Well, dear readers, I made it through the week by the skin of Ye Olde Teethe. Next week, of course, is another story, but we’ll hope for the best and best for the hope. I’ve got a very busy day today, so I suppose I should just rush in for fools rush in where angels fear to tread. And, conversely, angels rush in where fools fear to tread. Speaking of fools rushing in, yesterday was a day of high and low, from the film of the same name by Akira Kurosawa. I got up very early, had a conversation with my publisher and got everything on track for the upcoming weeks. I then continued the highlighting of the scripts, and then at eleven Miss Jenna Romano came over and we rehearsed her Nudie Musical song (The Lights And The Smiles). She’s got a lovely voice and she’s really done her homework and knows the song inside out. So, that rehearsal went very quickly. I then had to do some errands and deal with the dreaded annoyance a little, and then it was time to toddle off to the second rehearsal for today’s charity event. We have a five-piece band, and they got it together pretty quickly. Miss Emily Rozek was there alone, because gal two got booked for a guest shot on Cold Case and had to be at a table reading. I find that fascinating – in my actor day, I guest-starred on many half-hour and hour shows and never once did we do a table reading, at least not that I remember. We rehearsed for a full two hours – we’re doing five songs, four from Wicked (The Wizard And I, What Is This Feeling, Popular, and For Good – kind of a tab version of the show), and our encore is my arrangement of Beautiful City/Day By Day. After rehearsal, I was starving, so I went to Carny’s and had a hot dog and a cheeseburger – very yummilicious. I then came home, finished highlighting the scripts and began highlighting the stage direction script, trying to read as little stage direction as possible, although for sequences that have a lot of stage business there’s no way around it – one has to understand what’s going on. But I realized I’ve got to then highlight the stage direction in everybody’s script so they’ll know when to come in with their lines. That will probably take three or four hours, but I’ll attend to it this morning and tomorrow morning. I then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I tried to finish watching the PBS broadcast of the concert version of Camelot. One wonders why they bother doing these sorts of concerts – they’re really not doing anyone a favor – there’s not enough rehearsal time, the attempts at “staging” are ludicrous, and it just comes off as a neither here nor there hybrid of a production and a concert, not serving either particularly well. Of course, the orchestra sounded lovely, but that’s about it. The director, who’s done several of these broadcasts, just has no aptitude and he has absolutely no feel for the things he’s directing. Even as a traffic cop he’s not very good. I like Mr. Gabriel Byrne, but he seemed really uncomfortable, frequently back phrasing the songs so much that he was nowhere near being with the orchestra. Only Christopher Lloyd seemed to breathe some life into the proceedings. The guy playing Lancelot was just plain weird, at least to me. But I stuck it out – through all the terrible staging, including the Man Of La Mancha-style joust. But then came Bobby Steggart playing Mordred, and you just saw in an instant how bankrupt the director was/is – I just sat there with mouth agape, as this goth Rocky Horror Punk Rock gender-confused thing appeared. To say that the director had lost his mind would be putting it kindly. I could take no more, and I turned it off. I then watched another episode of The Outer Limits, The Bellero Shield, starring Mr. Martin Landau, Mr. Neil Hamilton, Miss Sally Kellerman, and Miss Chita Rivera. It wasn’t quite as good as the other episodes I’ve been watching, but it was a whole lot better than the Camelot I’d just suffered through. Miss Kellerman was terrific, as was Mr. Landau, and what fun to see Miss Rivera in a dramatic role, not too long after her Bye Bye Birdie stint. She must have been in her early 30s, but they have her dressed so drearily that she looks a decade older. The direction by John Brahm was great, as was the score and the photography. I’m really enjoying watching these, I must say.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below so we fools can rush in to the next section, where angels fear to tread – why is anyone’s guess, as the next section is very angel-friendly.
Today, I shall be doing a lot of organizing for the two readings, then I’ll be heading over to do a sound check for the charity event. That’s at two-thirty, and then I guess we’ll all just hang out there until show time, which is between six and seven. I think the event actually starts somewhere between four and five, because, being a children’s charity, there will be a lot of kids there. After the show, I’m sure we’ll all partake of the buffet, and then I’ll be heading home.
Tomorrow, of course, I’ll be attending the final performance of The Brain From Planet X, and then I’ll be coming home to do last minute reading things and to finally try to get a few hours of relaxation time.
Monday will be crazy trying to rearrange the living room so that I can get fifteen people in there comfortably. I’ve also got to get some waters for everyone. I’m hoping it will be fun.
Tuesday will be the same for the reading of the musical I’m mentoring.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, organize, do a sound check, do the performance and then sit on my couch like so much fish. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could get on the haineshisway.com Time Machine™ and go back in time and attend a performance of a big flop musical or play, what would it be and why would you choose that particular musical or play? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and please rush in, you fools, where angels fear to tread.