Well, dear readers, it is Tuesday and I am already exhausted, and I’ve got a hugely busy today and tomorrow to go. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers – I am already exhausted. Last Friday I saw The Drowsy Chaperone, and now on Monday, I’m The Drowsy BK. It was a lovely fourteen hour day today, which started at eight-in-the-morning, breakfasting with Mr. Grant Geissman, and then the two of us went to get our resale license so that we don’t have to pay tax on things like pressing and booklet design and such. I then shipped a couple of packages, picked up a package, and came back home, shaved and showered, and made my way to LACC. My first rehearsal began at four with the four faculty members. I tell you, if we pull this thing together it will be a true miracle. None of them has ever done this sort of thing before, so it’s a combo-platter of having to learn a not-so-easy tune and a lot of lyrics, and having to do a fully staged number. We did intensive work for two hours, then I made them a new tape with just me singing the parody lyrics. Today they’ll be working with my two assistants, and I’ll have them on Wednesday, but then I told them it’s really up to them, that they have to really get the number in their bodies by the following Monday. We shall see. At six, I began the big rehearsal – we started by running the opening number musically, then I let them do it. They managed to get through most of it just fine, so I cleaned up what was sloppy. I have a new girl in the number and she was completely not with it – if she doesn’t GET with it, I’ll replace her on Wednesday. I’m really being a tough taskmaster on the opening because it will set the tone for the entire evening. But, I’ll tell you, when the kids are sharp, it looks and works really well. I then dove into the act one closer, Things Are So Strange, from my musical of The Comedy of Errors. I got through the opening bits very fast, but the two sections where everyone moves at once, singing counterpoint, was very difficult because, unlike the original production where I only had eleven people in the number, this time I have seventeen and it got very complex. But, we finished the number and by the end of the evening it was looking pretty good. We’ll work both numbers on Wednesday, even though a couple of the kids who are going out of town for Thanksgiving won’t be there. So, those are the two biggies – the finale, Our Time, isn’t difficult, just one big group in “choir” positions. I have to do a little staging on Been A Long Day, but that will only take five minutes. Otherwise, it’s just positioning people for their numbers, which I’ll do as the people are available. As if all that weren’t enough, we now have to start writing the patter, which I’ll do some of over the weekend. Rehearsal finished at ten, and I came straight home, where I immediately sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched no motion pictures on DVD, and tonight I shall be watching no motion pictures on DVD. Thursday, I’ll watch some motion pictures on DVD.
Well, that was a fascinating paragraph, wasn’t it? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because I’ve got things to do, places to go, and people to see, not necessarily in that order.
Oh, I forgot to mention that one of the students didn’t show up again tonight – same excuse as last time – last minute working. I threw him out of the show. One of the teachers told me that this kid is the most arrogant SOB they’ve ever had. My suggestion was they toss him out of the department, because coddling him will do him no good. He doesn’t care about anything but himself, and frankly, from what I’ve seen on the one night I worked with him, his talent isn’t sufficient for that sort of arrogance. So, I still have to find an additional male, and hopefully I’ll have one who can learn his stuff prior to Wednesday’s rehearsal.
Today, I must rendezvous with Miss Linda Purl, then attend a meeting with my lighting designer for the play, then must go to the editing room a few hours earlier than tonight’s session, so I can start to whittle down the choices for our celebrity video clip reel. That, I have the feeling, is going to be a nice long, drawn out affair, and I presume I will not be home in time for the notes to go up at midnight. Then again, maybe I’ll be surprised and it will go fast and smooth.
I tell you, I can barely keep my eyes open, so perhaps I’d better rap up these here notes. Here’s the rap:
Say, the notes are done
And we’ve had our fun
‘Cause my lids are droopy
And I’m feelin’ poopy
Dawg, before I bleep
Gotta get my sleep
There, I have now rapped up the notes.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, meet, greet, eat, and be fleet. Today’s topic of discussion: I was listening to the cast album of Kean and I began to wonder – when did vocal styles completely change on Broadway. On Kean, you had Alfred Drake and company, with all these beefy voices for the men, and soprano-y voices on the women, all very classical-sounding. At what point did that all change? When did we get the current-sounding Broadway gals – the belters and, more importantly, the vocal quality of today’s female singers, which sounds nothing like the gals of old. Same with the men. So, try to pinpoint when these changes took place, and I’d be interested in hearing your reasons for why they took place. And do you prefer the Broadway singing of old as compares to today’s style of singing. And who were your favorite classic Broadway singers of old, and who are your favorite of the new crop? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we?