Well, dear readers, the long and winding holiday weekend is over and a new week has begun and, amazingly, it is the final week, in fact the final days of May. Can you believe it? Didn’t May just begin? Where, may I ask, did May go? It was here and then gone. Soon it will be June, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves because June will also be gone all too soon.
The final day of the long and winding holiday weekend was perfectly fine in every way. I got up after eight and a half hours of gloriously glorious sleep with some extremely weird dreams that featured a rather amusing and wild cast of characters. I got up, answered e-mails, and buckled down Winsocki and wrote the article for Backstage magazine. Then I went and had a sandwich and onion rings. Since there was no mail, I then came back to the home environment, finessed what I’d written and sent it along its merry way. Then our musical director, Tom Griep, came over and we worked on the two put-togethers and made arrangements for both. After that, our singers began arriving.
First up was Leigh Ann Larkin. This is a really interesting show for me in that I haven’t worked with four of our five cast members – I believe that’s a first. Leigh Ann is terrific – she was Dainty June in the Patti LuPone revival of Gypsy and Petra in the last A Little Night Music revival. We ran her three songs – Almost There (from The Princess and the Frog), Our Town (from Cars), and Sandman’s Coming (from either Cop Rock or Faust). Our first rehearsals are usually quite rough, but this time it was not very rough at all – everyone was prepared and knew their stuff, which was fun.
Next came Melody. First I had the big shock when I opened the front door. Melody has always had very long, beautiful hair, but I was greeted with a new Melody with a short bob that looked so cute on her. I thought it was a wig, but then I pulled her hair and it wasn’t. She just decided to be bold and, for the first time in her life, to have short hair. I think it was a good decision and will serve her well. She ran through her three songs. I gave her a very strange choice of song for her, but I just had a feeling it would work and be hilarious and I was, happily, right. When I first proposed it, none of the Family Hollis knew quite what to think. But a few days later, Melody told me she loved the song and couldn’t wait to do it. The song is Political Science and is one of Newman’s funniest, but it’s NEVER been sung by a fourteen-year-old girl. We worked up a little staging, and I think it will just surprise everyone, and in a good way. Then she ran the put-together of When She Loved Me and You’ve Got a Friend in Me – she does that in her act, so that was just a formality. Then she ran her final song, Dig a Little Deeper from The Princess and the Frog, and she’ll be great in that. As with a lot of Newman songs, we had to create an ending – he rarely has a strong ending – his songs just sort of stop. We ended up making endings on two-thirds of what we’re doing.
After Melody came Gia Mora, a very tall singer, quite beautiful, with a terrific voice. She ran her songs – That’ll Do (from Babe: Pig in the City), Real Emotional Girl (one of my favorite Newman songs), and, of course, Short People. We did a couple of bits between her and Tom Griep, because he’s also very tall.
After Gia came Stephen Van Dorn, recommended highly by Juliana Hansen. Because I’d never worked with four of these singers, I was kind of flying on a wing and a prayer in terms of assigning songs, but I must say I was right on the money and the songs work great for them. For Stephen, it was Danny’s Arrival Song (from Cats Don’t Dance), then a put-together of Cowboy and I Think It’s Going to Rain Today, and finally the amazing Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear. For the latter, I gave him some stuff to do that will really be fun when he sets it.
Finally, it was Dennis Kyle, another Juliana recommendation. He’s got a terrific voice and will shine on his three songs – a put-together of Mama Told Me Not to Come and You Can Leave Your Hat On, the gorgeous Losing You (from Newman’s Harps and Angels album, and also used in the very first teaser trailer to Toy Story 3), and finally the great I Love LA. I added a few jokes in the lyrics to make it more specific, so that will be fun. After he left, I ran Marie, which I’m doing in lieu of Guy Haines. There’s one other song, a first for us, an instrumental with Grant Geissman soloing on Lonely at the Top. And that’s our show.
After that, I sautéed one chicken breast, some mushrooms and some onions and had that for my dinner – very light in calories. I ate it as I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched Sunday’s episode of Mad Men. It was an excellent episode, but one which shows up the series’ ultimate problem for me – the characters are just so vile sometimes it makes you want to vomit on the ground. The plot development at the end of the episode felt like one of those, “Oh, we only have a couple of episodes left, let’s really throw them for a loop” plot turns series creators are so fond of these days. We’ll just see if it sticks or not. After that, I began watching the John Cassavetes film Faces, which I’m not loving, but it’s early on. It was all shot in LA so I’m hoping there will be some fun location shots.
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 have to send out eBlasts for the Kritzerland show and also the midnight screening of Nudie Musical. Then I will definitely write liner notes so we can get the booklet done for our next release – my goal is to get it in for approval by the end of the week. Then I’ll eat something light but amusing, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up a package or three, and start casting the next Kritzerland show. This time around I’m determined to get a jump on things because of the New York trip. I also have to look at the patter for the East Coast Singer and help finesse that and get it back to her in the next few days so she can memorize it.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week are meals, meetings, and rehearsal, then our stumble-through, then sound check then show. Whew!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, send out eBlasts, write liner notes, hopefully pick up some packages, cast, look at patter, and eat. Today’s topic of discussion: For our women – what was the most radical hair change you’ve ever done? For our men – what’s the longest and shortest your hair has ever been? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland looking forward to a productive and fun day.