Well, dear readers, it is late so I must write these here notes in a hurry because I am quite tired from doing and going and going and doing, not necessarily in that order. Yes, I had a day of going and doing and doing and going and go and do I did, ad nauseum. I was up by nine-thirty. Our very own Mr. Barry Pearl called to tell me he was trying to snag tickets to see a new musical called Nuttin’ But Hutton in NoHo, and he wanted to know if I’d go with him. I said sure and he said he’d let me know. I hadn’t planned on being out in the evening, but I never mind seeing a show.
Then I got up, answered e-mails, and then did a three-mile jog. Then I made myself three hot dogs – that sounds like a lot, but in reality, while it is filling it is extremely diet and calorie-friendly. I make the no-fat, low-calorie Hebrew National dogs – fifty calories per, one gram of fat. The hot dog buns are 120 calories per. For two of the dogs, I opened a can of Gold Star chili that dear reader Pogue sent me for Christmas. The entire can has about two hundred calories, but I used considerably less than a third of it for two of the dogs. To that I added low-fat, low-calorie shredded cheddar cheese and some onions. The third dog had shredded cheese, onions and red cabbage. The entire calorie count for the three dogs was under 750 calories, and when you add the three-mile jog, I probably only took in about 500 calories. Pretty good. Then I did some banking, picked up no packages or mail, and came back home.
I got a very sweet e-mail from the teacher/director of the high school production of The Brain From Planet X outside of New York. He just wanted me to know how well the show was going and how it was getting huge belly laughs. I asked for more photos, and I hope they either audio or video the show, as I’d love to see it.
I then wrote the first third of the contextual commentary for the upcoming Kritzerland show. My plan is to finish with it by Monday and I’ll be ahead of the game, considerably so and that will be great. I also watched the first twenty minutes of a spaghetti western called Tepepa, which I’ve never seen – it’s a German Blu and Ray. I also watched the first twenty minutes of the Panama Hattie DVD and that was quite enjoyable – especially the astonishing Berry Brothers – three of the most athletic and amazing dancers I’ve ever seen – think the Nicholas Brothers plus one, without as much style but with unbelievable and breathtaking work with canes, acrobatics, and the splits. The ending of their number in that first twenty minutes had me open-mouthed, one of the most impossible-looking things ever. I then got ready to go to the show.
I got to the theater and got our tickets. The publicist, who was the publicist for Deceit, was there handing out press packets. I thought I was seeing a preview but Barry had neglected to mention it was opening night. Had I known, I would have actually worn something nice for the occasion. I kind of looked like a pig. I knew several folks there, so that’s always fun. We got our seats and then the show began.
The show is essentially a tribute show to Betty Hutton. The show’s writer and star, Diane Vincent, loves Betty and it shows. She’s really done her research, and there are a huge number of Hutton songs in the show. I don’t really want to say too much about it, other than it was mostly very entertaining with a terrific cast. It looks good, it mostly moves right along, and the songs are great. The conceit of the show is that in act one the character that Diane is playing is pitching a show about Betty Hutton to a down-on-his-luck producer, who’s never had a hit. Then act two is the show. If I were to offer any nitpicking advice it would be that the second act worked really well, while the first act occasionally felt like they were shoehorning a plot in. I’d almost do the whole show like act two – keeping the numbers of act one, but finding a way to make it all in the show format – that was just a lot of fun and had a lot of variety. As it stands now, it works fine, but after the show, I just kept thinking that I’d wished the first half had been as sparkling as the second half. But that’s just me and I’m sure others feel whatever they feel. Miss Vincent is terrific and the small cast around her do wonderful work. Where things don’t need any work at all are the arrangements and the band – both absolutely stellar. I was happy to see that the reed player and bass player were two of our regular musicians from our album heyday. They’re tight, and sound really good, and some of that is due to a very good sound design by Cricket Myers (she did the sound design for the LACC production of The Brain From Planet X). Set and costumes were slick and the whole thing was well directed and well choreographed by Larry Raben and Lee Martino, respecitively.
After the show, Barry, me, and Barry’s ever-lovin’ Cindy, went to the Eclectic Café. Cindy’s show, the one I saw last night, is playing just down the street from tonight’s show. We ordered several appetizers and I just had tastes of each, so not so many calories and a perfect kind of snack. Then I came home to find four more audition sound files – I have to download all this stuff and get to it before I leave on Tuesday. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get some beauty sleep.
Today, I shall do a jog of some sort, write more of the commentary, then I’m lunching with the Staitman clan, and then I’ll write more and relax.
Tomorrow, I have to take this computer in so they can suss out and fix the kernel panic problem. After elmore’s tales of Mountain Lion, I’m not sure I’ll do that particular upgrade, at least without asking a lot of questions. So, after noon on Monday I’ll have to work on the laptop. Perhaps I’ll try to actually finish the commentary by tomorrow morning so I don’t have to transfer that file. Then Tuesday morning I shall be winging my way to Washington, DC – I’ve only been there once before and only for a day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, write, lunch, write and relax. 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 topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall hopefully wake up a little thinner.