Well, dear readers, I have survived the first musical theater workshop (MTW) class and I am here to tell the tale or, at the very least, I am here to tell the tail. It was very interesting, standing in front of fifteen people and talking for an hour. I don’t really love doing that, but it all seemed to go just fine. I gave everyone a rundown of what we’d be doing over the next few months. Some of the folks seemed very into it, but already I can see we’ve got a couple of people who will be problematic. I’m hoping it will be fun enough that they’ll get with it at some point. As I always do, I promised everyone a good time as long as they are focused, positive, and ready to work. I told them that we’d be approaching everything from a positive place and that I don’t do negative. I’ve seen too many actors and singers approach things from the wrong direction and it never works. There is such a world of difference between saying to yourself “I really sucked today” or “I was really bad and I feel horrid” or saying “I sucked today but here’s why and here’s how I think I can do better” or “Sure, I was really bad, but I’ll work on it and do better next time.” It really makes all the difference, doesn’t it? I then said, “Just think of me as your Pied Piper and I’ll think of you as my rats.” I then added, “But by the end of the semester I hope you’ll know that rats spelled backwards is star. I asked everyone to say what their favorite musicals are, and the answers were very interesting, as always, and ranged from Gypsy to West Side Story to Les Miz to Phantom of the Opera to Miss Saigon to Hair to Fiddler on the Roof. In any case, I think it’s going to be fun. Tomorrow they have to come in having chosen a solo song, which they’ll perform next week. And tomorrow I’m going to use Sondheim’s I Remember as an example of how four singers approach a song in completely different ways – I’ll play them the four different versions after we analyze the song and what it means, especially what it means in the context of the character Ella, who sings it in Evening Primrose. It’s sort of a text book example of a lyric that’s filled with imagery and words that can be colored in many different ways. The four versions I’ll be playing are by Bernadette Peters, Theresa McCarthy, Liz Callaway, and Dianne Reeves (although I may substitute someone for Miss Reeves, since she’s not a theater singer). Having listened to all four in a row this evening, I know who I prefer, who, for me, captures perfectly the essence and the honesty and the imagery of the lyric.
After the class, I had a long lunch meeting with Mr. David Wechter. We’re going to try and finish a rough draft of our musical within two weeks. Since we’re two thirds through the first act, and since we have a really strong outline for the rest of act one and all of act two, and since we’ll be dividing up the scenes, we’re hoping we can at least get it all roughed out. We’ve still got about five songs to write, too, but I think I’ll be doing most of those, and I’m fairly fast once I have the idea in my head. We’re also going to be working on a movie idea we’ve had for a year – we’re either going to go out and pitch it or we’re going to do a spec script, like we did on The Faculty. It’s a killer idea and that’s all I’ll say.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because shortly I must hie myself to the Bank of Bur to do my last-minute touchups to the Disney promos – and then, we’ll turn them in at one (I also have to update the scripts and send those along, too – one has to do that on every cut).
I’m very excited about my dinner plans this evening. I was given a large gift card for a wonderful restaurant called Ivy At The Shore in Santa Monica. So, I’m taking our very own Miss Tammy Minoff for dinner, since we’ve never celebrated our finally opening the play. I will, of course, report every detail of every morsel of food that’s ingested into our hungry maws.
Our Hungry Maws – that’s the title of my next novel. It’s about a bunch of mothers who’ve been without food for far too long. They meet, greet, and eat. It’s a heartwarming story and I’m sure it will be a big success – maybe Oprah will make it her official Oprah selection.
I also have to ship some very overdue packages this afternoon. I’ve been very lax in my shipping, but I shall endeavor to get caught up completely, so that tomorrow I can have a day in which I just write (well, after the musical theater workshop – MTW – I’ll write). And then, I’ll be meeting the cast at the El Portal at five to have a brush up rehearsal prior to the show.
Our Hungry Maws – I’m very excited about this new novel. It takes place in rural Pacoima during a summer of sweltering heat and a shortage of meat. Perhaps I’ll give a preview chapter here at haineshisway.com one of these fine days.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, edit, write, eat, and whatnot, and I must ponder whether in addition to dear readers there are also deer readers – I’ve often wonder if any deers read this here site. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear or deer reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers, shall we?