Well, dear readers, I’m agog, I tell you, simply agog. Every time I get some wonderful news regarding our fundraiser, I then get some not-so-wonderful news regarding our fundraiser. It’s maddening. Taking on something of this size with only three people doing everything is not only maddening, it’s madness. And every time we think we’ve got someone to help, they lack focus and things don’t get done. I have had to throw so much attitude around over the last two weeks that it literally makes me nauseous, yet it’s sometimes the only way to get things done. I especially resent the lack of support from our alumni – and I will, believe you me, deal with that on another day. Not one of them offered to step up and lend us a hand in any way, shape, or form. That will all change, but for now they have only my enmity. But we mush on, ever onward to show time. There, that felt good. Sometimes one has to get things off one’s chest, doesn’t one? Sometimes one has to shout out loud to the four winds and the three breezes. Speaking of the four winds and the three breezes, yesterday was a day in which I was simply agog. For example, I got up and was simply agog. I then got the wonderful news that we were going to be allowed to premiere a song from the new Menken/Schwartz score to Enchanted. I quickly determined that Juliana Hansen would be a good singer for it, and she agreed to fly out to do it. It’s a song that Amy Adams does in the film. For those with long memories, Amy Adams, prior to Junebug, did the costumes for What If? I thought about trying to get hold of her, but, you know, I don’t really know her that well. I may still make a last-ditch effort, and if somehow she wanted to come sing it, I’d give Juliana another song. But, time is flying by like a gazelle in saddle shoes, and I don’t think there’s any way in hell it could happen this quickly. After that, I had so many e-mails and telephonic calls to attend to that I didn’t come up for air until one o’clock. I took a drive, got my mail, and went back to work. I wrote my program note, futzed with the order again, went ballistic when I found that the program designer had no idea what she was doing (we’re doing damage control on that now and it will be fine), went ballistic when I found out some music hadn’t been faxed to our orchestrator, and went ballistic over the lack of communication on too many people’s parts. The theater is constantly telling us people won’t be available to talk to until this date or this date, and I keep telling them, sorry, bucko, but you have a lot of our dough and we’ll talk to these people when we need to talk to them. That usually works. I met with our set gal and she showed me her ideas, I made a couple of suggestions, and that’s all set now. I think I went ballistic about six more times during the course of the evening and at one point I was so agitated that I almost put my fist through my laptop. Then Chad Kimball came over and rehearsed his song. I hadn’t seen him since we recorded Godspell together. He’s an extraordinary singer and his song will be a highlight. I then finally sat on my couch like so much fish and tried to calm down.
Last night, I wasn’t in the mood to watch a motion picture, so I watched the extras on the A Clockwork Orange DVD. The new featurette, like all these new featurettes, was annoying. There was a UK Channel Four documentary about the rerelease of the film in the UK, where it had been withdrawn for thirty years. And then I got halfway through a documentary about Malcolm MacDowell. I think I dozed off during the latter.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly I am ago, simply agog.
Ticket sales continue to come in, but it’s pretty apparent that people are doing the usual LA thing of waiting until the last possible minute to get tickets. I never understand that sort of thing. We have sold a number of Gold Circle tickets, and that’s a good thing.
Today, I’m toddling down to Anaheim to have a chat with the artistic director of the theater that wants to do The Brain From Planet X at the LA Festival of New Musicals. When I return I have to do an interview with some newspaper. Then it will be dealing with the craziness of all the program issues, which will probably take the rest of the day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, drive to Anaheim, meet, do an interview and attend to program matters. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite books of speculative fiction? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I am agog, simply agog.