Back from MEXICO!!!

David and I just spent 6 nights in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. It's a small fishing town south of Cancun, to which people often refer as the beginning of Riviera Maya. Excellence Riviera Cancun, which was our first experience with an all-inclusive resort. It is also a "grown-ups only" all-inclusive resort -- by which it means there are no children under the age of 16 or something along those lines. In fact, there were no teenagers at all, mostly honeymooners, anniversary-celebators and other married people, with a sprinkling of other kinds of couples and groups of couples. It was overall a very classy resort with fabulously attentive staff. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather.

On our Mexican trip, we engaged in some adventure activities: ziplining through the jungle; mountain biking through the jungle to a cenote (a fresh water sink hole); diving into cenotes (by cliff jumps and zipline), snorkeling (not the best we've done elsewhere - probably the most disappointing activity we did this trip); driving an ATV onto the Mexican highway and the dirt roads to visit more cenotes; visiting Chichen Itza, a site of Mayan ruins and a new Wonders of teh World. We loved our various activities, and felt sufficiently sportivo on our holiday.

We also had time to relax, sit on the beach, sip cocktails and sample some serious tequilas. We met some lovely couples -- mostly Canadians, who seemed to dominate the resort (or who we seemed to attract). David mingled with the staff and other guests by playing beach volleyball.... and was affectionately nicknamed around the resort as "White Guy." In fact, on our final night, the social director-ish guy of the resort challenged David to a dance-off at the packed resort disco. This energetic social director (think John Leguizamo) knew that the White Guy (David) had some moves, but he did not know that the White Guy (David) was a professional dancer. White Guy (David) whopped his ass at dancing, and all the other White Guys (normal non-dancer ones who are all David's age) cheered and hollared and worshipped David for representin' the White Guy-ness on the dance floor so heroically. It was a beautiful evening, and David was beaming. It just like in the movies... a combination of "Bring It On," "Step Up" and "Rudy," with, of course, some "Dirty Dancing."

Here are a few snapshots of our Mexican getaway:

Delicious cocktails in coconuts on the resort beach... on our special beach bed huts...


Taking a nap with one hand firmly on the cocktail straw...



Mountain biking through the jungle...

Zip-line into the cenote (sink hole)

Free-fall into the cenote!

I follow in (a slightly more timid) pursuit!

Learning about tequilas...

Chichen Itza


David studies Chichen Itza...

David studies Mayan alcoholic spirits...

Diving feet first into another cenote...

Lunch poolside at the resort

Tequila + pineapple drinks at dinner...

At the resort discoteque with our new Canadian friends...

David at the airport, enjoying big scoops of ice cream before leaving our warm climate vacation... and enjoying every bite!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

David and I had an excellent New Year's Eve party - we rang in 2009 at the Soho House with Amber, her brother Clayton, his fiance Simona, Liz and her boyfriend. Good times were had by all... (although we were all hurtin' today). It's now almost 2am on January 2nd -- come morning we're off to MEXICO!!! It is icy cold in New York at the moment, so David and I can't wait to get into some summer clothes and have a break from things in a WARMER CLIMATE.

Anyway, we wish you all a very happy and healthful 2009!

SEASON'S GREETINGS! xoxo

Happy Holidays from New York City
xoxo Tomoko & David

A Photo of the Two of Us from DD Chiago Premiere

Because we were always taking photos of each other with other people, David and I realized after the Chicago Opening Night that we had no photos of the two of us, together! Luckily, we had some press photos taken when we arrived at the party by a professional photographer, so we were able to acquire some for our keepsake:

We cleaned up nice. x

BOTH in NYC, trying to beat the German GORDO factor, and the Mexican "spring break" we've never had

David returned to New York Thursday night... after traveling almost 20 hours. That's right, 20. To cross the Atlantic. When he arrived in Heathrow around 5:30am, he discovered that his flight to Dusseldorf had been canceled. This meant he would not make the connection in Dusseldorf to return to New York. Luckily, Lufthansa re-booked him onto a flight back to New York via Munich. Unluckily, this flight left at 11am, so David had quite a few hours to kill at the airport, having slept only a few hours the night before. But no complaints -- he made it home safely, and a good thing, too, because Northeast and Midwestern states have been on a "winter storm watch" and, sure enough, it snowed quite a bit in New York Friday.

