Well, dear readers, this morning they are apparently erecting a new building directly outside my hotel room and they have been doing so since early this morning. Still, I got a very good night’s sleep last night, so I’m not complaining – oh, no, I am not complaining.
Yesterday we had quite a busy day. First we took a train to something called Bayside where we met with the Tourette Syndrome folks. We settled on most of the details for the upcoming concert, including the ticket prices. Then we went to the Danny Kaye Playhouse and checked everything out there. It’s a lovely space but their proscenium is almost 15 feet narrower than that of the Alex Theater, so we will have some fancy adjusting to do, or at least our set designer in LA will. After that I had a little snack of coconut cake at the Brooklyn Diner which, by the way (BTW, in Internet lingo) is not located in Brooklyn. Then it was on to the auditions. We saw several children, both male and female – more female than male. They all did a fine job – still not sure I’ve found the male (I’m willing to go with one of them that we saw but would still like to see some others first) but I most definitely found the female – an absolutely wonderful singer/actress who is all of thirteen (but looks nine, unlike most thirteen year olds today who look thirty). What a voice. When I go back to making recordings, she is definitely working for me. I noticed on her resume that her acting and vocal coach is none other than our very own Diana Canova, and Diana is to be commended for her work with this incredible girl (I’ll reveal her name after we’ve set her via her agent). We had one boy audition who gave one of the weirdest auditions I’ve ever witnessed. We were all basically in shock. He reminded me of a chubby Barry Gordon (the original A Thousand Clowns kid) – he handed his music to the accompanist and then proceeded to do a little monologue about how he grew up loving Liza Minnelli. Then he proceeded to do Cabaret ala Liza, all show biz and hilarious Liza moves – not exactly imitating her, but still totally weird. Then, I asked him to sing something else, hoping to see some different side of him. He chose the last chorus of New York, New York, which he also performed ala Liza. He had a very good voice, but he really mustn’t do this at auditions, at least in my opinion (IMO, in Internet lingo).
Then it was off to Joe Allen to meet up with our stage manager, Miss Lori Doyle (she stage managed Jane Eyre, 1776 and many others). My NY assistant Jonathan was very helpful at the auditions and will be doing quite a bit of the legwork on the concert before we arrive.
It sounds like I’m writing a diary here. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below so I can tell you what today holds?
Dear Diary:
What today holds. Today holds many things. Today I shall meet with my handy-dandy producers of both film and stage version of Nudie Musical. Then I shall meet with some directors. Then I shall check up on things at this here site. Then Cissy Wechter and I are meeting some people for dinner at some restaurant. That is what today holds at this time. It could hold some other things, or it could not. We shall see what we shall see.
Then I have to wake up quite early in the morning to go to the airport, so I will most likely have to write tomorrow’s notes tonight. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Well, diary, I must take the day, I must do the things I do and I must do them well. I must take a taxi cab to Chelsea and I must take one back from Chelsea. Yes, Virginia, I made my mind up back in Chelsea when I go I’m goin’ in a taxi. Today’s topic of discussion: Put together a desert island compilation CD of ten tracks from any kind of an album. Post away my pretties, and if I have time I’ll post mine on my return.