Well, dear readers, we are kicking into high gear for the Tourette’s Syndrom benefit. Many rehearsals from here on in, with both the house band, the Baja Marimba Band, our hosts, our singers, all very exciting and nerve-wracking. It’s astonishing to think how long it takes to put something like this together. I was first asked to be involved almost a year ago. Cissy Wechter has done an amazing job, as have her sons David and Jerry. It’s also astonishing to think that all this work is for one night. But we’re all having a grand time and the tickets are selling extremely well, and as of two weeks ago we also had the comfort zone of knowing that we’d already covered all the costs of putting the benefit together and were well into the black and making some nice bucks for Tourette’s.
Last night I went to the Colony Theater to see the musical entitled Side Show. This production has become something of a sensation here in Los Angeles (well, Burbank) and has been a constant sellout and was, in fact, extended for a few weeks. But before I talk about Side Show I would like to talk about how difficult it is to lose weight once you reach a certain age. Apparently, I have reached a certain age, because it’s like pulling teeth to lose a few pounds. No matter how lightly I eat, no matter how far I jog, these pounds do not want to be lost. I have yelled at these pounds – I have berated these pound, I have said to these pounds, “Get lost, get outta here, take a hike, amscray, take a one way ticket to Palookaville, hit the road, get your kicks on Route 66,” and yet these pounds will not get lost, they stick around like so much fish, annoying me no end. It’s not that I’m fat or anything like that, it’s not that I’m not in shape or anything like that – after all, I am close to being buff and toned with abs and buns of steel; I just have these pounds I don’t want and they will not go away. Oh, well, I shall keep trying, I will not give up until these damned pounds have gone the way of all flesh, whatever the hell that means. What does that mean? “The way of all flesh”. Shouldn’t it be the “weigh of all flesh”? Isn’t that what we’re talking about here? Or perhaps, “the whey of all flesh” although the curds might feel left out. What the hell am I talking about? Oh, yes, the pounds that wouldn’t go away. Well, this whole pounds thing is making me very agitated or, in musical terms, agitato. Perhaps I should eat a tomahto whilst being agitato, but not a potahto because that would only add to the pounds and make me more agitato.
Have I mentioned that certain pounds of mine will not go away? They won’t, damn their eyes. In any case, I saw the musical entitled Side Show last night and as soon as we all click on that Unseemly Button below, we can see my thoughts on said Side Show.
I first saw Side Show in its brief run on Broadway, where it starred Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner. Emily was out the night I saw it, and was replaced by Lauren Kennedy. It also featured Jeff McCarthy and Norm Lewis, and was directed by Robert Longbottom. This show had some pretty fervent fans, and an equal number of people who detested it. It’s fans, in fact, were all over the internet, posting everywhere, trying to save a show that had become “their” show. They were at TKTS every day and every night, trying to drum up business. I enjoyed parts of that production, but thought it didn’t really come off. I thought all the pastiche numbers worked very well, but that the power ballads were too similar and that the recitative (it’s basically all sung) got to be very annoying after awhile. The cast was pretty terrific, though, and the girls were amazing, giving their all. I just felt that we never really learned anything of depth about the Hilton Sisters, and the love triangle got wearisome.
So, I was not especially looking forward to this new production. However, I must say I enjoyed it a bit more out here. The production is well-directed, and because it’s a little more intimate in feel, one gets into the characters more. For a small theater production it’s got great production values – and the seven piece band manages to sound much bigger than you’d ever imagine possible. The show’s problems are still there, though, but that seemed to matter not one whit to the screaming crowd last night. The reasons for the screams are carefully built into the show – it’s designed to get that kind of reaction, sometimes shamelessly so. The cast here is mostly very good, with terrific work by Julie Dixon Jackson and Misty Cotton as Daisy and Violet. They are both powerhouse belters and they tear into the songs with much fervor and emotion. The whole affair didn’t quite have the polish or sheen of the Broadway production and that probably worked in its favor. Anyway, it pretty much held my attention throughout. The pastiche music (the score is by Henry Krieger) is surprisingly strong and some of the lyrics (by Bill Russell) are fine. Mr. Henry Krieger of course wrote Dreamgirls, and much of the recitative in this show sounds identical to the recitative in that show. Mr. Krieger seems to know how to write one power ballad and he writes it over and over again – that said, it’s a good power ballad and it does get the people to screaming. That is because Mr. Krieger is adept at knowing where to put modulations and/or huge drum fills. Works every time. In any case, if you’re around these parts you should try to get over there this weekend to see it, although it’s fairly well sold out.
What am I, Ken Mandelbaum all of a sudden? The best thing about Side Show, by the way, is that it brought to me Emily and Alice, with whom I did two of the best albums I’ve ever been involved with, as well as Emily’s solo effort, which isn’t exactly chopped liver. I adore them both and wouldn’t have traded that collaboration for anything.
Don’t forget, tomorrow is our Unseemly Trivia Contest day, and Sunday is our free-for-all post day, so do not be an errant and truant weekend dear reader – come and join our merry weekend crew and we will have mirth and gaiety, not necessarily in that order.
THE MELTZ AND ERNEST STORY: THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH
The 1950s were a giddy time for Broadway musicals. Every season there were at least ten new musical shows, some of which were hits, some of which were misses. Hinky Meltz’s dream was to have a musical on Broadway or, at the very least, in Teaneck, New Jersey. Ernest Ernest shared that dream – after all they’d had songs recorded by the likes of Patsy Lombardo and His Octet, Barbara Clooney, Russell Knees, the great Herbie Erbie and his Society Twelve, and Tommy Vale (doing the magnificent Meltz and Ernest song, I Left my Heart in Central Station Along with my Tuna Sandwich). Wasn’t a musical the next step in their evolution? The answer, of course, was yes. And so they began work on an original musical entitled Leave Her To Frank, the story of an amnesiac lost in the jungles of New York, searching for her identity amidst the hoity-toity high society of Park Avenue. It was a bold concept, and Meltz and Ernest, in conjunction with their book writer, Irving Yelman labored over it laboriously. They turned out song after song, some of which were as good as anything they’d written. The score started to take shape with such numbers as “Can You Tell Me Who I Am Because I Forgot”, “The Hoity-Toity High Society of Park Avenue”, and the title song, “Leave Her To Frank”.
Leave her to Frank,
Her mind is a blank
Who wants a girl who can’t remember
Whether it’s September
Or December
They worked for a solid month on this show. And when they were done they had their musical. They immediately took it to the producer David Merrick. In a week’s time, Mr. Merrick returned their manuscript and demo recording with a kind note which said, “If I ever see the names Meltz and Ernest and Yelman on a project again I will vomit. Like your heroine, by the time I finished listening to it and reading it, I couldn’t remember anything. Please do not bother me again”. The demo record was broken in half and the manuscript looked like it had been but into a mixmaster. But that did not deter the team. They spent the next year trying to interest producers in their show. Sadly, there were no takers. They did do one backers audition and those that came were very impressed with what they heard. Unfortunately, none of them were producers, they were simple tradespeople who related to the musical tale of an amnesiac lost in the jungles of the New York hoity-toity high society of Park Avenue.
We’ll continue their tale next Friday. But now I must be off, I am late, I must do the things I do. Today’s topic of discussion: What movies make you cry – unashamedly and unabashedly cry? I’ll start: It’s A Wonderful Life (gets me every time), The Miracle Worker (the ending puts me away), E.T. (sorry, but there you are), West Side Story, the ending of City Lights (one of the most beautiful in all of film), and many others. But, for now, your turn.