Well, dear readers, once again, for the second day in a row, I am getting a late start on these here notes. That is because I didn’t go to sleep until three o’clock in the morning. That is because I was “proofing” the commentary track for Nudie Musical. So, I didn’t get up until nine o’clock in the morning. And now I must rush, rush, rush (that is three rushes) because I have a rehearsal for our Tourette’s Syndrome benefit, and then what they call a “walk through” at the Alex Theater. Isn’t this Saturday? Isn’t this my day to play? Apparently not. I shall have to play tomorrow, Sunday. Sunday shall be my day to play and play I shall, all the livelong day.
I finished watching the DVD of The Men Who Shot Kennedy. It is over five hours, and very interesting and very powerful, and sometimes very difficult to watch. This saga never ceases to anger, confuse and annoy. As several of the witnesses say, the fact that the government has been allowed to get away with so much obfuscation, lies, deceit, and then, when they finally admit there was obfuscation, lies, and deceit, to do nothing to those that perpetrated the obfuscation, lies, and deceit, is truly shameful. It’s not that one believes everything in this epic documentary, but there is so much there that makes so much sense, that it must be taken seriously. This documentary, made by an Englishman, was originally aired (if the copyright dates are to be trusted) in 1988 and 1989. The final episode was aired in 1995. It’s a bit overdramatic and pompous at times, but it’s never less than fascinating. If you want an epic conspiracy weekend, run this and then Oliver Stone’s director’s cut of JFK (the only Oliver Stone film that I can watch).
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? And has anyone noticed that I used the word “obfuscation”. I’m sorry, but that is just a ridiculous-looking word. It looks like some wiseacre took the words “obscure” and “confuse” and jumbled them up, invented a new word which meant basically the same thing, and then patted him or herself on the back for their cleverness. They then, I have no doubt, danced the Hora or, at the very least, the Jersey Bounce, and ate cheese slices and ham chunks. Frankly, I’ve had it with the word “obfuscation”. I’m done with the word “obfuscation”. You won’t be seeing the word “obfuscation” in these here notes again.
What the hell is going on here? Am I writing the whole of these notes in this first section? That is not Kosher, sayeth Mr. Mark Bakalor, who knows from Kosher. And the whole of these notes must be Kosher. So, let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below to keep the whole of these notes Kosher.
There, we have protected the integrity and Kosherness of the whole of these notes, and I, for one or even two, feel pretty damn good about it.
By the way, my Crab Cakes in Tarzana were excellent. I also had a Caeser Salad and a Baked Potato and some luscious chocolate thing for dessert.
Well, we all know what today is, don’t we, dear readers. Aside from being the day on which I normally play, it is also our Unseemly Trivia Contest day. Here is another confounder for you trivia experts. Now, let me say this: You cannot win if you do not play. Conversely, you cannot play if you cannot win. So, take a wild guess – who knows, you may just be a winner. Last week’s question was very difficult, but people really liked trying to figure it out – so here’s another along the same lines. There was some confusion about last week’s question and I had to clarify things – this week I will try not to have any obfuscation. Wait a minute, now I’ve gone and done it. Hose me down and give me an Indian burn, I’ve gone and used the word “obfuscation” again. It won’t happen again, I assure you. Here is this week’s question:
One of our most beloved still-living theater composers originally started out in another line of work, a line of work in which they were very successful and well-thought of. In fact, they were still doing that line of work when their first show opened in New York. This line of work was not theater-related, nor was it even show business related (except maybe in a totally obfuscated way). This person was highly acclaimed for their other line of work, and this person continued doing the other line of work occasionally, as the years went on, although only as a sideline. Name the composer, name their first New York show, and name the other line of work. Clue: This other line of work recently coincided with something I was involved with. In fact, bonus points if you can guess how so.
What a long-winded question. Good luck to one and all and also all and one. I know, I know, I know (that is three I knows), I slipped in “obfuscate” just to see if I could pull the wool over your eyes, but apparently the wool cannot be pulled over your eyes. Next time, I’ll try pulling the cotton over your eyes, or maybe even the nylon treacot over your eyes.
Donald’s got a spiffy new show going live tomorrow night – with special guest, Tammy Minoff. It’s about child performers in musicals (I think that’s what it’s about), and, of course, Tammy was in The Will Rogers Follies and The Goodbye Girl on Broadway, and I’m sure she’s got some fascinating stories to tell about Tommy Tune and Bernadette Peters.
Well, I’m sorry the whole of these notes isn’t longer – it’s really only the half of these notes, but I’ll have more time for the whole of these notes tomorrow. For now, I must rehearse and “walk through” and maybe, towards the end of the day, I’ll even have an hour to play. Today’s topic of discussion: Yesterday we all talked about which movie we’d seen the most times – today, let’s post about which musical we’ve seen the most times. It’s much harder sometimes to see a musical multiple times given the cost – so, it’s interesting what shows got people to spend their money time and time again – let’s limit this to Broadway, tours, and summer stock, but not regional or amateur productions. For me, it would have to be a tie between Hello, Dolly! and A Chorus Line. I probably saw Hello, Dolly! five times in its original national tour (with Channing, and then Ginger Rogers), I saw it subsequently with Dorothy Lamour, Pearl Bailey (several times, at least three), Phyllis Diller (who was terrific, by the way), a couple of standbys, and every subsequent tour with Channing. And, as some of you know, I produced the cast album of her last tour (I even got a Grammy nomination for it). I really saw it over and over again, not because I thought it was the greatest musical ever written, but because I loved watching Gower Champion’s wonderful staging. I saw A Chorus Line no less than thirty times during its first five years, and I’ve seen it many times since. Again, the dancing and the staging were just to die for, and I couldn’t get enough. I also saw Pippin at least eight or nine times on Broadway and the road for the same reason – the brilliant staging. The show I wish I’d seen more than once? Follies (in its original production with its original cast – I’ve seen it several times since in revival, but nothing has approached the original). Post away.