Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 35 was a whole lot of fun and I was very pleased with just about everything. What’s interesting about the really full houses is that I always think the laughs are more sporadic than they are from the not quite sold out houses, although I think it took a bit of time to warm them up because there were the usual food issues with very late food arrivals at tables after very long waits. This is a problem we must solve and to that end I’ll be meeting with the powers that be to try to solve it. When we have these issues then certain members of the audience are simply not in a good place for the show, although they get there. But what fun we all had. I did have two really funny things right at the top of the show, and those were helpful to lighten the mood. Then Jenna Lea Rosen came out and did a brilliant job with the opening number, although, shockingly, after the incredibly strong discussion I’d had about the “feel” of the song, the musical director went right back and did it the wrong way – I honestly didn’t see how that would be possible after our discussion – but he knew it and corrected it very quickly for the second verse. Everyone was stellar and all the songs landed perfectly. I had one stupid thing happen – in flipping two of the early numbers I forgot to move part of the beginning patter to the song it belonged to, so suddenly I’m speaking this patter that has nothing to do with the preceding OR upcoming song – I had fun with it, though. I let everyone in on it, then said I was having a bad hair day. Then after the song was over I said, “Did I just say I was having a bad hair day? I don’t have enough hair to have a bad hair day.” It was fun.
Robert Yacko nailed his two songs, both of which he only got just a few short days ago. Jenna also brought down the house with her beautiful Where Is Love – I was so proud of her. One thing I like to do with our young performers is get them to do things they’ve never done before and with this song she just attained a perfect, simple, heartfelt and beautiful balance between her, the song, and what the song is saying. Barry Pearl had a blast and the audience ate him up. Chelsea Emma Franko did a great job on her three songs, but really lit up the place with Moving On from The Card. The new song order for the last third of the show worked beautifully. And new to us Tessa Grady was just lovely – beautiful voice and presence, adorable, and her tapping was really fun and added a special little flair to her number. Shelly Markham charmed everyone with his little solo number. Our two guest stars shone brightly – first Tony Tanner. I’d asked him to do a minute before his song – just to tell us a little story about getting the replacement job on Half a Sixpence – he was reluctant about it, but I got him to agree, and it was just perfect. He was funny and charming, and then he launched into the title song and charmed the pants off everyone. And our other guest – well, I saved her for the end of the show because I knew no one could or would want to follow her – Kerry O’Malley, simply doing the best As Long As He Needs Me I have ever heard. I’m looking forward to working with her lots more, and if the timing works out, I believe she’ll be starring in an Outside the Box episode.
We had a fun crowd with many familiar faces, including our very own Nick Redman and his beautiful daughter Rebecca, cousins Dee Dee and Alan, my cousin Mickey Rapkin, our very own Amy and Mark, our very own VinTek and his lovelier than lovely wife, ASCAP’s Michael Kerker, Andrea Marcovicci, Barry Pearl’s ever-lovin’ Cindy, and his friends Kenny Morse, his agent David Moss, and our friend Ed Gaynes and his beautiful daughter Jessica, and the Staitman clan – Sarah, Sami, and mom Karen. Original Dancing Dildo Artie Shafer celebrated his birthday with us, and there were lots of other fun folks there who I’m not remembering at the moment because it’s late and my brain has basically shut down for the evening. So, now it’s on to the next show – Meredith Willson and Gene de Paul.
Prior to the show, I’d gotten around nine hours of blessed sleep and felt pretty next to normal. I did a three-mile jog, I relaxed and did some work on the computer, and then it was time for the sound check and show. After the show, several of us went to Little Toni’s for a bite to eat.
As promised, here’s the fourth out of five songs from the first Kritzer book, Benjamin Kritzer. This was one of my favorites and the film it’s from is on the marquee of the Lido Theater that adorns the cover of the book – The Man Who Knew Too Much. I used to wish that my mother was Doris Day and I used to sing this song over and over again. It’s called Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).
Isn’t that the sweetest song? Today, I shall jog, do a LOT of busy work, perhaps meet with the East Coast Singer, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and do some errands and whatnot.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals and meals and meetings, seeing a few things, perhaps a second meeting with the East Coast Singer, and finishing song choices, assigning the songs, and then getting the singers their music and mp3s to learn.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do busy work, eat, have a meeting, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you think about going to the theater these days? Do you like that vendors are selling drinks and snacks in the aisles and that everyone is now encouraged to bring drinks and snacks to their seat, like they were in the circus or a baseball game or a movie? What do you think of the way people dress when they go to the theater – do you think people should wear shorts and flip-flops or do you think they should at least put on a pair of pants and shoes? I’m not talking about dressing up – I’m talking about regular clothes, but not shorts and sandals (I suppose I could live with the latter, but when I see the former it just makes me a little irked that people can’t be bothered to treat theater as the event it is. I’m curious to know what everyone thinks. I’ve been called a church lady by one particular cretin on one of the message boards – of course, that idiot completely misrepresents my words so he can go off on a tangent that really has nothing to do with anything I posted. He is a typical Internet butt cheek and he lives for any post where he can just subvert to his own ends. Thankfully, most people see what he’s doing. This jerk has been a thorn in my side for years there. One of these fine days, I’m going to meet him when I’m in New York and that will be a very good day, let me tell you – I know the cretin’s name and should we ever cross paths I will so look forward to doing whatever comes to mind. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, so happy our Kritzerland 35 went so very well.