Well, dear readers, it is quite late and therefore I must get these here notes written and posted so I can visit the bedroom environment. Question: How do you make a dramatically inert play about a person like Roy Cohn. Answer: I don’t know, but that was the case with last night’s play about Roy Cohn. The author simply has no drama in the piece. There’s no conflict, there’s just a lot of talking and occasional singing and dancing to spice up the evening. It’s not as if Roy Cohn isn’t an innately dramatic person – he is and I’m sure that a play about him in purgatory could be interesting – unfortunately, this was not that play. That said, the cast did a sterling job of trying to make something out of something that isn’t there. Barry Pearl acquits himself very well indeed as Roy Cohn – he never stops talking for the entire duration of the play and he’s centered and focused and how he learned all that dialogue is anyone’s guess. He pulls out all the stops but ultimately can only do so much with the role as written. The pace is fine, and it’s certainly a slick production, but I felt that a lot of it was smoke and mirrors to disguise the fact that there is no there there. About twenty audience members fled at intermission.
Barry, our friend Kenny, and I went to Junior’s Deli after the show, where I had a pastrami sandwich – not the greatest, but not bad. I hadn’t seen Barry since his New Year’s Day partay, so it was nice to catch up and we were innately dramatic whilst eating our fatty meats.
Prior to all that, I’d gotten up very early, done a two-mile jog, then had some matzo brei and a bagel and bacon whilst proofing another fifty or sixty pages. Then I picked up one teeny-tiny package and came back home. I watched the beginning of Annie Hall, and then did some organizing and other stuff, after which it was time to go see the play.
Oh, yeah, when I got up in the early morning I found that Time Machine couldn’t do its backup because it couldn’t find the Time Capsule. I had to call Apple and we troubleshot for twenty minutes and then finally he had me plug directly into the computer and then it finally worked. Once we’d done that, then I unplugged the cable and everything was working as it should again. So, if it should ever happen again, I at least have a solution. Why it would just suddenly “lose” the device is anyone’s guess, but the Apple guy said it sometimes happens when you put the computer to sleep. Speaking of sleep, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really need a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall get up, I shall jog, I shall proof, I shall attend a little film music thing, I shall return, I shall proof, and I shall relax.
Tomorrow I’ll be up at six in the morning to announce our two new titles, after which I’ll hopefully be able to print out a LOT of orders. This week is filled with rehearsals, meetings, trying to lock up some more Kritzerland releases, and proofing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, proof, attend a film music thing, proof, and watch a motion picture or two. 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, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall dream of innately dramatic things.