Guest Blogger: Steve Blanchard

Holiday greetings from Whoville!! Hope all was green and Grinchy! We left it all on the field last week, and the crowds were fantastic! The crew did their annual thing of dressing up on Christmas Eve. There were elves, angels, a Santa and a polar bear running the show. Only in Whoville! Lil' Ren Who spent a lot of time in the house last week.

Whoville was an awesome place to be on the 15th of December. It was the day of our autism-friendly show for all family members. What a fantastic show! The house was rockin' and everyone had a blast. You could feel the joy of all the families sitting back and watching their loved ones having a ball. When the company comes down the aisle near the end, one of the kids grabbed Nancy Snow-Carr who plays Auntie Who. She said the joy in their eyes was so much she feared she'd miss her entrance, but didn't want to leave. We all felt it big time. Our hearts were all swelled up!

Our hearts and thoughts go out to all the families touched by the events in CT. Yesterday our director, James Vasquez, was so emotional at our rehearsal for the autism-friendly performance. He said how lucky and blessed we are to be able to give to these wonderful children and to be in a production that can touch so many people.

Grinchy greetings from Whoville! Another seven show weekend in the books. We had our 15th anniversary celebration last week. A fantastic show indeed. So many sweet theatre donors came up to me and asked if any of that which they just saw was improved or was it in the script. Well .. . one never knows night to night what that script really says. Shhhhhh . . . it's a Grinchy secret!

This is what I said as I was in agony over the Who's Christmas caroling. I was so pleased with myself, I misjudged the distance of the cave wall and bloodied my nose! (I bang my head against the cave wall when they sing.) Just another lil' tradition I started last year. In last year's production, I broke a Christmas present on my head, instead of my foot, and bloodied my forehead! Woo-Hoo! Little Cindy-Lou Who looked at me with eyes the size of a planet. I spent the next 10 minutes onstage trying not to get blood on her dress. I didn't want the folks in wardrobe mad at me! Speaking of which, did you know how to get blood off of any fabric? Spit on it! Only your saliva will work on your blood. Thanks to the brilliant ladies and gentlemen of wardrobe in the theatre for teaching me that! And a special thanks to Beth Merriman for always making me look comfy, green and Grinchy!

Hey y'all. Greetings from sunny San Diego. And thanks to BroadwayWorld for letting me ramble for a few weeks. I'm here at The Old Globe, which by the way is a FANTASTIC place to work! For all the actors out there who've not had a chance to come here, RUN, don't walk! The folks here are very sweet and the theater is so well run and efficient. It's actor utopia. My wife, Meredith Inglesby, and I came out here last year to do Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and fell in love with the place. Meredith played Reno Who and I was the grumpy green thing. So I guess we didn't stink it up too bad 'cause they asked us back this year. The only change being Mere was a little pregnant and would probably drop the little 'Who' on opening night. So she's sittin' this one out, and I am proud to announce that little Victoria Warren Blanchard popped out on Nov. 30! Mere was so amazing!