Well, dear readers, the twenty-sixth Kritzerland show was pretty terrific, in fact, it’s at the top of our list in terms of just how terrific. The fun of these is casting the singers, then matching the songs to them in interesting ways, then working on the arrangements and figuring out fun ways to do them, then working with each of the singers. And then watching all of them deliver, and in spades. The shows for me personally have been an incredible thing – it’s brought back my love of performing, which I’d basically put on the shelf in the mid-1980s. When I first began doing the Kritzerland shows, I realized I had to do the contextual commentaries to give the songs context for the audience, as many of them would make no sense otherwise. The first couple of shows’ commentaries were okay and I was not that at ease doing them, but by the third I’d gotten comfortable and realized that the audience loved the stories about the songs and I loved that I got to write some funny stuff and deliver it. With each show I got more at ease until it was finally second nature again. Now I can’t wait to get up there and do the commentary – we have running gags, and I love writing the stories and then speaking them. The first time I sang at one of them (I think it was Evening Star at the Schmidt and Jones show) I was petrified, but I’ve done it now about six or seven times since and I’m totally comfortable doing that, too, being that damn Guy Haines never shows up.
Everything worked well last night – I was concerned with the number of ballads, but the show order worked like a dream and it never felt ballad heavy. Angel Reda opened the show and killed with A Beat Behind and then, later, with her two ballads. Kevin Bailey was in great voice – first in the hushed performance of I Cannot Hear the City, and then full out in At the Fountain. Joanne O’Brien has one of those Karen Carpenter kinds of voices that just knows how to caress a song, and she had three ballads where she caressed beautifully. Juliana had fun on her early Hamlisch medley and then, once again, killed with Disneyland. When I decided to do Hamlisch for this show, the very first thing I thought of was to have Jason Graae do Dance: Ten, Looks: Three. I thought that was a really funny idea and because his sense of humor is as warped as mine, he saw it immediately. And boy did he bring down the house – HUGE laughs (we did it exactly as written and he even learned the staging) – there’s just nobody like Jason, who can do it all. Because Euan Morton didn’t have time to learn his third song, we brought back Jeffrey Todd to do Elliot Garfield Grant from The Goodbye Girl – he flubbed a lyric a short way in and asked to start again – he did, and just hit it out of the park. And Euan Morton’s Nobody Does it Better was great, and his The Way We Were was simple, incredibly beautiful, and got a huge ovation. And then came Kay Cole. She hasn’t sung in public in maybe a decade, maybe even more. And she just came out there and it was like seeing Maggie back in 1975 – and she sang the most beautiful What I Did For Love ever – incredibly moving and she got the evening’s biggest hand.
There were lots of wonderful folks in our sold out house. At my table (two tables, actually) we had the Staitmans (mom, Sami, and Sarah), Doug Haverty and the great Karen Morrow. At the other table we had Adryan Russ, Jason’s ever-lovin’ Glen and Jason’s adorable mother, Kevin Bailey’s ever-lovin James Mellon, Michael Lamont (Kay Cole’s hubby) and a friend of Angel Reda’s. Cousins Dee Dee and Alan, Dee Dee’s wonderful mother, Paula, and a young person who’s either related to a neighbor or is a neighbor, plus our very own Amy and Mark. The Wechters were there, including David’s mom Cissy and her boyfriend, and Barbara Wechter’s brother and his wife. The LA Festival of New Musicals’ Marcia Seligson, Dean Butler who played the character who married Melissa Gilbert on Little House on the Prairie, my former assistant Esther Monk (if you’ve read Album Produced By, you’ve read all about her and seen her photo), Heather Hoppus-Werner and her hubby and daughter Jenna Rosen, our very own VinTek and his ever-lovin’ Janet, and tons of others I’m forgetting. Just a wonderful night. After the show, a few of us went over to Little Toni’s for some pizza.
Prior to all that, I had a restful day, but had to prep our eBlast for the two new Kritzerland releases. I did a two-mile jog, as well. Then we did our sound check and then it was show time. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get as much beauty sleep as possible before I must arise at six in the morning to announce.
Today, I shall be up at six in the morning to announce the two new Kritzerland titles. After that, I’ll jog, eat, choose songs, finish casting the one male for the Kritzerland show, work on casting the next two Outside The Box episodes, hopefully pick up some packages and no annoying mail, hopefully print out a LOT of orders, and then perhaps find a moment or three to relax.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals and casting and writing liner notes, jogging, seeing Alet Taylor’s show (Justin Love), and seeing some other stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, announce two new titles, jog, hopefully print out a LOT of orders, choose songs, cast, hopefully pick up packages and no annoying mail and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Richard Rodgers songs? Forgive if we’ve done it before, but I need to hear again which you like as I choose for our next show. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a splendidly splendid Kritzerland 26.