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April 24, 2014:

IT’S A TYPICAL DAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, sometimes days are crazy.  Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, sometimes days are crazy and yesterday was a day that was crazy and I do mean crazy.  It began with a crazy e-mail from Kay Cole, who has a cracked rib and needs to not move around for ten days.  That sent me into panic mode, so I contacted two other choreographers, one of who was free to help on certain days.  But then Kay e-mailed me again and told me she’d be back with us on May 5, so I was okay with that and therefore let the choreographer who was willing to help off the hook.  But it’s going to make my next few days completely insane, because now not only do I have to block a bunch of really long scenes, I have to also stage the remaining musical numbers, including the humungous Sadie Hawkins’ Day ballet.  It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.  I did a two-mile jog, then I went and ate a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and some sweet potato fries, whilst I looked over the scenes I’d be doing at rehearsal – and there were a LOT of them, including one really long and very complicated scene, the society ball sequence.  In other words, a typical day in Dogpatch, USA.

I arrived at rehearsal (we were not in our usual space) and began immediately with the shorter scenes, and got all those blocked.  Actually, we began by reviewing Rag Offen the Bush – it was rough, so while I worked with the smaller scenes, I sent the kids out to run it and run it and run it.  Then we got to the society ball.  Now, you must understand, other than some stage directions which are not really laid out very well, but which kind of give you an idea of what Michael Kidd’s blocking was, there’s just not a lot of there there in the script.  But I knew what the objectives of the scene were but had to figure out the style of it and how to make it fun, since it really does just go on and on and has a lot of action in it.  So, as my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim once said, bit-by-bit, I began putting it together.  I came up with a nice way to begin it, which is, for me, always the key to how a scene will play.  So, I would do a page or two, repeat it, finesse it, get suggestions from the cast, and then move on.  It took a couple of hours, probably more, but in the end we got through it and watching it all put together, it really seemed to hang well and most importantly, the storytelling was clear.

After all those scenes, I still had one more really long one to do, one which included a musical number – I got the part up to the number blocked, and that was that.  I must say, the LACC kids were really on top of things and really focused.  That’s always grand fun to see.  Poor Mammy Yokum accidentally got kicked in the jaw by Pappy when he was doing one of his jumps in Abner’s arms.  She seems to be fine and iced her jaw all night – I just spoke to her and she said she was feeling better.  I was too zonked to go out to eat, so I came right home and ate some junk here.

Once home, it was too late to watch anything, so I did a little brainstorming by myself of how I want to do the musical number I have to do today.  I got a few ideas and noted them, and also listened to the Sadie Hawkins’ Day ballet music – just hearing it I began to get various and sundried ideas and I made note of those, too.

Today, I shall be up no later than nine-thirty, I’ll do a jog, and then I have a 12:30 meeting at Paramount – that will last only about thirty minutes or so.  Then I’ve got a production meeting at LACC at two, then we begin rehearsal at three.  I have to finish the long scene and musical number from act two, then I go right to two or three long scenes in act one, one of which also involves a musical number.  So, another full day, but by the end of it, almost everything save for the ballet and the finale (also long) will be blocked, save for some transition things.  After, we’re back to Genghis Cohen because Sami was upset she didn’t get to go with us and she does love it so.

Tomorrow is our long day – 10 to 5 – and I have to finish whatever I didn’t finish today, and I have to at least get the entire ballet sketched out and if there’s any time left after that, my intention is to begin doing the finale.  I cannot even fathom doing this show with its original cast size of fifty-four people – how insane must that have been.  Doing it with twenty less, one does have to adjust certain things and be clever.  Not sure what the weekend holds, but I have to learn my half of You’re the Top, and I may go see the show that’s playing at LACC – 1984.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, have a meeting, have a production meeting, rehearse, and eat.  Today’s topic of discussion: I am trying to think of our June Kritzerland show – what albums of mine do you think would be a good show, whether composer or concept – you all know the 44 shows we’ve done thus far – or what composer would you like to see us do or even better what concept do you think might be fun, with an emphasis on the comic.  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall begin my busier than busy typical day in Dogpatch, USA.

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