Well, dear readers, the 20th Kritzerland show and the first in our new venue, Sterling’s Upstairs at the Federal could not really have gone better. I will freely admit that when I walked into the club at three I got very nervous about the way the room was set up. Everything from halfway back from the stage seemed REALLY far away and the back seats were REALLLLY far away. But that’s the room and there’s nothing to be done about it. We had a full house with people turned away. I think there must have been about 130 people there. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Sound check went very well and by the second or third person our sound guy had it sounding great. Then Lainie Kazan arrived and was very specific about the sound she wanted on her song, and he was able to give it to her exactly. I don’t think she knew quite who I was or what to make of me, but within ten minutes I’d won her over and we really hit it off well. The lighting was going to look good – I could tell that right away. The only problem was that they haven’t gotten the blackout shades yet, and so it was still a little light in the room from the sun setting – that will all be taken care of by the time we’re back in May. The crowd began arriving right at five-thirty and fifteen minutes later the room was jammed. I think everyone was VERY pleased by the huge turnout and I must give kudos to the club for keeping everything running smoothly. Broadway World was there filming interviews and they did shoot some of the show, too, so maybe some clips will end up online and you can finally see how we do things. Also, Daisy Eagan was there – she hosts some radio show so she was doing interviews, too. I hadn’t seen her since she sang on Broadway Bound, and she may come and do her number from that album for our next show. I had an artichoke and a teeny-tiny salad to tide me over till after the show. We had some really interesting audience members, including Alvin Ing, my pal Bill Ewing, Stan Mazin, Brad Ellis, lots of young up-and-coming singers, and lots o’ other interesting folks.
Then it was time for the show to begin. I’d already decided that if the laughs were only coming from the front of the room then the room wasn’t going to work for me. But from the get-go and also the go-get the laughs were the biggest we’ve ever had. You could hear them from every part of the room and I actually had to pause quite a while on several occasions till they subsided. It helped that the commentary for this show had some really amusing things in it. And the cast was absolutely stellar in every way. Each did brilliantly with their songs and each number in the show landed incredible applause. While all the numbers were fantastic, for me the absolute highlights of the show were Julie Garnye’s How Could I Know, Melody’s Merrill Pop Song Medley – it’s one we worked on really hard – the arrangement we whipped up really worked and all the little business I gave her she delivered like gangbusters – every song in the medley got recognition applause and her laughs were huge. But if we thought that was great, she then tore into I’m the Greatest Stare – our goal was to erase all memories of Miss Streisand and to make it work for our very own Melody – I gave her a bunch of little bits, which she naturally did brilliantly, and she came up with a couple of her own – she just took the roof off the place and I think even she, who is used to getting huge ovations, was taken aback by her applause when she finished it. She was also in the best voice I’ve ever heard her in. And her Poor Little Person was equally fantastic.
Lainie, of course, was magical. She told a few cherce stories about Funny Girl and then did a very moving The Music that Makes Me Dance, accompanied by Shelley Markham. Our two boys killed with The Beauty that Drives Men Mad from Sugar, which they did in full drag and beautiful makeup. So much fun. Juliana’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s songs landed beautifully, too, and her I’m Blue, Too was great. But the whole show was of a piece and the Merrill stories were deliciously fun so that getting the laughs was a piece of cake. Our musical director, Christy Crowell, held it all together amazingly well.
Which brings us to the one caveat of the evening: Even though the digital baby grand they got is of very high quality, it’s a digital grand and it simply cannot do the things a real piano can do, especially in terms of dynamics. Fortunately, several of the upcoming acts were there and we all told Michael Sterling that he had to get a real piano in there. And Julie Garnye thinks she can get him one for free, just for giving credit to the piano store that would do it, so we’re checking into that this week. There are simply certain pianists and performers who will walk away rather than work with the digital piano. So, as long as the piano issue is addressed, I think I’m comfortable staying in the room. All in all, a perfectly perfect evening.
Prior to all that, I’d had a rough time falling asleep, but I did manage to get eight hours. It was too nippy to jog, so I just relaxed and did stuff around the home environment.
After the show, several of us went to Little Toni’s and I finally had some dinner – spaghetti and one meatball – very good. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get some beauty sleep.
Today, it’s a lot of listening decisions and liner notes writing and prepping booklets and packaging, doing some errands and whatnot, hopefully picking up some packages, and then relaxing.
The rest of the week is more of that plus meetings and meals and tons of other stuff that needs doing. We also have two Melody rehearsals – because she killed doing I’m the Greatest Star I suggested we put it in the act, replacing a song I’ve never been that happy with and that skews very young – Born to Entertain. When I wrote Melody her title song, Born to Entertain seemed redundant, but it was a good second song and just left it. But I’m the Greatest Star is much better – funny and she’s just delightful doing it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, listen and decide, do liner notes, prep packaging, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite songs from shows written by writers who never had much success, i.e. like Michael Leonard who wrote the wonderful score to the flop, The Yearling – that kind of thing. That’s going to be our next show, a melding of that and Broadway Bound so I’m looking for good suggestions. For example, we’ll definitely do Mama, a Rainbow from Minnie’s Boys. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall dream wonderful dreams of Kritzerland 20.