While on tour we found out that we’ve been invited to do a Christmas Show for the entire month of December at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At the time they had a theme park behind the hotel with rides, performances, and restaurants. The kids at home and the kids on tour all had to audition to go. I recall the Director, Bill, coming to me and telling me that they wanted to take me, but maybe for only half of the trip. I was to substitute for another soprano that they wanted more than me who could only go for part of the time. I let him know that I could go for the whole time (what else was I going to do?). He later came back and said that they were going to take me for the entire month! I had to switch on and off solos with the other soprano, but I would still be able to be there performing the entire month of December. I was ecstatic (though a little peeved that I wasn’t good enough alone to round out the cast). I guess I still needed some work on that confidence of mine.
One of the most exciting times was returning from tour and reuniting with all the kids back at home. I felt a little special as someone who has been on the road for several months. I came back a different person. I was excited to see the people who last saw me as a whole different Kristen. Bill singled me out that day. He expressed to everyone how confident I was compared to the girl who left California 4 months ago. “Look at how much you’ve grown!” I guess I had, but I hadn’t really noticed. I recall on tour being told that I need to be more proactive with the kids. I didn’t feel like I was a good teacher. I needed to be pushed.
Immediately we began to rehearse for Vegas. We only had 2 weeks before we left again. We threw together a show, got some costumes together, and did a practice show in Palm Springs before heading to the MGM Grand.
We had three shows a day scheduled, but in order to gain more interest, we began doing an additional small, teaser show up in the lobby of the hotel before each performance. Five shows each day for an entire month. We wore our character shoes more than we wore anything else. Our dressing rooms began to smell like feet. Like the smelliest feet that you could imagine. None of us could figure out who was the problem, because we were ALL the problem. We were giving athlete’s foot to each other from being in those shoes all day every day. What a memory to have!
We stayed for the first few weeks inside the hotel, which was amazing. We had an all access pass to the hotel cafeteria, which meant that at any time of day we had access to an omelette bar, sandwich bar, all kinds of homemade foods, and the best part, frozen yogurt! For kids not getting paid for a performance who are broke as anything, this was the BEST! We also could use our passes to eat for free in the park. A lot of us really enjoyed eating at Kenny Rogers Rooster. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at one again.
In between shows we liked to go see what the other performers were up to. A few of us girls became big fans of the Pirates stunt show. We would go to see the hunky pirates and secretly hope to have a Christmas fling with one or two of them (one of whom we discovered later was an ex Young American!) They began coming to support our shows and we would support theirs. There were so many memories made during this short month. I was 20 years old, underage for Vegas and because we weren’t getting paid, broke. I barely experienced the crazy city (and have yet to go back since even though its only a 4 hour drive from LA).
There were a couple of weeks left but Aretha Franklin was coming into the hotel for some Christmas/New Years concerts, so we were kicked out of the hotel. We ended up bunking up in an office building off site. Very weird. We went from a 4 star hotel to army style bunks and tile floors and sharing bathrooms. Weird.
I have more stories to tell about Vegas so stayed tuned…
To Be Continued…
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