Well, dear readers, my head is officially swimming. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, my head is officially swimming. Trying to figure out the new revue is so crazy-making that it’s making me crazy. I stare at my song list, I think, I ponder, and I try to see the light. Some light is coming through, thank goodness, and I did think of one new number to do and a clever way to do it and also one that keeps one through-line going, so that was good. One thing that’s been hanging me up is not knowing for sure whether we’re five or six in terms of cast. That required a couple of long telephonic conversations yesterday, but I do think we’ll end up at five, which feels right to me and has since day one. Six just seems out of balance somehow and these kinds of shows are all about balance and stage pictures, and even Kay Cole, our choreographer, instantly said five and not six. If I’d absolutely had to I would have made it work somehow, but it just wouldn’t have felt organic to me. So, hopefully I understood correctly and hopefully we’re now settled at five and I can really begin figuring out things in more detail, especially in the assigning of songs.
Aside from the swimming head – The Swimming Head – that’s the title of my next novel – yesterday was a non-stop day of doing stuff. I was up at nine, the helper picked up some invoices and then I shut out the world and finished half the commentary for the Kritzerland show. At noon, I headed over to Jerry’s Deli, where I had a Cobb salad and a small thing of onion rings. Then, since it was a no-mail day I picked up no mail. I came back home and buckled down, Winsocki and finished the commentary. My original intention was to cut and paste a lot of what I’d written for the first time we did a Sherman Brothers show at the Gardenia. But I read through it and there wasn’t one line of it I wanted to use. It was boring, unfunny and had none of the personality that the commentary came to have later in 2011. The original show was probably the sixth show we’d done and I was still not comfortable in my role as host/commentator, and I was still writing factual but perfunctory patter. It would take another couple of shows for me to get comfortable and to really start tailoring the patter to my personality and sense of humor. Once I made those baby steps and began getting laughs, then it all worked out quickly and by the end of 2011 I had it all down. So, I wasn’t able to cut and paste anything, so it took several hours to complete it, but I think it’s pretty good and about the right length. I’m sure I’ll finesse it after I’ve read through it, but I was thrilled to get it done. Then I had the first of the two long telephonic conversations, after which I stared at the song list some more, just thinking of connections – as Adriana Hofstetter would do – connecting the dots. Several dots have, in fact, connected. Then I did a three-mile jog, during which I came up with the idea for the additional song and how to do it. Once home, I planked and did forty sit-ups.
I’d been trying for a solid week to get a head count for our show so I’d know how many we needed to fill or whether I needed to prod people to get their reservations in. But I got no head count until yesterday, so we’re dealing with a sold out house and many people who didn’t do what I told them to do, which was reserve immediately. I couldn’t have been clearer about it – I said the last time we did a Sherman Brothers evening it sold out in two days. We’re now looking into the possibility of adding a matinee as we did for the anniversary show – it looks like we’ll be able to, but we’re waiting on the cast to just confirm that earlier in the day is okay with them. Normally our sound check is at four – they’d have to show up at 12:30 and the show would be at three. The only one I’m really concerned about is Susan Egan, but she was coming in earlier anyway, since she’s not with us for any rehearsals. We shall see how it all pans out. If we don’t do the matinee then we’ll just try to squeeze in as many people as we can. But I also know we could sell out the earlier show because it’s such a kid friendly show. After all that, I had to take a break, so I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled A Time to Love and a Time to Die, a Douglas Sirk film in CinemaScope and color, starring Mr. John Gavin and Miss Lilo Pulver. Not exactly an “A” cast, but I like Mr. Sirk’s films and enjoyed this one. It’s a war film, based on a book by Erich Maria Remarque (he wrote All Quiet on the Western Front). Sirk’s admirers are an amusing lot – they’ve all read their Andrew Sarris auteur book and so toss out the word “masterpiece” as if it was so much fish, for just about every film he ever made. No, I don’t think many of these films rate masterpiece, if that word is to actually have meaning. But this film is really well directed and full of Sirk design in terms of camera placement and composition. The odd thing about the film is that it’s a war film told from the point of view of a German soldier in WWII. So, we’re asked to empathize with a German soldier protagonist. Since he doesn’t like the Nazi ways, it’s not that hard to do and it certainly holds the interest. Gavin tries hard, but he’s not a great actor in this film. Lilo Pulver is charming, but the minute I heard her voice I knew it was the same Lilo Pulver who’s so brilliantly funny and stunningly sexy in Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three, as James Cagney’s secretary. But this was before that, and here she’s a demure and brunette young woman who falls in love with Gavin. It’s a long film at 130 minutes but it never really feels long. Most interestingly, the author of the novel plays a part in the film, and he’s quite good. The other interesting thing is the excellent performance by an actor named Dana J. Hutton, who I recognized instantly and whose first film this was. A couple of years later he’d drop his first name and use his middle name and become Jim Hutton. I can’t say for sure, but his performance seemed to be dubbed by another actor – why is anyone’s guess, but Hutton had a very distinctive voice and cadence and it just doesn’t sound like him. The transfer is excellent, with good color and sharpness, and the Miklos Rozsa score is also wonderful. It’s a region B Blu and Ray from the same company that just put out Sirk’s Tarnished Angels, which I talked about a few weeks ago.
After that, I just did some work on the computer, answered e-mails, had the second long telephonic conversation and listened to a new master – I had a couple of little tweaks I wanted, but it sounded great.
Today, I’ll be up and at ‘em and staring at Ye Olde Song Liste, hoping clarity keeps on coming. At one I have a lunch with two of our cast members, one of whom I’ll be meeting for the first time. Then I’ll start to assign songs in earnest and I’ll also start gathering all the sheet music we’ll need. I’ll do a jog, and I’ll hopefully pick up some packages.
Tomorrow, I meet with Adryan Russ to bang out next week’s rehearsal schedule through the weekend. I need to have that taken off my shoulders so once we have our meeting I don’t really want to think about rehearsal schedules again – that will completely be her domain. The rest of the week will be getting clarity about the show and beginning to assemble a rough order for it. My intention is to have something rough by Friday so I can spend the weekend futzing with it. I also have more meetings and meals, and I’m trying to set up a work session with our musical director before the end of the week. So much to do, in fact I cancelled the Outside the Box shoot and will move it into December. I just couldn’t see how I could finish the Kritzerland show and the next two days shoot two episodes and then go directly to rehearsal. It just was too nutty to even think about – I’ve also got Sandy Bainum here and we have to rehearse her show, which plays November 11, four days before we actually start previews. By the way, if any East Coast dear readers would like to go see her Ira Gershwin show on Thursday night at the Metropolitan Room, just drop me a PM – you’ll be Sandy’s guest and it’s quite an entertaining show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, stare at a song list, lunch, assign songs, gather sheet music, hopefully pick up some packages, and then get a little relaxing done for a couple of hours. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could go one place you’ve never been to, which would it be and why that place? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall try to not have a swimming head.