Well, dear readers, it’s already Tuesday. That’s because yesterday was already Monday. Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives. Yesterday, I had many errands to do and lots of stuff to start figuring out. Soon I will tell you all what’s been going on but I’ve got major things to deal with in the next three weeks – it’s going to be a bit tumultuous, as it involves a bit of transition, but with your excellent vibes and xylophones I shall persevere, oh, yes, I shall persevere. We’re thinking about extending our run by another week – we’ve been asked to do a benefit and everyone seems to want to do it – and also, if we’re going to record the show I wouldn’t be able to do it before the 20th, so perhaps everything works out the way it should work out. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
I’ve been watching episodes of Night Gallery, the Rod Serling series from the early seventies. The pilot, which was entirely written by Serling, and which at least had competent directors, was okay, with some effective storytelling. But the series itself, produced by the merely adequate Jack Laird, simply wasn’t very good. The stories not written by Serling have no magic and are, for the most part, just sub-standard, in both writing and in direction, too. Serling, aside from writing a few episodes, and, of course, hosting the show, didn’t have a lot to do with it, I gather. Even the stories he wrote, though, seem like tired retreads of The Twilight Zone. There are some interesting actors in some of the episodes, including an impossibly young Diane Keaton, just post Play it Again Sam on Broadway. The pilot has a wonderful musical score by Billy Goldenberg. The series seems to be mostly scored by Robert Prince, and he’s very good. The strange theme is by Gil Melle. I also finally watched The Day of the Locust (not to be confused with The Days of Our Lives). What a strange little film. I loathed it when I saw it on its initial release, and I’m not much fonder of it now. It’s just heavy-handed in all the wrong ways and the script by Waldo Salt (from the wonderful novel of Nathaniel West) just doesn’t work very well. It does boast an interesting cast, including Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton (who I’ve never really cared for), Billy Barty, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Sutherland, and a few other good seventies actors. It’s directed by John Schlesinger, and his work here is not his best – again, everything is heavy-handed and the film clocks in at a whopping 144 minutes. The art direction and period detail, however, make the film worth watching. The photography by Conrad Hall uses heavy heavy diffusion so the image always looks soft. This is not a fault of the transfer, it’s the way the film has always looked – plus there is quite a bit of grain, as was the case with films of that decade (there are quite a few opticals and matte paintings in the film). The score is by John Barry and has a lovely main theme, plus there are a lot of period songs. It’s one of those films you want to take a shower after.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Shouldn’t we all be clicking on the Unseemly Button below right about now?
Yes, it is a time of transition. Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our lives. This is how things go as the world turns and if the world turns enough then you get another world. I just hope I don’t have to go into General Hospital. Perhaps if I have a Guiding Light to lead my way everything will be fine. I tell you the young and the restless do have their passions, but I am the old and the senile and I have no passions whatsoever. I do have one life to live, however, and perhaps I’ll live it in Port Charles amongst the bold and the beautiful. What am I, a soap opera all of a sudden?
Don’t forget, Donald has a new radio show up for your listening pleasure. And for your reading pleasure, I offer you some of our review quotes for What If:
This show is great! I’m going to tell everybody to come see ‘What If?’ A Musical Revue. Miss it at your own risk!” – Mel Brooks
– “This show boasts of a stage full of talented people – five brilliant young performers, each with beautiful singing voices and sensational stage presences! It’s a very worthwhile evening of theatre!” – Carl Reiner
– “I laughed my head off!” – Billy Barnes
