Spring it On/Swing Awakening!

Hey guys! Wow, what a week for the swings of Spring Awakening!! We've gone on so many times! Let's see: Chase went on for Hanschen twice, Krystina went on for Thea at intermission last night, Kayla went on for Thea this afternoon and I'm on tonight! Yay!! Also, Justin is
playing Hanschen next Friday in Ft. Meyers, and the three of us girls are playing Martha from Thursday - Saturday! It's a true Swing Awakening!! :) Here's a funny picture from DC of me as Thea, Matt as Melchi and Chase as Georg! The craziest swing awakening EVER! Haha!

I also wanted to write to you guys to tell you to come to our cabaret in Rochester. It's going to be AMAZING, I promise! I'll be performing and playing "Hometown Glory" by Adele :) So, if you're anywhere near the tri-state area, come out and support our cabaret - Spring it On! (clever, right??)

Hope some of you can catch my Thea tonight! Or maybe my Martha in Ft. Meyers on Saturday? If not, I hope to see you all at the cabaret!! It's for a really great cause, the money will go to an arts program in Rochester, so come out and support the arts!! If it weren't for the AMAZING performing arts program in my high school, I wouldn't be here today living my dream. Hope I see you all there!! xo

Until next time,

Krista :)

Wendla Bergman?! Like a tree nymph...

It happened!!!!! Oh. My. God.

It wasn't exactly how I imagined my first time. But it was more than I could have ever wanted. Oh, how do I begin this story?! Let's start with...

It's a freezing cold December morning in Denver, Colorado. I bring my computer to the theater and leisurely grab a cup of coffee on my way. I'm off for the matinee, so I decide to call my mom once the show starts. I'm talking to my mom about football - literally - when all of a sudden Sarah rushes into our dressing room yelling "Krista, you're going on!" Of course my immediate reaction is, "for who??" I then hear these words on the loudspeaker over the boys reciting latin: "Krista Pioppi, please get into costume, you will be on for Wendla for the remainder of the show." AHHHHHHHHH! Well, I dropped the phone. Sarah had to call my mom back and tell her because by this point I'm standing naked in the middle of our dressing room hyperventilating waiting for someone to bring me my costume. I finally get my underdress and I run downstairs to hair, but no one is there, so I run back upstairs and now I'm completely out of breath and I feel like I'm going to puke all over the place. Thankfully, I don't.

So now I'm finally dressed. My hair is simply held together by 3 bobby pins, and now I hear Bitch ending, so I make a b-line for the stage when I actually realize what I'm about to do. I'm about to finally play the role I've dreamed of playing for 3 years. This is it. I start freaking out. I calm down a little. I tell myself Krista, it's your job. You just need to get out there and do it. I freak out a little more. I make it to the stage just in time to fix a strand of hair, listen to Kimiko say "Breathe" and open the curtains. And I ran out right behind her in that long blue dress.

I've never felt a feeling quite like that before. It was a mixture of excitement, nausea, adrenaline, pure joy and sheer terror. My favorite part was looking around at my cast mates as they stared at what they THOUGHT was going to be a small blonde girl. To their surprises, out came a 5' 5" brunette, clad in the biggest smile I'm sure they've ever seen. I felt their shock and excitement for me pour out of each of them, and I've never felt more connected to them in the eight months I've been on tour. Side note: Jake didn't realize it was me until halfway through Touch Me..so his line "Wendla Bergman?!" was truly not acting!! After the beating scene, Jake and I are both offstage, and he ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever, and then said "What is going on!?!!". Understandably so, haha.

One of the moments I'll remember forever is taking my first bow as Wendla. It was overwhelming - I started to cry!! I'd always dreamed about wearing that babydoll dress at the end of the show and taking a bow as the leading lady, and it was finally here. I couldn't believe it. I was living proof that dreams really do come true. And if that wasn't enough, I got to do the whole show again that night!! Standing on that chair in the beginning of the show might have been the scariest moment of my life, but I got the dress on and everything went fine!!

I've truly never had an experience on stage like that in my entire life, and I'm so glad that it happened with my favorite people, in my favorite show, playing my dream role. And I got to do it TWICE!! It was the best early Christmas present I could have ever asked for. Thank you, Santa.

PS: Christy is feeling much better, thankfully!! What a trooper.

Until next time,

Krista

Birthday/Dark I Know Well pt. 2

Hi Guys!

