Our final review, and it’s great so I don’t even mind that they spelled my name wrong! *laughing*

A quick quote: The Bottom Line: A very gentle, very funny, very silly, very enjoyable evening.
This is the whole review.

And there was even a nice Letter to the Editor of the Lansing State Journal from a couple who saw the show:

If you want to spend an enjoyable evening forgetting about the world’s troubles, catch “Men on Ice” at Williamston Theatre.

Seeing three great actors singing and dancing in snowmobile suits and big rubber boots was hilarious. Thank you,Williamston Theatre, for an entertaining family show.

What a great unexpected bit of praise and publicity! And it’s fun that they called it “Men” on Ice, instead of “Guys” – a LOT of people do that! We’re frequently getting calls for tickets to “Men on Ice” or “The Icemen” or “Guys Out On The Ice”!

Okay, this story is awfully cute. And the picture is awesome, poor little guy!

Harry Potter fan, 3, freed by firefighters from traffic cone ‘wizard hat’

From my 7 year old, Max.

“Dad,” he said, pointing to the sky, “Is that the moon, or is it Germany?”

I’m not sure if we should work harder on astronomy, or geography!

Williamston Theatre, and the portion of Williamston around it, is now back to having power!

So, while a lot of the town is still having power restored and trees removed, we WILL be doing performances today and tomorrow.

Any residents of Williamston get free admission this weekend. As I posted earlier, we can’t offer a bunch of money for materials or a ton of manpower, there are only a handful of us. But we can offer what we do best, and that’s give folks a place to laugh, escape and relax for a couple of hours.

Thanks to everyone who posted comments, emailed or text messaged with your good wishes.

Well, lots of damage across Williamston. There was just a report on it on CNBC. Still no power to the city, as of 6pm – rumor is that it will happen tonight. Tons of big trees downed, and many many power lines. Lots of houses damaged and several destroyed or rendered unliveable and, tragically, three people were killed. A lot to happen to a little town. There’s a curfew tonight, because work crews will be working all night and there may or may not be power.

Of course we’ve cancelled tonight’s show. Some of those folks have rescheduled, hopefully the rest will do so next week.

We’re hoping to have our two Saturday shows, and Sunday show. We’ve also put out word in town that any Williamston resident can see the show this weekend for free. It’s been a rough couple of days, and while we can’t offer much to the community, we can offer an opportunity to come over to our house and relax, laugh and forget about some troubles for a little while.

Shortly after our performance last night, a tornado went through downtown Williamston.

The patrons had all left, fortunately, and several of us were at a local bar when all the power in town went out, and the tornado hit.

More on that story later. No time to post about it now.

Right now, however, the city has declared a state of emergency. There are huge trees down everywhere, power lines down, no power and no idea of when power might come back.

We’ll probably have to cancel tonights show, if not more over the weekend, but the theatre itself has sustained no physical damage.

The worst part is that there are a few people injured, and a few missing. I hope they’re all alright.

Another great review, this time from Bridgette Redman of the Lansing State Journal.

She says several nice things, including:

“Guys on Ice” may well be the most intoxicating musical theater experience you have this season.

and

The premise may seem absurd: Two Wisconsin outdoorsmen in full ice fisherman regalia breaking out into song and dance…it almost inspires a raised eyebrow. That is, until Joseph Albright first opens his mouth. From that moment, he sets the hook and it’s impossible not to swallow the bait whole as the show reels in one whopper after another.

Read the whole review here, and then tell everyone that you know in Michigan to come and see it! 🙂

Our first review is in, and it’s wonderful! Tom Helma from the Lansing City Pulse had some nice things to say, including;

Most of the show’s 15 songs are absurdly funny, while a few are so vulnerably honest they take your breath away.

and

In an age where imaginative writers pen musicals about practically anything, sometimes to the dismay of audiences, “Guys on Ice” amazingly works, evoking raucous laughter and presenting characters with a surprising tenderness of spirit not often attributed to men.

Read the whole review here!

I’m hoping that it will help convince folks who’ve not been here to visit us for this show!

PS – this is also posted on the WT Rehearsal Blog – sorry for anyone who got doubled!

Still catching up from opening Guys On Ice this past weekend.

Response has been good. No reviews yet, but hopefully those will be good this week and continue to boost ticket sales! Word of mouth is going great, though.
Haven’t felt much like writing lately, spending some family time and slowing life down a tiny bit after the rush to get the show open. Enjoying watching some TV (Heroes, Stargate: Atlantis, Pushing Daisies) and I’ve got the last two episodes of Chuck in my TiVo, so we’ll see how those go!

So, Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead will be playing Scotty in the new Star Trek “prequel” movie. Nice. Still waiting to see who will be Kirk!

[Edited to Add: Several of you have pointed out that they HAVE cast Kirk. Thanks! Discussion of this can be found in the comments section, where I ask “Who the heck IS this guy?]

Okay, Cleveland and Boston are battling it out for tops in the American League. I really want it to be Boston, because Cleveland is the big rival of the Tigers. C’mon Boston!!

Had a fabulous time this weekend, walked around the MSU football tailgaters selling raffle tickets (as a fundraiser), which was fun. Then Sunday we took the kids to the Apple Orchard/hay maze/hay ride place (Jenny’s Orchard) and had a blast.

Lost in the challenge with my wife: She challenged me to see who could go longer without sweets. I lost! Those pumpkin donuts with warm cider were too tempting. I’m WEAK!! But I’d gone a week before succumbing…and now I’ll start again! 🙂

This video makes me laugh… A) some things never change, and B) I totally want a whole set of these!

A while ago I posted some pictures of the set model for Guys On Ice, and a few days ago I posted a slideshow of some photos from our first day of rehearsal.

I thought I’d post a couple of photos of what the show looked like on our first costume dress!

Joey Albright and B.J. Love in a scene from Guys On Ice at the Williamston Theatre.

Joey Albright, Bruce Bennett, and B.J. Love in a scene from Guys On Ice at the Williamston Theatre.