was such a loser of a kid) with my tape deck at home. I naively thought that you could sing into a tape, rewind, sing a different part and record it again, and then you'd have a recording of yourself singing with yourself.

Again. Naive.

But then it got better still when they asked me to record the two Prince Charming lines in Cinderella's "So This Is Love". I mean, it's about 8 notes, but I was pretty stoked that they asked me to record this and people will be hearing it live every night, unlike this sick track I'm basically recording for my health. Also, the part fits perfectly in my range.

No, I'm not always this vain.

And the music director turns to me and says, "You sound like a Prince! You are a prince!" And I realize he means a Disney prince. Which is pretty much the coolest compliment ever (in my book).

And then when I got to rehearsal and heard the final versions of both sections being played over the speakers I got giddy with excitement. I've never been the voice of someone before. And now, someone is literally lip-synching to ME! HOW COOL IS THAT?!

So yeah. I'm the voice of Prince Charming.

But SHHHH. It's a secret. Disney Magic. ;)

3 months

Yup, that's right.

I've already been in Japan 3 months. Exactly.

Approximately 92 days. But only 76 blog entries. Clearly I've been slacking this week. Oops.

It's amazing how accustomed I've become to being here. Japan feels so much like home. That it feels like I've been here forever, but also the contradiction that I can't believe I've already been here three months! That's just crazy. I'm over a third of the way through my contract!

And yet sometimes I feel like I haven't done anything, but soon enough a visitor or a friend will comment on my knowledge and adaptation to the culture reminding me that I've actually learned quite a lot. It's remarkable to see my life through someone else's eyes!

Also, I hit the 100-show mark on Thursday, which is pretty cool. Unless you think about the fact that in less than two months I hit 100. But if I were doing five everday, well then I'd be at about 200, so I think I'll take this option.

Beck couldn't believe that I was counting shows, but I'm really just recording it in my planner weekly so that I can count 'em up at the end of the contract! I just happened to notice I was at 99 on Tuesday night... And I mean, this will be my longest run ever by far (current record holder was Willy Rah at 197 with Nerds: The Musical at a close 186), so I wanna get an accurate total show count! The good news is I'm still really enjoying myself...

Of course, I'm a professional, and I get paid for this, so you'd pretty much expect as much.

Part of my failure to update has been a product of these past 3 months. I now have a social circle and friends and commitments at night, as well as late-night Christmas rehearsals and life to take care of. I think it all went downhill when the apartment back in NY started to go awry because I suddenly have had a lot less time to think and sleep, nevertheless blog.

But I'm back. As best I can be.

And to prove it, here are some overdue pics from Disney Sea! You can remember the whole day's recap here.

As I said, I knew the day would be great when I saw Pluto right off the bat!

The INCREDIBLE line of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Evan looks perfect with our Tinkerbell popcorn bucket.

The amazing dragon float of Mythica.

Goofy at the Mousequerade Dance Cancel Greeting.

Look how short I got!

MY SHOW! I'm on a Broadway stage every day! (In Japan...)

The Cape Cod section of the park, though my Massachusetts friends correctly pointed out this is a tribute to Cape Ann.

Being "dame" on the carousel.

A rainy day of success. Not half bad, ne?

Well, that's it for now! Another day of work, and then heading into town to see the Chicago kids one more time!

Tokyo Disney Sea

I would say "magical", but that would be repeating myself...

But it really is its own brand of magical...

Imagine all the best parts of Epcot and MGM and throw in the perfection of the Japanese culture and you can get a fuzzy image of the detail that is DisneySea. You actually are transported to the inside of a volcano, you might as well be looking out on the Atlantic from the Maine Coast instead of Tokyo Bay from reclaimed land, and if an Italian village is actually that charming, I wanna relocate there right now.

In true Tokyo irony, Evan, Christine and I woke up early to try and leave by 9:00 to get to the park, but the impending typhoon had other ideas. It was pouring, Christine had overslept, and Evan and I weren't particularly optimistic about the skies clearing up. But for some crazy reason, at 10 AM, we decided we would go to the park anyway because it would probably be really empty, I was prepared like a boy scout with lots of extra layers and dry clothes, and we were only concerned that the Halloween events might get cancelled. I guess we just had our hearts set on going, and were willing to make the most out of the yucky weather.

Which is ironic, because in that hour, I was chatting with my young cousin online about the different flavors of popcorn at Disney and the fact that the pouring rain was preventing me from getting to try the strawberry.

So off we went in the rain, and I finally got to ride the Disney Monorail Resort Line. And if by "got to", I mean overpaid by about 150% for the most overpriced commodity in Shin-Urayasu. It's awesome, but I'm not sure why it costs as much to ride from the station to DisneySea as it does to ride from Shin-Urayasu to the Tokyo Dome. Lame.

