"Mary Poppins" Promotion!!!

I'm currently in rehearsals for a production of "Mary Poppins" with a theater company in Woodbury, Minnesota.  We open this Friday, and it's been a grueling, challenging, exhausting, but SUPER FUN experience!  I'll post more about the show after the run has ended, but I wanted to share a few photos from a really fun promotional event we participated in at Jerry's Foods this past Saturday.

To be honest, I was dreading it...I LOVE acting, and being on stage, but I DON'T like being outside that space as my character...it seems odd...and is very "improvisational" (a skill at which I don't particularly excel).

The store had stations set up for kids to meet the cast and do a craft...make a kite...string Cheerios to feed the birds...etc.

I hung out at one of the tables for awhile, but Christina, who plays Mrs. Banks to my Mr. Banks, and I just weren't moving with the groove, so decided to wander the store and greet people.

Once we positioned ourselves by the gourmet cheese counter near the entrance, things changed for the better.  We ROCKED it as greeters!  We were loud.  We were a little bit obnoxious.  We spoke in our BEST British accents, and, except for the shy customers we scared out of  their wits (and who, we noticed, took the long route around the back side of the deli area to avoid interacting with us), were well received.   Lisa, one of the workers in the cheese department, was DELIGHTFUL, and really enjoyed having us there.

 In addition to greeting people as they came in, and directing them to the crafts and goodies, we promoted whatever we could find around us...the cheeses (although we couldn't get ANYONE to buy the pearl mozzarella...)...the corn on the cob across the aisle from us...more of the cheeses...

We also yelled encouragement to any employee walking by...the ladies sampling salad dressing near us...and any shopper who needed help...it was a HOOT!

Favorite phrases/interactions of the day:

• "Welcome to Jerry's.  If you're here to see Mary Poppins, continue on, and turn left at the jellies!!!"

• Customer, after being greeted heartily:  "Oh...are you the Jerry's?"  To which we replied..."Yes...yes we are...welcome to our empire!"

• Flipping SEVEN or EIGHT cabbages (and two bunches of bananas) into the cart of one poor cast member who brought his family in to buy groceries.  We saw them later in the frozen foods and continued to "help" them shop.  After we moved on, his five year old said "Daddy, I want to go with those people".

It was a super fun time, and those cheese people really know what they are doing...I ended up buying $18.00 worth of cheese before I left (but no pearl mozzarella...)!!

Here's hoping YOU were able to participate in something fun recently too!!!!