So as all - or at least most - of you know, I am the youngest member of this SA family. And while that is still true, I finally turned 18!! I'm so happy to finally be an adult, and for all the 17 year old jokes to end! Trust me, they get old. Even though I'm still the Spring baby, I feel like I'm maturing with each day I spend on tour, which is really awesome.

My birthday was absolutely amazing. We got back from our cast party at exactly 11:58 pm on November 19th, and at midnight, the whole cast sang Happy Birthday to me while Andy played on the piano in the lobby. It was the best start to any birthday I've ever had! In the morning, I talked to all my friends and family which was really nice, and then Steffi and I headed out to the mall for some birthday shopping! On our way, we passed this cute little bakery and she bought me 2 mini cupcakes :) They were so cute! We met up with Kayla and Taylor in the mall, shopped for a little, and then found this amazing carousel ride that me and Steffi ended up going on haha! Finally, to end my day of shopping, I found this kiosk in the middle of the mall with these ENORMOUS balloons, and I was like "Guys, I NEED one of those balloons". So I treated myself to a balloon! Check it out - it was white with skulls & pirates on it...and it LIT UP!! Coolest balloon ever. So then after the mall, we went to Friday's for my birthday dinner with everyone!! Yay! It was so much fun :) To my surprise, in walks Christy with ANOTHER light up balloon. I died. It was pink and had Disney princesses on it - which was actually my second choice if I couldn't get the skulls!!

Also, I got another amazing belated birthday present on our closing night in Cali - I went on for Martha!! I only got to play her twice in the summer, so it was amazing to revisit her. I love singing Dark, especially with Steffi! It was such a great show, and the audience was so responsive which made me feel awesome. This was my first time on since the end of July (crazy!!), so I was really excited.

I can't believe that we had to go to from sunny Costa Mesa, to freezing cold Denver! AH! But that's ok, because I love snow during the holidays!! And Denver is absolutely beautiful! The streets are all decked out in lights and wreaths, and you can hear holiday music playing in every restaurant/store. It's FABULOUS!! I have a really good feeling about these next two weeks. It's weird to think that at the end of Denver, the '09 Spring Awakening National Tour is over. When we come back in January, we will be the '10 cast. A whole new year of Spring Awakening.

Until next time,

Krista :)

<3

Do you know the way?..

..to San Jose!

Hey guys! Here we are in beautiful San Jose :) This stop is special to my heart because - drum roll please - I've never been to California before! So here I am, and I absolutely love it. In the past 2 days I've been to San Fransisco with some amazing friends, shopped on Haight street and ate Indian food for the first time (PS: naan is now my favorite bread ever). Last night, our entire cast had the privilege of seeing American Idiot the Musical. It was absolutely ridiculous! The cast was stacked and the set was unbelievable, plus we got to see some friends/Spring awakening alumni, John, Gerard and Brian, who were so incredible! After the show, some of us went backstage and saw how the intricate set really works. It was truly an amazing night.

Opening in San Jose tonight! Hope to see you all there :)

Until next time,

Krista :)

Austin, Texas!

Hey guys!

Sorry it's been so long! We just got settled in our beautiful hotel in Austin. The city is wonderful! A bunch of us went to dinner and stumbled across this amazing pond/brook with a stone bridge that could really be the bridge in the My Junk scene! There's also this red swing in the middle of the pond, and Freddy, Justin & I all took turns swinging on it :) It was so fun! Also, the past 2 cities have been cold and rainy, so we're all excited to be going to warm places for the next month! We're having a put-in rehearsal for a few of our newest cast members on Thursday and I'm playing Anna, which should be fun since I haven't rehearsed Anna since July! It feels so great to be back here, and back at work with these amazing people. I really have the best job in the world.

Until next time!

Krista :)

ps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOZLXqa-eVo

We're Back! :)

Hey guys -

What an amazing 6 weeks I had at home! But I'm feeling even MORE amazing now that I'm back with my Spring family starting up the second leg of our tour! We're at a gorgeous hotel in Milwaukee - my room is enormous. Just wanted to give a quick update of what's happening on our first week back! We have rehearsal with Michael and Kimberly today, and also a huge rehearsal on Monday, where we will welcome our newest cast member Justin Scott Brown! :) That's really all for now, I'll post some pics from our first weeks back soon!

Until next time,

Krista