Well, dear readers, the LACC benefit is tomorrow night, and frankly, I’m not sure what it will be like. I saw some things last night I hadn’t seen before (scenes, tributes), and everything just feels endlessly long to me. I’m told the running times of these things are what we were figuring in our tallies – I really should have had a stopwatch on them. For example, one of the Powerpoint sections seemed really long, so I asked and was told it was only a minute. When I actually went to the person operating it, it turned out it was closer to two. I immediately told him to make each and every fade two seconds faster, which will cut it down by forty seconds instantly. We haven’t even seen half the musical numbers, as the people performing them are all arriving in town today. But, at least I pretty well know what those songs’ running times are. I also saw two musical numbers I hadn’t seen and they were endless, too – filled with dialogue. I suggested we cut most of the dialogue, and was greeted with “but they won’t know what the story is about” – at which point I had to say, who cares what the story is about – I’ll set it up in the intro. We’re not doing plays here, we’re doing songs. I know he was cutting when I left. There is simply no way for me to know or even attempt to know how long we are – this is the nature of benefits. Since day one I said two hours, and everyone agreed on that. Now, I’m seeing six minute scenes (out of context of their plays), and long tribute speeches. I’ve asked for cuts in all the tributes – we’re doing a show, not a history lesson. Certainly all the numbers that I staged and/or wrote, are tight, concise, no dialogue, and they just move right along. I do know the opening is really good (very cool when all the drapes fly in during the first verse), as is the end of act one. I think the teachers’ number will be fine, and the finale is fine. And at least three of the other numbers I’m not concerned about at all. I should have been invited to watch all these scene things long ago, so we could actually have done something about the length of some of them. But, I think the co-director took some notice of length last night, and minimally I think he’s going to try to speed them up. The actors are all fine – it’s just that doing scenes out of context is difficult and, for my money, it’s very hard to hold audience interest, especially in the two places in the show where there are two scenes back-to-back. Am I ranting? Am I raving? Am I a fountain of caterwauling? Ah, well, all we can do is hope that everything turns out the way it should, and that everyone is on the same page in terms of the pace of the evening.
Before I went to rehearsal, I got a lovelier than lovely haircut from Teddy, and I picked up a plethora of packages from my mail place. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly I may just have some more caterwauling to do.
I will say that thank goodness, I keep the atmosphere light and fun. Plus, my old school chum Bill Ewing has been around, and we’ve just been laughing and laughing about this and that and also that and this. And some of the new folks I’ve met are really fun, and we’ve just been laughing and laughing, too.
I do hope I fit in my tuxedo tomorrow night. Actually, I’ll be trying it on for size this morning. Today, of course, I’ll be at LACC, working with the sound man and the tech department. Then, at six-thirty, we begin rehearsals with the singers and the band. Happily, I’ll be seeing Cindy Williams, Diana Canova, Valerie Gillett, Maggie Roswell, and a host of other out-of-towners, which will be grand fun. But, each singer only has a twenty-minute slot, so we’ll have to keep things moving right along. Other than that, I don’t believe I’ll have much time to do anything else.
My goodness, these here notes have been very one-note, haven’t they? One-note notes. Why, if my name were Johnny instead of BK, they would be Johnny One-Note Notes. Well, the fact of the matter is that I have nothing else to write about, since I have simply been consumed with the show, day after day. Next week, I shall have a whole slew of new things to write about. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, next week I shall have a new slew.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, stop writing these here one-note notes, I must stop my caterwauling, I must simply hope for the best and trust that the show will remain interesting no matter what its ultimate length. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – all this driving has enabled me to listen to quite a few CDs that I’d had no time to get to. Today, I listened to Bill Conti’s lovely soundtrack to Broadcast News, and then Victor Young’s quite oriental-sounding score to The Left Hand of God. After I finish with the latter, I’ve got a trio of film scores by a French composer I’m very fond of – Phillipe Rombi. DVD – I have to finish Scarlet Street, then will be moving on to Mr. Lang’s House By The River, and then King Kong. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we end these one-note notes in high fashion (Carnaby cap, go-go boots, and a plastic micro skirt and mesh stockings).