Well, dear readers, it is Friday, and wouldn’t you know, it’s the last day of March, and the final two performances of the play. I’ve got a lot to do today so I’ll just skip the excruciatingly arch part of the notes, and get right down to business. Yesterday, I never stopped going the entire day and well into the evening. First off, I did the musical theater workshop (MTW), which was, as always, fun. The students did their first pass at their duets – six out of the eight teams did their numbers today. The remaining two will do theirs on Tuesday, and we’re having an extra-long class that day, so that everyone will do their second pass, having addressed the notes I gave at the end of today’s session. It was a real mixed bag of material – some very bad choices, but that’s how the kids live and learn. Only one was even halfway successful – Feed Me, from Little Shop of Horrors. The others all need much work, and I gave very specific notes about the numbers. After the workshop, I had some brunch, then came home to take care of stuff around the home environment. I had several important telephonic conversations, and then Matt and I had a line-through (he and Tammy had theirs over the phone at some point), which went quickly and well. I’ve been running my lines each and every day, at least twice, and I feel pretty comfortable with them, although I’m so used to doing them alone, it sometimes throws me when Matt’s saying his lines. After that, I sat down to finish entering the fixes for the musical, which I did quickly. I then had to finish writing the finale of the show, lyrically, and then I went back to a song I wasn’t happy with, and did a complete rewrite of it, both lyrically and musically, and it’s much more focused now, and even somewhat clever, I think. So, all that’s left is for David to rewrite one scene in act two, and we’ll be ready for the read-through next Thursday.
I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a motion picture on DVD entitled High Anxiety. I saw the film upon its original release and thought it Brooks’ worst to that point. I found almost nothing in it funny, but time has a way of being kind to some films, so I was looking forward to revisiting it. Unfortunately, time has not been kind to High Anxiety, and it is even less funny than I remembered. Oh, the sequence where Mel sings the title song is fine, and Cloris Leachman has some amusing moments, as does Madeline Kahn. But, Mr. Brooks forgets one of the cardinal rules of comedy – got to have a plot and characters you care about. This film has neither. It’s just got the occasional Hitchcock spoof, as if that were enough – it isn’t. The cast is also filled with the kind of comic actors who, to me, just aren’t funny on film – Ron Clark (who co-wrote the mess), Harvey Korman, Howard Morris, Charlie Callas (in the films worst scene), and more. John Morris’ music labors mightily to keep the show moving along, but it’s quite hopeless and while I did stick it out to the end of its very long ninety-four minutes, there were several times I almost bailed. The other major problem with the film is Brooks himself – a leading man he’s not, nor is he an especially good actor. It’s fine for a couple of scenes, as in Blazing Saddles, but as a lead, he pretty much puts the nail in the coffin. The transfer is bland and taken from a slightly faded interpositive, but the photography isn’t very good to begin with so I didn’t care all that much.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, whilst March goes out like a lion.
So, here’s what’s in store for today. At one o’clock I have to go to the theater to meet the camera crew – I may actually arrive a bit later so that they have a chance to get set up and so I don’t just sit around while they do. Then at two-fifteen, Matt and I will get into makeup and wardrobe and an hour later we’ll shoot my sequence, just as a dry run for camera and lights. After that, we’ll do the same for some of Matt and Tammy’s act one scenes. After that, just before we break, we’ll camera block the end of act one, since we basically only get one shot at it. Then we’ll have an hour break, then we have to prepare for the show. After the show, we’ll do any pickups we need to do. We’re hoping to have good houses for both shows this weekend.
Thankfully, she of the Evil Eye doesn’t come this weekend, so I’ll be able to sleep in on Saturday. Then we play our final performance, after which there will be a party at the theater. And that will be that. Then it’s full steam ahead on preparing the musical for our three-show staged reading.
Now wait just a darned minute. We’d all better just put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, we’d all better break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, we’d all better dance the Hora and the Jitterbug, because today is the birthday of our beloved dear reader Ann. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our beloved dear reader Ann. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR BELOVED DEAR READER ANN!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, save up all the excruciatingly arch prose that I didn’t do in today’s notes, and I must ladle it on thick in tomorrow’s notes. Tomorrow is, of course, April Fool’s Day, so it will be very appropriate. I must also find time to eat a little something, but I don’t really even see when I’ll be able to – I won’t eat too close to show time, and we’re taping before that, so I may have to have a sandwich or something right about noon – something small to tide me over until after the show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, Bill Conti’s scores to Rookie of the Year, Jimmy Reardon, and one other film I can’t remember. It’s a pretty uninteresting album, I must say. DVD, Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie, which I’m halfway through. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we send March off with a fond farewell, and we welcome April with loving and open arms.