Well, dear readers, how can November be half over already? This month is flying by, like a gazelle in slutty shorts. Ah, well, what’s another month? And soon it will be the final month of 2013, which boggles my already-boggled mind in boggling ways. In any case, it’s late, it’s been a very long day and so I must write these here notes and get to bed.
The day began at nine when she of the Evil Eye arrived. Nine would have been fine if I hadn’t gotten to sleep at three. But, up I got and then I had a long telephonic conversation, after which I did a three-mile jog, the first in a week. It felt quite good to do it. Then I did some banking, picked up some packages, and then it was already time to go to the theater.
It had originally been my intention to spend the first two of our four hours working stuff and then to do a run-through, but I ended up starting at the beginning of the show and stopping and starting, taking all four hours to do detail work, work on phrasing, work on smoothing out some blocking, work on pacing, and especially work on about four numbers that need the most help. This was the first time I’ve really been able to take any sort of time and really put on my director’s hat and I do love doing that. I worked on very specific things and I’m hopeful that all the good work the actors did during the day will now encourage growth and making the numbers really realize their full potential. I put back in two cut numbers – one of them we pretty much figured out how to make work and as long as the actress involved remembers what we did it should be fine. And we put back a duet – a very trick bit of business because the style of it has to be so on the money and the performing of it has to be so on the style. Part of the reason it wasn’t working was because I hadn’t set it up properly, either musically or staging-wise, so I fixed that first. Then I wrote a couple of introductory lines that helped set the tone and we mirrored those lines in the middle when the other actress picks up her part of the song. I really think it can be fun but it requires total commitment to the style of it and that’s been a struggle for one of the people doing it. I’m hoping that today we can effect a breakthrough because I dearly want the number in the show.
We did get through everything and it’s all looking very good – we don’t have much more time until we begin previews, but we do have several previews to work out kinks before our soft opening December 5. Everyone kind of feels the show is 90% there, so it’s just finessing the ten percent that’s not quite working yet.
After the rehearsal, I came back to the Valley and went directly to Jerry’s Deli, since I hadn’t eaten one thing all day. I had a lovely chili, cheese and onion omelet, potatoes, and an English muffin. After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first thirty minutes of the new Twilight Time Blu and Ray of Oliver! I’d read some discouraging reports of the overseas Blu-ray, which purportedly has the same transfer (although not the same authoring – which can make quite a bit of difference) – one particular wag basically said it was a travesty – obviously someone who has never actually seen the film in a theater. I can’t speak to the overseas version, but I can tell you that the Twilight Time version is splendid – beautifully rendered and looking exactly as the Technicolor prints did back in the day. I’ll say more when I’ve finished, but I really like the film a lot.
After that, I had to prep our new release – I wrote the blurb, prepped the eBlast, and got the audio samples to the web guy, so we’re all ready for Monday morning. And that was my day and that was my night. Happily there was no unnecessary drama along the way – LOVE that.
Today, I shall be up by nine and to the theater by ten-thirty. It’s supposed to be our tech day, but I doubt it will be – I’ve the feeling that tech will just sort of happen by osmosis and they seem to know how their theater works so I leave that to them. So, we’ll again do detail work for a few hours, and then have a run of the show, the same version we did yesterday. Then tomorrow we announce our new CD, and then I have the day and evening off. Someone wants me to see a screening and hear a Q&A but I’m not going to be up for doing that – I really need my day and night. I will write some liner notes for sure, but mostly my intention is to relax. And then we head into previews.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, rehearse, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we enter our final few days before beginning previews.