[Dixielandjazz] Vienna, Austria

[Robert Ringwald]

Katy,

Very interesting.  Keep the reports coming.

--Bob Ringwald


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Katie Cavera" <kcavera at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Bob Ringwald" <rsr at ringwald.com>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:51 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Vienna, Austria


>
> June 9, 2009
> Vienna, Austria
>
> Grüss Gott! Last Thursday, we arrived in Vienna at our new residence for 
> the next three weeks. We’re a few short subway stops from the city center 
> and it’s actually close enough to walk if you’re feeling energetic (which 
> I did Thursday morning before we got our metro pass!)  The internet 
> service in the hotel was on the fritz for about 3 days, but they finally 
> fixed it which was a huge relief.  Nearly everyone in the company has a 
> laptop and relies heavily on the internet. So I’m sure after all the calls 
> and complaints to the front desk, the hotel staff realized they needed to 
> get it fixed as quickly as possible!
>
> We had one dress rehearsal in the Ronacher Theatre on Friday night and 
> then we opened on Saturday.  The theatre was originally built in 1871 and 
> then rebuilt after a fire in 1888. The original Josephine Baker had a 
> successful run there in 1932 and so they are playing that up in the 
> publicity for this show.  The theatre a beautiful venue that has been 
> meticulously restored and preserved.  The stage is quite large and we have 
> plenty of room in the orchestra pit.  Stretching out in front of the pit 
> is a wooden dance floor that they’ve filled with small circular cabaret 
> style tables and chairs.  Then after the dance floor, there are regular 
> rows of raked theater seats, and two balconies that wrap completely around 
> the hall with additional theatre seating. The hall is ornately decorated 
> and there’s a huge golden chandelier over the dance floor. I’ve seen this 
> style theatre over here before and it seems really smart because you could 
> clear the dance
> floor and have an exceptional swing dance venue (or Viennese Waltz venue?) 
> with great acoustics and plenty of space for people that just want to sit 
> and listen to the band/orchestra too.  But I digress...
>
> The opening went very well and they had a fantastic party for everyone 
> after the show.  Before the party they had to get all of us together so we 
> could “make an entrance”.  My friend Simone who works for the production 
> and is a native of Austria couldn’t stress this to us enough!  So at the 
> proper moment we all entered the Winter Garden together (that’s just what 
> they call a big salon in the theater) while flashbulbs flashed and tv 
> cameras filmed.  Jerome gave a speech and Nicole sang a song and then it 
> was time for the free food and drinks! At times like this it’s great being 
> in the band because we don’t have to do all the ‘meet and greet’ stuff. 
> So we easily slipped through the crowd and hit the food line! Is that a 
> bad musician thing to do?
>
> Vienna is a really spectacular city and I’ve been waring out my shoes 
> walking around the city center during the day. Yesterday I spent almost 
> all my per diem on a ticket to see the Vienna Philharmonic play at the 
> Musikfreunde this Sunday.  It’s the only time I can see them that doesn’t 
> conflict with the Josephine show, and I was so excited that I splurged a 
> little and got myself a nice ticket. It’s ok because we get more per diem 
> on the 10th - I’ll just have watch my expenses for a few days.  There’s 
> tons of stuff to see and do here for free and with the metro pass they 
> gave us, I’ve been riding the electric trains everywhere.  It’s a great 
> way to see the city, and I found some interesting neighborhoods too. Today 
> I came across “Jazzland” which is a night club some people have told me 
> about.  David Boeddinghaus and Chris Tyle know the owner, so we’re going 
> to try and go one night after the show, or maybe even on Wednesday - our 
> day
> off.  I’ll let you know how it goes!
>
> Auf Wiedersehen!
> Katie
>
> http://www.katiecavera.com
> http://www.youtube.com/kcavera
>
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