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June 11, 2007:

THE DO THAT DID

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, what a partay we had around these here parts. For those who missed it, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do, for we had our second highest posting day ever, with over fifty pages of postings. In other words, it was the Tony Awards Do That Did. As always, it was the most sparkling partay on all the Internet with lots of merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. But before we talk about that, let us talk about the events prior to the partay. Yes, there were events prior to the partay and I shall now talk about them. For example, I got up. That was an event. I then had to get ready and then toddled over to the Avalon, where the theater was being cleaned out after an all night Rave partay. After a couple of hours, the theater was clean and all our balloons (a LOT of balloons) were in place, and our stage was set for the show. We did a sound check and everything sounded great. Then the kids began arriving for show number one. They got their little faces painted, saw men on stilts, saw the Silk Sisters, our pre-show aerialist act, and heard the warmup by Party Animals creator Mark. And then the show began. I knew something was a bit off immediately, as the music sounded more muffled than it had on sound check. Then the cast went into their first scene, and their mics sounded terrible – distorted, ugly, and tubby, and the kids could barely understand a word that was being said. Those problems continued throughout the show. I felt the kids were not as into the show as our previous audiences and I feel the sound was the reason. Oh, they enjoyed it, and they were vocal and they danced, but it was just lacking the magic. I then got the company onstage and we did another sound check, the soundman tweaked a bunch of stuff, and I approved what I heard. An hour later show number two began. Both shows had about 250 kids in attendance. The prerecorded numbers sounded much better, and the cast mics were better but still didn’t sound like they did at sound check. Part of the problem is that the soundman monitors the sound from backstage, so he doesn’t hear what we’re hearing out front. And one of the cast mics broke and wasn’t working at all, and unfortunately it was the actor who projects least. We got him a hand-held mic and that helped things for a while, until he just kept forgetting to get it for the dialogue scenes. So, both shows, for me, just weren’t sharp enough or up to our previous shows. When we do it again, we’re going to have to seriously address these sound issues. It was a very long day and I was happy to finally get home at five-thirty. I got a pizza on my way home, too, and it was quite yummilicious. I then had to catch up on twenty-six pages of posts, and then I ate whilst posting and reading the posts about the Tony Awards (with no spoilers). It was very entertaining. At eight, I went and sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the broadcast.

Last night, I watched the Tony Awards. It was another long, dreary show, ill-produced, horribly paced and directed, with none of the magic of the classic early Tony broadcasts. CBS is so determined to turn this into the Oscars or a mass-audience show that they just ruin it time and again. The mass audience doesn’t give a crap, CBS. Just respect the show, know it will never get good numbers, and do right by it as in days of old. But, no, we get the endless parade of people the audience will know from TV instead of theater. We even get Zach Braff who, as far as I know, has almost nothing to do with Broadway. Of all the musical numbers done, only one actually made me want to see the show – and that was Christine Ebersole’s number from Grey Gardens, which had literate lyrics and good music and excellent orchestrations – yes, a bit Sondheimesque, but an excellent number nonetheless, which is more than I can say for that thing from Spring Awakening (why is it that whenever a rock show comes to Broadway they act like they’re the first rock show ever and that they’re going to change the way Broadway is – Hair didn’t change Broadway, nor did Rent, nor will Spring Awakening). Raunchy was a terrible choice from 110 In The Shade (they should have done one of Lizzie’s ballads), the montage of clips from the other shows of the season wasn’t very enticing, and the “teases” into the musical numbers were an embarrassment. Interestingly, the two most gracious and professional speeches came from two Broadway pros – Mary Louise Wilson and Frank Langella. They do put the youngsters to shame, I must say. The number from Curtains didn’t play as well as it does within the show, and I really do find Rob Ashford’s choreography mundane. But, I was happy to see our very own Mr. Rupert Holmes beaming away, and happy he was thanked by so many. Whoever wrote the intros and outros should be removed posthaste – there was nary a moment of humor in the show, and so much of the show was so random, like the clip of Billy Crystal and Hugh Jackman – puhleeze. Again, I volunteer to produce the next broadcast and I can assure everyone that if I do it will be a show to be remembered.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I know many of you who were errant and truant will be spending a lot of time reading the weekend’s posts.

Today, I was going to have a nice day off, but the writing is on the wall, I’m afraid. I have to get up early, package up about eight orders, get them shipped, drop some CDs off to Miss Joan Ryan, who’s doing some benefit this evening at which she’ll sell her CDs, lunch with the author of the musical I did the reading of, to give him my thoughts, and then several errands. I hope to be back by twoish, and thenish I shall have the rest of the day to myself, which will be niceish.

The rest of this week will be filled with meetings and rehearsals and whatnot and there will be no rest for the weary. And by Friday, half of June will be over – I gotta tell you.

I do hope to have most of my evenings free this week and I shall use that time to catch up on my DVD watching – I’m quite behind, I must say.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, package, ship, lunch, and drive about in my motor car. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite final images in film? Those final shots that are just cinematically brilliant and complete the storytelling in a unique and cinematic way? I’ll start – the final image of The Searchers is iconic and intensely moving. I also love the final image of City Lights, the closeup on Mr. Chaplin, one of the greatest final images in all of cinema. The final image of Citizen Kane is brilliant. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we bask in the glory of our Tony Awards Do that did.

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