I saw the tour in Houston with Linda Balgord as Rose and I believe I saw Stephen Foster go on as understudy for Alex. I thought it was utterly gorgeous and to this day, it's still my favorite ALW score. To me, this score more than any other represents an authenticity of the rather vast range of emotions required by the text and the monochromatic staging was the perfect blank canvas on which to highlight and feature these characters and the story. With no distraction of spectacle, the story was immediate and engaging. By the time they were on the train for Seeing is Believing, I was 100% hooked and I didn't want it to end. The only thing I really hated about this production was the abstract Playbill art design. It looked like some sort of amateur attempt at Picasso, but it really didn't represent the story, staging or show at all. I don't believe the souvenir program was available for the entire tour because I would have certainly purchased it if it was sold in Houston. Did the photos disappear? I would love to see those as well.
Incidentally, when I saw the tour, I ended up with a spare ticket. I was rehearsing a production of Hollywood/Ukraine at the time, so I asked a fellow cast member if he wanted to go. He was a very tall and thin high school student and a strong dancer. He ended up loving the show as much as I did. A few years later, he attended Ann Reinking's summer workshop in Florida and was subsequently cast in Fosse on Broadway along with fellow Houstonian Mark Arvin. Both of them appear on the commercially released video of the show.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
