BROADWAY BIRTHDAY

How do you make a 4-show weekend, even more fun, and crazier? Have a birthday party! After a great day off, full of swimming and hanging with friends, it was back to rehearsals and the show. Cory is busy learning the roles of Zack and Freddy and he has come a long way. It is a lot to learn three roles, all with lines, songs, different blocking, and props placement, plus guitar and drums. Cory is up to the challenge and is definitely being kept on his toes.

Saturday was another big day for Cory - HIS BIRTHDAY! Our baby, who is not a baby anymore, turned 10! Double digits! It was such a fantastic day. Started with a matinee show followed by a birthday party at Bowlmor in Times Square. We had just about the entire kids cast of SOR (we missed Troy and Chloe) and Cory's closest friends from home for a-rockin' rollin' birthday party. The kids had a blast. Most of them shouldn't quit their day jobs (pun intended) as their skills on the stage far surpass their skills on the bowling lanes. After bowling and some fun in the arcade, it was time to head back to the stage door. This was no small feat getting 17 kids through times square. Not as easy as it sounds!

Cory, Emma, Benjamin and Jordan - Cory's childhood friends

Family Photo, with Beca!

Levi and Cory

Cory and Zach

Amadi, Olivia, Zach and Gabby

Cory and Gabby

Cory and Michael

Once back at the stage door, happily greeted by several of the guardians, the kids all ran in and Cory's celebration continued. Check out this video. The SOR family certainly knows how to make a kid feel special!

Josh and I went out with friends while Cory performed the 8:00pm show. The next day we were getting ready to have a family first. I was leaving for our annual family vacation with Ryan and Andrew and Josh was going to be staying home with Cory. Cory loves what he's doing, performing in School of Rock, and is so grateful for this opportunity, but we are all making sacrifices, including splitting up and spending a vacation week apart. Cory and Josh are going to have some special time at home between shows and I am giving Ryan and Andrew some much-needed special attention with the rest of my family on the beach!





We love hearing from family and friends (and friends of friends) who have plans to see the show or who have just gone. Cory loves greeting everyone at the stage door and it is so wonderful to be sharing this journey with so many people we love.

Stacie, a childhood friend of Erica's and Debbie, her sister,
and best friend with Uncle Adam

Bekka and Jen from Beth El! I think we need to plan a field trip!

This week's schedule feels a little more relaxed. The rehearsal schedule is a little lighter and Cory will enjoy some much-needed down time. There are only a couple of more weeks of summer and then we will add school into the mix. Things are constantly changing. Eyes forward, we can't wait to see what comes next!

CRAZY GETS CRAZIER, BUT I SLIPPED MY SHOES OFF AT THE WINTER GARDEN THEATER

So we are two weeks in and we certainly do not yet feel settled (but I believe we are on our way...maybe....hopefully....). This past week, Cory had rehearsal Monday, Tuesday and Friday in addition to the eight shows he is now doing each week. It was a rigorous schedule. Cory is managing, but it was clear that as the week went on, he was getting tired. Then we hit the weekend - 4 shows - CRAZY TOWN, as we now fondly refer to it. Saturday Josh and I went to the city to be with Cory between shows and we ended up going to see the show Saturday night. It was feeling more normal to pick Cory up at the stage door, and of course, the trip to Guitar Center in between shows feels like old hat (see jam session with SOR kids at Guitar Center here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq_edLJZvkk, Instagram: @coryloganmusic, @luke_bonenfant, @theofficialamadichapata, Troy Bell Jr, Jason Kisare), but this week, seeing the show felt **a little** more natural. I have spent so much time in the Winter Garden Theater in the last two weeks that in act two, standing behind the last row of the orchestra, I slipped my shoes off (they were killing me!) and I stood there barefoot, watching my son and his castmates on the Broadway stage. You know when you feel comfortable in a place...when it feels familiar enough, you can slip your shoes off and stand on the carpet barefoot? That's how I felt....at the Winter Garden.

