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September 25, 2012:

IT IS DECREED AND WRITTEN IN STONE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it is very late and I am very tired and yet I must write these here notes because it is decreed that I do so. This decree is written in stone. I have the stone right here and it clearly states “These here notes must be written by BK because it is decreed and written in stone, namely this stone. So, let me just dive right into these here notes so that I may fulfill the decree that is written in stone. Once upon a time, back in a year I like to call 1997, I went to an early preview of a musical entitled Titanic. I’d already heard about several disastrous previews in which the set would not work and the show had to be stopped until it was fixed. I heard that songs were already being taken out and replaced. Of course, there was no Internet so it was just small word of mouth in theatrical circles. It was better back then. Can you imagine the feeding frenzy Titanic would have today? Horrible to even contemplate. I knew several of the cast members, including Vicky Clark and Judy Blazer. I thought it was a terrible idea for a musical but I kept an open mind. I’ve not attended that many early previews, but I really could not believe what I was seeing. There was some kind of framing device for the show that got it off to a very slow start. There were new songs already in the night I saw it, none of them any good (all would eventually be replaced by other songs). The characters were ill-defined and not that interesting, with the exception of Jennifer Piech as an Irish lass – her storyline was clear and clean and I felt she was the heart and soul of a show that needed much more of that. The very long opening musical sequence had nice things in it, but I suspected that the loud, anthem-like posturing and singing at peak volume abetted by mics turned up to full was only the beginning and that turned out to be somewhat correct. The ragtime number wasn’t in the show yet and what was there in that spot was horrible. I sat there bored to tears through most of the very long first act, until the song No Moon began. Suddenly we had a gloriously beautiful melody with simple words, instead of singers screaming at the top of their longs. Suddenly the show became magical for about ten minutes. There had been one other song I thought was sort of effective, called The Night Was Alive. And then there was the second act, filled with unintentional laughs and overwrought melodrama and again characters without any depth so we could not really care about any of them. Most of the second act songs weren’t orchestrated yet, so we had piano, bass, and drums. The boat tilted on the preview I saw, but along with the tilt were many problems of things falling where they shouldn’t. If memory serves, the fifth big anthem, We’ll Have Tomorrow wasn’t in yet and the end of the show was the people talking about what happened. That was it. Lights out, lights up, perfunctory curtain call, the end. At that point, word on the street was the show was in great peril of never making opening night. But the creators stuck it out, kept working, the show got smoother – back then it was a long preview period of twenty-six performances – today they’d have three months of previews. Songs came and went, and the work continued. I hired Jennifer Piech to do a song on the Prime Time Musicals album because I’d loved her so much in the show – in fact, it became a running gag every time I saw her that I’d say, “You’re the heart and soul of the show.” I do think I went back at some point and it was certainly better. It got okay reviews and was hanging on for its first few months – and then, a funny thing happened on the way to becoming a hit – six months into the run, the film Titanic came out and was a huge phenomenon and suddenly people wanted anything Titanic. And suddenly the box-office took off for the musical and it ended up running two years.

All that by way of saying I saw a staged concert version of Titanic last evening at Musical Theatre Guild. The evening began with Jason Graae doing a very amusing pitch for money. After that the show began. It was a small band of six, but they played well. The show does cry out for its full complement of players, but many kudos to the musical director for doing a great job. The opening fifteen minutes (the framing device had disappeared right after I first saw that early preview) were certainly loud and rousingly sung, but it was just as I remembered it – one part of the opening has a nice tune, but the rest is just that huge anthem thing going on with people singing beautiful choral parts as loud as possible with mics at full blast. One thing MTG did for this show that they now ought to do for all their shows is use shotgun mics on the ensemble – in fact, they should ONLY use shotgun mics – not at the back of the stage, but lining the front – they should dispense completely with the head mics because the shotgun mics are superb and beautifully carry the voices. That’s how they miked the original production of A Chorus Line and it really works. The cast was very good, with some outstanding voices, but the problems with Titanic remain – the first act is very slow going, you don’t really get anything but the broadest brush strokes in terms of characters, and again the Irish lass is the only character you really care about and like. Characters like the telegraph operator get their song but that’s as much as they get, really, other than lines here and there. No Moon remains the best music in the show, but in an unfortunate bit of staging the director had the singer in the balcony where he could only be seen by people in the balcony – I hope they fix that misstep before their next performance. Otherwise director Calvin Remsberg keeps people moving around and keeps it all moving as best he can. And then there was the second act – and it’s still bad. Yes, it now has We’ll Have Tomorrow, but after so many anthems loudly sung, I just didn’t care. To me, one of the oddest things in the entire show when I saw that early preview was that the eleven o’clock number went to the old couple, who maybe, maybe have had ten minutes of stage time for the entire show. You don’t care about them, and yet they sing away in what is for me one of Yeston’s worst songs. I hated it in that early preview and I hated it last night. Then everyone tells their story, and then it’s one final anthem to insure that the audience goes wild and gets up on their feet, which rarely fails when a cast of forty is singing at the top of their lungs on a heavily miked stage.

So, I have no real need to ever see Titanic again. They did a nice job with it, and I knew lots of the cast, so it was fun to hang out after for a bit. Doug Haverty and I went to the Coral CafĂ© after that, where I ate an obscenely huge breakfast for reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me.

Prior to that I’d had an extremely busy day. I was up at six in the morning to announce the new Kritzerland title, Elmer Bernstein’s great score to The Rat Race. I went back to bed at around seven-thirty, fell asleep at around eight-thirty and woke up around nine-thirty. I had a good meeting with our camera people and we’re all on the same page. We talked about the lighting we’ll need, chose the room we’ll shoot in here, and we’ll even have a small crane for the musical numbers. Then I went and had a quick sandwich and sweet potato fries, then picked up two small packages, then came home. Then we had a Juliana rehearsal. The act itself is running smoothly now and she’s singing the songs very well, so it’s just getting the patter to sound normal. Once that happens, we’ll be fine. After that, the production assistant came over and talked about how to write out the cue cards, and I gave her the scripts and all the SAG paperwork for the shoot, and a list of things we’ll need for Friday. I also did a complete schedule and breakdown of what shoots when and where, along with everyone’s call times. So, I finally feel we’re on top of things. Kay Cole and I have been discussing the style of the two numbers she’s staging – I really like her a lot – good energy and very positive and collaborative. And we now have our full ensemble save for one guy and I think we’ll have him tomorrow. Also my pal Rob Bowers is coming to play the piano player. I always like to have piano player cutaways if possible.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really need some beauty sleep and it is decreed and written in stone that we move on to the next section.

Today, the helper will come by and get some invoices, then I have some errands and whatnot to do, I have to eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then it’s another Juliana rehearsal. After that’s done, I think I can actually relax for the rest of the day and evening, which gets a big hoo and ray from the likes of me.

Tomorrow is another rehearsal, Thursday is our first shoot day followed by a rehearsal, Friday is our second shoot day, which now may not be followed by a rehearsal, as we’ve added a run-through for some friends on Saturday at one. Then Sunday is sound check and show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, see the helper, do errands and whatnot, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, rehearse and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films, plays and TV movies that are based on real life happenings? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland and yes it is decreed and written in stone that I, BK, do so.

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