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May 25, 2011:

I JUST DOVE RIGHT IN THERE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, our first rehearsal was fun. Wow, I just dove right in there, didn’t I? I just dove right in there without so much as a how do you do, didn’t I? Did you see how I just dove right in there? In any case, our first rehearsal was fun. It began with Mr. Andy Taylor, who ran his three songs – Real Live Girl, a put-together of Gimme A Raincheck and the song that replaced it in Sweet Charity, The Rhythm Of Life (really fun), and a cut song from Barnum entitled So Little Time. He was followed by his ever-lovin’ Alet Taylor, who did her songs (she’s doing four in this show) – the put-together of Nobody Does It Like Me and You Can Always Count On Me that was done for the Randy Graff Cy Coleman album, Lost and Found (from City of Angels, Little Me (a duet with Kim Huber – the arrangement we did for the Emily and Alice Duets album), and You There In The Back Row. Alet has a lot of stuff to learn, but she’s fantastic and will be prepared come Friday. Then came Juliana Hansen, who sang a put-together of Hey Look Me Over and Pass Me By, On The Other Side Of The Tracks, and the duet At My Side (with James Mulligan), which we recorded on Unsung Musicals. Then it was James Mulligan (his first time with us). He did the duet, then a put-together of Firefly and Witchcraft, and finally Our Private World (from On The Twentieth Century). He’s very good and easy to direct.

Last up was the thirteen-year-old. We’re doing something fun and unique with her in this show: This is the first time I’m not having one of the five cast members opening the show – Melody is – I have a really funny running gag in the show – it begins with Melody – the MD plays the famous opening vamp to Big Spender and Melody smiles slyly – then, instead of singing Big Spender she goes into Hey There Good Times. Then we repeat the vamp four other times throughout the show, but every time the singer sings a completely different song. Then we’ll finally do a chorus at the end.

In any case, we had a difficult time with Hey There Good Times. It’s very odd – the show key is for guys, so we had to lower it, but it’s very rangy and the low stuff was too low, so we fudged those and took them up a step higher, but kept all the other key changes where they were – there are a LOT of key changes and some of them are pretty weird anyway, so it works fine. But Melody, who usually knows her stuff by heart at the first rehearsal, hadn’t been able to learn it properly from the track, so it took a while – the MD is making her an mp3 of just the melody (the melody for Melody) and she’ll be able to lock it in from that. Kim Huber had family stuff, so she’s rehearsing her three songs today – With Every Breath I Take, Little Me, and Then Was Then and Now Is Now.

We’re not going to know about our guest star until the last minute. She’s so great, we decided to wait it out, and if she’s not able to do the show, then this one will be sans guest star. But we’re hoping she’ll be with us and she’d do a song she knows very well and that’s second nature to her.

Prior to rehearsal, my wake-up call didn’t arrive so I overslept by an hour. I had to really hustle, but CDs and helper arrived and we got everything shipped out. After that, I got some matzo brei and a bagel, after which I picked up a few packages. I then paid an obscene number of Kritzerland bills, after which I jogged. After that, I buckled down Winsocki and wrote six pages of my personal project. I’ll jump over to the Wechter/Kimmel project today.

After rehearsal, the thirteen-year-old, her family, and I went to Mo’s. There was a big party next to us – I took no notice of them until halfway through the meal, when I looked over and realized I knew two of the people. So I said hi. It was a get-together of the ex-Hamilton High drama teacher that I know, and the folks who just worked on the Hamilton production of Pippin. The new director is, apparently, not so hot, but they were smart enough to have two Pippin alums choreograph – Sandahl Bergman and Kathryn Ann Wright, both of whom I saw in the show and both of who were there. Since I’d had a tremendous crush on Kathryn Ann Wright when I saw the show, it was a treat to finally meet her. And Sandhal Bergman – still stunningly beautiful at sixty and so was Kate Wright. Amazing, really.

I then came home, answered e-mails, and watched the first thirty minutes of a motion picture on DVD, one of those Warner Archive things – Hotel, starring Rod Taylor, Melvyn Douglas, Michael Rennie, Merle Oberon, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, and some great character actors. I fell in love with this film when I saw it in Cleveland whilst on tour in 1967 – I saw it three times in one day. And watching the first thirty minutes, I still love everything about it. More when I finish.

Well, why don’t we click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep.

Today, we have our little teeny-tiny rehearsal with Kim Huber, and the thirteen-year-old is back, as she can’t rehearse on Friday. After that, it will be a lot of writing on the Wechter/Kimmel project, then, if I feel like it, maybe a bit more writing on my personal project. I am very excited about the latter and will divulge certain information when it’s a little further along, as we all know there are a lot of little thieves out there on the Internet. At some point, I’ll eat a little something.

Tomorrow, I have an early lunch meeting close by, then it will be more writing. Friday is our second rehearsal, but prior to it, Jason Graae and I will do the final fixes on his CD. Saturday is a long work session with the thirteen-year-old, and I’m waiting to hear about Sunday.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a rehearsal, write, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up a package or three, eat, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy at the thought that I just dove right in there.

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