But the Mickey windows and handles are pretty cool, and you get to see the layout of all the land they reclaimed from Tokyo Bay and now call Tokyo Disney Resort.

Soon we were at the entrance to Sea, and much to our chagrin they were already finished giving out FastPasses for 5 of the attractions for the day. Little did we know...

We got some wonderful photos of the globe in the rain, which feels a bit random compared to the giant ball of Epcot and Universal's signature, but then again, the water that runs over the oceans on it is pretty darn cool.

And we knew it was going to be one heck of a day when we walked under the MiraCosta hotel and right there were Mickey, Donald, PLUTO!, Chip&Dale, Jiminy Cricket and more for us to meet! We didn't have to try at all and they were staying nice and dry.

So I finally got my picture with Pluto, which as you'll see, was the only one for the day when I didn't have my Pluto ears on.

Then, as we emerged from under the hotel, you are greeted by the site of the huge lake surrounded by the castle, Mt. Prometheus (the big volcano) and of course, all of Mediterranean Harbor.

We picked up our one and only FastPass for Journey to the Center of the Earth (which is the volcano ride) and then wound down into the depths of the crater for our 5 minute wait for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. At which point I realized that it wasn't that those 5 rides from before were sold out of FastPasses, they weren't even distributing them since attendance was so low. HOLLA!

Journey is this crazy dark ride that actually makes you think you're underwater until halfway through the ride you realize you aren't underwater. Which to me is disappointing since I knew you were once upon a time in the original Disneyland. But it's still really magical and infinitely detailed and even slightly scary. Especially when you have NO IDEA what's happening because it's in Japanese. But, I mean, that's to be expected and we found that all day long...

We moved on in the rain to catch our first show, "Mystic Rhythms", starring several of our friends from E-Village. We had a little bit of time to kill, but the Indy ride line was 30 minutes, and we wanted to get a great seat for Mystic. And naturally we still hadn't figured out that NO ONE was at the park. So we had perfect 6th row center seats since we were like the 6th people in line 20 minutes before, and thus began Evan's annoyance for the day. He had bought a clear rain slicker for 500 yen once we got inside the park and his umbrella decided to completely break, and for whatever reason, on almost EVERY ride and attraction, he had to take it off. Now my regular old Columbia raincoat and everyone else's were fine, but apparently the clear ones are just too darn unacceptable for rides in Japan. (We think it had to do with getting the seats wet, etc, and they can't tell us to take off our non-Disney-purchased coats, but still.. huh??!)

Mystic is such an incredible spectacle. It's in this abandoned hangar that has a full out jungle on stage, replete with waterfall, trees, a POOL, and multiple levels. Basically think a Cirque du Soleil show in 30 minutes with every jungle creature imaginable. It was also my first "Majide?! of the day, because the show is so magical and so NOT Disney, and to me it's everything they could have done with Tarzan on Broadway. Because, if you can do that, why did you have a blow up set and retarded spider for Bway? Cuz I mean, the alligator swims, the butterfly is just freakin' cool, and there's flashpots everywhere!

We also got our first popcorn of the day, Christine's favorite: chocolate. I was happy much later when we finally got to dry the delicious (as expected) strawberry.

After the show we rode the Indy ride which was foolish on our parts to wait 30 minutes in standby when everything else was so slow, but we had a fun time staying dry. The ride is awesome and scary and has something to do with Crystal Skulls though apparently ones that have nothing to do with the recent movie. At one point, the ride shoots out this mind-blowing smoke ring from a cannon that goes right around your head. AWESOME. However, as per usual... Indy speaking Japanese? Bizarre.

From Indy we rode Raging Spirits, which only is called a rollercoaster because you go through a loop and some fog. The rest of it is so baby and kiddie coaster intense that only Disney could get away with it. To be honest, it's not even themed that well nor does it have a story. Which makes me think that DisneySea just wanted to say they have a rollercoaster. Which is dumb cuz it's not a thrilling ride.

Then we got shot out of a volcano!

And it was by far my favorite ride of the day. Journey to the Center of the Earth takes you down, down, down, then there's the coolest animatronic giant monster I've ever seen and then you are rocketed like Test Track up and out the volcano! It's pretty much one of the most unexpectedly awesome rides I've ever been on.

We got to see the beautiful and inspiring rain version of Mythica complete with Jetskis and fireworks and a smoke-breathing dragon. We got a great spot since the dancers were cut and the park was so empty, and I loved seeing Mickey 50 feet up on his tower above the water.
Tower of Terror came next since the line was a whopping 10 minutes long. They have the coolest special effect when you watch the story in the first room here. (It's a different story with some evil idol from Africa that makes the owner disappear). The stained glass windows keep changing to tell the story and this innocent idol that sits there the whole time magically disappears since it's a hologram. BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA. It's amazing.

