Well, dear readers, I give fair warning that today’s notes will be SCARRRRRY. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, today’s notes will be SCARRRRRY because tonight is Halloween, and yes, Virginia, we will be having our annual Halloween do right here at haineshisway.com. We must all wear our various and sundried Halloween costumes, and we must have full reports and photographs as visual aids. We must have a constant supply of Halloween candy at our beck and call or, at the very least, our call and beck. But, before we get to that, how about yesterday? Yesterday was a busy, busy Sunday for the likes of me. For example, I had to be at the Music Center at 10:30 to watch a run-through of The Drowsy Chaperone. For the report on that, check out yesterday’s posts. In fact, if you missed any of the merriment and mirth and laughter and legs that went on here over the weekend, you simply must check it out. I then had to rush back to the Valley to join Mr. Kevin Spirtas at the NoHo Arts Center Theater to see City of Angels. This is not a production of the people who own the theater, but rather a rental. Produced by a relatively new theater group (which I’d read about earlier this year when doing research on theater companies), I’m afraid it’s strictly amateursville all the way. When did it become acceptable for productions that aren’t even up to some community theater levels to tout themselves as somehow being the equivalent of professional theater? That’s how this show has been touted, and I find it peculiar, given what was on view. The audience seemed to consist of friends (several of whom must be the ones posting that this is a “must see”) and family members and members of those ticket giveaway services – still, it was pretty full. City of Angels is a deceptive show – it may seem easy to pull off, but it’s not. Part of that is because it’s simply not as good a show as people think it is, and part of that is because its comedy requires expert players who understand it. Certainly the director of this three-hour production didn’t understand it. Certainly the actors didn’t understand it. So, what one was left with was a fairly serious version of a musical COMEDY. For me, the problem with the show is that I’ve always felt it played more like a play with songs grafted onto it. Here the songs are not so well performed (a couple of the actors were okay, but most were not up to the show’s demands), and, as I said, the comedy, for the most part, is completely absent. The director has done other shows here and there, and maybe those productions were better than what’s on view here, or maybe this is what passes for theater these days. The small band (piano, bass, drums, and trumpet) do a good job, and the set design (very simple because of budget and space, I imagine) and lighting (whoever is running the show is not doing such a good job – I was warned about this in advance, since many cues are just late or non-existent) are fine (both designers are doing my play). The pace was excruciatingly slow, which made its three hours seem like six. I’m sorry to be so negative about all of this, because I know how hard it is to put on shows – but I just don’t understand the point of doing them like this was done. After it was over, Mr. Kevin Spirtas and I supped at Marie Callendar’s – it was quite yummilicious.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below so that we can at long last hear the story of The 23 Hiccups, which is not a book by John Buchan.
As most of you know, I have been having terrible issues with AOL and Adelphia, which have just been getting worse and worse. When I got home last night, I could not connect to the Internet or AOL or Adelphia or anything else, and yet the modem lights were all working properly. I finally got Adelphia on the phone and let loose with such a stream of invective that the gentleman I was talking to finally helped figure out what was really going on and the cause of all this that’s been happening over the last month. The first thing we ascertained is that I have had a constant signal for two months. He had me unplug the wireless router and then plug it in again. That got me back on the Internet. He then figured out that my modem has been having what he deemed “hiccups” – losing signal for just a moment, which occasionally causes the wireless device to lose the IP address of the modem. He was even able to tell me the exact number of hiccups the modem has had in the last three weeks – 23 to be exact. He then put me on to billing, and they are sending a Cable Man to me in the morning with a brand spanking new modem, which will hopefully not suffer from hiccups. I shall, of course, have a full report for you on the new modem when it arrives.
23 Hiccups, can you imagine? That’s just too too many hiccups for a modem, don’t you think? That just skeeves me, frankly or even georgely.
Now, let’s get back to Halloween. Not only is it Halloween, it’s the last day of October, hence tomorrow will be the first day of November. As I’ve said, November will be a pretty crazy month for me, work-wise or even wise-work. The LACC benefit will go into high gear, and we have to cast the two parts in my play, and get everything ready for our rehearsals, which begin at the end of the month. But enough about me – it’s Halloween, and Halloween is SCARRRRRRY, what with things that go bump in the night and bumps that go thing in the night, and hobgoblins, and ghosties, and ghoulies, and ghastlies. I feel our partay will be so much fun that we may even break a posting record or two – in any case, we should try to send October out with a bang.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must get a new modem which will not have The 23 Hiccups, I must write, I must address packages and ready them for shipping, I must attend to instrument rentals and cartage for next week’s Drowsy Chaperone session, and I must, above all, be SCARRRRRRY. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the most amateurish production of a play or musical that you’ve ever seen. Not a school production, but a production you paid money to see and which turned out to be shockingly abysmal. Let’s have full details about everything. Let’s also have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let’s make them SCARRRRRRY, for it is our annual Halloween do. I want full reports on all your trick or treaters and their costumes, and I want photographs. Boo! Did I scare you?