– “An amusing bit of serendipity. As is explained in the opening number of ‘What If?’ at the Hudson Mainstage, director Bruce Kimmel lost the rights to a succession of ‘straight’ dramas before deciding, in final desperation, to put on a musical revue. After all, the theater was already rented, so what did Kimmel and company have to lose? Very little, as it turns out…there’s plenty of fun to be found…plenty of punch, thanks largely to Kimmel’s clever parody lyrics, not to mention a winning cast that includes the riotous Susanne Blakeslee of ‘Forbidden Broadway’ fame…uproarious parody numbers…Blakeslee is a pure delight, while Paul Haber, Alet Taylor and Ryan Raftery are all wily pros who can really sell a song. Tammy Minoff, who rounds out the cast, has plenty of gamin appeal…” – F. Kathleen Foley, “Los Angeles Times”
– “‘What If?,’ the new revue at Hudson Mainstage, is amiable, good-natured entertainment…This series of parodies musically poses such questions as ‘what if’ Irving Berlin had written ‘West Side Story’ or Rodgers and Hammerstein had written ‘Assassins.’ Its virtue is an ingenious concept that shows how stylistically ludicrous certain shows would be if shaped by different composers. Thanks to Bruce Kimmel’s brisk direction and the energetic five-person cast…the skits score a bull’s-eye!…(The show features) a clever Bock & Harnick ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ spoof version of ‘A Chorus Line,’ with ‘Audition’ substituting for ‘Tradition.’ Director Kimmel and choreographers Cheryl Baxter and Joseph R. McKee amusingly conflate the worlds of Russia’s Anatevka and hard-boiled Broadway. ‘Times Like This,’ by Flaherty & Ahrens, features (Tammy) Minoff, who displays an appealingly fresh, wide-eyed presence. (Paul) Haber (TV’s ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘Ed’) has a superior showcase playing Mr. Karp from ‘A Chorus Line’ – the mercilessly demanding teacher who tyrannizes poor Morales. Karp is permitted to give his view of the events, expounding angrily against his frustrating High School of Performing Arts student. Haber turns Karp into a fully realized character, projecting the appropriate irony when complaining that he has died, and Morales continues to receive ‘Chorus Line’ checks. Legendary special-material writer Billy Barnes offers charismatic Susanne Blakeslee the witty ‘A Little Lift,’ detailing every comedic nip and tuck of plastic surgery, and Kimmel’s lyrics create a wonderful ‘what if’ when speculating on a possible Irving Berlin approach to ‘West Side Story.’ Ryan Raftery exhibits natural, boyish freedom and poise as a performer…Haber is a hoot wearing costumer Amy Adams’ open red vest (in Frank Loesser’s ‘Guys and Dolls’ version of ‘The King & I’)…she also gives Haber a hilarious gray wig and blood-spattered T-shirt for his ‘Sweeney Todd’ segment. All the elements are in place for the show’s first act closer, ‘The Yiddish Sondheim’…’I Shall Marry Irv Miller’s Son,’ ‘Finishing the Borscht,’ ‘Into the Shul,’ and ‘Little Things You Do Together That Make Jewish Relationships’ are all suitably spoofy…Other noteworthy, well-performed numbers – Blakeslee’s ‘Better’ (Kleban) and ‘A Slight Neurotic’ (Kimmel) and Alet Taylor’s ‘If I Can’t Take It With Me’ (Leroy Anderson, Walter and Jean Kerr)…An inventive section, the theater equivalent of film’s coming attractions – with imaginative movie trailer audio designed and produced by Christopher Moscatiello…A garishly melodramatic ‘Oklahoma!’ takeoff, it features huge corn stalks and the darkly humorous sight of a menacing murderous Judd.”
– Joel Hirschhorn, “Daily Variety”
– “The premise is in the title: What if one famous musical theatre composer had written the score for another’s wildly inappropriate show? Thus we are made privy to the delightful fiction, for example, of Stephen Sondheim bringing the verbal density and emotional layering of ‘Company’ to a bit of silliness such as ‘Bye Bye Birdie.’ Chris Moscatiello’s audio design on the segment (‘Broadway Coming Attractions,’ Kimmel’s notion of what a preview of ‘Oklahoma!’ would look like if it were produced with the malevolent intensity of a Bruckheimer trailer) nudges it from gem to genius! The show is in the capable hands of a fine quintet, foremost among them Susanne Blakeslee of ‘Forbidden Broadway’ fame. She is clearly in her element here and handles her duties as the mature woman with grace. Her stylistic opposite is Ryan Raftery, the consummate geeky-cute musical theatre nerd. His enthusiastically repeated attempts to sing ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ never stale. He is nicely balanced by Paul Haber’s low-key wit. Alet Taylor shines both visually and vocally. Kimmel directs with verve…this is a don’t miss production!”
