Well, dear readers, it is one in the morning and I am just beginning these here notes. Hence, I shall be hurrying to write these here notes and get them posted because I only had about five hours of sleep the night before and I need some really good shuteye if I’m to get through the next few days without either imploding or exploding. Yesterday, for example, I both imploded and exploded, not necessarily in that order. We had an hour of class time to rehearse, and I managed to block the rest of the show – not easy, as two of the leading players and one ensemble member decided to absent themselves from class and rehearsal. After class, I hurried home, jogged, picked up about four days of mail, and then showered, shaved, dressed up, and then headed back to LACC for our afternoon music rehearsal. The absent folk all showed up for the afternoon rehearsal, and we worked for two hours on the music. One of the leads learned some of the melody to his song incorrectly – I put it on tape for him in the morning, and by the afternoon he was still singing it incorrectly. Why? He lost the tape. I didn’t implode on that one, I exploded, then put it on tape again – but I was so annoyed about it, I ended the rehearsal directly afterward. After the rehearsal, I went across town to UCLA for the John Scott film music concert. I had VIP seats, which was very nice. I knew many, many people, including our very own Mr. Nick Redman, Jon Burlingame and his ever-lovin’ Marilee Bradford, Alf Clausen, John Beal and his beautiful wife, neighbors Bob Gitt and Tony Slide, Bob Townson (my former co-worker at Varese Sarabande), Julie Kirgo, Richard Sherman and his ever-lovin’ Elizabeth, Cinefantastique’s Jeff Bond and his ever-lovin’ Brooke, Miles Kreuger, our very own Mr. Grant Geissman, and many others. We all hung out, and it was nice to see everyone.
The concert was fun – John Scott was an amiable host and an excellent conductor, and the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra was, for the most part, excellent. The program opened with a piece from Jerry Goldsmith’s Logan’s Run (The Dome), which was almost the best-played piece of the evening. The orchestra didn’t quite make it with the two jazzier pieces that followed – Elmer Bernstein’s Sweet Smell of Success, and Alex North’s A Streetcar Named Desire. They did do well with Mahler’s Adagietto from his Symphony Number Five. Korngold’s King’s Row was good, and Mancini’s Peter Gunn was, I thought, a strange arrangement. John’s own Greystoke music was fantastic, and then the first half closed with a not-so-hot arrangement of Around The World In Eighty Days. At intermission I spent a lot of time with Richard Sherman. The second half began with the newest piece, John Williams’ Memoirs of a Geisha – they played it very well indeed and I actually sort of liked it in the concert setting (I detested the soundtrack CD). That was followed by Ralph Vaughn-Williams’ brilliant Scott of the Antarctic, played just fine. Then came the highlight of the evening, a really lengthy (over forty minutes, I think) suite of music from John’s wonderful score to the Charlton Heston film of Antony and Cleopatra. What glorious music, and the orchestra really came through wonderfully. They ran pieces of the film, which played silently over John’s music, and then portions of the text were read by Michael York, Samantha Eggar, and Alan Mandell. It did go on a bit too long, but the music was the thing and the music was fantastic. Mr. Scott and company received a lengthy standing ovation, and there was no encore. After, there was a party, so I got to meet up with John.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because today is going to be a very busy day and I must sleep so that I don’t implode/explode.
I have many errands to do today, as I will have no time over the weekend to do anything but whip the musical into the best shape I can. I also have to sit down and highlight whatever stage direction I’ll be reading. Rehearsal begins at four o’clock – again, we’ll have several of the leads not in attendance, but my plan is to run as much of the blocking as I can, and also to run the music again as much as we can. Since I’m going to stay and attend the opening of Fuddy Mears at the school, we’ll work until seven.
Then, tomorrow we begin at eleven and go as late as we possibly can, maybe until five. I’m praying I can get everything to be smooth, even though, once again, some people will be missing. On Sunday, we begin at noon and work right up until a dinner break at five-thirty. That is the first time I’ll have the entire company, and the only time we’ll have rehearsed in the space we’re doing the staged reading in. It will be an intense day, but I will have at least two complete run-throughs, no matter what. And then, it’s show time.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands, rehearse, attend an opening night, and find a moment to eat something. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, the new soundtrack doubleheader of The Revolt of Mamie Stover and Hilda Crane. DVD, Earthquake. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I try not to implode or explode.