Well, dear readers, it’s quite late as I write these here notes, and she of the Evil Eye will be here quite early, so I’d just better quite get these here notes dashed off as quickly as possible so that I can get my beauty sleep. Yesterday, I awoke way too early, went back to bed, still awoke way too early, then got up, did some stuff, and then took a really brisk jog. After that, I worked on lyrics, ate some eggs, and then got ready to toddle off to the opening night of Bermuda Avenue Triangle, written by and starring Miss Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna, along with Miss Lainie Kazan. Cindy Williams arrived around six, and I drove her car and us to the Brentwood Theater, which took about fifty minutes. The theater was jammed with all sorts of interesting people, I must say – maybe the most interesting LA opening night crowd I’ve ever seen. We had the likes of Rose Marie (whom I talked to for a while – very sweet), Marion Ross (who remembered me from my Happy Days episodes), Shirley Jones and Marty Ingels, Jack Carter, Norm Crosby, the incredibly still-beautiful Leigh Taylor Young (amazing), Larry Gelbart (sitting in back of me), Richard Donner, Joanne Worley, lyricist Carol Connor, Freda Payne, Barbara Eden (looking great), Dom de Luise, Carl and Estelle Reiner, and so many others that my tired mind can’t remember now.
The show started a bit late, but the minute Miss Taylor and Miss Kazan walked on stage there were lots of laughs. The play isn’t great, and it’s too long (the first act ran close to ninety minutes, fourteen minutes longer than the entirety of Deceit. The second act was faster but not nearly as funny. Miss Taylor is a treasure – she’s funny without doing anything at all. Mr. Bologna does his thing, and his timing is terrific. Miss Kazan isn’t really right for the role originally played by Bea Arthur. Rita McKenzie did well, as did Tricia Leigh Fisher. Overall, it’s a lightweight, fun evening. I have the feeling it was rehearsed and put up very quickly, as there were tons of line flubs, even from the authors (who also directed). The pace could be tightened very easily, and there are endless little scene changes, where all that’s being done is things moved around. You could take five to ten minutes off the show by speeding those up. Comedies like this need to be like clockwork – nothing can be lax, and right now laxness is a problem. The biggest annoyance, however, and I guess this is what we have to look forward to, is that in this five hundred seat house, the actors are all wearing head mics. In what universe do straight plays need microphones? And if they do, why not just use some shotgun mics around the stage. When did actors forget how to project, or is it that the audiences have become so lazy that they don’t know how to listen to real voices anymore. I found it shameful.
After the show, Cindy and I toddled off to Santa Monica for the after party, which was crowded as can be, and which took place at a restaurant called The Ocean. It was very noisy and I got a bit claustrophobic by the end, but we had a swell time. At our table was Miss Payne, Miss Connor (who’s written some great pop song lyrics), and some others I didn’t know. We said hi to Joe and Renee, and I spoke to Rita for a while (I produced her album, Ethel Merman’s Broadway). We finally managed to get out of there, and then Cindy was besieged by some autograph hounds, who all had multiple photos for her to sign. All in all, it was a grand little evening, and Cindy and I really had fun.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to get my beauty rest so that I’m sprightly enough to attend opening night number two.
Today, I shall leave the home environment early, do some shipping, then maybe go over to the editing room and maybe to the book fair. After that, I shall jog, then get ready for opening night number two, which is at some theater in West Hollywood. I shall have a full report, but I doubt it will have quite the star power of last night’s opening night.
I have become a veritable first-nighter, haven’t I? I like being a first-nighter, I must say. Yes, Virginia, I have become a veritable first-nighter and I feel like Dorothy Kilgallen and Bennett Cerf and now I wish to play What’s My Line and be sophisticated and urbane and drink dry martinis and have canapés and I no longer have a clew as to what the HELL I’m going on about.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, and I must do them well, and that is all the time I have to blather on. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite songs sung by one of my all-time favorite singers and people, Miss Petula Clark. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we?