Well, dear readers, I’m back from this year’s STAGE benefit show – a long evening, but one filled with some excellent performances. After Melody’s rehearsal (about which more later), she and I toddled off to the theater. We found great street parking, then took a long walk trying to find a restaurant. You must understand, this part of Wilshire and La Cienega, once you turn right (or north) on La Cienega is still known as Restaurant Row. In its heyday, there were probably thirty restaurants lining each side of the street, all the way up past San Vicente. Now it’s just depressing. There’s something called The Stinking Rose, and the venerable Lawry’s, but we just wanted something simple and fun. There were a couple of weird-looking jernts, but most of the great restaurant buildings have been replaced by faceless office complexes. It’s horrible. This was one of the greatest LA “things” back in the day – Ollie Hammond’s, Richlor’s, Lawry’s, and tons of others. It’s like a ghost town now. We walked all the way up to San Vicente and then started back south – we found a little Japanese jernt and since Melody loves sushi, that’s where we went. I had some chicken teriyaki and some tempura and she had avocado and cucumber roll and some other kind of veggie roll. The food was okay and light.
We then walked back to the theater and got our tickets. They’d provided me with excellent seats and a VIP wristband (enabling one to get in the afterparty). I saw lots of people I knew, and Melody got to meet some terrific folks. I especially had fun chatting with the ever-amusing Bruce Vilanch. We then spent a lot of time looking at the myriad silent auction items. There were some really nice things there, and I bid on a few items – two large baskets o’ stuff, one from Trader Joe’s, one from somewhere else. There was some nail polish products things so we bid on that for Melody, and there was a fun signed Downton Abbey poster (signed by the entire cast and its writer) – I bid on that, but it proved to be one of the most popular items in the whole auction. By the time I stopped it was almost at three hundred bucks.
Then we took our seats and the show finally began. These evenings, at least for me, are always hit and miss, with thankfully the hits outweighing the misses, and that was the case with last night’s show. It was very well put-together and the musical direction of John McDaniel was excellent. The show opened with the ageless Bonnie Franklin singing applause. I kind of wished they’d recreated the entire number as choreographed by Ron Field, but that was not to be. Bonnie was great. Bill Hutton did a nice Time After Time. And then it was just one number after another. Interestingly, as the evening went on the sound went from being reasonably theatrical and okay to rock concert loud and overbearing, with way too much reverb on the vocals – it’s almost like the mixer was Jekyll and Hyde. I hate that loud rock-style sound. The most magical moment in act one was Patricia Morison doing Getting To Know You – she is ninety-seven years old, and it was so moving to see her up there doing it and doing it well. What a treat. And right up there with her was eighty-eight year old Pat Marshall, who sounds amazing. But the amazing in terms of sheer knockout beauty had to go to Constance Towers, who must be closing in on eighty – she looked unbelievably beautiful. The biggest ovation of act one went to Lillias White for The Oldest Profession. I don’t have the program in front of me, but there were other wonderful performances, and some sketchy ones. It was great fun to see Anna Maria Alberghetti, but her voice is pretty much gone. Carol Lawrence, listed in the program to do a West Side Story medley was a no-show, but we did get kind of a pointless five-person Cool. Rex Smith just is a little too smarmy for me. Patrick Cassidy did a nice reprise of his Assassins song. The end of the act was Len Cariou doing Epiphany from Sweeney Todd. It was an odd way to end the act, actually – I should have thought the Lillias White number would have been a better choice to end with, but boy was it great to hear and see Len Cariou do Sweeney again.
At intermission, we checked on our bid and all looked well, save for Downton Abbey and a big tin of assorted chocolates that someone else seemed to want really badly. I introduced Melody to some more good people for her to meet, and then it was time for act two. Well, not quite – there was about a twenty to thirty-minute live auction first, which, of course, just makes the evening even longer. They made some good money, though, and that’s really what the evening is about. Act two began with several Dreamgirls songs – the first, Move, was a knockout, with the original Bennett staging. Then we had And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going – sung to a faretheewell, but in that grandstanding way that I just don’t respond to. Then it was Ain’t No Party, the I am Changing – in this long a show, I would only have done Move and maybe And I Am Telling You. Len was back doing an affecting Dance a Little Closer, and we also had Carole Cook doing her thing, and then she did a Jerry Herman song with a little eleven-year-old kid who was fantastic – he tapped danced and sang up a storm and practically walked away with the show. David Burnham did one of his Light in the Piazza songs really well (what a voice he has), Beth Fowler did a little Beauty and the Beast and then the song Patterns from Baby. I’m forgetting things, but then we got Andrea McArdle doing Tomorrow – she still sounds great, although I wasn’t quite sure what all the riffing on the last note was about. Thinking about it, Donna McKechnie was also a no-show – I must find out what that’s all about. Oh, and Sally Struthers did a rather shameless and very amusing Little Girls. You get the gist anyway.
After the show, we said hello to many of the performers, and then found out we won two of the items we bid on – the two baskets o’ stuff – bargains both. Then Melody spent some time chatting with Andrea McArdle (they did Annie together and Andrea loves her) – we hope Andrea might make it to Mel’s show tonight. All in all a long but fun night.
Prior to all that, I did errands and whatnot, picked up a couple of packages, did work on the computer, and then had Melody’s rehearsal. She was in fine fettle and just was great – I had only a handful of small notes, and one new line (she’s fearless about new stuff – you just throw it at her, she does it, and that’s it – it’s locked and in), and one new position at the end of the number. She’s totally ready for tonight.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get some sort of beauty sleep and it’s almost two-thirty in the morning right now.
Today, I shall just be lazy, then I’ll maybe watch the first of the series two Wallander movies, and then sound check is at three-thirty. We’re expecting a good crowd. At five-thirty the audience arrives and we all eat, and then it’s show time. I will, of course, have a full report.
Tomorrow, I’m meeting Mr. David Wechter for lunch to get some materials for the new Blu and Ray we’re doing, and then we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which I’m really looking forward to. I also have to get back to work on the commentary – I really want to be done with that by Tuesday. The rest of the week are meetings and meals and rehearsals and stumble-through, then sound check and show.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Pony, because today is the birthday of occasional but beloved dear reader The Vixter. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to occasional but beloved dear reader The Vixter. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OCCASIONAL BUT BELOVED DEAR READER THE VIXTER!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be lazy, watch a Wallander, have a sound check and do a show. 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, after which I get to visit Melodyland.