Well, dear readers, are you feeling a little green today? It’s not easy bein’ green but I’m afraid we must be green for today is the day known as St. Patrick’s Day and we must all be wearin’ of the green or we shall get walloped but good. Don’t be caught singing “I should have worn green, I wore green the last time,” no, you just wear the green and all will be well with the world and conversely well will be all with the world. You know who never had a problem with St. Patrick’s Day? Lorne Greene. Nigel Green. The Green Bay Packers. Johnny Green. Billy Green Bush. I hope that I have something green to wear, for if I don’t I shall be green with envy. Of course, I could always eat some tainted food and then I’d be green with nausea. Of course, whoever is playing Elphaba will have no problem on this St. Patrick’s Day. Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, yesterday was the day before St. Patrick’s Day. I got up early and made my way to our early morning rehearsal. For the first time, I had absolutely no slow downs anywhere – I took the 134 to the 5 and just zoomed along and got to the rehearsal space about forty minutes later. We had a very nice music rehearsal with The Brain, Zubrick, and Yoni, and then I spent the final hour blocking their opening scene, and two others. I think there will be some additional visual gags in this production because of interesting things the set will do, so that’s always fun. I’m enjoying the actors and just sort of watching what they’re doing at this point. We’re putting in a few new lines for The Brain, but it’s my job to make sure that we’re suddenly not becoming some other kind of show. David Wechter and I worked really hard to make the show something more than just a spoof and jokes – we tried to give it a real spine and some heart and I simply won’t jeopardize any of that to make the show a series of one-liners. That said, I have always felt that we got The Brain’s character right in Act Two and we never quite got it where I wanted it in act one, so the additional few lines will be very helpful there. Mr. Mark Rothman is going to be very funny in the role. After rehearsal, I came home (lots of traffic) and then made a big mess o’ wacky noodles for my meal. They were quite yummilicious. And then I just sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched one-and-three-quarters motion pictures, one on DVD and three quarters on TIVO. The first motion picture was entitled Gideon Of Scotland Yard (its US title – UK was Gideon’s Day, a better title). It’s a late 50s film from director John Ford and, for me, it most certainly is one of his worst. The film, which is basically one day in the life of a Scotland Yard inspector, is nothing more than a series of vignettes with no real center, and nothing very interesting to hold the attention. The actors are all good, and Ford’s direction is understated and simple, but it’s just a first-class bore. The film was a critical and box-office disaster, which means, of course, that there are the usual auterists running amok crying undiscovered masterpiece. It was such a bomb, that for its US release the film was issued in black-and-white instead of Technicolor, like the UK release. The print TCM showed was in color – not very good color, but color. It was nice to finally see it, but frankly I gave up three-quarters of the way through. I then watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Michael Clayton, released through Warner Bros. I wrote about the film when I saw it last December – I quite liked it. Seeing it a second time, I still quite like it, although it isn’t perfect by any means. The transfer from Warners is really substandard and is becoming the norm from Warners on new titles, and other studios, too. There can be only one explanation for a new film having a transfer that doesn’t look so hot – they’re doing it on purpose to make the Blu-Ray hi-def release look a lot better. I think we all know that when DVD has a top-notch transfer it looks pretty terrific. Yes, the hi-def version might look even better, but the standard DVD isn’t a poor cousin. But there’s really no other explanation for what’s been happening with transfers of new films. There’s no excuse and I find it really off-putting and sort of reprehensible.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly I should have worn green – I wore green the last time.
Today, I shall hope for a call that will result in being one step closer to good news. I shall also do some work on the computer, and I have a lot of errands to do before heading off to our first full-cast music rehearsal. We are, thankfully, now fully cast.
We also have a full-cast music rehearsal tomorrow night, and then it’s blocking, blocking, blocking (that is three blockings) from then on. I will have no day off until next Sunday – I’ve decided we’re not working on Easter.
I should, of course, have a fine Irish meal today, but I don’t think they have any Irish pubs in Anaheim Hills. I’ll probably end up at Panera, Marie Callender’s, or a local eatery called Knollwood.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hope for good news, do a bunch o’ errands, and then have a nice music rehearsal with our full company of players. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite plays, movies, and songs with the word “green” in the title? Let’s have loads of lovely postings shall we, whilst I sing forlornly, “I should have worn green, I wore green the last time.”