Well, dear readers, it is Sunday, a day of rest, and boy do I need a rest. And by gum and by golly and buy bonds rest I shall have, even if I decide to attend the matinee performance (our final matinee performance, actually). If I go, it will be the only time I leave the home environment today – otherwise I will simply sit on my couch like so much fish and watch DVDs and putter around the house, like a gazelle trying to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Speaking of a single bound, yesterday was quite a fascinating day. I got up early, she of the Evil Eye arrived and I beat a hasty retreat. I did some banking, paid a plethora of bills, and then got lucky and was able to get in to get a haircut with Teddy. He did his customary great job and I feel pounds lighter and I look quite boyish for an elderly Jew. I then went to Miss Linda Purl’s home environment, and we drove down to the city known as Whittier. The venue was on the campus of Whittier College, and I must say we all thought it was a wonderful space. The theater seats four hundred, yet it feels very intimate. They had the stage already set up – a beautiful piano, two large bushes at the rear, a stool, the mic stand, and the floor monitors, all in position. All I had to do was adjust the position of the piano. I then handed our student lighting person the cue book – she was very pleased how detailed it was, and she went up to the booth to focus and set some specials and to watch our walk through. Our walk through went very well – just a cue to cue, really, but Linda remembered all the patter and all her moves, which made us all feel very comfortable. We finished around five-thirty, then we retired to the green room where they had food for us. I sat with the lighting gal going over every cue in terms of mood, color, and fades, snap-outs, or just subtle changes. We were all very impressed with their student crew – conscientious, good at what they do, and very nice.
And then it was time for the show. We had about a half-house, which, in that space, looks very full. They were mostly elderly people, with a handful of younger folks (when I say “younger” I mean about forty). Considering it was our first go with what is basically a completely new show for Linda, and considering we only really had one complete run-through, it went surprisingly well. No real mishaps at all, and Linda got through everything without any fumfers. The audience seemed to really like it, several jokes landed really well, and the structure of it is really sound. Yes, there are still things to smooth out, and she still has to get this show more in her body, but it all went swimmingly, with several numbers getting huge ovations. All the material that I’m responsible for adding or suggesting worked like gangbusters, most especially the seven minute Sentimental Journey big band medley. I got to meet casual poster and dear reader Donna, who is a swell gal. On the way home, we had a post mortem in the car, and basically all my little notes were about patter. Linda has a habit of wandering when she’s speaking, and not really locking in with the audience. That’s okay for a small club, but in these large venues you cannot let the audience go for one second. You have to keep them focused and in your pocket, so we talked through how to do that and she totally “gets” it and will make those adjustments for tonight’s show. I had almost no notes in terms of song performance – just a little nitpick here, a little energy there – that sort of thing. All in all, we were very pleased. We got many nice comments about the show, too.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it is very late and I know we have several late-night lurkers just waiting to see the new notes and we mustn’t keep them waiting any longer.
Happy to say that Tammy took all my advice yesterday – iced her neck, relaxed, and then took a hot shower and washed the pain away. She told me she felt much better and got through the show just fine. I was told that the Deceit performance went very well – it was Matt night – a big group of Days of Our Lives fans were in attendance.
Today I must decide whether to attend our final matinee performance (only evenings from now on) – my pal Miss Jessica Rush will be there, so I may drop by, say hi, then see how I feel.
This very day I begin losing weight. This is not a hope or desire, this is a fact of life – I am bored of my current weight and I will soon be lithe and trim with abs and buns of steel, and I’m not kiddin’. I have set my mind to it, and lose weight I will. I shall not stop until I’m twenty pounds thinner. So it is written, so it shall be done.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do nothing, I must perhaps see a play, I must write, I must organize, and I must putter around the house like a gazelle in a sports bra. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we get to make with the responses. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely responses and posts, shall we?