– Wenzel Jones, “Back Stage West”
– “Recommended! Director Bruce Kimmel and his extraordinary cast have created what could become a hugely successful franchise on the order of ‘Forbidden Broadway.’ This is some of the finest musical theater parody I have seen. Kimmel’s outlandish lyrics, mocking Broadway’s best, aggressively converge with some of the most popular music of Sondheim, Rodgers, Bernstein, Loesser and more – creating shockingly funny moments. Beyond Kimmel’s very clever conceit are the performances of five performers who seem to breath musical theater in their perfect mimicry of Broadway singing and dancing – the latter helped tremendously by choreographers Cheryl Baxter and Joseph R. McKee…high-flying fun! We may well see a long run here, in New York and points in between.” – Tom Provenzano, “LA Weekly”
– “What a refreshing surprise!” – Jack Klugman
– “‘What If?’ A Musical Revue, is to musical theatre, what ‘Saturday Night Live’ is to pop culture. For example, early in the show we see a number from ‘A Chorus Line’ as if it had collided with a number from ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ ‘What If?’ offers more than one singular sensation – embodied by a delightful cast, appearing new, fresh and wonderful, even though they have decades of experience between them. As impressive were those turning out for the Opening Night, including: Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Phil Crosby, Jr. and his mom, Peggy Crosby, Jason Graae, Mark McGrath (lead singer for Sugar Ray), Charles Edward Pogue, Billy Barnes, Nancy Dussault, Jack Klugman, Broadway legend George Furth, Jason & deMarco, and more. – Nicholas Snow, www.notesfromhollywood.com
– “If this show ever gets to New York, it will run for 25 years!” – Ira Fistell, KABC-AM
– “Wit, style and gut-bucket elegance! Totally enjoyable!” – Richard M. Sherman
– “Thanks for a really fun night! The show is as cute as can be!” – Elmarie Wendel
– “What if, instead of writing ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick had written ‘A Chorus Line?’ As parody goes, this is heady stuff. Bruce Kimmel’s parody lyrics, married to Jerry Bock’s original music, manage to gently mock both ‘A Chorus Line’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ The choreography, by Cheryl Baxter and Joseph R. McKee, also does double duty, getting laughs and combining the raised-arms-traditional-dancing of ‘Fiddler’ with the tip-the-invisible-hat steps from ‘A Chorus Line.’ It’s two-for-the-price-of-one comedy that’s a musical theatre lover’s dream! One of the best parody moments in the show comes late in the second act, when the cast ponders what would happen if Broadway shows produced ‘Coming Attraction’ trailers in the same style films use…hysterically funny!” – Sharon Perlmutter, www.TalkinBroadway.com
– “If you’re in the mood for some great musical comedy, check out Bruce Kimmel’s ‘What If?’ at the Hudson Theatre which runs through September 18th. It is a series of parodies musically posing questions like ‘what if’ Irving Berlin had written ‘West Side Story’ or if Rodgers and Hammerstein had written ‘Assassins.’ It shows how hysterical and ludicrous these shows would be. Ryan Raftery is brilliant and extremely entertaining throughout the show’s various numbers!” – Diane Seymore and Bedda Hopper, “Odyssey Magazine”
– “Feel like a song (or several)? Go see ‘What If?’ A Musical Revue, a deliciously tongue-in-cheek evening of musical theatre parody! Brush up on your show tunes, ’cause you know it’ll be a great place to meet plenty of other gay men!” – Ken Knox, “IN Los Angeles Magazine”
– “Best Bet!” – “Los Angeles Daily News”
– “Best Bet!” – “ParkLaBrea News/Beverly Press”
– “Best Bet!” – “Ventura County Star”
– “Pick of the Week! What if you were about to do a play and suddenly you learn you can’t get the rights for it? Ellafrankie Productions and Kritzerland Entertainment’s newest production starts with that premise and has the characters scrambling for something to put on stage, finally hitting on the idea of a musical review. But what to review? After some quibbling, the quintet agrees to do a show about shows – adding the ‘what if’ factor. So it is that we get a rib-tickling couple of hours of wildly speculative scenarios, where the actors ask ‘what if’ Bock and Harnick (‘Fiddler on the Roof’) had written (‘A Chorus Line?’) The funniest part is the ‘Broadway Coming Attractions,’ where we see a theater trailer for ‘Oklahoma!’ done modern style – ‘Does the corn really grow as high as an elephant’s eye?’ a deep dramatic off stage voice asks while actors traipse frantically behind a cutout screen. Bruce Kimmel wrote most of the madness and directs a talented troupe led by the incomparable Susanne Blakeslee of ‘Forbidden Hollywood’ fame. Joining here are beautiful Tammy Minoff and the sugar voiced Alet Taylor, who wows them with ‘When You’re Waiting for Love,’ among other numbers. Paul Haber is not only comical, his rendition of ‘Millions of Men’ captures a wonderful mood, and young Ryan Raftery is all over the place with a terrifically mature voice and madcap antics. The amazing piano work by Jose C. Simbulan keeps things lively and Amy Adams’ costumes add a touch of class to the production. The fun continues through September 18th!” – Jose Ruiz, “Entertainment Today”
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must deal with things, I must make preparations, I must do a spot of writing, and then I must have a dinner meeting at one of my favorite restaurants, Dan Tana’s. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite “Hollywood” films – those films about tinseltown and its denizens. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all look at our respective hourglasses – yes, these are the days of our lives you bold and beautiful hainsies/kimlets.