Well, dear readers, this evening the madness ends. I have no idea how the madness will end, but end it will, one way or the other. This has been an ordeal that I will not be repeating anytime soon. The last week has been hell on wheels for any number of reasons, and I have had to behave in a way that I don’t enjoy. By the time we go on this evening, I will have not had one run-through with the entire company, I will not have had one run-through with the musical director, and I haven’t a clew as to what the evening will yield. It could be a complete embarrassment or it could be okay – I simply have no way of telling at this point. Yesterday’s long stumble through at least got everyone through the show, but again, I didn’t have two actors at all yesterday, and one of them missed class the day we blocked the last fourteen pages of the show – hence, he has no idea where he goes or what he does. I’ll have said actor for only a portion of the day today, and he’s not so hot to begin with, but I suppose it will be what it will be. Luckily, he’s always with Tammy (he spends half the show making out with her), so she’ll just push him around if need be. One of my other leads will not be with us today until three or four. So, I have just resigned myself not to give a flying Wallenda. My problem is that I am a professional who expects professional behavior from students in a theater academy. Of course, when they see the faculty treating this little class and show with such casual disregard, then that doesn’t exactly send the right messages. I’m truly weary of being terse and having to come down on people, so today I’m just going to have fun, and that will be the way I set up tonight’s performance – that it’s just fun, that we’ve never had a run-through, that they’re our guinea pigs, and que sera sera, baby. That’s all I can do. Whether the show lays a big turd or gets some laughs or whatever is almost irrelevant to me at this point. I’m just all in, frankly, part of which has to do with the still ongoing weirdness I’ve been dealing with in one of my friendships. I thought it had been pretty well resolved, but the last couple of weeks, from my point of view, have been strange, at least to me, and I no longer wish to deal with any strangeness ever again. So, we’ll see what happens on that front, as I dropped a little e-mail that spelled out everything that I’m feeling. If it’s been read, there has been no reaction as yet. If it hasn’t, I have no idea what said reaction will be, and I’m really beginning not to care. I have discussed this issue with several of my nearest and dearest and I certainly know what their advice is.
Last night, I did manage to get through watching a motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Elevator To The Gallows (originally entitled Frantic when it played in the States). It’s Louis Malle’s first film, and it’s entertaining but slight. It does, however, have some very good actors (and a couple of irritating ones, too), a terrific jazz score by Miles Davis, and gorgeous black-and-white photography by the great Henri Decae. The anamorphically enhanced transfer (the film was shown in 1:66 most likely) is off in its framing, frequently cutting heads off, but otherwise the transfer is very sharp and crisp.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because today is the Day of Reckoning and we must reckon some more in the next section.
Our call time is at noon, but I’ll probably go in around eleven. I may try to jog prior to going in, if I’m feeling up to it. Once at LACC, we’ll do as much running of scenes and songs as we can. I’d still like to approximate some sort of run-through, but that will be difficult as the musical director will only be there for a short time in the morning, and then back at four (I have to break the kids for an hour at five). Since he’s never actually played the entire second act, we’ll probably start with that act first. When we come back from our break at six, then we’ll run as much as we can for the next hour, and then that’s half-hour for everyone. I have no idea whether we have three people coming or eighty people coming and I don’t much care either way. I have no intention of hanging around after the show, and that goes for Monday night as well.
My goodness, I’ve been ranting, haven’t I? This entire notes has been like one long barf session, hasn’t it? And for that I apologize, but sometimes it’s necessary to get this stuff of one’s chest, so thanks for indulging me my vomit session.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, rehearse, then do the first performance of our musical. I will, of course, have a full report for you afterwards. All I can say is, pray for Rosemary’s Baby. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings as the Day of Reckoning is upon us.