Well, dear readers, the holiday weekend continues. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you find such information? Nowhere, that’s where. We are a fountain of information, aren’t we? I must say, it’s been a lovelier than lovely holiday weekend thus far (said holiday weekend having begun on Thursday). Speaking of Thursday, Friday was a lovelier than lovely day, an exemplary day, really. For example, I got up. That was exemplary. I then had to hie myself over to Mr. Donald Feltham’s to tape next week’s radio show. We had quite a bit of funtertainment doing it and we discussed my new book, the Simply Sondheim CD, the Emily and Alice CD, The Brain From Planet X, and a plethora of other topics. The show should be up by Sunday evening, so give it a listen. After the taping, I did a few errands, then came home, jogged, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on DVE entitled Has Anybody Seen My Gal. Has anyone noticed that I inadvertently typed DVE instead of DVD? What in tarnation is a DVE? Different Vital Eyeballs? Divinely Vigorous Enema? Defiantly Vapid Eggplant? In any case, I watched a motion picture on DVD, not DVE. I found Has Anybody Seen My Gal quite captivating, I must say. It’s part of the new Rock Hudson box set from Universal. The film was directed by Mr. Douglas Sirk, and stars Mr. Charles Coburn, Mr. Hudson, Piper Laurie and a host of others. The film is notable for a one-line role played by Mr. James Dean. The box trumpets it as a “musical comedy” but it’s hardly a musical comedy – it does feature some period songs, but a musical comedy it’s not. Mr. Hudson doesn’t have much to do, but Mr. Coburn is a delight, and young Gigi Perreau is cute as a button. The transfer has some pretty luscious color and is very sharp.
After watching the DVE, I picked up Miss Merrill Grant and off we went to see one of her favorite musicals, Light In The Piazza. I’d heard the CD, which I didn’t love, and I saw the broadcast version on PBS, which I really didn’t love because of its poor camera coverage and direction. Seeing the show live was a much better experience, and the score works better when attached to the show. The staging was simple and effective and the show moved right along and didn’t overstay its welcome. Christine Andreas was fine as Margaret, but didn’t quite have the star power to lift the show to the heights that I suppose a stronger actress would. She does everything she should but somehow never commands the stage. Mr. David Burnham, with whom I’ve worked a few times, was quite excellent as Fabrizio, and the gal who played Clara was fine, too. I don’t think it’s a great musical, but I liked it better than I thought I would. Merrill was quite taken with it again. Prior to the show we supped at the new Music Center restaurant, Kendall’s. Gone is Pinot, which was never that hot to begin with. Kendall’s was very good – I had roast chicken and frittes, and Merrill had some sort of ravioli with wild mushrooms. We did have a little celebrity sighting at the Ahmanson – Mr. Michael York. On the way back to the car, I ran into Vladimir, the show’s violinist – Vladimir has played violin on almost all of my CDs and it was nice to see him again. I dropped Merrill off and then came home and once again sat on my couch like so much fish.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty rest so that I can have yet another lovelier than lovely day today.
Today I shall be doing a little this’a and a little that’a, with an emphasis on the latter. What am I, Lola all of a sudden? I’ll be driving about in my motor car and then I’ll be supping and watching both DVDs and DVEs, not necessarily in that order. All in all, I shall have a lovelier than lovely day come hell or high or even low water.
Tomorrow morning, several cast members from The Brain will be joining me to tape another radio show to air one week from tomorrow. I anticipate it being a good deal of fun, and we’ll be playing some of the songs from the show, too. And then Monday, it’s back to run-throughs and I begin to start honing everything as much as I possibly can. I’ve already got a few staging changes and additional bits to add, and, knowing me, I will continue to do that until the night we open.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, have a lovelier than lovely day, sup, watch a DVD or three and relax to my heart’s content. Today’s topic of discussion: When you were growing up, what were your favorite department stores, and what were your favorite departments in the department stores? I’ll start: Hands down, the Wilshire and Fairfax May Company, one of the greatest department stores ever. I learned how to play chess there (which I think I wrote about in one of the Kritzer books, probably Kritzerland), bought a set of walkie-talkies there, ate lunch in their restaurant, and roamed every single inch of every single floor, frequently spending all day doing so. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we all have a lovelier than lovely day.