Well, dear readers, the fundraiser is over and I feel like I’ve been hit by a mack truck or, at the very least, a mack and mabel truck. So, let me dive right into these here notes, because otherwise I’ll fall asleep whilst typing them. I got up early, and got everything ready, and then got ready myself and was out of the house at 8:40 and to the Alex by nine. The stagehands put our risers up, and our lighting guy set a bunch of specials for us – the latter took too long, if you ask me, but their regular lighting guy wasn’t there, and this fellow, while very nice, was a little slow on the uptake. We really didn’t start writing the cues until eleven, and writing them was the opposite of what it had been five years ago for the last benefit I directed at the Alex. It just took forever and by one we’d only done the first act and a little bit of the second. He then had to break for lunch for an hour. We began our sound checks at one, but with just the pianist, as the band wasn’t coming in until three-thirty. Everyone went over their entrances and exits and that part of the day ran very smoothly. When the lighting guy got back, I left him with my carefully detailed lighting script and he wrote the rest of the show himself. The band arrived and they had about forty-five minutes by themselves, and that all went smoothly. Then the rest of the singers arrived, and we ran their numbers with the band. There was simply no time to finesse sound issues and I feared the blend wasn’t going to be what I wanted or what was optimal. Then we had the one bit of drama I knew was coming, and it resulted in cutting another song from the second act. As you may remember, we lost another performer on Saturday and had to cut that number. But, one of our ensemble told me she’d sung that number before, and said she’d know it letter perfect by show day. I told her I couldn’t promise her anything, and ultimately, mostly for technical reasons, I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea to try it. But, when we had to cut the second number, I instantly walked down to her dressing room and said “You’re on.” We got a sound check on her, and then I gathered the full company on stage to run the finale, which we did. And then, my work was done. I went to the lobby and mingled, said hi to Alan and Stephen. There were probably forty no-shows tonight, which, for me, is just reprehensible. But the house still looked pretty full, and we did have quite a few people in the terrace and balcony. At seven-thirty-five, the house lights dimmed, and Cindy Williams came on and delivered the opening remarks, which were short and sweet and funny. Then, the music began and young Zane Huett came down the aisle hawking his newspaper, came on stage and sang the first half of Neat To Be A Newsboy from Working. The audience ate him up, and then the ensemble entered and the song morphed into Carryin’ The Banner from Newsies. Adam Cates did a great job choreographing it, and I staged all of Zane’s stuff and it all worked really well and got a terrific applause. And we were off and running. The first five numbers all went without a hitch, tech-wise. After that, there were some very sloppy lighting mistakes – jumping cues, not following my detailed script, but nothing major or harmful. A couple of times our backstage helpers who were placing mic stands, missed their mark on the ground, and so people were not lit as well as they should be, again nothing harmful. The rest of act one flew by, and ran exactly what I wanted it to – one hour exactly. Julie Reiber who was up second with The Wizard and I, blew the roof off the theater and got a huge ovation. After her was Kirsten Chandler, who really landed beautifully with Somewhere That’s Green. Next up was Rex Smith who did a terrific Corner Of The Sky. Then we had Valarie Pettiford and Raymond Del Barrio singing the title song from Weird Romance (she did the original show) – it really rocked and they were amazing, although the sound left a little to be desired. Next was Emily Rozek with a beautiful Lion Tamer, followed by a really fun All For The Best with Matt Ashford and Kevin Spirtas. Then the gorgeous and sultry Linda Purl did a gorgeous and sultry Blame It On The Summer Night. Alet and Andy Taylor did Suddenly Seymour really well, then Patrick Cassidy did Shooting Star, a cut song from Hercules – simple and pretty. Chad Kimball was next with a fantastic rendition of Lost In The Wilderness that was breathtaking. Christina Saffran Ashford then did Beauty and the Beast beautifully (a real audience favorite), then it was Alice Ripley’s turn to tear the roof off the theater with West End Avenue, and the act ended with Kevin Earley singing If I Can’t Love Her – a stunning performance.
