The Top of the Mountain Tour, Winter 2003

It was January 2003. Sail Productions had told me at the end of my Harriet Tubman tour they were comissioning a new musical called "The Top of the Mountain" about the civil rights movement. They told me then they wanted me to be apart of it. I was excited about it. They asked me to sit in on a few of the production meetings and really seemed to want my input on casting, the songs and the script. So I figured this was the last tour I was going to do so it had to be the best. So I called up some of my friends who were very talented but also really cool personalities so it would be a drama free tour. I first called Nicole Tucker. I worked with her for two summers at Historical Philadelphia. She also did a show at Freedom Theatre. I then called Kamal Bostic-Smith. We knew each other from a dance class in college. He was a very talented actor and singer and had performed on most of the biggest stages in Philly. I then called Nakia Dillard another busy and respected actor in Philadelphia. He can be seen on HBO's The Wire. Lastly I called my friend Chris Yustin from my Tom Sawyer tour four years earlier. He had just finished up a tour with Sail the month before. There were still a couple of vacant spots. Sail needed someone to play Rosa Parks. Nakia gave me Tiffany Shephard's number and I called her and talked up the tour. Sail still held audtions but the actors I recommended were by far the best. So Sail cast everyone of them. I was pumped! This was going to be my shortest tour. Only four weeks. But it seemed like it was going to be the best! For the first time I was surrounded by a cast with talent comprable to mine. Actors who could make me better. Sail still needed a road manager and my friend Eric Scalise from my Harriet Tubman tour couldn't do it they hired Tara Natctigall. I never had a female company manager but she was the best one I ever had by far! I've learned in life that when things seem to good to be true they usually are. It's a cliche but it proves to be true more often then not. I now wait for the other shoe to drop. Boy did it on this tour. So it was January of 2003 the first week of rehearsal. Sail is based in New Jersey but because this was a Philadelphia cast they wanted to hold rehearsals near Philly rather than put the whole cast up in a hotel. So rehearsals were held at the Center Theatre in Norristown. I did the Secret Garden there in 2001 so I gave Sail there number and Sail rented the space for the duration of the rehearsal. The first day we got the script and Sail hadn't revised the script. There were re-writes and editing that still needed to be done. I got the script a month earlier and had already started learning my new lines. So we had to unlearn lines and learn new ones. This is typical with brand new works espeacially musicals. However, that's why theatre companies have workshops to work out some kinks. Sail didn't do this and we had out first show in New Jersey in two weeks! Nicole showed up to the first rehearsal with a blonde weave. One of her roles was Coretta Scott King who didn't have blonde hair. So Sail management was annoyed by that. So she had to take the day off from rehearsal to take it out. Then during our final dress reaheasal it didn't go well. It was rough to say the least. Our first show was on the 15th of January at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, New Jersey. It didn't go well by our standards and it was a major dissapoinment. We had a pick up rehearsal that night and did the show at the same venue the next day. That went alot better but still had kinks to work out. At this point morale was low with in the cast and friction between us and Sail was growing. The cast blamed Sail for the short rehearsal and unfinished script. The next day we drove to upsate New York and performed in Tarrytown, New York. By this point the show was fine but the damage and mistrust between the cast and Sail was already in motion. We had a show in Delaware but was cancelled because of a snow storm. That Friday was payday so Sail said they would mail out checks. The following Sunday was travel day to Jonesborough, Georgia so it was very important to the cast to get the check before the show went on the road for four staight weeks. Nakia and I got our checks that Saturday. Nobody else got theirs. Nicole Tucker called me Sataurday to say she hadn't got her check and needed to pay her utilities before we left town. Kamal called me too as well as Chris and Tiffany. Apparently nobody could get a hold Sail management on the weekend even though they gave us the cell phone number to Tony Sinisalco. Nobody was picking up the phone or retuning phone calls. Chris and Nicole assumed it was done intentionally. They couldn't understand how Nakia and me got our checks and nobody else did. They thought it was pay back from Sail. By Saturday night when Sail hadn't called anybody back Nicole and Chris had quit the tour. This was a six person musical so we didn't have a show without them! We were supposed to leave for tour the next morning! I got really stressed! The next morning Tony called me like nothing had happended. He thought the company was already on the road and was checking in to see how we were doing! I said "Tony did you get any body's messages from yesterday?!" He said "No, why?" "Nicole and Chris quit because they didn't get their checks!" That Sunday was very stressfull! Sunday and Monday were travel days to Geogia to do a show Tuesday. So every minute was crucial. I told Tony he would have to get in contact with Nicole and Chris and assure them everything was cool or give them an advance on their pay to settle this. Tony was a prideful man and wanted to rewrite the script in one day and do the show with four actors!! I refused! After the rough rehearsal and opening show I wasn't willing to risk a theatrical disaster! The money wasn't worth it. Sail had to to get this show out or their producer, Living Arts, would pull are their funds and cancell all ten of Sails other tours!! So Sail was scared to say the least and Tony was angry at me for not copperating with them to revise the show! I literally had 50 incoming calls that day on my cell phone. I was trying to be neutral and convince everyone it was going to be ok. I told them they could trust Sail. But Chris and Nicole weren't budging. So I finally told Tony the only way to salvage this is to give everybody a raise. Not just Nicole and Chris because that would show favortism because Tiffany and Kamal hadn't got their checks either but didn't quit the tour. So everybody would have to get a raise. Tony began yelling at me that I was orchestrating this rebellion and we were holding Sail hostage because we knew Sail would go out of business if the show didn't go out. So late that night Sail called Nicole and wrote an addendum to everybody's contract with a hefty raise. Once signed everbody was back on board. I hadn't packed yet because of all the drama. I packed in fifteen minutes! I was good at it by now and waited to be picked up by the tour bus. We got to Georgia that Monday night. Nicole had read over the addendum to the contract and realized that the raise did not include a raise in out perdium. This is cash we got everyday for food and other things. Everybody felt that we should get a raise in per dium too and they refused to check into the hotel and said they wouldn't do the show the next day. Tony called back that night and threatened to sue everybody if they didn't go on! I had to be the voice of reason. So during our cast meeting that night I told everyone we already got a raise now lets make the best of it. Everyone agreed and the show went on the next day. Believe it or not this was my most enjoyable tour minus all the drama. We had a great time on this tour. It toured all through out the south and the show was well recieved. We even perfomed at the Grand Ole Opry for the third time in my career. When the tour was over Febuary 14th 2003 I was ready for the phase in my acting career. No more touring. While rehearsing The Top of the Mountain I auditioned for Dream Girls at the Ritz Theatre in Oaklyn New Jersey. The first of four shows I would do there. I was very excited!