After our show in Schenectady, NY we ran back to our hotel and got all dressed up. Mackenzie and I walked to the party and we could hardly wait to get there. When we arrived at the party the first thing that was handed to us was a kid friendly drink with cool light up ice cubes! It was the best party we ever had on tour. We danced and ate great food and celebrated our time together.
I will always cherish my fellow orphans from last year and this year.
Our experiences on tour are so unique & special. We all know how lucky we were to be chosen by Martin Charnin to be his orphans.
At the party Trisha Gentry(Networks casting), Bill Berloni(amazing Broadway dog trainer), Martin Charnin(Director) and Kary Walker(Executive Producer) all had very nice things to say to us about our dedication and our professionalism on tour. Martin wrote us a poem like he always does and read it to us.
After our last show we cleaned out our dressing rooms. We were given a show poster with the entire casts autographs, a copy of all the theatre reviews, photos taken by our company manager, a company group photo, and our name plate on the ANNIE board that sat in all the theatre lobbies. The crew gave all the orphans a spotlight gel because they said "we always belong in the spotlight!"
We all walked back to the hotel. Our tour bus was waiting to take all the New York company members into the city to drop them off near Times Square. I wish I could have gone with them. It was amazing how many got on the bus. The people remaining at the hotel, one more night, climbed on the bus one last time to say bye.
We all hugged everyone, many, many times.
For me, the hardest person to say goodbye to was Lynn(Miss Hannigan). She really did love her "little girls".
Even though we cried and hugged a long time we ended up with a smile in the end because we knew we would see each other soon.
As our bus/home drove away we all cried and waved one last wave.
Most of the orphans and parents flew out the next day. To help with our sadness we got on our bathing suits and went swimming at the hotel together. Jack bought us pizza and Sydney, our stage manager and Adam, our music director got ice cream and cones to share. It was a great time.
Later that evening I had to say one last, very hard, goodbye to my best friends ever...
my fellow orphans.
My mom and I had a 7am flight to go home the next morning. We had to get up at 4:30 am to drive to Albany, NY. At the airport we learned that some of our flights had been canceled so instead of getting home in a few hours it was a VERY long day spent in the airport. 3 flights instead of only 2. 12 hours of travel instead of 4.
We finally made it home and I got the best hugs ever from my dad and brother. Max would never admit he was happy that I was home but down deep I think he is!!!
After the hugs, believe it or not, I didn't go home!! I went straight to my next show REHEARSAL. All the airport delays that day made it so I couldnt go home until after my rehearsal. I am in Tom Sawyer with The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati. It does help me not miss ANNIE so much by being in another show so soon.
The next day my mom signed me up to go back to my school. It was great to see eveyone and also get back to playing my violin! When I walked back into my homeroom my teacher yelled...
IVY MOODY IS BACK!
