Well, dear readers, it is quite late and I am quite tired and I must quite get these here notes written and posted, so away we go. I had quite a nice night’s sleep and didn’t get up until ten. At eleven, the composer of the long musical arrived and we had a nice work session, after which I did the long jog in the big heat. After that, I did some errands and whatnot and picked up one package that I wasn’t expecting and no packages that I was. After that, I came home and did some work on the computer whilst listening to the recently released 2 CD set of Bernard Herrmann’s masterful score to The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad, which was quite rousing. I then got ready to make the long drive to Thousand Oaks and at five I was on the road saying away we go. I actually made very good time and got out there quite early (dinner was going to be at six and I arrived at 5:15). I went to the box-office and got my ticket and then toddled off to the shopping center next door where the California Pizza Kitchen. In the same complex was a Claim Jumper, which reminded me of all those humungous meals I had when we were doing the Brain out in Anaheim – you know, when I gained close to thirty pounds, all due to the humungous meals at Claim Jumper. I ran into my friends Sean Spence and his ever-lovin Robin Shelby and we walked around for a bit then went to CPK, where we were joined by two more of Barry Pearl’s friends, Ray and Chris or Kris. They put two tables together and we sat down and a few moments later Barry arrived from his matinee, and a little later we were joined by Barry’s agent David Moss and his ever-lovin Jomarie Ward. We had perhaps the worst service ever – yes, the place was busy but not sold out so there was really no excuse for it. I ordered a small Caesar and my beloved penne with sausage and peppers. I was asked if I wanted the salad first, to which I replied of course, as I don’t like to have a salad delivered with the main course, especially when the main course is a hot dish. About twenty-five minutes later my pasta arrived. I said to the guy who brought it that I was supposed to have been served my salad first. He apologized and then ignored my next comment that I didn’t really want it anymore now that the main course had arrived – no, he simply went and got the salad. As it turned out that was fine, because the cheese we’d asked for wasn’t brought to the table – for ten minutes. Finally Barry got up and had a conversation with the manager and we got our cheese, but my pasta was cold and I sent it back, as did Barry. That gave me a chance to finish the salad, and then my pasta returned warm (but not warm enough) and I ate that. The waitress never returned to ask how we were doing and, in fact, I had to have the manager get me a refill on my liquid refreshment. But the company was stellar and we laughed and laughed and just when we thought we could laugh no more, we laughed again. Barry headed back to the theater, and we all hung out for a few more minutes, after which we all headed to the theater. By that time it was seven-thirty. Barry had arranged an excellent seat for me and I took it and read my program from start to finish. We had three Nudie Musical alums in the show – Barry, Alet (who called it The First Ever Nudie Musical in her bio), and Bobby Traversa, who’d done the very first private reading at my house, the one with Patrick Cassidy and Beth Malone. At about seven minutes past eight the lady who runs the theater stepped out and talked for quite a long time, so the show didn’t really start until about 8:15 or so. The house lights dimmed and the band began the overture.
Last night, I saw a musical comedy entitled Guys and Dolls. From the first notes of the overture one is reminded just how brilliantly tuneful Frank Loesser’s score is – in fact, I’d say it’s one of the greatest scores in the history of Broadway. There’s not a bum song in the bunch and several of them are breathtakingly great. They had what I believe was a nineteen piece band, so that was really fun. I think they had the full complement of reeds and brass and were only lacking a few more strings. Anyway, the band sounded quite good. The show itself is one of my favorites. The book is great, the score is great, the characters are great – it’s a really hard show to hurt, although the recent Broadway revival seems to have done a pretty good job of it (according to everything I heard about it), with a director who thought he was better than the material, and who certainly didn’t trust the material and added all measure of annoying things to the show (like Damon Runyon hovering over the entire show – what a concept – not). Here they trust the material and that’s a good thing, because it just doesn’t get much better than this show, craft-wise. Barry did an excellent job as Nathan Detroit and our very own Miss Alet Taylor was a terrific Adelaide, going down her own very interesting road with her interpretation but staying true to the character always. They both played off each other very well and got lots of laughs. If one were to nitpick one could say it would be nice if the pace of the show were a little sharper and faster (the first act clocked in at ninety minutes and the second at seventy), but it was a fun evening and I left the theater humming those great songs. I went back and said hello to Alet (who had to hurry off to meet her dad, who is visiting), and Barry, and I also said hello to Bobby Traversa. I then headed home and since there was no traffic at all made very good time.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s almost one in the morning and I’m almost asleep, so away we go.
Today, I shall do the long jog (I intend to do some sort of jog every day for the next two weeks – I’ve been much too lax over the last few weeks), and then I have to write the blurbs for the two releases we’re announcing this week, I have to finish my second set of liner notes and get them to the designer, and I may or may not be going to Mr. Grant Geissman’s to mix the songs we did the other day and to re-record the two songs that have changed since we did the demo. So much for a day off – I’ll have to find one during the week, I suppose.
This week is sort of busy, but maybe not as busy as previous weeks. I do have several meetings, have many errands and whatnot to do, and several meals to do, and I also need to see Teddy for I am quite unkempt, hair-wise.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, write blurbs, write liner notes, and maybe mix and record. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we – and away we go.