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April 8, 2012:

THE BUNNY HOP

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it is VERY late and I must write these notes in a hurry because I only had four hours of sleep and I’m really overtired and not thinking all that clearly right now. Then again, I’ve got a few things to write about so write I will – like the wind. As stated, I got only four hours of sleep – my tummy was a little upset and so I didn’t fall asleep until four and then she of the Evil Eye arrived just before nine, but I was up at a little after eight. Then I met the helper at the storage place and we found to our dismay that there was not one single piano/vocal chart from the Broadway Bound album – I couldn’t believe it – all the orchestrations are there, but no piano/vocals. I’m sure I can get the music for the six songs I need, but it’s truly irritating. We also pulled music for two potential upcoming Kritzerland shows. After that, I did some errands and whatnot and visited a store in West Los Angeles, a book store owned by a guy I’d met at the paperback book show, where he had really nice and interesting stuff. But his store is terrible – no order, no way to really find anything easily, just stacks and stacks of stuff, and I couldn’t even stay there ten minutes.

Then I came home, finished watching It’s Only Money starring Jerry Lewis – as I said, for me not one of his best, despite a few really funny bits. I then watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Chinatown. As I’ve said here every time I talk about it, it’s a movie I never tire of watching – I could literally watch it every day. It’s a virtually perfect film – from the brilliant script by Robert Towne, to the brilliant direction of Polanski, to every single person in the cast, but most especially Nicholson, Dunaway, and Huston. And one cannot praise the art direction enough – it gets the late 1930s LA perfectly and it succeeds so wonderfully because unlike say a period film like LA Confidential, Chinatown doesn’t wear its art direction on its sleeve, lit up like a klieg light, showing off how brilliant it is. Richard Sylbert’s work is subtle and fantastic – it just FEELS like we’re where we are in the film – never forced, never hitting you over the head – just the right settings or locations shot in the right way. It’s genius, actually. And the camerawork of John Alonzo is amazing (Stanley Cortez started the film but was let go early on). And then, tying it all together, is Jerry Goldsmith’s flawless score. It’s short, but so right that one simply cannot imagine the film without it, although if one saw it at its first public preview one would have heard a completely different score, one by composer Philip Lambro. By all accounts, it pretty much did the film in, although I happen to have a copy of it and it’s interesting music on its own, much like the Charles Strouse score to The Molly Maguires – but one cannot imagine it in the film itself. Which brings us to the transfer: I wish I could say it was what the film deserved, but while it’s perfectly fine, it’s taken from a five or six year old master that was used for the last DVD release. Paramount, in a great show of not thinking clearly, let a man named Ron Smith go – Mr. Smith was the real deal for a time – he’s responsible for the gorgeous transfers of White Christmas, The Ten Commandments, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. If he had done a fresh transfer of Chinatown, it would look absolutely spectacular. What we now have is okay – it looks okay – but it’s never quite sharp enough, and it lacks the density and texture of the 35mm IB Technicolor prints – Chinatown and Godfather II were the last films printed in IB Tech in the US. So, I wish I could say it was a pristine and perfect transfer of a perfect film, but it’s less than that – it will still be more than acceptable to most, and it’s certainly more than acceptable to me, but I just know how much better it could look with a fresh transfer done with TLC.

Then I had a telephonic conversation with David Galligan, who’d heard act one of the Andrew Lloyd Webber mix. He thought we’d done a really good job of disguising the problems, so that was nice. He agreed with me completely about starting CD 1 with act two, and starting CD 2 with act one. Of the act one material, we decided to cut three songs. We’ll probably take out two or three from act two, as well – but we’ll discuss that today after he’s heard it. I picked up no packages, and then it was time to mosey on over to Grant Geissman’s house. We drove out to Channel Islands college in Camarillo to see his daughter as one of the Kit Kat girls in Cabaret.

This was the college’s very first try doing a musical. For a first time out they’re to be commended for getting it done. It was fun to see Greer up there doing her thing. This was the revival version of the show, and I must say I just don’t like it at all. I didn’t like it on Broadway, I didn’t like it on tour – it’s the revisal that just feels it necessary to hit you over the head with everything, from the decadence to the concentration camp ending. And all the changes don’t work for me at all. I hate when the movie songs are added, especially because they make the show longer than it should be. This production included Why Should I Wake Up, which I don’t think was in it on Broadway. If you do Don’t Tell Mama, then you don’t need Mein Herr, which is probably my least favorite Kander and Ebb song ever. And I Don’t Care Much – well, I don’t. The emcee in the revisal becomes so tiresome. The original Harold Prince production was, like Chinatown, perfect. It was audacious and unlike anything seen up to that point – in fact, it paved the way for all the Prince/Sondheim shows that followed it. His direction was brilliant as was Ron Fields’ choreography. And I just like the original conception of the emcee much better. It’s funny, but every production of Cabaret over the years mostly aped that Prince/Fields staging. Until the revisal came along, and now every production apes that and the Prince production is now almost completely forgotten. Not by me – it was one of the most perfect theatre experiences I’ve ever seen. I saw it first at the Ahmanson during its national tour, with Robert Salvio as the emcee (great), Melissa Hart as Sally Bowles (great), and Signe Hasso and Leo Fuchs as Schneider and Schultz. When I moved to New York, one of the first things I did was to see Cabaret on Broadway – by then the show had moved to the Broadway Theatre – Joel Grey had left, but Martin Ross, his replacement, was terrific. I can’t remember who played Cliff, but Anita Gillette was Sally. But the cream was seeing Lotte Lenya and Jack Gilford – those were two of the best performances I’ve ever seen on any stage, Lenya especially.

After the show, we saw Grant’s daughter for a while, and then Grant, his ever-lovin’ Lydia, and I went for a bite to eat at the only place open – Denny’s. It was better than I thought it would be, which was very surprising. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst saying, “Forget it, Jake – it’s Chinatown” and doing the bunny hop, and that will, of course, help me get a good night’s beauty sleep.

Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. If the weather is as nice as it was yesterday, I’ll definitely jog. I shall then go out and maybe buy some gaily-colored Easter eggs so I can feel all Eastery. Then we’re having a Melody rehearsal, after which we’re going out for some dinner. Then I’m relaxing.

Tomorrow, we put the Lloyd Webber CD to bed and all print will have gone in. The tracks will go to the mastering guy tomorrow morning, and hopefully that will all go to the plant by Wednesday. We’ll announce the three titles either Wednesday or Thursday. It’s a busy week, filled with meetings, meals, writing, prepping, rehearsing, and figuring out the Kritzerland show and getting all the music together.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, maybe jog, feel all Eastery, rehearse and sup. 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 postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall do the bunny hop.

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