Now we're both back in New York, spending some much-needed chill time in our own apartment. It's wonderful. We've not bought a Christmas tree yet, and we go back and forth on this. It's hard when we are so in and out of town -- the last thing we feel like doing when we are FINALLY back in our own place is to go buy a big tree, put it in our place and decorate it, but, then again, it doesn't quite feel like Christmas without one. Also, where will we put the presents?! I think we will get a tree, maybe not as big a tree as last year. And we really need to get on that Christmas shopping band wagon... somehow, we shall manage it all.

We encountered a couple of health/physical problems in Germany, from which we are recovering now.

ONE: I broke out in serious hives. I've never broken out in hives before, maybe once when I was little, like 6 years old, but never like this. I woke up about a week ago at 3am, achingly itchy. I'd developed spots all over my legs. We had the sheets changed and everything, but the spots remained. Next day, they spread to other areas of my body, so we had to call a doctor to come to the hotel. He told me that I had an extreme allergic reaction, but it was hard to tell to what, since I was in a foreign environment. He gave me some anti-histamine tablets and cortizone cream, because I had also been dragging a horrible exczma behind my left knee. The exczma cleared up, but the spots and itchiness remained. Now back in New York, I went to the doctor on Tuesday and was told that they were "stumped" as to what was wrong with me; so onto a dermatologist I was sent. The dermatologist confirmed that I had a severe allergic reaction, and gave me antibiotics to take as well as a topical cream that would help reduce the inflammation. It's still unclear what caused it all -- probably a combination of exhaustion, stress, being under the weather, having bad exczma that left me exposed and more vulnerable to allergens, and maybe red wine I had the night before the hives broke out (a German pinot noir). Who knows. But I shall now be afraid to drink red wine.

TWO: We got fat. I mean, not really really fat, but David and I both got a bit chubby in Germany. It's impossible not to -- the Atkins diet never reached Germany, everything is in bread or on bread or made out of bread... and if it's not breaded (which most likely it would be), it's fried. Or loaded with sugar, laden in chocolate, and filled with marzipan. We love marzipan. And there's gluhwein -- mulled red wine, with amaretto. Hard to resist while walking along the wintry German streets. And bratwurst became our easiest snacks on the go. Casting all day our eating rhythms go totally off kilter; the catered lunches were unappealing, so often we would step out for bratwurst or end up eating really late, and we'd drink a lot of wine because at that point in the day, sometimes, that's all we want to do. (Clearly, we had some abysmal days in casting.) We hit the gym a couple of times in Berlin, but the gym was the size of a closet and thus uninspiring. David, who is always on a mission to gain more body mass and bulk, managed to make great strides in Germany by eating massive amounts of eggs and croissants every morning. He is bulkier than I have ever known him to be. And so, I have taken to calling him "Gordo" ("fat" in Spanish, but said in an endearing, nickname manner), although he doesn't look fat, just bigger, and seeing David suddenly much bigger is a bit funny and striking. Now that we're back in New York, we're getting ourselves back on track. Especially with my whole hives thing, I'm not drinking and cooking at home, eating totally organic. We eat out all the time, and, while we love going to restaurants, when we are "on the road" we mainly eat out because we have no other choice -- and this gets tiring. It loses its luster fast. So it's good to be home, cooking for ourselves, and going back to our own spacious gym. We hope to tame our "German bulge" expediently.

