Topeka native and Kansas University alumnus Kris Rogers is entering his second year playing bass in the orchestra for the touring production of Hairspray (above). He returns to his alma mater with a Thursday, October 25, 2007, performance of the show at the Lied Center.

Kris Rogers is on the phone from Williamsport, Pa. He just got done traveling to 14 cities in 14 days with the touring production of “Hairspray.”

The daily schedule has been something like this:

Board a bus at 6 or 7 in the morning. Doze off until lunch.

Eat lunch.

Get to the hotel around 2 p.m.

Chill out until 5 or 5:30, when the company meets.

Play a show at 7 or 7:30 p.m., which is over by 10 or 10:30 p.m.

Drink a few beers.

Go to bed.

Repeat.

“It’s very routine,” Rogers says. “It’s not that different from having a normal job where you do certain things in the morning to get ready to go to work. It’s just the schedule is a little flip-flopped because we work in the evenings.”

It’s a lifestyle Rogers has become used to over the past three years. He played bass for two years with the touring production of “42nd Street,” and now is entering his second year in the orchestra for “Hairspray.”

Rogers, a native of Topeka, will be back at his alma mater of Kansas University on Thursday, when “Hairspray” plays at the Lied Center.

‘Paying his dues’

In 2003, when Rogers graduated from KU with a degree in music education, he didn’t know exactly what path his career would take. He worked at the Lied Center for a year, then played a year on Carnival cruise line ships.

Eventually, he met someone who was looking for a bass player for “42nd Street.”

“Musical theater, especially for musicians, is a lot more networking and who knows somebody else and will recommend you than it is auditions and resumes,” Rogers says. “All that stuff is important, but you’re a lot more likely to get called if you’ve worked with someone who remembers you.”

Patrick Kelly, who was Rogers’ band director at Topeka’s Highland Park High School, says it’s a good job for a young musician.

“Financially, it’s a great way to go about it,” says Kelly, now an arts specialist for Lawrence Public Schools. “He has no expenses, and he gets a per diem. He can learn a lot on the road. What’s that old song about paying your dues? Kris is paying his dues.”

For this tour, Rogers also serves as assistant company manager, which means he helps book hotels and flights and take care of other business for the 56-member company. He enjoys life on the road, but he says it’s not as comfortable as playing for an on-Broadway production.

“We’re all in a position, at this particular stage, that we’re constantly trying to work harder and become better,” Rogers says. “If we were those musicians who had it all figured out, we’d clearly have a better gig and we’d be sitting down in a city and playing two hours a night but having a great apartment.”

‘Big production’

Rogers, 26, says playing a newer show such as “Hairspray” allows him to have more creative freedom than the older, more established “42nd Street.”

He’s a big fan of “Hairspray,” though he hasn’t seen the new movie version starring John Travolta.

“Marc Shaiman wrote an amazing score,” Rogers says. “As far as contemporary music theater goes, it’s one of the catchiest pieces of musical theater that’s been written in a really long time. I think when people hear the music and they see the show, it’s a big production. It’s bright, and it’s funny and it pops.”

Rogers isn’t sure what his future holds. He’d eventually like to end up working in arts education for a nonprofit organization, perhaps helping those from the Midwest learn how they can make a career out of music.

For now, he’s enjoying being on a tour that’s taken him to several foreign countries – and every state except Hawaii.

“I’m thinking when I quit touring,” he says, “I’ll just go to Hawaii, have a nice vacation and cross it off the list.”