Well, dear readers, our countdown to Christmas is coming to an end. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, our countdown to Christmas is coming to an end. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and our famous Do, and I can tell you most assuredly that it will not be a Silent Night. No, it will be a night of merriment and mirth and laughter and legs, it will be a night of spaghetti and tuna pasta salad and nutmeats and chocolate donuts and good company. All creatures will be stirring, even the mice. In fact, the mice will be dancing the pony, and the ponies will be dancing the mice. I’ve done my big shopping and have all my ingredients. It is comforting to have all one’s ingredients, isn’t it? I always feel discomfort if I am lacking even one of my ingredients. It took me an hour to shop, but I had a lovelier than lovely time roaming around Gelson’s, singing O Come All Ye Faithful and The Shoop Shoop Song, both at the same time. The looks I got. Otherwise, I had a pleasantly pleasant day doing errands and attending to things. I did this, I did that, and then, just for a change, I did that and I did this. Then, I supped with our very own Miss Tammy Minoff, where we discussed the publicist for our play. We’re both feeling uneasy, frankly, and our producer will be having a major talk with him tomorrow to see where we are. I then attended rehearsal. Act one started off slowly, with low energy, but I stopped things about a quarter of the way through and then it picked up. The end of the act went very well and Tammy was the best she’s been in the last ten minutes of the act. Matt Ashford continues to get better and better – just a really solid actor who knows how to set things, then build on them. But, I’m afraid I am reaching high frustration level with my other actor. He’s a very good actor, who gave a terrific reading, which is why we cast him. But, like some actors, he has a “process” – he’s had it for three weeks, and I’ve been as patient as I know how to be. But, his “process” is organic, so he is having great difficulty setting anything – we never get the same line reading twice, we never get the same timing, and it’s very hard on the play and the other actor. In almost every rehearsal, it’s like he’s never even looked at the lines before. Since we open in two-and-a-half weeks, I don’t have time for any more “process” and he has to start locking in things that work, and then he has to make work what isn’t working. So, as difficult as it is, I’m going to have to have a chat with him this morning and we’re going to have to come to a meeting of the minds, or I may have to try to make a change, because I cannot allow this sort of thing to hurt the play or the other actors’ performances. I’m so completely baffled when I come upon an actor who simply cannot get out of his own way. The part is well-written and frankly it’s all there on the page – all you have to do is say the lines and understand the type of person that you’re playing. So, this could be a very difficult day, or a day that works itself out. Pray for Rosemary’s Baby.
Yesterday, I watched no motion pictures on DVD. I did, however, catch up on all but one of the Alias episodes that I’ve TIVOd. I tell you, to watch this beached whale of a show flounder and thrash about so ineptly is to watch a show that should have been put out of its misery long ago, perhaps when its creator and executive producer left. It continually insult its viewers – Sloan is good, Sloan is bad, Sloan is good, Sloan is bad, and on and on. And, of course, having a pregnant action heroine just cannot work, and it doesn’t. Bringing in other comely females to take over that stuff also doesn’t work. In fact, nothing works anymore – they’ve simply lost the ability to understand what made the show work in the first place.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have many things to deal with today, including singing O Come All Ye Faithful and The Shoop Shoop Song at the top of my lungs wherever I may be.
Today I shall be meeting up with our very own Mr. Nick Redman to go pick up a very exciting item he won on eBay (I did the bidding for him) – a hat worn by Mr. William Holden in Nick’s favorite film, The Wild Bunch. Needless to say, that’s quite an item and he’s thrilled to finally have something like that from such an iconic movie. After we pick it up, we shall lunch, and then I shall head back to the home environment to finish whatever needs finishing prior to rehearsal.
Now wait just a darned minute. I do believe we’d all better put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, I do believe we’d all better break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, I do believe we’d all better dance the Hora or the Pachanga, for today is dear reader William F. Orr’s very own birthday. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader William F. Orr on his very own birthday. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER WILLIAM F. ORR ON HIS VERY OWN BIRTHDAY!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have chats with actors and publicists, lunch with St. Nick, and then attend rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, the wonderful soundtrack to Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte by Mr. Frank De Vol, produced by our very own St. Nick, and a box set of the Arnold Bax symphonies. DVD, King Kong Escapes, a goofy Toho film from the 60s. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all sing The Shoop Shoop Song at the top of our collective lungs.