Well, dear readers, I’m not quite sure how it’s the middle of December already, and yet it is. This month is flying by, like a gazelle in a tuna-canning factory. And soon it will be 2014. Starting some time this week, I’ll take a look back at my year, certainly one of the busiest I’ve ever had. But for now, I’m kind of tired so I won’t dawdle, Amaryllis and I’ll get right to these here notes.
I’ve been getting to sleep too late and getting up an hour earlier than I should, and that’s what happened yesterday – only seven hours of sleep. I stayed in bed until the house heated up, which didn’t take long because yesterday was actually like a late summer day and quite warm. I answered e-mails, did some benefit work and some Kritzerland show work, and then Adryan Russ came by and we moseyed on over to the theater to see the matinee. We were completely sold out with seven extra seats added and someone even sitting in the light booth (one of the theater’s company members). It was mostly an elderly crowd, and while they weren’t all that vocal in terms of laughs (they did laugh, it just wasn’t that vocal), they were a wonderful audience and the applause was hearty and heartfelt, which is all I care about. I don’t need the stomping or the woo-hooing, just applause that’s meant. The cast did great and it was smooth sailing all the way, and the minor staging mishaps from the previous night were all fixed. After the show, we met some of the audience members, including some Asian folks that had brought their eighty-seven year-old mom, who looked incredible and was perky and funny – she really loved Sami. I then came home, after which I immediately went to Gelson’s – I hadn’t eaten anything at all, and I just decided to get little stuff to eat – the mini-vegetable egg roll things, a small thing of mac-and-cheese, some Super Chinese Slaw, some low-fat, low-cal Bonbel, and I had some dry salami here and some almonds. So, I just nibbled for a couple of hours on all that stuff. I’ve been very proud of myself the last six days – I’ve managed to exist on but one Diet Coke a day, something I’ve never done before. I don’t know how long I’ll keep that up (usually it’s two a day), but for now I’m fine doing it and drinking more water. Whilst I ate, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching the Blu and Ray of Death on the Nile, starring many people, including Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, Simon McCorkendale, Lois Chiles, Mia Farrow, David Niven, Jack Warden, George Kennedy, Jane Birkin, Jon Finch, and Olivia Hussey. I almost like Death on the Nile as much as Murder on the Orient Express. It’s longer than Orient Express by fifteen minutes but it never lags. The film is beautifully shot by Jack Cardiff, and really well directed by John Guillerman – it also has a lush score by Nino Rota. The mystery is very clever and even though I’d seen it once before, I’d forgotten whodunit. The actors are having a blast, the screenplay by Anthony Shaffer is terrific, and I have to say Ustinov is a great Hercule Poirot. I wish I could say the transfer was aces but it isn’t. There’s very little detail (it is better than the DVD), the color is a bit off and it’s very bright, almost too bright. It also occasionally looks smoothed over and not in a good way.
After that, I watched the first twenty-five minutes of The Mirror Crack’d, the third Christie film in this four-film box set. I saw it when it came out and one time after when the DVD set came out – it’s really not very good but it is enjoyable on certain levels. The bitchy dialogue is sometimes amusing as delivered by Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak, and Rock Hudson is fun as the director of a film they’re making together. Tony Curtis is saddled with a cliché-ridden and horribly written part, but Miss Lansbury is clearly having a good time as Miss Jane Marple, a role that would lead directly to her TV show, Murder, She Wrote. So far, this transfer is the best of the bunch, with good color and reasonably good detail and contrast.
After that, I just relaxed and did stuff on the computer.
Today, I shall do only Kritzerland show stuff in the morning and gather together all the music we’ll need and get it to our musical director and whatever young people need it. I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages, and then I’ll attend a three o’clock meeting at the Pasadena Playhouse regarding the benefit. After it, there’ll be another short meeting to try and solidify who else we’re going to ask to be in it, having just had five people drop out, something I warned them would happen, as it always happens with benefits. Then I’ll come home for a moment, then head over to West LA to make an appearance at a little Christmas party Nick Redman is having for Twilight Time, his Blu-ray label.
The rest of the week is Kritzerland stuff and hopefully getting at least one project approved, although the real hope is two, benefit stuff, a few meetings and meals, and then Thursday we resume performances – Jane will be back for two of them, and Christanna will do the other two. Then we’re off for two-and-a-half weeks and the hope is that Jane will then be back for good until we close, which will either be the very end of January or mid-February if they extend it. We’re supposedly moving into their bigger space, so I’ll have to come down and make sure everything is as it needs to be in terms of set placement and all that stuff, and then we’ll have one full run-through so the actors can get used to the new vibe and playing space. Then again, maybe they’ll just leave us where we are.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, get sheet music and get it to people who need it, eat, hopefully pick up packages, have two meetings and then attend a Twilight Time Christmas party. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Agatha Christie books, films, plays, and TV programs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall arise and greet the day and the last half of the month and the last bit of 2013, as we begin our countdown to 2014.