Well, dear readers, the busy week has begun in earnest and in earnest the busy week has begun. It’s going to be daunting and hopefully I will be up to the task or, at the very least, the task will be up to me. I should probably say multiple tasks. The busy week began with me arising at six o’clock to announce our new title. Doug Haverty was alarmed that the PayPal buttons weren’t showing for him. We both texted our webhost, but I also went to the Kritzerland site, where everything was working just fine. Within fifteen minutes it was ascertained that AT&T, with whom Doug is with, was having a major outage. So, it was on his end and everyone else was fine. Once I announced everywhere, I went back to bed and fell back asleep around eight-thirty and slept all the way until about ten-thirty, which I needed to do.
Then I printed out orders and answered e-mails, after which I began futzing and finessing the previous day’s writing. Once I finished that, I think I managed to write two pages. Then I went and had a meatless Cobb Salad, a bagel, and my new obsession, some tap tap tapioca pudding with whipped cream. After that, I picked up one package. Then I went back to writing and did another three pages or so, after which I had to shower and get ready for our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which began at four – it was a little rougher than I care for and that had mostly to do with the arrangements we’d worked up in our work session – much of which had been forgotten. However, I’d made sure that everything was written down and every time I was told we hadn’t done something, I’d just walk over to the music and find the pencil markings with what we’d done. I get very frustrated with that, but we got through it and it will be better on Wednesday.
First up was Dennis Kyle. We ran his three songs – Pick Yourself Up, Arthur’s Song, and If I Only Had a Brain, all of which he does very well. Then it was Brennley Brown. She only has two songs – one is a put-together of High Hopes and Pocketful of Miracles, which opens the show, and Over the Rainbow, which closes it. She’s a really talented kid and is great on the songs. Then it was Lisa Livesay. She ran her numbers – Tammy, a put-together of I’ll Never Say Goodbye (theme from The Promise) and The Way We Were, and finally Pass Me By, from Father Goose. Lisa is magical and all the numbers are stellar. Then it was Emma Degerstedt, who started with a put-together of Moon River and Days of Wine and Roses, then did Something’s Gotta Give, and then Wind Beneath My Wings. Then it was John Sloman’s turn – a put-together of Unchained Melody and It Might Be You (from Tootsie), a Western medley comprised of three Frankie Laine numbers – Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling (High Noon), 3:10 to Yuma and Blazing Saddles. That one took a while to get right in terms of feel, but I made our musical director record it so he should be fine. Then finally it was As Time Goes By. And last we had Shannon Warne singing her three songs – Whatever Will Be, Will Be (from The Man Who Knew Too Much), Nobody Does It Better (from The Spy Who Loved Me) and The Man That Got Away. Great stuff, great singer. We didn’t have our guest stars with us – they’ll be here Wednesday and Thursday.
We didn’t finish until after seven and then I needed to clear my head. After that, I continued writing, ultimately doing a total of almost nine pages. I’m two pages away from finishing the current chapter and Muse Margaret will probably be getting closer to fifty pages this week – that is if I have a good writing day today, which is my hope.
Today, I shall be up by nine-thirty at the latest. I’ll futz and finesse, then write new pages. I’ll eat, do some banking, write some Kritzerland checks, hopefully pick up some packages, and then write some more. I’m really hoping to do between seven and ten pages today, but we shall see.
Tomorrow the real craziness begins. I will write in the morning, print and Xerox pages and get them to Muse Margaret, eat, then have a work session with Jason Graae, followed by our second Kritzerland rehearsal, after which I can hopefully get more writing done. Thursday I have a band rehearsal to attend – not sure if I’ll stay for the whole thing, but just want to be sure it’s all going smoothly. After that, we have our stumble-through – unusual to do it days before the actual show, but we had no choice and it will not happen again this way. Friday, we have a sitzprobe for three hours, so any writing that happens has to happen in the morning, because after the sitzprobe I’ll have to eat and then get to the theater to rehearse with our new cast member, after which we’ll put her through her paces with the two cast members who are bothering to show up. I think the stage manager may run a rehearsal with everyone the previous night (Thursday) but I actually haven’t heard whether that’s happening or not. It won’t be a run-through, just a walk through for positions and to get used to the new space. In any case, I won’t get home until after ten on Friday night and will have to get to bed by midnight, so that will probably be a day of only a few pages in the morning. Saturday and Sunday are long recording days and Saturday night I may or may not try to get to the theater to see some of our re-opening. Needless to say, unless I’m up at six in the morning on Saturday I’m not sure I’ll get more than a page or two done. Sunday, at least, I’ll have the evening and can catch up, but I’ll be in the home stretch of the book by then and can catch up further on Monday morning and then really devote the rest of the week to futzing and finessing and, most importantly, finishing. Monday, of course, is our sound check and show. What a week, but as long as it’s fun, I’ll get through it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages, write, and write. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could get in our handy-dandy haineshisway.com time machine, which television program would you love to have attended a filming of, of the shows that filmed with live audiences? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall arise and the busy week will continue.