Well, dear readers, yes, it is Saturday, and yes, she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon, and yes, I of the non-Evil Eye will have a rehearsal to toddle off to, and yes, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I am now seriously overtired from this past oh, so busy week. Has anyone noticed how many times the word “yes” is used in the first sentence? That is just a sentence loaded with yeses, isn’t it? That is one yes after another until you just want to choke the very life out of said yeses. But enough about yeses, let’s talk about other things, like, for example yesterday. Yesterday – now wait just a darned minute – there’s a yes in yesterday, isn’t there? That is just too much of a coincidence. And if there’s a yes in yesterday, is there also a no in noterday? I have now officially lost my train of thought – not my bus of thought or my airplane of thought or my subway of thought, no, I have lost my train of thought and now my thought is without transportation. Where was I? Oh, yes, yesterday. Yesterday, I got up early, did some errands, jogged, did some errands, and then toddled off to LACC for rehearsal. In the afternoon, we did a line-through, which was helpful. Then we did a run-through, even though we were missing five people from the company, including three of our leading players. We skipped a few scenes because of that, but it was a surprisingly good run-through, with some very interesting things happening to certain performers, who have begun to make the characters come to life in fun and interesting ways. But the real fun of last night’s rehearsal came when the Brain made its entrance. We now have a rehearsal brain and it’s the first time we’ve seen the actor in his temporary rig, and it was absolutely laugh-out-loud funny and it immediately took the show to a whole new place. Within five minutes, the actor playing the Brain was learning how to articulate the rig and I began adding various takes to scenes and it’s just going to be most amusing, I think. After rehearsal, I got a bite to eat and then finally came home, where I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a motion picture on DVD entitled Forbidden Planet. I’ve always been fond of Forbidden Planet ever since my Aunt Yette took me to the Lido Theater to see it in 1956. The film, while rather silly at times and too talky at times, is still very entertaining, and it does feature a couple of stellar performances, one by Walter Pidgeon and one by Robby The Robot. And it does have the lovelier than lovely Miss Anne Francis. I wish I could say that I loved the transfer, but, as usual with Warners these days, the color is off – too dull and brown and it doesn’t reflect the way the film looked originally. It’s much sharper and more detailed than the previous DVD but whoever is supervising these Warner transfers is obviously doing them this way on purpose, and his butt cheeks should be fired immediately and they should get someone who understands what these films should look like and who understands what skin tones on film are supposed to look like. Afterwards, I put on a little of Harper from the new Paul Newman box set – same bloody thing – brown, ugly, and completely wrong, it doesn’t represent the way the film looked as printed in IB Technicolor and I know that because a) I saw it about ten times during its original release and b) I owned a Technicolor print. It’s really infuriating that these idiots are doing this, because we’re not going to see a different transfer, probably ever. I hope Mr. Feltenstein and company are proud of the disservice they’re doing to the look of some pretty great films. They’re probably oblivious because they have no clew.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because yes, Virginia, I’ve got to get my beauty sleep – there’s another yes to add to the collection.
Today we have a four-hour rehearsal. We won’t run the show, but we’ll work on cleaning up some scenes and numbers, and we’ll work on some vocal stuff that’s gotten sloppy. After that, I’ll come home to jog and relax and then I have to see a musical that a friend wrote, called Bukowsical – I have no idea what I’m in store for, but you’ll be the first to know what I think about it.
Tomorrow, I have the entire day to myself. The only thing I might do is try to have supper with our new cast member, to welcome her to Los Angeles, California, USA. Monday, she’ll be put in, and Monday night we’ll throw her right into a run-through. We only have three rehearsals and then a four-day layoff for Thanksgiving. Then we return and begin the intensive twelve days before opening.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have rehearsal, jog, attend to some things that need attending to, and perhaps even watch a motion picture on DVD. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Paul Newman films? And what was the first Paul Newman film you ever saw? Mine was Somebody Up There Likes Me, which is included in the new Newman box set – its color will be perfect, since it’s in black-and-white. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we? The answer, of course, is yes.