Well, dear readers, it is December. And before I go any further, may I just say that it is my fervent hope and prayer that December will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. There, I said it and I’m glad, not necessarily in that order. I don’t know what happened to November but it seems to be over. I must say, November flew by, like a gazelle eating fatty meats. And now it is December, the final month of a little year I like to call 2013. Can you believe it? And what a year it’s been and I’ll be taking a look back as this month goes on.
Yesterday, the final day of November, was quite a pleasantly pleasant day, in which I did pleasantly pleasant things. I got up early – that was pleasantly pleasant, sort of – then I did a three-mile jog after which I went and had scrambled eggs and an English muffin – in other words, a very light breakfast to tide me over until dinner. After that, I did a little banking and then I picked up no packages. Then it was time for our stumble-through.
As I always say, the stumble-through day is usually my favorite part of our show process and yesterday’s was really quite festive and fun, with only a couple of minor lyric flubs. This cast is all so different and so great – Dan Callaway, Ashley Fox Linton, Lisa Livesay, Kelsey Scott and Robert Yacko, along with Hadley Belle Miller, Jenna Lea Rosen and Sarah Staitman, and our wonderful guest star, Terri White. The show order seemed to work well, too, so that was good. After, I had a few notes and we worked them out with Richard Allen, our musical director. I’m rather maniacal about chords and feel and tempo, and that’s what it was mostly about.
Hadley’s dad, Dan, brought food for everyone – some rather amazing cranberry pot roast – don’t know what the cranberry part is, but I had a tiny bite of the meat and it was incredible. Also a corn and string bean casserole or pudding or thing – it, too, was really tasty. And nine-year-old Hadley made the dessert – a chocolate mousse pie of yummilicious flavor. So, the cast hung around and had some of the food, then Jenna and her mom and Sarah and her mom all accompanied me to Hugo’s, where I had pasta papa – a smaller than usual portion, which was fine. We had lots o’ laughs, and then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a new Blu and Ray from France of an British film entitled Curse of the Demon, directed by the wonderful Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnes and a whole slew of terrific Brit character actors. It’s an atmospheric, creepy and occasionally frightening little tale, directed with great visual flair and containing at least one moment that always makes me jump off the couch – I know when it’s coming, know exactly what it is, and, like the big moment in Wait Until Dark, it gets me every time. It’s a beautifully made film in the Val Lewton style. The disc from Wild Side is somewhat pricey, but if you’re a fan of the film, it’s well worth it because the transfer is quite stellar – beautiful contrast, sharp black-and-white images, and a very pleasing look. Benjamin Frankel’s excellent score comes through fine, too. I love the film and I’m very pleased to have it. The packaging identifies it as a region B-locked release, but it isn’t – it played fine in my region A player.
After that, I watched a bit of a Columbia programmer from 1950 called Gasoline Alley, based on the comic strip of the same name. I knew nothing of the comic strip until about two weeks ago, when I came into possession of some Gasoline Alley original art, which, of course, piqued my interest. So, I read up on the strip (it may have been one of the longest-running strips in history – just looked it up and it is, in fact, the second longest-running strip in history, just behind the Katzenjammer Kids), the artist/writer, and then found that there’d been two movies based on it – Gasoline Alley and a year later, a sequel. I just watched about ten minutes of it and it’s kind of charming – cheap, like the Blondie pictures, but there’s something endearing about those programmers. I’ll finish it up tomorrow. Here’s what the strip looked like circa 1930.
Then I just relaxed, ate a bit of the corn and string bean thing and that was about it.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, and then I shall do a jog, after which I’ll relax until it’s time for sound check. Then we have our show, which is happily sold out, and then some of us will go out for a bite to eat – since I’m bored of Little Toni’s I think we’ll go to Jerry’s Deli so I can have some chili and a sandwich.
Tomorrow, I may or may not have a lunch meeting, I’ll do some errands and whatnot, and gird my loins for the rest of the week, which will consist of two rehearsals, during which we’ll simplify the staging of the opening number and create a second version that omits The Beautiful Land – not sure I’ll like that much, but I’ve agreed to try it. Who knows, maybe we can come up with something that will work nicely – I always have an open mind about these things and am willing to give it the old college try. We’ll be doing a two-act version and a one-act version of the show during these two rehearsals. Then we’ll either make the decision as to which it will be or we’ll try one and then the other on our two previews before we open. Then we have something called a subscriber opening night on Saturday and we play a matinee on Sunday, which is also my birthday. I have no idea if anything is planned, but if there is I haven’t heard about it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, relax, write liner notes, have a sound check, do a show, and eat. 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, after which I shall wake up to what will hopefully be a Delightful December – and it is my fervent hope and prayer that December will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.