Phillies hitting the field and small screen this week
By Saturday, the Phillies will be on television.
After most Eagles seasons, the arrival of pitchers and catchers to Clearwater for spring training is a relief, an antidote to another disappointing year.
In 2018, baseball’s spring training becomes an extension of fun, another team in another sport that is likeable and excites a happy — ecstatic? — fan base,
The Phillies, under rookie manager Gabe Kapler, are not in the position the Eagles were to contend, but they have a promising corps of young players are could pull off some surprises. Imagine the jubilation if, though highly unlikely, a World Series would follow a Super Bowl?
After all, the teams the 2018 Phillies remind us of is the Astros of about three seasons ago. Those Astros enter 2018 as the World Champions.
So maybe in 2019 or 2020.
Whatever their 2018 fate, the Phillies head toward it this week. As usual, the station geared to go gung-ho Phillies is NBC Sports Philadelphia (NBCSP).
It has a full roster of games, 17 of them, between Saturday and March 27.
That all-important first televised contest occurs at 1 p.m. Saturday vs. the Baltimore Orioles.
In the announcing booth will be the same crew from last season, Tom McCarthy, John Kruk, Ben Davis, and Gregg Murphy. Mike Schmidt will also make appearances.
One great piece of news, especially for those of you who, like me, have opted for the smart TV/ streaming route, is NBCSP’s spring training games, whether on NBCSP itself or its companion station, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus (NBCSP+), can be streamed via www.NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com.
Think of that, streamers. Rhys Hoskins, Aaron Nola, and Aaron Altherr in your living room with no cable fee!
For the first couple of weeks, the Phils square off against American League teams. It first game vs. a National League club is Friday, March 9 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. As always, tis last spring training game will also have the Pirates as the opponent.
Of coruse, NBCSP features live coverage of the Phillies on its regular programs, “Philly SportsTalk” and “SportsNet Central.” Veteran Phillies reporter Jim Salisbury will bring interviews, breaking news, and features to all the NBCSP platforms. Jim also has a podcast, “At the Yard.”
Hulbert’s certaninly not ‘Rotten’
Autumn Hurlbert lived the opposite experience of high school actors who tell their parents they intend to major in theater.
Instead of a lecture on the uncertainty and instability of life upon the wicked stage — or “Wicked” stage — Hurlbert’s parents told her theater was her best option and chose it as her course of study.
“My parents are successful in their individual businesses, accounting and commercial banking. They were all about being happy and doing what you like and following your passion,” says Hurlbert by telephone from Washington D.C. where she appears in the touring production of “Something Rotten” coming to Philadelphia’s Academy of Music from Feb, 27-March 4.
Hurlbert has made her career on musical stages, in New York and around the country, but most people know her for being the runner-up in the reality audition show, “Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle.” Through it, she joined the Broadway cast of “Legally Blonde” and eventually played Elle in North Carolina.
“Frankly, I didn’t even know someone could major in musical theater until my parents told me. The only thing I thought about college was I wanted to go out of state, which at that time meant somewhere besides Montana, where I was born, or Phoenix, Arizona, where I was raised.
“Wanting to leave wasn’t a comment on either of those places. I wanted to have a college experience and be on my own.
“My father and I looked at lots of schools. I chose the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. I knew New York was my destination, but I wanted to be someplace smaller to study. Also, at Northern Colorado, I could be a more rounded person. In addition to musical theater, I took courses in philosophy and geology. When I wasn’t involved in a show, I’d go hiking on weekends. I got to work at and prepare for what I wanted to do while exploring other fields and enjoying some getaways.
‘My parents knew what they were doing. Being in plays was always my first choice. All through school, when it came time to try out for the softball team of cheerleading squad, I opted to audition for the spring or fall play.”
Hurlbert was one of the lucky performers who found work when she was graduated from Northern Colorado and went to New York.
“I’ve been in New York for 15 years now. That’s where my husband, Tim Norman, and I call home and where we and our son, Lincoln, will return when the ‘Something Rotten’ tours ends. Right now, knowing we’d have a year or so on the road, we don’t even have an apartment. Tim and Lincoln are on the road with me. It’s an odd kind of fun moving from town to town packing up trunks of toys and baby equipment, but we laugh as we do it and head to the next destination. Lincoln is age two, but he soaks everything in. It’s fun to see the wonder in his eyes as he sees something new. It makes you remember when everything seemed so fascinating. He may not remember this tour when he’s older, but he’s definitely getting something out of it.”
Hurlbert says auditioning on television was normal in terms of the basics — “The process was the same as with any show.” — but the background was entirely different.
“You’re always competing with other actresses for a part. That an aspect of being an actor. Usually, you’re one of ten vying for a lead. ‘The Search for Elle’ had 100 candidates to start. With all of those people, the competition was stiffer than usual. It was crazy and wonderful at the same time.
“What I liked best about the experience was it let a wide audience see what happens in putting together a musical theater production. There was the reality show drama, none of it forced but there, but I liked that a wide public also saw how people in musical theater support each other. You want the part, but you’re happy when someone you know has a success.
“What surprised me most was being recognized. You’re on television and coming into people’s home and consciousness. I’d done several plays in New York and regionally but was used to being anonymous. Maybe, right after a show, someone would say something to me.
“Television is a whole other thing. It stunned me when I walked down the street and people would ask, ‘Autumn, will you take a picture with me?’ It took me a second to remember why they knew my name. I had to begin to think about what I looked like walking out of my gym or popping into a store to grab a bottle of water.
“Everything from that period was sensationalized, but it helped my career. I appeared in ‘Legally Blonde’ and received recognition. It helps when casting people know who you are, and the audience may know you.”
In “Something Rotten,” a hilarious musical set in the 1590s when Shakespeare is a fledgling playwright and others, like the hapless Bottom brothers want to have similar fame, Hurlbert plays Portia, a Puritan girl who is tempted to leave her Bible behind when she meets the younger and more hapless of the Bottom boys.
“Portia hears Nigel is a poet, and she can’t resist him. She’s as drawn to the arts as I’ve always been. Here’s this strict, straitlaced, sheltered young woman who turns her whole life and belief system around when she meets someone who might be a poet but is also a wackadoodle.”