Well, dear readers, performance number two is finished, and I’m happy to report it was better than performance number one – for everyone concerned. I was not quite so jittery as the night before, and I managed to get through everything without really screwing up any lines, save for one that I just got tongue-tied on and consequently changed all the words around so that it made no sense whatsoever. I’m still finding my timing, so a couple of laughs that I know are there are eluding me, but there are many others that are simply taking me by surprise, which is always fun. I actually enjoyed myself for some of last night’s show. One moment that played superbly the first night, didn’t land last night because I inadvertently threw my head back, and it bumped one of the cast, which threw the timing off. Poor Tammy got poked in the eye by Matt, then batted by his arm in another scene. She’s a brave individual, I must say. The audience was two-thirds full and very nice – good energy coming from them. One funny and nice thing was in act two, when the house lights go out Matt and I enter and sit. I’m first out, and because the stage just isn’t very dark (because of the light spillage from the video projector, which opens the act), I got entrance applause. After the show, I had a nice little late supper with friends. So, it’s on to our final weekend, and the taping of the show. I plan to run my lines several times a day between now and Thursday – on Thursday we’ll meet at my house and have a line-through. Also on Thursday, I’ll be meeting with the tech director who’ll be filming the show, to plan out coverage and such, and to decide what we absolutely have to cover in pickups. But, I digress.
Yesterday, I did manage to relax and watch a motion picture on DVD entitled South Pacific. I recently posted about seeing the general release version of the film at a screening, and how I thought it looked great but that I thought the film was a bit of a dog. The DVD, which isn’t due to be released in the US until the end of the year, has come out in the UK. So, I put on the roadshow version, which is about fifteen minutes longer than the general release version. Well, I must say, having all that footage back in the film helps the film immeasurably. The cuts are mostly in part one, and they especially harm Ray Walston and Juanita Hall. There are many scenes that are important, and it’s lovely to be able to see the film as originally shown. There are some notable bits including a reprise of Some Enchanted Evening, and Rosanno Brazzi doing a bit of Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair – plus we get the entire Boar’s Tooth dance, which is completely missing from the general release version. The transfer is spectacular – gorgeous color and great sound. The roadshow footage is of variable quality – most of it is completely faded to brown, and yet some sequences are color-corrected and pretty invisible in terms of spotting them. I don’t know why they would have been able to color-correct some of the brown footage but not all – a shame, but it doesn’t really hamper one’s enjoyment of the full length film. I also checked out the new transfers of The King and I (looks pretty excellent) and Carousel (less so, but still okay).
But, I digress. Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because my lids are heavy and it is almost time to hit the road to dreamland.
What a week this has been. I must now catch up on preparing all packages for shipping on Tuesday, a formidable task. I must also pay some bills, and catch up on e-mails and telephonic calls to be returned. This will be a very busy week – I must finish the rewrites on the musical (David still has one scene to rewrite, which I hope he’ll get to before he has to leave town). And I have to continue booking the cabaret series. I’ve still got five people to book, which is frightening.
Today I shall do absolutely nothing, other than relaxing, watching a DVD or three, and prepping packages if I so choose. I just want to be lazy and a loafer, not necessarily in that order. Of course, I will run my lines at least twice.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do hardly anything, I must drive about in my motor car just for the hell of it, I must eat very reasonably, and I must sit on my couch like so much fish. 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 all get to post about same. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I continue to digress.