FLOOREOGRAPHY

It is awfully cold in Cardiff as it was in Glasgow. So glad I am wearing the winter coat.

Today is the first show. I have been very pleased so far with the cast and direction. It is so strange how similar these kids look like a lot of our friends and colleagues. Our Oliver here looks like our Touchtone from NYMF. Our Orlando here resembles our Orlando from NYMF. In the history of Like You Like It, we have had a Rebecca, a Becky and a Becky play Rosalind. Well, here we have another Becca. Some of the kids have Scottish and British accents, but half of the cast is from North America (ORlando is Canadian. He says "tomorrow" like Pat Kiernan on NY1: "too-MORE-oh." Oh - and another small world story- our "new Becca" was born in Houston.

The show is staged with a lot of electricity. Choreography in places |I never knew where the show could dance. And some on the floor (hence my new word at the top of this post).

So a word or twelve to finish up my Glasgow travelogue.

BREAKFAST

We went to a tea-room designed by famed Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I ordered the eggs and smoked haddock - Dan and his Dad had the French toast. Their meal was exquisite (of course I mooched). And mine - oh mine - oh yes.

Now, as a nice Jewish boy who loves Zabars and Russ & Daughters, I was expecting a few slices of fish a la lox.

THEY BROUGHT ME AN ENTIRE FISH!!! It was, as they say here, brilliant.

DINNER

I have done tons of research for this trip (especially restaurants - imagine that). I wrote down a place called "The Butte" which was purportedly down the street from our place in Glasgow. We get there and there is so Butte. Just a place called The Butterfly and The Pig. I must have had an A.D.D. moment when I left of the rfly... when I wrote down "Butte."

THE SAMMY BUCK DUMPSTER TOUR OF GLASGOW

Imagine a police blotter:

Caucasian man, 2 metres tall, with paper bag full of torn paper, veering from public trashcan to public trashcan, and in Sauchiehall Ln, littering the street as he tosses said paper in the rubbish.

Okay, an explanation:

While I did pack rather lightly, I carried with me a few scripts which I read on our first flight. IMagine about a ream of paper. Fearing I would surpass my weight limit on my bag,I had to dipose of the paper before packing it in the bags.

So I tore it all up into tiny bits and, because there was some valuable intellectual property on the pages, I distributed the disposal. Some of the shreds blew away, and OCD me had to pick them all up and toss them - and quickly find a place to wash my hads.

ON TO CARDIFF

After an egregiously early flight (let's just say the folks in LA reading this would have been going to sleep as we boarded) with the cast, our landlady drove us home.

Back up: My bags must be heavy, because I packed fewer items of clothing than the Acquisto boys but was charge £45 (more than the flight) more my overage.

That should give you an idea of the amount of baggage the Acquistos and I were carrying.

We all packed in to our landlady's car: Please remember it is Europe, home of the card that even Lilliputians would feel like Gulliver.

Three bags in the back, one sitting in between Dan and his Dad in the back, and my 25-pound carryon on my lap in the front (with our landlady's bag in front of my long legs.

We could have joined the circus in our clown car.

The house is gorgeous. Our landlady's late husband did alot of work on it. The master bath has a tub set into an old fireplace,with a canopy on top. Dad's and my room is very cold (it is also about 37 degrees outside) but spacious - which is good, since my friend Bruce stays with us tomorrow night. Dan and his Dad have a two-room flat.

The place reminds me of Cabaret - in fact, I expect our widowed,upbeat landlady to break out into the song "So What" at any minute.

The people here are helpful beyond compare. I feel like an out-of-place tourist (and sometimes a target) but on the whole, we are able to find our way and find good sights to see - and food to eat.

Dad and I have eaten breakfast two days in a row at "Hell's Kitchen" run my Jan,an accomodating, friendly proprietress. She even gave us free Welsh cakes (very buttery and sugary, though raisin-y too).

We went to Castle Cardiff yesterday (we only had about an hour of show-related work to do). This morning, well, I am here, since I have to be at the theatre for the final dress, the show, and the second Programme of shows tonight. Will be a long day.

And I will wear my canvas Vans. It is nice to wear them after two years of not - kindofa metaphor of our show being out in the open after a hiatus.