And expedient it must be, because we're off to MEXICO!!! David and I needed to get away somewhere easy and warm before returning to Berlin... so we decided to go to Mexico, and do an all-inclusive resort. We've never done an all-inclusive resort, and we've never been to Mexico together. I went to Mexico City when I was nine, but that was it. I've never done that collegiate thing of Cancun Spring Break (like one would see on MTV). David and I are headed to Cancun, but not exactly the Cancun area that is like Vegas/Gold Coast -- we will be in Puerto Morelos, which is between Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and which is the start of the Mayan Riviera. We hope to chill out, learn a bit about tequilas and Mayan ruins, do some snorkeling and jungle zip-lining and mountain biking. And get some sun! This will be different from our "intensive snorkeling" holidays (although we will snorkel a little bit), so we are looking forward to it. And the whole "all-inclusive" resort culture will be an interesting experience.

Can't wait!

Tomoko in NYC, David in London

I flew back to New York last night -- David went onto London from Berlin for a few days to work with the new resident choreographer who has been appointed there. David flies back to New York via Dusseldorf (silly, yes, but so it goes with different DD territories paying for pieces of his travels) Thursday.

It will be GREAT to stay home for a while with no work trips scheduled (crossing fingers) until the end of January, when we "move" to Berlin.

It's already mid-December!! How did that happen. The year has passed so quickly, and for much of it we were not in New York, sadly. New York is gorgeous this time of the year, so it's nice to be home. It's nice to be home, period. It's an odd thing when one finds oneself acclimatizing to one's own apartment, having been outside of it for so long. I keep finding various hotel keys in my coat pockets and handbags... surely a sign that we live in hotels too much.

Anyway, David and I will have to pull our socks up and get re-acclimatized to the world outside of DD and get some serious Christmas shopping done this weekend!!!

And back to Germany...with holiday cheer

(Paper lanterns sold at the Weihnactsmarkt -- one of many Christmas markets that pop up all over German cities this time of the year.)

David and I returned to Germany last Tuesday. We flew into Dusseldorf, from where we were taken by car to Essen. We stayed in Essen for two nights, over the course of which we achieved various things and visited more German cities: on the first night we went to see "Cats" in Cologne, and on the second night we went to Dusseldorf to walk around the Japanese shopping area and ate dinner at a fabulous restaurant, led by our New Zealander colleague, Karin. All this we did as we kicked off more casting, mostly in search of dancers.

After Essen we spent two nights in Hamburg. And now we are in Berlin. It's been a bit of a whirlwind traveling and we have already consumed a great many mugs-ful of gluhwein (mulled wine) and bratwursts... but now we settle into being in Berlin for a week. We're in a different hotel in a suite this time, which makes things more comfortable... and now that we will stay put and not city-hop, we have been able to unpack! Hooray.

Here are just a few snapshots of our travels thus far:

(Delicious feuersangenbowle -- mulled red wine with rum, with a burnt sugar cube dripping into the drink.)

(On the audition tour in Essen with Christoph and Perrin... having a bit of a break with some feuersangenbowle to warm ourselves...)

(David pretends to be a wild boar... eating a wurst made out of wild boar...)

(In Berlin in front of the Weihnachtsmarkt in Gendarmenkarkt... we hear it is one of the prettiest Christmas markets in Berlin...)

(Baumkuchen!!! It is a cake that is a "tree" (baum) made up of layers and layers of thin cake that gets rolled around a metal pole...)

(Fancy baumkuchen ....)

(Feuersangenbowle -- in a big pot with flamed sugar block dripping into it...)

(David with his new favorite drink -- a mug of heidelbeergluhwein, a blueberry gluhwein with amaretto...)

New York, New York!

David and I returned home to New York last night. Again surrounded by suitcases, bundles of mail to be opened, nothing in the fridge... but we are so happy to be home.

I am back onto preparing for the next round of auditions in Germany, but I can do this from the comforts of our own apartment!

David and I are also just looking forward to watching the Food Network (TV in English! In HD! On a big screen!) and playing on the Wii.

Ah, simple pleasures.

London today. New York tomorrow.

David and I flew from Berlin to London on Sunday -- a sort of last-minute tack on to our European work travels. David has not had the chance to work with the new cast members of the London company (as he was in Chicago), so our few days in London proved productive albeit packed.

