Well, dear readers, can someone please explain to me how April can be half over? I find that both mind-boggling and mind-boggling, don’t you? This year is flying by, like a gazelle with a heat rash. I am quite tired from a long day doing a long drive, seeing The Drowsy Chaperone, which was appropriate since I was The Drowsy Me, then doing the long drive home. That took up more than half the day.
I got up quite early and was on the road by ten-ten. There was no traffic and I actually got to the theatre quite early, around 10:45. I did some stuff on the iPhone until about 11:15, at which point I entered the theatre. I was seated at a nice table, on which there was already a mini-muffin, butter, and a fruit cup. The service in this dinner theatre was terrific – everyone was very attentive. I was just going to order an appetizer until I realized that the entrees were what you get with your ticket and the appetizers are extra. Since I was a guest, I ultimately went with an entrée – chicken breast over farfalle in some sort of sauce. It was actually pretty good and their rolls were great – I had two of ’em. The artistic director of the theatre, who’d invited me, came over and visited for a while – he was also in the show so it wasn’t a long visit.
Then at about 12:45 the show began. He’d already told me the music was going to be backing tracks, but they were a full orchestra and I gather are licensed by a company who does this sort of thing. I do think that the scratchy record part of the overture was the very recording I produced when the show was trying out here in LA. That was only supposed to be used in LA, but the producers realized it was cheaper to do a buyout than record it anew, plus they liked it. While I was credited in LA, no thank you or credit ever appeared in the New York program – nice. But I’m glad to see it’s still being used all these years later. The show itself remains a hit-and-miss affair for me, which is exactly how I felt when I saw it during the LA tryout. In fact, I found it interesting to see just how little had changed since opening night in LA. I think only one bit really significantly changed. But it’s a fun show and it’s fast so the parts that don’t do it for me are relatively brief and mostly, in fact, are directorial things that annoyed me from the first rehearsal I attended, most of which has to do with a lot of posing and over-directed performances – the comedy dessert chefs chief amongst them. I find nothing they do in the show is funny, because they’re supposed to be vaudeville comics and they are nothing like any vaudeville comics you’ve ever seen – the “bits” are precious and just labored – with two real old-fashioned vaudevillian types in those roles, without all that fussy staging, it might be funny. There isn’t a moment in the show where anything is actually allowed to breathe – save for the Man in Chair and I think that’s probably because the author, Bob Martin, originally played it and just did what he did. This production, which was very well done, with a set very much like the original, just aped the original staging – every beat of it, every move, every pose, and most of the actors were carbon copies of the folks who created the roles, with the sole exception of the guy who invited me – while you can’t escape what it is, he added his own touches to it, so that was fun. All the actors were fine, I just would have liked to have seen what they might have brought to it, rather than seeing a fourth generation Sutton Foster impression. These are talented folks and I never understand this need to be so slavish to the original staging and performances. Do your own thing, baby.
After the long drive home, I stopped at Gelson’s and got some toothpaste, some low-fat, low-cal ice cream, and some disposable razors. Then I came home, answered e-mails, had a brief visit with the helper, who got some invoices, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish, The Drowsy Me.
I decided to watch another Wallander movie, and it was the best of the ones I’ve seen – just superb, with great performances and a riveting plot. I then watched a second Wallander movie, this one not quite up to the previous ones, but still very good. I do like the fact that unlike The Killing or other shows like that, each movie is one story and then you’re on to a new one. I kept dozing off during the second one, so the eighty-two minute movie actually took me two hours to get through, as I had to keep going back. I also sat in the Jacuzzi for twenty minutes – that was great. I had some ice cream, too, then did some work on the liner notes, even though I said I wasn’t going to.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I must do some errands and whatnot, I must have a lunch meeting with Miss Juliana Hansen, I must hopefully pick up some packages, I must finish liner notes and get them to the designer, and then I have to decide whether I’m going to see A New Brain or not. We shall see.
Tomorrow, it’s back to Dr. Chew for part one of whatever he’ll be doing – I believe all we do is the teeth cleaning. Then I come back again. The rest of the week is meetings, meals, seeing shows, meetings, and the book signing, as well as getting singers and musical director music and CDRs.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, have a lunch meeting, hopefully pick up some packages, finish liner notes, and then maybe see A New Brain. Today’s topic of discussion: Since I have to eat rather soft foods for the next couple of weeks, what are your soft food recommendations for meals? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland because I’m The Drowsy Me.