Spira Family

This week was full of friends and family that went to see Cory perform. It is exciting to be able to talk with Cory over breakfast about who will be in the audience that day! On Tuesday, the Rosensteins went to see the show and on Wednesday Grandma Sheri, Poppops, Aunt Lisa, Aunt Suzi, Cousins Hallie, and Carly went AGAIN :), and a former Nursery School classmate and their family were also there. We were in the audience on Saturday and on Sunday family friends, the Bartells, and Cory's drum teacher, Jim Weingast, rocked out. It is always fun for Cory to see a familiar face at the stage door.

Bartell Family

When the schedule came in on Sunday, it was clear that it was going to be a long and tough week for Cory. When Cory got home on Sunday, at almost 11:00pm, after 5 shows in just two and half days, he was definitely unsettled to hear about the schedule for the upcoming week. Cory is learning the two roles he is understudying, Zack (who plays guitar) and Freddy (who plays drums). So while he spent the last month learning the part of James, who he plays in each show, he now needs to learn these other parts in addition. This means rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal. Many times it is just him in rehearsal with one of the music directors, dance captains, etc. And after rehearsal, Cory then goes and performs a show. This is a lot for anyone, let alone a not quite ten-year-old kid.

Grandma Sheri, Poppops, Aunt Liza, Aunt Suzi, Cousins Hallie & Carly

Cory with his drum teacher Jim

Cory with his drum teacher Jim and John Arthur Greene, photo-bombing, who plays the lead of No Vacancy in SOR.

Cory with Jim Weingast

Rosensteins go to see Cory at SOR

Cory and we are blessed that he has amazing child guardians caring for him on and off the stage! His chaperone Michael gets Cory to and from the city and rehearsals and makes sure he has lunch, dinner and snack....and some fun in his down time too! All of the child guardians at School of Rock are fantastic - really all about what's in Cory's best interest. We are so lucky!

Cory with one of SOR's amazing guardians

While Cory continues to find his place on the Broadway stage, we continue to find our place as a Broadway family. This means explaining to Ryan, our 7-year-old, why he doesn't see his brother so much, splitting our time so Andrew, our 3-year-old, gets the attention he needs and deserves and making sure Cory continues to get our attention, love, and support as he navigates this new world he is in.

Cory is counting down the days until his birthday. He turns 10 this weekend - double digits! It is hard to believe that he is managing this intense schedule, learning all he has to learn AND perform in front of 1500 people each day, at not even 10 yet. We are so proud of him and grateful that he has been given this opportunity and that we are his parents!

Cory is looking forward to tomorrow. When he and his fellow "New Noodles" began, Connor Gillooly began his rehearsals to be the understudy for Dewey (the lead adult role) for School of Rock. Tomorrow, Connor is making his debut as Dewey and Cory is jumping out of his skin with excitement. He loves performing with Eric Peterson and Justin Collette and he is so excited his fellow "New Noodle" will be taking the stage tomorrow as Dewey. It is fascinating what our bedtime conversations have become and I am just a regular Mom trying to keep up with her son's new found, new-normal, life. It always feels good to feel comfortable in a place....comfortable enough to slip your shoes off.....I just never would have guessed that this place for me would be the Winter Garden Theater!

TWO SHOW DAYS - END OF THE FIRST WEEK

On our way to see the show!
Can't get enough.

It is hard to believe that tonight is the end of Cory's first week on Broadway. Although a certain amount of disbelief still lingers, it also feels like this has been going on forever. Cory completed his 8th show tonight. EIGHT SHOWS A WEEK! It is a lot! How did we mark the end of Cory's first full week in School of Rock? We went to see the show of course!

This past Thursday Cory spent his day off with his best bud Jordan. Grandma Leslie took them to the pool and they had a normal-kid-summer day. On Thursday nights it has become Jordan and Cory's routine to play music outside on the front lawn for the occasional passerby. They wanted to collect money and the parents were adamantly against that idea. But they comprised and said they would donate all of the money to charity. People have been generous and Jordan and Cory look forward to making a contribution to the charity of their choice.

