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April 7, 2013:

MRS. BRADY STOPS THE SHOW

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am very tired, having gotten only two or three hours of sleep due to allergies and just too much stuff going on in my head. But there’s no way to write these notes in a hurry, so I’ll just start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. What am I, Maria von Trapp all of a sudden?

The first thing I’ll say is that I attended the STAGE benefit last evening. I’m happy to say that the Sondheim musical quote brought in $3,500, which is a great price. The show, as always, was a good thirty minutes too long. If they figured out how to do without some of the speechifying (we all know why we’re there) and especially the live auction, which took about about twenty minutes after intermission, they probably wouldn’t even have to pare down the show itself all that much. The show began at eight and the curtain came down at 11:40. The show is what the show always is – a mix of great stuff and some stuff that could easily go. There was a running thing with nuns (the opening number was from Sister Act) that just wasn’t funny enough and became less funny with each new bit. The cast was mostly stellar – a couple of people I didn’t know at all, one of whom could definitely have been cut from the show because, for me, that performer’s whole number was embarrassing from start to very long finish (it had a lot of yakking).

Highlights were the amazing Patricia Morrison, who did two numbers from Kiss Me, Kate – she starred in the original Broadway production. This woman is ninety-eight years old, and she’s out there doing her stuff – Wunderbar with Davis Gaines, and then soloing on Brush Up Your Shakespeare. Janis Paige was delightful and funny – she’s ninety. Patrick Cassidy did Trouble and his mom, Shirley Jones, looking splendid, told a fun story and sang Till There Was You. Karen Culliver, a long-time Christine in Phantom did Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again while they showed images of some STAGE regulars who are no longer with us. I got all emotional the minute the first image came up – my beautiful Michelle Nicastro. Then Karen’s daughter, Madison Claire Parks, socked it home with Think of Me. She sang right through her sinus problems, which have been plaguing her for months. One of the big highlights of act one was Bruce Vilanch doing At the Ballet – he’s always hilarious. Act two was more of the same – some stuff landed, some didn’t. And then there was Florence Henderson. I figured she’d just come out and do her thing, but when the chorus entered with Brady Bunch faces cut-outs singing the theme song, and then Florence came out and began the verse of When You’re Good to Mama, we all knew something was about to stop the show. And when she removed her coat revealing her leather mini-skirt, a whip, and leather top, well, the roof came off the place. This seventy-nine year-old woman, Mrs. Brady no less, then proceeded to get down and dirty (you cannot even imagine – I’m hoping someone was taping it and will put it on You Tube) – it was sheer unadulterated genius and a million kudos to whoever’s idea it was. Nothing came close to topping it. Carole Cook was her usual randy self, and then Tyne Daly closed the show with Rose’s Turn. There was an after-party but there was no way for me to go due to the lateness of the hour. I did see lots of people I know – said hello to Shirley Jones, to Bruce Vilanch, to Davis Gaines and many others.

Prior to that, I did a three-mile jog, did some banking, and then it was time for our stumble-through. I was happy to see that the structure and order worked really well. And our wonderful cast did a terrific job – we had a couple of the usual lyric flubs but I’d rather that happen at the stumble-through rather than the show. It’s such a strong cast, with the delightful Cynthia Ferrer, handsome and electrifying Damon Kirsche, the wonderful Lisa Livesay, talented and beautiful Madison Claire Parks (for me, one of the highlights of this show is hearing her do Some Other Time from On the Town, the movie of which her grandmother, Betty Garrett, starred in), and dynamic Robert Yacko, all accompanied by Lloyd Cooper, doing his customary great job. We have a little duet together in this show, and it went over very well at the stumble-through.

After that, I went and had some bacon, eggs, and toast, with some tomatoes. Then I picked up a couple of packages, then came home and did some work on the computer, after which I got ready to attend the STAGE benefit. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really need a good night’s beauty sleep.

Today, I shall hopefully get up after a good night’s beauty sleep, after which I will do a jog, then relax until video and sound check. Then it’s our show. I will, of course, have a full report.

This week is all writing liner notes, hopefully picking up these tapes I desperately need to hear, prepping two more releases, and finishing the scripts for the first four season three Outside the Box episodes. This is also the week that I hope we get the book designed and to the publisher’s.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, relax, do a video and sound check and then do the Kritzerland show. 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 thinking about how Mrs. Brady stopped the show.

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