Well, dear readers, once again I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up early again and on my way to the paperback book fair – I’m signing from eleven to twelve. It’s usually pretty dreary there for me, but they keep asking me back and who am I to say nay? First things first – the memorial for LACC former teacher and head of the theatre department, Norman Mennes, went beautifully. There were well over one hundred people there. The current chair introduced the president of LACC – both spoke very well. I was then introduced and began by talking a bit about Mr. Mennes, and then telling a personal anecdote (the story told appears in There’s Mel, There’s Woody, and There’s You). There were good laughs and it started the program off in the way that I hoped it would – that we’d be celebrating a man’s life. And then about fourteen others came up and spoke, most sticking to the five minutes we’d asked them to do. Only two people went over – one I’d allotted for because it was Mr. Mennes’s best friend and colleague, but the other person who went way over had been e-mailing me all week, not even sure if he wanted to speak (he was nervous about it). I suggested one nice anecdote and we counted him a maybe. When I arrived, he told me he’d be speaking and that it would be short and sweet, but once he got started it just turned into about fifteen minutes. After he finished and got his applause, I came back on to introduce the next person and with a twinkle in my eye said, “And you were worried you’d have nothing to talk about.” It got a nice laugh. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way through. I’d hoped that that section of the memorial would run ninety minutes – it ended up running one hundred, so not too bad and the stories were wonderful and painted a portrait of a warm, sweet, and kind man who had a profound influence on those who were his students.
We then moved to the black box theatre where Lost and Unsung was done, and there we all mingled and there was a nice spread of veggies, fruits, and cheeses. In attendance were some of my favorite LACC alums including Miss Cindy Williams, Miss Linda Hart, writer Phil Kellard, Gary Stockdale, playwright Bill Barker, Rob Bowers, Clent Bowers, Leslie Jon, actor Alex Henteloff, and many others, along with all but one of the current faculty, and several past faculty members, including the wonderful Donna Tollefson. I think everyone was very pleased with how it all went, and I know that Norman Mennes was up in that theatre in the sky, smiling. He was a very special person.
Prior to that, I’d actually managed to get off my ASS and do a two-mile jog, so that was good. I did some banking, picked up a package, and then Cindy had arrived and we were on our way. After the event, I went directly to eat, since I’d only had a couple of carrots at the reception. I had a sandwich and sweet potato fries, and when I was leaving I saw that they had a little thing of strawberry shortcake in their dessert counter, so I got that and took it home with me. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and ate the strawberry shortcake.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Carnage, based on the play God of Carnage. The film was directed by Roman Polanski. I saw the show at the Ahmanson with the absolutely perfect cast of James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, and Jeff Daniels. It was a wonderful production of a very good play and I loved every minute of it – short, slight, but very entertaining. The film is also short and slight, but film does not serve the material too well and the cast, including Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz just isn’t as good as the stage cast, although they’re all fine. Polanski is a master filmmaker and he shoots this beautifully, but it just doesn’t have the ferocity that the play had and so moments that were absolutely brilliant on stage just fall a little flat on film. It’s not anyone’s fault really, other than I just think this material is better for the stage. Scope transfer is very nice.
I then watched the pilot episode and part of the following episode of The Killing – American Style. It was exactly what I knew it would be – aping the original Danish in its style, but with bad dialogue, no subtlety, and “adjustments” that were not good, so far mostly having to do with the way the new male cop is played – it’s a very interesting character in the Danish, very off-putting at times and a great contrast and foil to the leading lady cop – here we get a Keith Carradine clone, nerdy and lightweight and not interesting at all. I cannot see that aspect getting better. The plot and subplots are exactly the same, but bludgeoned home with a sledgehammer. I was shocked that the music sounded exactly like the music from the Danish version until the end credits came up and one discovered that it IS the same music as the Danish version – they just bought it lock, stock, and barrel. Interestingly, in the credits for the pilot, only someone named Veena Sud seemingly grabs all the credit – as “developer” and writer. There is not one mention in the pilot’s credits of the Danish series from which this is knocked off. That changes with the next episode, when we get “based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen.” The executive producers (in name only) are the three producers of the Danish version. The leading lady is okay but once you’ve seen the original Danish actress, Sofie Grabol, the American actress is just typical of every other American actress working today, and Miss Grabol is anything but typical and she’s brilliant to boot. I guess I can see why people think it’s good here, because they simply do not know Forbrydelsen – if they did, they’d shut this not nearly as good knock off off instantly.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get some beauty sleep.
Today, I must be up early and to the paperback book fair in Mission Hills by ten-thirty for my eleven o’clock signing for an hour – if it’s as dreary as last year, I won’t stay the entire hour. I always enjoy looking around the room, so that will be fun. Then I’ll eat something light but amusing, then come home and relax and watch more motion pictures.
Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal – the schedule is a little screwy so I’ll be working from three to eight. I’ll have to eat beforehand, and I’m hoping that the books arrive before three – hard to know with UPS these days. If they arrive after three, I’ll have the helper pick them up and begin shipping. The rest of the week is very busy, with beginning to prep new Kritzerland releases, more rehearsals, doing some tests in the new venue, meetings, and meals.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up early, do a signing, eat, and relax. 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. And a reminder that at some point this day or evening part one of The Broadway Radio Show interview I did will be up and running, so check it out.