Cory and Andrew while Cory was
visiting Ryan and Andrew's camp.

On Friday it was back to rehearsal and the show, that is after Cory spent the morning at Beth El Day Camp in high demand. He traveled around the building with his guitar and mini amp, visiting kids ages 3-7 years old. He spoke to the older kids about what it was like to be on Broadway and played twinkle, twinkle for the little ones. Ryan and Andrew were super psyched and extra proud when Cory came and visited with their groups.

Friday night Cory's friend Jordan (same Jordan from above) and his Dad Andrew went to see Cory rock out! I love knowing that people are in the audience looking especially for Cory and greeting him at the stage door. They were also good enough to bring Cory home. This was Cory's first 8:00pm performance. He didn't walk through the door until 11:40pm and thus started the beginning of a VERY LONG weekend.

Saturday Cory woke up excited for the "twodo shay", otherwise known as the two-show day. (These kids have the craziest names for things.) Michael (Cory's chaperone) picked Cory up and headed into the city. The day started with a vocal lesson and then a 2:00pm matinee and an 8:00pm evening performance. Michael and Cory grabbed dinner in between the shows and during the down time....you guessed it....right over to Guitar Center. Cory didn't get home again until almost midnight. I couldn't keep my eyes open. Josh waited up.

Cory and Michael (swing)

This morning, a little more tired but equally excited, Cory was ready for two more shows. Thanks to Grandma Sheri and Poppops and Grandma Leslie and Grandpa Irwin, Ryan and Andrew had some special time, including a sleepover, in Rockland. This freed up Josh and I to be with Cory today. We brought him into the city for the matinee and as I said at the beginning, we went! A different actor plays Dewey, the lead adult role, for the matinee performances and we were happy to get a chance to see the show with him. (PS - Both Justin Collette and Eric Peterson, who both play Dewey, are fantastic! Both actors are also comedians and there are lots of "laugh out loud" moments.) Cory's SOR cast mate Michael also debuted in the role of Lawrence (keyboard) on Saturday and was on again today. Michael is a swing (more on this another time) so he was excited to have a chance to play the role. We were lucky to get to see him perform!

To answer the million dollar question...."No! It is no less exciting watching Cory perform now than it was last Monday." Josh and I still had tears in our eyes and smiles plastered on our faces. At intermission we again looked at each other and said, "do you believe this yet?". It definitely felt slightly more like real life, but I still had to pinch myself.

Cory with boy visiting from London at
Guitar Center

When the matinee was over we picked Cory up at the stage door, took him for dinner and then headed on our usual mecca to Guitar Center. This trip had a unique moment. There was a family from London with two young kids at the store. Both kids, 8 and 4, were playing guitar. Cory even commented how good the 8 year old was. I asked the Mom if they had seen School of Rock and she said they had just come from the show. When I had Cory come over and introduce himself, she was blown away and her 8 year old was starstruck. They asked for Cory's autograph and to take a picture. Turns out the 8 year old auditioned for SOR in London but was told he was too small. I told the Mom we had heard the same about Cory and they should keep trying! You never know.

Back to the theater for the 7:00pm performance. Josh and I took this stolen opportunity, while Cory was at the show, to have dinner just the two of us. This is a rare occasion these days and it was a welcomed gift. We spent much of the time trying to figure out the schedule for the upcoming week since we got Cory's rehearsal and show schedule emailed just hours before, but it was nice to do that over a drink and dinner. We headed back towards the theater for pick up and Cory, for the 8th time this week, came out the stage door smiling, happy and totally in his (new) element! It makes this all worth it! A fan waiting outside came right over to Cory and said, "are you the little one from the show? the security guard?" Cory replied yes with a big smile. The man continued, "you were our favorite! Would you mind taking a picture with us?" Cory was happy to walk over and pose in their family photo. If I hadn't been there to see and hear the whole thing I don't know that I could have believed it.

What a week ahead. Cory has rehearsals and shows almost every day! I'm exhausted just thinking about it - let alone how he will likely feel doing it all. It's been an exciting beginning and we know there is lots more in store. After all, this is only the first week!

