Well, dear readers, it is Sunday (wasn’t it just Sunday), and once again I almost have the entire day and evening free and I shall do as little as possible, if possible. That will be nice, because from here on in there will be no more real days off until The Brain From Planet X is up and running. Even though we’ve gotten the thing blocked and are in pretty good shape at this point, the weird conflicting schedules of our three guest performers are going to start causing me grief beginning this week. In fact, after this week, I think there are only five times when I’ll have everyone at the same time, and I know me well enough to know that that is going to cause me annoyance and frustration, not necessarily in that order. I’m trying to get everyone to bend a little so that I can at least have eight run-throughs with everyone there (this doesn’t count the final tech days, when everyone will be there through opening). Doing a new musical is complex in many ways, and that’s why I pushed to get it blocked and on its feet so quickly, so that these absences, with one person gone one day, and another gone another day, and another not available two days running, would not cause more craziness than it already will. That, coupled with the fact that Thanksgiving falls during our most needed run-through period, is giving me a slight case of anxiety. We’ll do what we need to do, and I have a couple of people covering people for the absences, and hopefully everything will come out okay in the end. Speaking of okay in the end, yesterday turned out to be very nice. I was a little anxious about the signing and its attendance, but we ended up with a nice number of folks and I had a good deal of fun doing the reading, and the cake was delicious. The store was happy as they sold more books than usual – they should have been happy, since they neglected to send out their mass e-mail about the signing until Friday night. Some of the folks in attendance included Mr. Kevin Spirtas, Miss Adriana Patti and mum, former dear reader Hisaka, Brain star Cason Murphy, Cissy Wechter and friend, and several other nice folks. After the signing, it was rehearsal time at LACC for the big tap number. Our choreographer was really good with the kids, many of whom have no clew as to what tap dancing is – by the end of the evening, they were doing it pretty darn well. I may have her come back to do a little adjusting – she was working with a CD of the song, which had no dance music, just the song. Despite my several entreaties to have a meeting in advance of her starting, said meetings didn’t happen, so she didn’t understand that I wanted to add dance measures, rather than her having tapping going on while they’re singing lyrics. But, that’s what we’ve got – if I find that the lyrics are really totally lost, we’ll have to make adjustments. I asked her to add many bars of music at the top so that they could make their entrance with music before the singing began. But, the rest of their song is both sung and tapped at the same time and it’s very busy and it’s hard to hear anything but the tapping. On the other hand, the stuff looks swell, so when I see it in the theater and hear what it sounds like there, I may leave it or, as I said, I may ask to simplify and then add music. The good news is, that was the last thing that needed to be staged (except for my adding a few things to the finale). I’ve appointed two ensemble members to be co-dance captains, and it is their job to now drill everything daily. Starting this week, we’ll have two rehearsal spaces available to us most times – our actual theater, and the space in which we’ve been rehearsing for the last two-and-a-half weeks. We move into our theater this week, but only sporadically. To make that transition easier, I’ve asked for the floor to be taped exactly as it was in our rehearsal space – with every spike mark and number as it was – that way, they should be right at home. After the rehearsal, I came home, ate, and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s sleep.
Last night, I did manage to watch a motion picture on DVD entitled The Formula, starring Mr. George C. Scott and Mr. Marlon Brando. It starts off pretty well and then deteriorates and by the end it’s a big ho-hum. I always enjoy watching Mr. Scott. Mr. Brando is odd, as he was back in those days. He has false teeth that make him sound like Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor. The female lead is Marthe Keller, and I must say I can never understand a word she says. I actually listened to a bit of the commentary track to see if there were any Brando stories – the track is by writer Steve Shagan and director John Avildsen. If you want a textbook example of why some writers and directors should never be allowed near a commentary track, here it is. Two stupider-sounding people you’ve never heard. They say a sentence, usually meaningless, and then sit and watch the movie for ten minutes, then say another meaningless sentence, sometimes thinking they’re amusing, which they’re not. They allude to the fact that they could tell some great George C. Scott stories (in the negative), then never tell them. All in all, a movie that just sits there like so much fish, and a disappointment. Transfer is okay.
Today, as stated, I shall do as little as possible. I do have to devote one small block of time for some business, otherwise my time is mine, all mine. Which is good, because tomorrow morning we have another casting session for the kids show and then a very long rehearsal, so it’s going to be a long, long day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do a teeny-tiny bit of business, then relax and smell the roses or the coffee or the Rice-a-Roni – and watch at least two DVDs. 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 them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we?