Well, dear readers, do I even have to say that it’s late and that I must write these here notes in a hurry? Do I even have to say that this week is flying by, like a gazelle doing a dramatic recitation of A Bushel and a Peck? Do I even have to say that we are in the last week of October? Well, whether I had to say any of those things or not, I’ve said them. Last night’s rehearsal, number four, was finally fun. It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed the prior three, but plunking out notes is not my idea of musical theater heaven. But last night I began staging and that IS my idea of musical theater heaven. Give me five talented actors (well, we only had four of our five last night) and fun material and I just automatically have a ball. We began with A Wonderful Day Like Today, and I figured out a really fun way to do the number – so I got it on its feet, gave a few steps here and there, moved everyone around in fun ways and once we put the missing cast member in (she’s what makes the number fun – her part in it) it should look really good. Everyone picked it up pretty quickly, too. I spent about forty-five minutes on that, then we moved on and did Sami Staitman’s first solo number in the show. We just started at the top of it and built it as we went, and she’s adorable and so is the number, which involves a put together of two songs. After that, I staged a duet that involves another put together of two songs – that one is simple, but fun, too. Then I did another of Sami’s solos – extremely simple staging as the song needs to be simple. After that, I did three solos in a row, all pretty easy stuff, as the solos really don’t involve much moving around. Everyone picked everything up fine, wrote everything down, and it was a very fast three hours.
I tried a new route yesterday. Well, it was an old route with a new twist. I took Laurel Canyon, then Crescent Heights down to Olympic. Some of that was a bit of a slog, which was peculiar since I’ve done it twice before at the exact same time and it was a breeze. There is no predicting when it will jam up, nor was there a single reason it should have jammed up, and yet, jammed up it was. Once to Olympic I found that that street, normally an amazingly fast breeze, was also more crowded – very odd. But after a time, I was able to get clear of the idiot slow drivers and zoom into West LA. The twist was Overland and I learned immediately that I have to make one adjustment to the twist because from Olympic to Pico, which is only two long blocks, it is insane. It took ten minutes to go those two blocks. Once past Pico, it was pretty easy sailing all the way down to Venice Blvd. So, the new twist on the twist is that I’ll take Olympic, but before getting to Overland I’ll cut down to Pico, then turn left on Overland from there and that should solve the problem I had. I will try that today.
Once down there (I got there at about five), I parked at the theater and walked down to Abbott Kinney and to a little jernt everyone seems to like called Lemonade. I had a teeny-tiny chicken breast and a scoop of some vegetable thing, and a chocolate cherry brownie. I really didn’t actually like any of it very much – the chicken breast was a bore, as was the vegetable thing, and the brownie was way too sweet. I hung out there for about an hour, then took a nice walk on Abbott Kinney, a funky little street filled with trendy clothing shops, restaurants, and galleries. It’s nice to walk near the beach – it smells good. I got back to the theater at six-thirty and had a little meeting with Dalia, our producer, and then we began at seven.
Prior to all that, I’d gotten about nine hours of blessed sleep, then had to get ready quickly and mosey on over to a restaurant called Bea-Bea’s in a little shopping mall in Toluca Lake – it’s mostly a breakfast/lunch place that’s quite trendy. I had a chili cheese and onion omelet, no potatoes, and an English muffin. I must say, the omelet had little chili, little cheese, and not very many onions and it was not a patch on the butt cheeks of the Jerry’s chili cheese and onion omelet that I’ve become enamored of. The English muffin was good, though. It was nice to see David Wechter again and we had fun catching up. After that, I picked up a couple of packages, then came home. I did a three-mile jog, didn’t plank, but did do fifty count them fifty sit-ups. And then it was time to leave. Even with the little chicken breast (which I didn’t even finish) and the brownie, I still think I was okay, calorie-wise, given the jog.
Today, I must be up at eight to have a telephonic call with the East Coast, then I may go back to bed for a while. I may or may not see the Darling Daughter, who had her final dental work done this week – I’d like to see her and see her sparkling teeth. I’ll do a jog, hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, I’ll write some liner notes, and then around four I’ll head over to the theater, park, and go find a new restaurant to try. Then we have our second staging rehearsal – this time the person who was missing will be there, but Sami won’t, so I still can’t see everything on its feet the way I’d like to until Saturday, when all five of our cast will be with us. Sami has a school dance and so I gave her the night off, but told her that was it – no more missing any rehearsals no matter what. If I can get another seven or eight numbers done tonight, then that’s half the show.
Tomorrow, the rehearsal day starts at eleven and our choreographer Kay Cole will be with us for a couple of hours and hopefully she can get the opening number done. She really only has two other numbers to do after that, one of which involves tap, but those will get done the following week. After Kay is done, then we’ll review everything I’ve done, including the group number from last night. Then I’ll do my other group numbers, and more of the solos and that will continue on Sunday. So, that’s my entire weekend, although I hope the evenings remain free so I can finally watch a motion picture of some sort.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have an early morning telephonic call, maybe see the Darling Daughter, eat, do a jog, hopefully pick up some packages, write some liner notes, and have a rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, too many to name. Blu and Ray, a big stack with lots of interesting films. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully dream of more fun things to do with musical staging.