Tomorrow we finally FLY HOME!!! Cannot wait. It's been so long since we've been home properly. Berlin casting went well, we are mostly cast for the principals (very good actors), but we shall continue to cast the ensemble... which means we fly back to Germany in December. But for the time being, all I can think of is being back in New York for at least a week and a little bit.

More soon.

In Berlin

(David and I wore our animal-y printed outfits on Halloween -- as we had no costumes and nowhere to go -- me in zebra and David in elephant prints -- and pretended to be on a safari...)

Back in Berlin now... and continuing on with the search for the new DD company. A bit exhausted, really -- long days of casting, focusing on actors and dancers and singers, trying to find exciting performers... we want the Berlin show to be a NEW show, a show that reflects the evolution the production as a whole has underwent since the Hamburg show. We've been seeing some serious German actors, who could be downright WACKY, but it's been an interesting journey, and I feel we have learned quite a bit...

... although maybe not quite enough German. We intend to learn more, and are inspired to do so more than we were when we were in Hamburg. David and I really like Berlin so far -- we love the energy, the atmosphere, the "edgy" vibe, the late nights and the various dining, cultural and social options. It has qualities of New York City, in a way, the sense that there is always something going on, the day and night in Berlin can turn out to be as big or small an adventure as you want... at the very least it suits us far better than Hamburg ever did, and we are already happier in Berlin than we ever could have imagined being in Hamburg, which, despite the fans of the city we know, we find dreary, conservative, and downright dull.

We'll post photos soon... for now, off to bed!

Last Days of Chicago (at least for now)

So David and I are in Berlin (Germany) as I type, packed up to travel back to Hamburg for a couple of days tomorrow... but this is the first moment (at 3AM here) we have had time to post some photos of our Chicago days leading up to the opening.

We very much enjoyed our time in Chicago -- Chicago is a friendly city with beautiful architecture, atmosphere, as well as some impressive restaurants and cultural life. Most of all we loved our US company, had a fantastic time working with the people, and formed some very special friendships and connections we hope to keep for some time to come. The two of us also received great recognition and appreciation for our work on this production, louder and clearer than ever before -- if I may say so myself, the casting was good (ahem) and the dancing was better than ever, exciting, beautiful, emotional, and, of course, dirty/sexy.

David and I have some photos taken by the company we shall post when we receive it, but for now, here are a few snapshots from preview time through the opening:

At the First Preview cocktail party... David and Elsie find a "stage" and perform...


Cheese!

At one of our favorite Chicago restaurants, MK... where one may bring a bottle of wine of their own to drink (for a corkage fee) -- David and I brought out the MAGNUM we purchased in California to celebrate our friend Valerie coming for a weekend visit, to kick off our pre-Opening Night festivities... the wine was FABULOUS and we had some good times (and kudos for Val for going out on the day she arrived from London -- what a rock star)

Me & Val... this time in Chicago! Val flew in from London for the weekend, the night before our Opening Night. She has now been to DD Opening Nights in London, Utrecht and Chicago! x



OPENING NIGHT PARTY!!! David and me with Amber

David and Easton, one of our ensemble dancers... (his wife is in the show, too) He is a wonderful dancer and company member -- he would call David himself for dance notes, which is rare and great (from David's perspective).

FROM LEFT: Jane (our company accountant), Valerie, Davd, me, Tarlan, and Penny

Me and James Powell, the director

We did a spouse-swap photo... me and Easton...

... and David and Haley, Easton's wife. Haley and Easton are THE tallest couple we know.

FROM LEFT: Britta (who plays "Penny"), Eleanor, Michael, me and David

FROM LEFT: James, Amber, Ben Mingay, and me

With the girls of the cast... and a few others...

After-party at Ben Mingay's apartment... me and my favorite girls (Valerie and Tarlan), with John Antony

David and Val get their groove on...

David and Tarlan act "(they're) too hot for the party"...