Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish listening to music as I write these here notes, said music composed by Johan Sebastian Bach. Now, I don’t think it’s much of a secret that my musical tastes, classics-wise, are pretty much entrenched in the twentieth century, with only a handful of things prior to then that “get” to me. Mahler, of course, would be one composer, and a few of the Baroque types, like Albinoni and his adagio. But the big boys – Mozart, Haydn, Handel, Schubert – those compositions by those gents I can admire from afar but they just don’t “get” me. I knew from an early age what “got” me in terms of harmony and melody – I mean like from four or five years old. But Bach I like a lot, and even love some of the stuff. This album, The Bach Album, was a huge hit for Columbia and Eugene Ormandy – a two-LP fold-open cover thing. Sound and performances are yummilicious. So, these here notes will be in the form of a preludium (which we’ve just had) and now a toccata and fugue, as well as an air on the G-string, which was also a number performed by Gypsy Rose Lee.
Yesterday was quite a day. I did manage to get just eight hours of blessed sleep. I then arose, did my morning ablutions, answered e-mails, and then went for lunch – I had a patty melt and no fries or onion rings. I then came home and did more work until it was time to begin rehearsals. I do love our rehearsal weeks. Yesterday’s first rehearsal was pretty standard issue – just getting used to the songs, they way we’ve routined them, and making sure the keys work. We do have a wonderful cast for this show, our tribute to some wonderful female lyricists, most especially Carolyn Leigh. We began with Lisa Livesay, who ran her three numbers – a put-together of Bouncing Back for More and Hey, Look Me Over – the former was written for Wildcat but replaced by the latter. Then she ran the beautiful Old Friend, from I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road. Finally, it was the stunning The Ballad of the Sad Young Men from The Nervous Set. Then came Heather Lee. We began with Funny/The Duck Joke from My Favorite Year. I do it with Heather, although my part in it is just talking. Then she ran her others – I’ve Gotta Crow from Peter Pan and Twenty-Four Hours of Lovin’ from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
After Heather came Jennifer Kranz, who won the Sterling’s Next Great Stage Star contest. One thing the winner gets is doing a Kritzerland show. She began with a put-together of Nightlife in Santa Rosa and Six O’Clock News, both songs from Smile – not the Smile that went to Broadway, but the version written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carolyn Leigh – when Miss Leigh’s untimely death occurred, Howard Ashman became involved and Mr. Hamlisch and he wrote a new score. Then she sang Amanda McBroom’s Ship in a Bottle from Heartbeats, and finally the beautiful Come Down from the Tree, a cut song from Once on this Island that I introduced to the world on the first Lost in Boston album (it’s amazing to me how many people think Audra McDonald was the first to record it – not).
Then we had Shannon Warne – she ran her two solos – The Alto’s Lament – very funny and she’s already great on it, and then Take It from the Top, a late Coleman and Leigh song written for a French film but not used. Then Dan Callaway arrived and they did their duet, They’re Playing Our Song. Then Dan ran his two solos, A Bit of Earth from The Secret Garden and Wheels of a Dream from Ragtime. Kay Cole was last and ran her put-together of Witchcraft and The Best is Yet to Come. We never did get to the Guy Haines number, Firefly, so we’ll do that on Thursday and I did run it several times during our work session last Friday. Tom Griep, our musical director, was on top of everything.
I feel we’ve had the toccata and fugue and the air, heaven knows we’ve had the air and it was hot air, let me tell you. I believe we’ve crossed over to the minuet. After the rehearsal, I did a mile-and-a-half jog. I did sit on my couch like so much fish for a short time and began watching a motion picture on Netflix entitled Thinner, based on the novel by Richard Bachman (Stephen King). It’s quite horrible, but I’ll finish it today. I’d gotten a call from Brennley Brown’s mom saying Brennley would be singing at an open mic thing at Rockwell Table and Stage. I really didn’t want to go because I just don’t like those kinds of evenings, but I also like to be supportive of our young singers, so Doug Haverty and I moseyed on over to the jernt which was much better when it was Sarno’s – we got there at nine-thirty to find that whatever show they were doing was running long, so we took a walk and came back at about nine-fifty, met Brennley, her mom and her dad and got a table. The first show was STILL going on – it had something to do with – well, I don’t know what it had to do with other than what I was hearing was fairly excruciating – and then the cast of that thing playing at the Ahmanson – We Will Rock You – got up and a young blonde from the show screamed some song so loudly that I am still not over the headache it gave me. I did take note that the flimsy see-through curtain at the back of the stage that had bothered me so during Jason Graae’s show, because you could see all the traffic outside the restaurant, as well as people, headlights, etc. has been changed to a black curtain. One wonders if someone read these here notes, because as I also noted people kept coming in through the front door during Jason’s act, and that, too, was fixed. If so, I’m happy to have been the impetus. If it was just coincidence, well, I don’t believe in coincidences.
The open mic was a joke. Hosted by two people who may or may not be talented but who should not be hosting anything, the room was about half full and the people there were rude putzes who talked loudly during the singing – that and the loud bar was just unbearable. Really? That’s what someone thinks an open mic evening should be about? I don’t like them in the best of circumstances, but this was loathsome. Brennley did a duet and a solo and a handful of people bothered to listen. I don’t think it does anyone any good to sing in front of a bunch of loudmouth people who are all about themselves. In fact, I think it’s harmful. I try to groom all our young and incredibly talented kids for things professional and I really believe that path has to be very clear to everyone and that going backwards should happen infrequently. You either know how to run these things or you don’t – you’re either in control of your room or you’re not. I could not wait to get out of there and as soon as Brennley finished that is exactly what happened.
I feel we’re now in our cantata and arioso section with a little passacaglia on the side, so I may as well talk about today. Today, I shall do some writing of liner notes, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then try to relax a little – and I’ll jog at some point.
Tomorrow I have several things to do, Thursday morning is the meeting I’d rather not be going to, then we have our second Kritzerland rehearsal, after which I may be going to see a play. Saturday we have our stumble-through and Sunday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, eat, jog, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite classical composers and which pieces of theirs are your favorites? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream to strains of Sheep May Safely Graze and then arise to Sleepers Awake.