Well, dear readers, it is late, I’m exhausted and therefore shall write these notes in a hurry without a worry or care as to their content. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, shall not have a worry or care as to their content. So, everyone will just have to be content with the content. Say what? Two words spelled exactly the same but pronounced differently and with different meanings? How confusing. Which brilliant word person decided to do THAT? In any case, I shall not have a worry or care about the content of these here notes and I shall be content in that.
First, the big, wonderful news of yesterday, at least for me, his fans, and Kritzerland, is that the wonderful writer/columnist Peter Filicia, whose three times a week column was a fixture on Theatremania, will be writing a once a week column at Kritzerland, basically the same type of column he wrote at Theatremania. He has written his last column for them and we’re more than thrilled to have him at Kritzerland. So, look for his first column next Friday.
The second big, wonderful news of yesterday, at least for me, was seeing the rough cuts of episodes four and five. I must say I laughed out loud several times, and they really cut together well. The Alet and Andy Taylor musical number is really good – it actually looks like I might actually know what I’m doing as a director. That’s always fun. These two episodes are shorter than the first three, running about five and a half minutes each, which is good. I made very few changes and they were really tiny – just staying on a master shot a little longer, going to a close-up a little later, using a different audio track, swapping out one take of a lyric for another – that sort of minutiae. Then we decided that the set-up scene for the Matt Ashford episode just felt a teeny-tiny bit too long, so we took about fifteen to twenty seconds out of it, which really seemed to help the pace. I may pull another fifteen or twenty seconds out after I see it with fresh eyes. Matt is wonderful in his episode, and the one thing I was really worried about in terms of coverage, actually cut beautifully. The editor also made a slightly extended version of our trailer, incorporating footage from these three episodes. That is now up on our You Tube page – if you haven’t subscribed to our channel (it’s free, you know), please do so, that way you’ll be alerted when any new videos go up. Also, please spread the word by sharing the trailer on your Facebook pages. That’s how the word gets out. I must say, that because I now know how to tag things properly, we got ten new subscribers within an hour of putting up the new, longer trailer. A few of those were Matt Ashford and Gregory Harrison fans. Episode one premieres in eight days.
Other than that, I got a pretty good night’s sleep, did some errands and whatnot, did the four-mile jog, satisfied my craving for a Tom’s bacon cheeseburger and onion rings (GREAT onion rings), picked up one small package and no important envelope – hopefully that will arrive today – and then came home.
We then had our rehearsals for the Gardenia show. First up was Alet, who’s just so great and it’s such a treat hearing her sing my songs – of course, she’s already sung each of her three songs before, and no one could ever do those songs like she does. Guy Haines was a no-show so I sang his songs. Then came Kevin Symons, then Shannon Warne (with her adorable son), then it was the dildos. Only two dildos showed up – the third dildo apparently has some reading comprehension problems as he thought the rehearsal was on Monday, the one day in which there is no rehearsal. It was all clearly written in the e-mail but what can you do. So, he and the other dildos will arrive thirty minutes early on our stumble-through day. We ran the number with the two dildos who were there, aka Jeff Harlan and Steve Yudson. They’re wonderfully funny and know the song perfectly. We had to come up with an ending as the film version has no ending. Then Jason Graae arrived and we ran his song a few times – he’ll be great as always.
I was exhausted right then and there, but I had work to do on the computer, the video to upload, and some Halloween candy to snack on. I overdid the latter, unfortunately, but I was really hungry and that’s all there was. I managed to sit on my couch like so much fish for only a short time. I watched the first forty minutes of the Stagecoach remake from the 1960s, which has just come out on DVD from Twilight Time. A beautiful transfer of a weird film. It took some chutzpah to remake one of the all-time classic John Ford westerns, and, no, it’s nowhere near that film, but it still has some entertaining things and a few good performances (unfortunately, Alex Cord isn’t one of them, but then who could have filled Mr. Wayne’s shoes). I’ll finish it up tomorrow.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am content with the content of this section and must get some beauty sleep before I fall over.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s sleep. I’ll do the four-mile jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up packages and an important envelope, do work on the computer, and then attend the opening night of Hairspray at Musical Theatre West. I will, of course, have a full report.
Tomorrow I shall try to rest as much as possible. I’m sure I’ll have a light but amusing meal somewhere fun. Next week is, of course, really busy. Monday I have a lunch meeting, Melody rehearses in the afternoon (she had to miss yesterday’s rehearsal), and then I’ll be giving out a LOT of Halloween candy. In fact, Melody is coming in costume and will trick or treat in this neighborhood – her costume is Holly Golightly. I’ll try to get a photograph to post. Tuesday is our stumble-through, Wednesday is sound check and show, and Thursday we’ll be finalizing the three episodes.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up packages and an important envelope and attend an opening night. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your all time favorite weird word? What word do you find to be completely idiotic? And what word would you never like to hear again as long as you live? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I will hopefully be content with the content of the dreams.