ADJUSTING TO THE NEW NORMAL

I can't say that we've totally come down from the high of Monday night. Our Facebook news feeds, inboxes and text messages have been flooded with messages of congratulations, love, support and shared excitement. It has been overwhelming in the best way and Josh and I feel incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful network of family and friends who are sharing in this unbelievable journey with us. We share all of these sentiments of love and amazement with Cory and are using this as a teachable moment about blessings, humility, and gratitude, for which we are all feeling.

When we woke up on Tuesday morning Josh and I talked all about Monday night in complete disbelief. "Did that really just happen?" We were saying how it felt like the morning after our wedding. We remembered planning and anticipating our wedding and then it finally came and was the most spectacular day of our lives. Every part of the ceremony and reception was amazing and our faces hurt from smiling so much. We had those same feelings on Tuesday morning, the only difference was, Cory was going to do it all over again that night (and the next, and the next). I said to Josh, "is this ever going to feel normal?"

Cory woke up happy and excited to head back into the city for day two. Michael (his chaperone) picked him up in the morning. No rest for the weary. Before the show, Cory was called for rehearsal. 12:30-1:30pm was a 1:1 music lesson where Cory started learning all the material for the part of Zack that he is understudying. 1:30-3:30pm was band practice, with Cory on guitar for two hours. After that, Cory had a break for a couple of hours. When Michael asked him what he wanted to do, what do you think Cory said? You guessed it! Guitar Center! And off they went for a few more hours of playing music. Cory hit the drums after just having had his fill of guitar.

I met Cory in the city at 5:00pm. I didn't want him to go from having 40 people at the show to no one so I made the BIG SACRIFICE (read utter sarcasm) and planned to go to the show again on Tuesday. After grabbing some dinner, we headed to the stage door. Cory was super excited and much calmer than the night before. I still kept saying to myself, "I can't believe this is happening, I can't believe this is happening". High fives all around as Cory's fellow cast members showed up and then off they went.

I walked over to the CitizenM Hotel (after getting my ticket) and did an hour of work before heading into the theater. There was his name on the board, it wasn't a dream from the night before. It also totally didn't feel normal (not yet anyway). As the theater filled (just about a sold out crowd) and I was sitting there by myself, there was a piece of me that was missing all of the hoopla from the night before. There was another piece of me that was happy to have the chance to see the show in a calmer setting. Afterall, we now knew he could do it. I wondered to myself, "would he be as good?", "would he be as happy?". The answer to both questions was an emphatic "YES!".

Cory did great! He seemed calmer and more relaxed. The few hiccups he had on opening night (which the average person in the audience wouldn't have even realized) he had corrected for night two. He was having a blast up there! Killer finale and then again out the stage door to lots of cheering fans who were waiting for autographs and pictures. And again, I stood there in amazement. My kid was coming out the stage door of the Winter Garden theater after performing his second show. This was real life - but it just doesn't feel like it yet.

This morning Cory was so excited to be going in for his first matinee performance. This was going to be the first time neither Josh or I was going to the show. It felt so strange. We said goodbye to him like we would any other day but he was going to perform on Broadway and we weren't going to see him. How do we do this? This was Cory's and our "new normal". It just doesn't feel normal.

We are lucky to have Michael who brought Cory in and took him home today. And what did Michael do while Cory was performing? Well, today he went to see the show! I needed someone to give me feedback! He said Cory did great and the show was awesome. I'm presuming the novelty will wear off and this will just be the way our lives roll. Josh and I will go to work and, as I wrote in an earlier post, so will Cory. But for now, it feels surreal, it feels awesome, it feels strange....we're just adjusting to the new normal.

CORY'S BROADWAY DEBUT: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

There are no words. Of all the blog posts I have written, I have the most to say and yet can't find adequate words to describe what tonight was like. It was a once in a lifetime experience, even more rare than that. Our son, not yet 10 years old, took the stage at the Winter Garden theater, in the Broadway Musical School of Rock, and NAILED IT! HE ROCKED THE HOUSE! We had no idea Cory could do half of what he did on that stage tonight.

