Well, dear readers, oh me, oh my, I just got home and boy are my arms tired. It is now midnight New York time and I’m just beginning to write these here notes – I’ve got to get them written and posted so I can get to bed and get at least seven hours of sleep. This was one long day so let me dive right in and tell you about it. Actually, I’ll tell you about it later, because I’ve been giving far too much attention to it lately. Where was I? Oh, yes, my one long day. I got up at my usual time, shaved and showered and toddled off to rehearsal. We picked up where we left off and finished setting all the scene shifts, which are now all visible and fun and very much a part of the fabric of the show (gold lame with fringe). At eleven-thirty, Barry Pearl, Amy Bodnar and I taped some podcast thing called Broadway Bullet – I have no idea about podcasts but it’s up and running now. While we were taping, our choreographer worked on The Brain Tap. After lunch, we restaged the LA curtain call, which now has a few different things in it and is now all down to counts – in LA we just sort of went on a wing and a prayer and the bows music was very hard to coordinate. Here, our choreographer set it all to counts and our musical director has made each section definite, so there’s no guesswork. Of course, that means a little reorchestrating for elmore, but I hope he’ll be a good egg about it, because it’s really helpful to have it laid out this way. When we were doing the podcast they played two cuts from our cast album and as I was listening to them I once again marveled at how great elmore’s orchestrations for this show are – he just really captured the feel of the score exactly as I imagined it. We spent the rest of the afternoon running the show from the top, with lots of stops and starts to finesse things and even occasionally to talk about acting beats. One of our ensemble won’t be with us again until Monday and we all wished her the happiest of weddings – she’s getting betrothed on Saturday. Everyone continues to explore and find interesting things, and my main job at this point is just to watch and sometimes edit or suggest. Once we’re running, my notes will probably be few and will be very specific. While we have recreated a good deal of the LA staging, it’s a very different show at times, and one I’m hoping is better and tighter and more focused. Only time and audiences will tell, however.
I then had to quickly hie myself to the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble to see Milla Ilieva’s litte in-store mini-concert. The jernt was pretty full, and Milla did a terrific job in her thirty-minute set. The audience really liked her and I’m sure she sold some CDs afterwards. I saw elmore and Noel and Jose, and also met a few folks I hadn’t met before. After that, I had to hop in a cab (if there’s a cab strike you wouldn’t know it – I got a cab instantly) and hie myself to the Metropolitan Room where I met up with Mr. Alex Rybeck to see Miss Penny Fuller’s opening night.
I’ve always been a fan of Miss Fuller, but now I’m completely smitten with her after seeing her show last night. She was just terrific from start to finish. Her show concentrated on composers she’s worked with and/or is friends with, so we had Strouse (and Adams), Rodgers (and Sondheim and Hammerstein), Arlen, Kander (and Ebb), William Finn and others. I knew most of the songs, but a couple were completely new to me. Her voice is in amazing shape, and her show is ably directed by Barry Kleinbort. While one could quibble with this selection or that arrangement, why bother when Miss Fuller just pulls you into each song like the wonderful actress/singer she is. When she finally got to her signature number, One Halloween from Applause, it was like no time at all had passed and there she was as fresh and as fine as she was thirty-seven or eight years ago as Eve Harrington. It was real goose bump time and she got a huge ovation. She opened the show with a put-together of two “sing” songs – one from Rex, the other from Flora, The Red Menace. She also did Where or When, Cabaret (and a cut song from that show), No More from Golden Boy, One For The Road, a Sondheim parody song by Mr. Kleinbort, and a bunch of others I can’t remember right now. I met her briefly after the show, and she’s a sweetheart.
After that, I supped with Mr. Alex Rybeck and we shared lots of stories and memories and dished quite a bit of dirt, and we laughed and laughed and just when we thought we could laugh no more, we laughed again. We cabbed it home, and I finally got to sit down on my chair like so much fish.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get at least seven hours of beauty sleep, because tomorrow shall be another long but hopefully fun day, about which more in the other section. My goodness, I flew through this section, like a gazelle in white cotton underpants, and boy are my arms tired.
Today, Miss Alet Taylor joins our merry troupe and it’s just in the nick of time – it’s been almost impossible for the poor actors to play scenes with someone just reading her dialogue, and I think it’s going to make everyone very happy to actually have their scene partner with them. She’s got a lot of new choreography and musical staging to learn, and that’s what we’ll be doing all day today and tomorrow. Unfortunately, our Fred will be gone Friday and Saturday, doing a concert, but once Monday hits, we have our entire company right through opening, so that’s good.
I may be supping with dear reader Jose this evening, or, if that doesn’t work out, I most assuredly will sup with Miss Taylor – or perhaps both. I’ve also received several e-mails from Miss Juliana Hansen, and we’re trying to mend fences and I may see her over the weekend to hash all that stuff out.
On Sunday, there’s some big street fair on the East side, which Theatermania.com is sponsoring – we’ll be performing The Plan at two-thirty, if anyone is in the neighborhood. I do hope they have those food vendors selling sausage and pepper sandwiches because if they do nothing will stop me from having one.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, rehearse, lunch, rehearse, sup, and get home early so I can relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the best cabaret show you’ve ever seen? Why did you think it the best, what made it work so well, etc. And what is the worst cabaret show you’ve ever seen and what made you hate it and why do you think it failed so miserably? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and boy are my arms tired.