Well, dear readers, first things first, which is, of course, better than first things last – I woke up yesterday morning at five-thirty and my throat was feeling a bit scratchy, I think mostly due to only getting about four hours of sleep. So, I’ve been fighting the good fight ever since, popping ColdEEZ and Airborne, drinking lots of liquid and having a big boy bowl of chicken soup. But please send your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones that I don’t get sick, that this scratchy throat bites the dust by the time I get up tomorrow. I just have no time for this, especially on our show week and especially when I have a lot of commentary to speak. We also have a situation with one of our cast members who is sick and has not much voice at the moment – maybe, being a Jew, I just heard he was sick and immediately got sick just knowing someone else was sick. But I’m not sick and I don’t want this damn scratchy throat so send be gone vibes and xylophones posthaste and do post with haste. Where was I? Oh, yes, our sick performer. We’re hoping he’ll be with us on Wednesday, but just in case I’ve learned two of his songs (another reason I can’t be sick) – I’ll have to have the lyrics but at least I could sing them, and Shelly Markham would sing the other. We’re just all hoping our performer will be fine.
I was up at six and announced our new title and orders have been coming in every since – I really think if we get a goodly amount overnight that we’ll be sold out by the end of the day today or maybe early tomorrow. We’ve already sold about 1000 of the 1200. I went back to bed and got two more hours of sleep, then got up and began printing out all the orders that had come in. Then I listened to and approved the bonus track section for The Missouri Breaks and the master went off to the pressing plant. Then I did a three-mile jog, after which I had a quesadilla. I came home, did some work on the computer then picked up some packages. Then it was time for rehearsal.
As first rehearsals go, it was pretty smooth – we had to smooth out some stuff, some other stuff was forgotten from the other day, but we got it all together. First up was the delightfully delightful Tessa Grady, who did her three numbers – a put-together of two Charlie Girl songs, Bells Will Ring and I Love Him, I Love Him, I Love Him. Then she did another put-together, this one two songs from Half a Sixpence – If the Rain’s Gotta Fall and Long Ago. Then it was her final song, I Don’t Know How to Love Him. She already knows all three, which I’m always appreciative of at the first rehearsal.
Then came Chelsea Emma Franko. She did her three – a put-together (this show has many) of two Good Companions songs, Stage Door John and Darkest Before Dawn. Then it was another put-together of Lock Up You Daughters’ When Does the Ravishing Begin and The Card’s I Could Be the One. Finally, it was another song from The Card, Moving On.
Up next was the delightful Tony Tanner, looking and sounding great – he’s doing the title song from Half a Sixpence, which he starred in on Broadway (he replaced Tommy Steele). He’s a load of fun.
Barry Pearl was next and we began with his difficult one, but one he knows like the back of his hand – Oliver’s Reviewing the Situation – Barry was in the original Broadway production, and has done any number of other productions over the years. He does it really well. Then he sang a beautiful song from Lock Up Your Daughters called If I’d Known You – it’s a whole different side of Barry, so that’s really fun. Then Jenna Rosen arrived and we ran their duet – a wonderful put-together of I’d Do Anything and It’s a Fine Life – I wrote some funny patter and while they were rehearsing I came up with a really funny gag for one lyric – they’re great together and it’s going to be a highlight.
Then Barry left and Jenna ran her other two songs – a put-together of The Card’s Come Along and Join Us and Good Companion’s Camaraderie. Even though I’d completely worked out the arrangement, first on paper, and then every step of the way at our work session last week, somehow most of it was lost, but I had the paper there so it was easy to reconstruct. We ran it six or seven times and now it’s fine. Then she ran her final number, Where Is Love, which she does beautifully. This is her first show as a regular performer doing three songs and she’s so ready for it.
Then I lightly sang through two of our sick performer’s songs – a put-together of Billy’s Some Of Us Belong to the Stars and Passion Flower Hotel’s Something Different, and then Pickwick’s If I Ruled the World, which I’ve known for years. Shelly sang through My Favorite Occupation from Charlie Girl. So, the only thing we didn’t hear was Kerri O’Malley’s As Long as He Needs Me, which we’ll hear on Wednesday. It’s going to be a really fun show – the music just makes you feel good and most of the songs are what I call smilers – they just make you grin from ear to ear. Shelly plays beautifully and I’m looking forward to our second rehearsal.
As soon as we were done, I went and had the big boy bowl of chicken soup, then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Because of yesterday’s topic of the day, I decided to watch a motion picture I’d TIVOd last year, one of my favorite emotional films that gets to me every time, a virtually perfect film in every way – The Miracle Worker. I’ve seen it countless times right from the day it opened at the Fine Arts Theatre (I even took a very young dear reader Jeanne to see it on one of my many visits to the Fine Arts during its exclusive run). Everything about the film gets to me and I’m an emotional wreck from the first scene to the last, while occasionally howling with laughter through the tears. That’s the wonder of the film (and the play, and the TV play before it) – it has so many wonderful human laughs in it – that’s great writing by William Gibson, perfect direction by Arthur Penn, and two of the greatest performances ever put on film – Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke as Helen Keller. Of course, all those people had done the show on Broadway, but film is a whole different beast and Mr. Penn truly shines here. One must call out the editing of Aram Avakian, which is quite brilliant (watch the breakfast scene’s cutting – it’s a marvel of editing). But what takes the film into a whole different universe is the score by Laurence Rosenthal, simply one of my five favorite film scores ever written, a magical, heart wrenching and brilliant score that is everything that film music should be. Mr. Rosenthal, during that period, could do no wrong – he wrote three masterpieces in a row – A Raisin in the Sun, The Miracle Worker and Requiem for a Heavyweight. The hi-def transfer on MGM-HD isn’t that good, but it’s better than the non-anamorphic DVD. The ending, “the miracle” did what it always does to me – I just sat there, a puddle of tears due to a final ten minutes that’s one of the most perfect blending of image and music ever done.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep and I shall hopefully be done with the scratchy throat. I’ll do a jog, then I have a lunch meeting. I’ll eat some salmon, I think, then later have another big boy bowl of chicken soup. I do have to do some of the busy work, too. Hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, and then I’ll relax.
Tomorrow is our second rehearsal, then Thursday is, of course July 4 and I’ll be celebrating quietly by myself, I guess – I’ll maybe go bring home some barbecue ribs from the Kansas City Barbecue IF they’re even open. Otherwise, I’ll make some burgers or something fun. Friday, it’s back to the busy work, which I have to finish by then. Saturday is our stumble-through, and 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, do a jog, have a lunch meeting, hopefully pick up packages, have some chicken soup, do some busy work and relax, all hopefully sans scratchy throat. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you consider to be amongst the greatest performances ever put on film? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully be rid of the scratchy throat so don’t forget to send your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for me not to be sick, to be rid of the scratch throat, and feeling great.