At about 1:00pm Cory was ready to get going. We still had a few hours, but he started getting ready. He showered and got dressed, putting on jeans and a button down shirt willingly. I guess he wanted to look good for his fans. Ryan came home early from camp and by 4:15pm we were on the road to NYC. Cory chose Chipotle for dinner (although Uncle Adam was pushing Dos Toros! Next time!). We had a quiet dinner, just the three of us, while Beca headed over to Rosie O'Grady's with Ryan to meet up with about 40 of our family and friends. 

At 5:45pm we walked over to the stage door, Cory didn't seem nervous, mostly giddy with excitement! And at 5:50pm in he went. And that was it. We had just dropped him off for his first official Broadway show and the next time we would see Cory was when the curtain came up and he was on stage.

Cory being greeted before the show at the stage
door by Jersey Sullivan. Jersey completed
his last show as James on Sunday and
tonight passedthe baton to Cory!

Sophie, a member of the cast, embracing
Cory on the way into his first show.

Cory with Rachel (plays Katie)

We headed over to Rosie O'Grady's to meet up with the group and were greeted with loud applause and cheers. Absent of Cory, Josh and I were the celebrities to our family and friends. And let's face it, there was enough nervous energy and excitement, people had to let it out somehow!

6:30pm it was time to go to the theater. From this point forward it is really hard to describe what the
feelings were. Seeing Cory's name on the billing poster outside the theater, on the company board inside the theater lobby and then .....then.....seeing his photo and bio in the playbill, well it was simply surreal and amazing. We all settled into seats. I must have read his bio 100 times, even though I wrote it. Josh and I kept looking at each other saying, "is this really happening right now?" The bells rang, the lights dimmed and we were off.

The first scene that takes place with the students of Horace Green Prep comes about 15 minutes into the show. And there he was! Cory....our Cory....Cory Logan was on the Winter Garden stage, in costume, makeup, and character and he looked AWESOME! "Holy Cow", "Oh My God", "Look at Him, LOOK AT HIM!!!". That's pretty much how the next 2.5 hours went. With some tears of joy, and general
astonishment and amazement, we watched Cory and the entire cast give an unbelievable performance to a packed house. To say we were proud is an understatement. Josh and I both are bursting and beaming with joy and pride. We also feel an incredible sense of humility to be afforded this opportunity and to have such wonderful family and friends, both life long friends and new friends, to share this with. We are very blessed.

I won't give away too many details about the show because we'd love for you all to come see it! (Reminder, Cory does 8 shows a week!)

After the show, we went out to the stage door where Cory and his cast mates came out to loads of screams and cheers and Cory went right to work on the autograph line. He was diligent to make sure he signed each and every playbill, talking to and interacting with all of his fans. He seemed so grown up and like such a natural as if he had been doing this forever. Josh and I were clearly newbies as we continued to freak out in disbelief and excitement!

From left to right:
Amadai (Tamika), Troy (Mason), Cory (James), Levi (Freddy)

Following the stage door madness, which lasted about 40 minutes, we all headed to the Playwright Tavern for the after party. With about 150 people in attendance, there was no shortage of congratulations and good wishes. All of the kids came to celebrate the debut of the new kids in the cast and many of the adult cast and crew were there as well! It was a great party and a great way to cap off the evening. At about 11:15pm it was time to call it a night because.....Cory will be doing this all over again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day. Tomorrow he has rehearsal followed by a 7:00pm show and then a matinee on Wednesday before he gets a day off.

Eric Peterson, who plays Dewey, with kids from the cast.

This is our new normal, although I don't know that it will ever quite feel normal to have our son performing on Broadway. We're going to try and settle in to whatever the new schedule is (which we still will only get on Sundays!) and take it one day at a time. I'm headed back to the show tomorrow and then I'll take a break for a while. Thank you all for supporting us during this crazy and exciting time! More to come.