Which, to me is disappointing because the rest of the ride was uneventful. Even though we had prime front row seats, the tower doesn't really drop you that far, and I missed the part that's unique to Florida, where you actually go through the twilight zone and switch tracks. (Of course, it breaks down a lot more often there). But being stuck in the same elevator shaft here is just not as thrilling.... Which seemed to be the theme of the day with Raging Spirits and Tower of Terror, but NOT Journey.

As a nice break, we had delicious pasta for lunch... and BEER! Because you can drink in DisneySea! We were all super excited won the lottery to see the Halloween show in front of BBB/Tower of Terror!

Then we staked out a spot near the stage for Christine's (the other) Halloween parade, Mousequerade Dance, but we were thwarted when the rain forced them to present a character greeting instead. But we got to see the costumes and our favorite characters (and some of our friends!) again.

Then we killed time around the American Waterfront until we got to go see Big Band Beat! Which, even though I had no desire to do all day, turned out to be such a highlight and a treat. It was so special to see the magic that I'm a part of in the way our guests do. And all my friends (especially those Japanese girls) were KILLING it. Just straight up living onstage.

We unfortunately knew by the time BBB ended that we would not be using our lottery win to see the Halloween show (and all my summer party friends). While seriously bummed, what can you do when the rain takes over? So we rode Turtle Talk instead which was by far the longest and most painful ride of the day. Since it's actually a 20-minute "show", you just end up standing in line in one place for 20 minutes, which is by far the worst way to stand in line. A la Fuji Q. YUCK.

The show was just as great as I remembered from Florida, but I was disappointed that, even though it was obviously all in Japanese, Crush didn't even say "dude" or "totally" or "noggin" even once. But that animation is still one of the most magical things I've ever seen. The way he just talks right to someone and his facial expressions are PERFECT. Wow, imagineers.

Now, I'm guessing you're tired of reading this by now, which is about how we started to feel at this point in the day. A little snack of beef jerky kept us ready for our last few attractions...
Aquatopia is basically some spinning vehicles in a big waterfall maze that is almost cooler to watch than to ride. It operates on the same system as Hunny Hunt (they're the only two in the world) so I wanted to ride it out of sheer geekiness. And naturally, since the ride is supposed to be random and "different" every time, we tested it out a second time. And wouldn't you know that we got the same, IDENTICAL course through the maze except for one 5 second path! Naturally.

We also rode StormRider which is a motion simulator that takes you into a storm. It ends very anti-climactically (we think we died), we got wetter on the ride than we did outside (which is why Evan was REALLY annoyed he had to take his raincoat off again), and it seemed to fit the Japanese theme of less-than-thrilling (that Tower of Terror and Raging Spirits fell into). But we rode it!

Finally we headed over to Mermaid Lagoon to see our last show of the day (we skipped BraviSEAmo! since it would be a cut version and Evan and I both will be going back to the park again), but sadly it was 55 minutes till the next show (they have a dinner break). So we meandered through the Arabian Coast and rode the amazing double decker Carousel. We even got in trouble for standing up! Which seriously, why do they always freak out on Carousels? It's a KIDDIE ride. Who cares if you're not sitting on the horse (or Genie)?

We also had time to catch the Magic Lamp Theater show which is billed as a combination of 3D movie and live actors show featuring the Genie. Aka it's weird and bizarre and the English translation box only makes it worse. It's just really one of the strangest attractions ever from Disney and sadly, it's not very good.

But the MERMAIDS are!!!!!

Mermaid Lagoon might be one of the best shows I've ever seen. And again, I'll ask, "MAJIDE?" You thought putting people on heelies was a good idea for Broadway when people have seen THIS?!

Basically in 15 minutes a whole show takes place above and around you, with Ariel flipping and floating and swimming through the air on her harness, a 40 foot Ursula puppet that has to be the best animatronics ever designed, and some of the most imaginative costuming ever.
There are fish that flip and float and swim above you, Flotsam and Jetsam puppets that are perfectly synced, and the whole time you are literally in awe of the magic that has been created.
I literally can't say enough about how amazingly stunning that show is, and those Ariel girls must be knackered after flipping and swimming and kicking in a fin for 15 minutes 4 times a day. Wow.

As we left the park we got a few more pictures in and then (quite brilliantly) caught the free shuttle bus back to the Oriental Hotel. We pigged out to our hearts desires at Saizeria and came back to watch Hercules as the fitting end to our DisneySea day.

All I can say is, despite the few complaints of this spoiled brat, I had one of the most detailed and thorough and magical experiences in DisneySea. I have been nowhere else on Earth that has so thoroughly transported me outside myself and my worries and my daily life... and I work there! Brava!

I'm not gonna post pictures here out of sheer volume, but if you wanna see them, just click here!