TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012

I have been in Tampa, FL since September 30, serving as the Production Stage Manager, rehearsing the new production cast of the Norwegian Dawn.  We have three shows, BAND ON THE RUN (a 70’s & 80’s music/dance show), BOLLYWOOD, a lovely, fictional story about a filmmaker in Bollywood, and the “premiere” of his newest film, and THE V-SHOW (an eclectic mix of musical numbers, interspersed with “personal dialogue” from the cast.

The rehearsal process was wonderful!  I am thrilled to be back “in the thick of it” and really enjoyed the work, the directors with whom I worked (Ricky Whitfield, Tiger Martina, and Bree Troise), my boss, the awesome Ruben Delgado, and a magnificent cast that is not only incredibly talented, but a bunch of really fantastic people.  While I kept my birthday a secret, my boss and his wife found out the day of, and she leaked it to the cast, so on Sunday, our last day of rehearsal, they had a cake, balloon, card for me, at lunch time (a total surprise).  This was really lovely, as it followed on the heels of a crazy morning.

I am SO grateful that things turned out the way they did, and while I was at the wheel, I can’t help but believe someone/thing “guided” my/us through, to wind up on the other side without so much as a scratch.  Thank you, dear Lord and all of the angels watching over us.  What follows is from my rehearsal report from Sunday, October 28 . . .

On the drive to the Song & Dance Studio this morning, the Dawn cast/van narrowly escaped a major vehicular accident.  While driving north on I-75, at approximately mile marker 264, a black car passed us on the left.  Some members of the cast noticed that the male passenger (front seat) was completely asleep. 

About a mile later, at mile marker 265, that vehicle (possibly due to a front right tire blowout) struck the cement barrier on the left hand side of the road, bounced off of the barrier, and spun into the middle of the highway.  Matt, driving, hit the brakes and swerved to the left, in order to avoid slamming into that vehicle.  When another vehicle (green Honda Element), on the left side of the van, “caught up” to us, Matt accelerated and was able to snake between the green Honda Element on the left, and the black car (initial accident) on the right.  Matt was pretty sure that the van and the green Honda Element on the van’s left were going to scrape sides, but between the two drivers, this was miraculously avoided.

Once Matt knew it was clear, and there was an area on the right “shoulder” (mind you, this was all in a construction zone), he pulled over so the cast, which as a whole was clearly shaken up by the incident, could get some air and stretch.  This was approximately ½ - 1 mile further North on I-75.   Zach Robinson, cast member, called 911 and reported the accident to the authorities.  After a thorough walk-around of the van by both Matt and Simon Breen, it was observed that miraculously, there was not a scratch on the van.  The woman who was driving the green Honda Element pulled over to the side of the road behind us and her vehicle was also observed to by “scratch-free.”  At that time, the cast re-loaded the van and we continued on to the rehearsal studio.

When Bree, Tiger, and Ricky (directors) passed the accident about 5 minutes later, they informed Karlene, via telephone, that there were only two cars involved in the accident, both of which were at the side of the road, and a police officer was on the scene.

Other than the expected adrenaline rush and emotional shake-up, all members of the company are fine and dare I say, counting their blessings for their guardian angels.  I know I am.

Well, I was supposed to drive home to Ft. Lauderdale on Monday, October 29 and then fly to Boston on the 30^th, boarding the Norwegian Dawn on the 31.  Because of Hurricane Sandy, flights were changed and a whole lot of “unknowns” fell into place.  I offered to stay and help my boss with rescheduling, dissemination of information, etc.  So, I left Tampa at 11:15am on Tuesday, October 30.  At 12:50, the NCL corporate office called me and asked if I could still make my 2:05 JetBlue flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Boston.  “It was cancelled.  Has it been reinstated?”  “Yes.”  “Well, I am in the middle of the state, driving from Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale and definitely won’t make it.”  Long story short, the only fight that I could get on that night or the next morning was a 7:05pm flight on Delta.  So, I frantically unpacked, repacked (when I unpacked on the ship, I was shocked to see what I brought, and what I had forgotten), and my friend, Phylis, who lives in my complex, whisked me to Ft. Lauderdale airport.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so any photos for the first few weeks will be from my iphone (don’t fail me now, Apple!).  I flew to Atlanta, then to Boston (first class – which was a LOVELY treat . . . dinner consisted of Sun Chips and a few Dewar’s on the rocks).  I arrived in Boston at 12:30am, went right to the hotel and went directly to bed, without passing “go,” or collecting two hundred dollars.