Well, dear readers, I’ve mentioned before that our stumble-through day is almost my favorite part of the Kritzerland show process. There’s just something magical about having all our great singers in the room together and running the show start to finish. It’s the first time they’re together, and the first time they’ve heard everyone else’s songs. The support in the room is palpable and wonderful. I occasionally see so much competitiveness in actors today, but there’s none of that in our stumble-through. Just a terrific cast giving it their all for their fellow cast mates. We’re in very close proximity to each other and so it’s intimate in a way the actual shows aren’t – not that the actual shows aren’t intimate because they are and that’s the vibe of them. All that by way of saying that yesterday’s stumble-through was, for me, the best ever – everything just went swimmingly, there was exactly one really minor lyric fumfer and the performances were just wonderful and I only had like three notes that were so tiny that they didn’t even require running the number again. All our stumble-throughs are magical, but sometimes a bit rough with nerves, but this one just sailed so smoothly it kind of amazed me. Everyone really delivered and I’m here to tell you this is just about the wordiest show we’ve ever done. Richard Maltby, Jr. loves words and he packs a lot of ‘em into every song. Poor Ashley Linton Fox got the brunt of it in this show with Crossword Puzzle and The Bear, The Tiger, The Hamster and The Mole – not only wordy but REALLY long. But she nailed both and nailed The Story Goes On perfectly. But everyone nailed their songs, whether it was Shannon Warne getting everyone misty-eyed with Stop Time, or Will Collyer getting everything there is to get out of I Want to Go Home, or John Sloman just making a meal out of Watching the Big Parade Go By, or Heather Lee making Miss Byrd completely her own brilliant creation, or Terri White’s ferocious and beautiful Starting Here, Starting Now, or our brilliant musical director getting to show off his lovely singing voice with Only When I Laugh. Can’t wait to do the show tonight.
Prior to the stumble-through, I’d slept eight hours, I did some work on the computer, did a three-mile jog, planked and did forty sit-ups, then got an e-mail from the potential star of the first of the new Outside the Box episodes. Yes, we’re back into production and it looks like we’ll be shooting the first two episodes on the 25th and 26th of this month. I can’t wait to tell you who the star is, but can’t until it’s absolutely firm – there are still some scheduling logistics to work out. But, knowing it will probably happen, I wrote the set-up scene for her and got that done so I can send her the script tomorrow, along with her songs. I also worked on the second episode music a little more, and that’s almost ready to send to John Boswell so he can do the pre-recorded tracks. So happy to be back working on Outside the Box – I’ve missed it. I think we’ve come up with some fairly fun ideas for season three – one of them tickles me just thinking of the title.
After the rehearsal, I went and had a ham and Swiss on rye and a small thing of onion rings. Then I went to Staples to have one simple piece of music copies and the guy there was such a jerk about it, asking me to leave it and pick it up twenty-four hours later – ONE piece of music. And there was not one single customer in sight. It would have taken him exactly one minute to do it. I told him the guy I’ve been dealing with for the past five years always just does the simple stuff and hands it back to me. This creeps response: Come back tomorrow and have him do it. You bet I will, putz, and since he’s the manager you can also bet I’ll tell him all about your attitude – no problem at all, my friend. Then I came home and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two more Sherlock Holmes episodes, both really entertaining. One can’t really say enough about Jeremy Brett’s performance – it’s just perfect. And I really love David Burke’s Dr. Watson and am not looking forward to the actor who replaced him, although I’m sure he’ll be fine. The supporting players are a bit uneven but the show is well shot and directed and the transfers on these two episodes were much better than on the first episode.
Then I ate some grapes, had a nice telephonic conversation with our very own Mr. Barry Pearl, who’s beginning rehearsals for the Pasadena Playhouse’s production of Twelve Angry Men. If they put the Staples Xerox putz in the show, they could cast me as the thirteenth angry man.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, I shall do a jog, I shall hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do some banking, and I shall relax and get ready for the show. At about 4:45 I’ll arrive at The Federal and make sure everything’s as it should be, then we’ll have our sound check. I’ll have my usual artichoke to tide me over till after the show, and then it’s show time. We should have an almost full house. I will, of course, have a full report.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, writing, casting the other roles for the first two episodes, having a work session with the musical director of the November Kritzerland show and seeing a couple of shows, too.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, hopefully pick up some packages, bank, write, and then it’s sound check and show. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite fictional detectives, whether in books or on TV or on screen? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy the stumble-through went so swimmingly and that we’re about to go back into production on Outside the Box.