Well, dear readers, the deed is done. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the deed is done. Last night I chose the actress who’ll be doing the Adriana Hofstetter audio books. It has been quite the ordeal, listening to heaven-knows how many candidates, first on the third book in the series and then the finalists on the new book. Everyone got at least some aspects correct, correct meaning what I’m looking for aurally, but no one really got everything. There was one candidate early on who I had at the top of the list. I asked her to do a callback, and I gave her some notes. Her callback was incredibly lazy and sloppy and I wrote her and told her she sounded tired and that it just wasn’t good. I gave her the opportunity to do another pass and she said she would, but when it came down to it she just kind of whined about it (not to me, but to the woman who found her) and didn’t do it. Since she’s a young actress just starting out that tells me all I need to know about her. There were two other strong candidates but both of them needed the money to be more and there was no way I was doing that because I have no idea if I’ll sell three copies of this. I had a couple of other candidates who were okay and I was going to talk to both and see what was what. Then last Friday, Barry Pearl recommended two people to me – one of them got back to me four seconds after he texted her. The other took three days to contact me. The four-second gal was very interested in the project and I sent her the material and what pages to read and we spoke on the phone a little.
Her first pass was really good in terms of Adriana herself – that she got right away. But she went with “voices” for other characters and that’s not what I’m looking for. So, on Tuesday we met and discussed everything and I sent her two samples of me reading characters, just for her to get a sense of what I want. Last night she sent her second pass and I have to say she was in the ballpark of every character she read. Meanwhile, I’d sent everything to the gal who’d taken three days to call me. I had no response, I texted her to make sure she’d gotten everything – no response – and last night, just after I’d made the decision she e-mailed me saying she’d had mail spam problems and had JUST seen my e-mail. That doesn’t quite explain the no response to the text, but I told her it was too late. Directly after listening to the second pass of the four-second girl, I e-mailed her and asked her to call me. True to form, she called in four seconds flat. That is my kind of actress. I told her Adriana was hers and she was thrilled. It’s right in just about every way – she still lives at home and her late father had a recording studio in the house, so this will be very simple. My engineer and I will go out there, get everything set up for her in terms of technical specs, and then she’ll just do three chapters at a time, I’ll listen and see if I have notes, she’ll fix, and then move on. And we’ll meet before each of the three chapters to discuss the feel and the rhythm. And the Adriana Hofstetter audio books went to the delightful and focused Tessa Grady. She’s been doing a lot of theater work in LA – I’d seen her in The Sound of Music (the production that our own Jenna Rosen was in), she did 42nd Street at Musical Theatre West with Damon Kirsche recently, and she was Frenchie in Barry Pearl’s production of Grease a few weeks ago. And she comes from great stock – her late father was Don Grady, he of The Mickey Mouse Club and My Three Sons. It all felt right to me and I’m so happy this decision has been made.
Other than that, the first day of May was fine. I got eight blessed hours of sleep, was told the book was at the printers, did a three-mile jog, had bacon and eggs and toast and tomatoes for the meal o’ the day, then came home and did some work on the computer. After that, I picked up a couple of packages and a fax, came home, and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Funny Girl, starring Miss Barbara Streisand. I saw it at the Egyptian Theater its opening week and loved it – it was shown in a 70mm blow-up. I’ve seen it many times since and it’s always captivating. William Wyler was a wonderful director and he did a great job on the film. Miss Streisand deserves every accolade she’s gotten for this performance – she’s luminous and just lights up the screen. Her performance of the songs is as good as it gets, and the final song, My Man, is a perfect moment for performer, camera, director and song. I’ve been hearing raves about the transfer and it lives up to them. It looks excellent and sounds excellent, the second great musical film to have a great transfer in just the last two months, Hello, Dolly being the other.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have a rather long and involved day today and must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall be up by nine, I shall jog, then I go to the printers and pick up one hundred Suzie Wong booklets, after which I will be lunching with Miss Nancy Kwan and our very own Mr. Nick Redman and his Twilight Time partner, Brian Jamieson. We’re hoping she’ll sign all one hundred, but if she gets tired or doesn’t want to, we’ll just get as many as we can. After that, I have to come right home. The contractors who’ll be doing the house work are coming by to walk the house again, and then work begins next week. After that, we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal.
Tomorrow, I have an appointment to see Teddy, then I’m seeing a show in the evening at a nearby theater. Saturday is our stumble-through, Sunday is sound check and then show.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the polka, for today is the birthday of our very own FJL. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own FJL. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN FJL!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, pick up booklets, lunch with Miss Nancy Kwan and get booklets signed, have a rehearsal, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Barbra Streisand films and songs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the deed is done.