At intermission, it was clear that our silent auction was going very well. The Sondheim quote was the winner, even then (it went for over $700). But, every single item sold, so I’m sure we made some decent money. The big surprise was the signed Wicked poster, which went for close to $300. Then it was time for act two.
Originally the act was meant to start with Vicki Lewis, but instead I moved Alet Taylor to the opening position with her great rendition of Beautiful City/Day by Day (my arrangement from the Schwartz album). Michelle Nicastro then did Part Of Your World, which we, of course, recorded on Toonful. That went beautifully. Then our ensemble member came on and did I Want To Be A Rockette – a song she basically got down in less than twenty-four hours. And she did wonderfully and the audience really loved her and I’m so glad I put her in. She was followed by Greg Jbara doing a very simple and beautifully-sung Will The Sun Ever Shine On Me. Then Juliana Hansen came on and premiered the Enchanted number, A Happy Working Song, which she did to perfection – another audience favorite. Jennifer Leigh Warren then killed with Stranger To The Rain – just a great job. Then it was David Burnham’s turn to let her rip, with a fantastic Out There. After that, Andy Taylor did a rarely-done Menken song called Pink Fish. And he brought the house down with it – huge laughs throughout and a totally winning performance. Beth Malone did her big number from Sister Act, The Musical – The Life I Never Led, and she, too, killed and got a huge ovation. Then it was Bruce Vilanch who told a couple of hilarious stories about Menken and Schwartz – huge laughs and it was just what the show needed at that point. Then he launched into his song, No Time At All from Pippin and he did a great job. I had him brought on and off by two shirtless men, so I think you can imagine what fun he had with that. Kim Huber then did Meadowlark – just her and piano, and it was a lovely performance. And then Julie Reiber and Emily Rozek came back and did For Good. That led directly into the finale (Day By Day) where the entire company came on and sang two choruses of the song while flinging so much confetti out of those confetti sticks, that the audience went wild. And that was the show – exactly two-hours and two minutes with intermission.
Afterwards, there was much mingling in the lobby and the auction winners paid for their items. Both Stephen and Alan seemed very happy with the show and the performers, and Alan especially wanted to meet Andy Taylor, because of his great Pink Fish. Both gentlemen were very gracious with their fans and signed many autographs. So, all in all, it was a pretty terrific evening with no major problems, which, in itself, is a miracle. Yes, lights and sound could have been smoother, but given that we were in the theater for one day and had six hours to do everything, we did amazingly well.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s almost two in the morning and I must get some semblance of sleep.
I had planned to do absolutely nothing today – not take any telephonic calls, not answer e-mails, but that is not to be, because there are post-show details to attend to, and Une Chamre En Ville arrived and I have to get those packaged and shipped out, some today, some tomorrow. I lucked out and got two really good store orders, so this title could actually do okay. But, I’m definitely taking it easy the rest of the week.
Thursday I’m hoping will be a day sans any work whatsoever. On Friday, I’ve been asked to play a rabbi in David Wechter’s son Zach’s student film. I’m going to try and do it. And I’ll be seeing the Michael John LaChiusa musical, Little Fish either Friday or Saturday night – it stars Alice Ripley, Greg Jbara, and Chad Kimball.
And now the big thanks to Cason Murphy and Miss Adriana Patti, for doing yeoman work in an impossible situation, which was basically three people trying to do everything for this humungous event. We had a fourth, who did do a lot, but is a full-time teacher, so the burden always fell on the three of us. The fact that we pulled this sucker off is a testament to them. I was not always easy to get along with during this past three weeks, but one has to do what one has to do to get the job done. I think we’ll all go out and have a big celebration dinner.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, package CDs, ship CDs, attend to a few things, and then I must do nothing else but relax and watch motion pictures on DVD. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz songs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we?