Well, dear readers, how beautiful the days, they come and go. What am I, the most happy fella all of a sudden? Seriously though, I have really been enjoying most of the days this year, despite how busy and crazy they’ve been. And I think we must all sometimes take a moment to be thankful for any day that is enjoyable. Yesterday, for example, I did the long jog fairly early – it was already ninety degrees out, but the day was a stunner and it was just so pretty with bluer than blue skies smiling at me and the rare occurrence of passing nice people who all smiled and said hello – how rare and how refreshing. I got home and had a lot of e-mails to go through, which I did, plus I had a rather long telephonic conversation with our very own elmore, and that was nice, too. I then had to go listen to tapes, which is always fascinating. Today’s listening session was for a potential two-fer CD – two scores, somewhat related, on one CD. The reason for this is that both of the original LP releases were very short. However, in going through the tapes for one of them, we not only had the original album master, but several tapes in small boxes – it appears that there’s more music than was on the LP and depending on exactly what that is and how much of it there is, I may just go with the one title now, if I’m able to get the album up to about thirty-five to forty minutes. The music is quite delightful. That session took a couple of hours, then I had to come home, pick up a couple of packages, and then get ready to go to have some supper and then see a show at the Alex Theater.
I dined in the Dale of Glen at a jernt called BJ’s – it was a high-end burger jernt. The food was pretty good – I had a bacon cheeseburger, an iceberg wedge with really good Thousand Island dressing, and a few fries.
Then I moseyed on over to the Alex to see the Musical Theatre Guild “production” of Kiss Of The Spiderwoman, a musical. The usual suspects were there, and I said hey to a lot of them, plus I met some new people I hadn’t met before, which I always enjoy. I’d seen Kiss Of The Spiderwoman on Broadway with Miss Chita Rivera, Mr. Brent Carver, and Mr. Anthony Crivello – I liked it quite a lot, but remember thinking the final third of the show didn’t quite do it for me, especially Kander and Ebb-wise. I really liked Hal Prince’s direction and Rob Marshall’s choreography for Chita’s numbers, and it was great to see Miss Rivera strut her stuff. Mr. Carver and Mr. Crivello were both terrific. The MTG concert hybrid was pretty good as their productions go. They had an eight-piece band who worked very hard, but I missed the full force of the brilliant Michael Gibson orchestrations. The cast did fine, too – the leads were very good, and they went more along the lines of the Vanessa Williams Spiderwoman rather than the Chita Spiderwoman. They throw these things together very quickly, so the fact that they are fully staged and choreographed is always amazing. Jane Lanier (who makes the best homemade caramels EVER) did the choreography, which was simple and fun. Act One felt really long, and Act Two suffered from the same thing the Broadway show suffered from, a weak last third, mostly musically. It’s not Kander and Ebb’s finest hour, although there are some lovely and powerful things in the score. But there’s a lot of stuff that almost sounds like someone is parodying Kander and Ebb. All in all, it was a nice evening.
When I got home, I had a ton of e-mails to go through, and I got a gander at people who’ve been signing up to audition for Nudie – the best-looking candidates (I obviously have no idea of their talent yet) are the ones for Juanita and Eunice – several of them are really the right type – we’ll see how their auditions are. We have 0 candidates for Harry. That’s going to be our biggest challenge. I know exactly who’d be brilliant in the part – twenty years ago, that is, and that’s Harry Groener. So, I want a thirty to thirty-five year old Harry Groener. If anyone has any ideas, send ’em to me.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst I take a moment to be thankful for how beautiful the days.
Today, I have a nine o’clock breakfast meeting at Du-Par’s – if I’m to do the long jog, I have to be out the door at seven-thirty, so it will all depend on my internal clock and when I arise. I’d like to do it, but I won’t be able to because after ten o’clock the temperature will simply be too darn not to jog like I do. Then I’ve got Kritzerland stuff to attend to for several hours, and then we’re doing the audio commentary for the Kevin and Sean show DVD, which I think will really be fun.
Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the writer of the long musical to go over my notes on the latest draft, which is still too long. And there are several other meetings, errands, and whatnot every day this week. And I’m looking forward to all of it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog (if I’m up early enough), have a breakfast meeting, do Kritzerland stuff, go to Costco, do an audio commentary, and eat something amusing. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Kander and Ebb songs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and do remember how beautiful the days as they come and go.