Well, dear readers, I am back from an opening night and then a late supper at The Smoke House. I had prime rib. I love prime rib. I’ve been eating prime rib since I was a wee bairn, mostly at Lawry’s home of the prime rib. I’ve had it in many places, but the best of the non-Lawry’s has always been The Smoke House. I split a wedge salad and I had some creamed spinach, all yummilicious. The opening night was fun – saw many folks I knew, like Susanne Blakeslee, our very own Mr. Barry Pearl, critic Shari Barrett, the Playhouse’s Jonathan White and his ever-lovin’ Devin, Tom Griep and family, and others. Best pre-show thing for me was chatting with original Kiss Me, Kate star Patricia Morison – what an incredible force of nature she is at ninety-nine years of age. And with her was the woman who replaced her in Kate, Anne Jeffreys, also a force of nature. They ended up sitting two rows in front of me, and both ladies received a standing ovation when they were called out before the show. The before the show was, in fact, a little much – twenty-five minutes much, to be precise. I suppose they have to do it for various donors and sponsors, but I don’t think it has the effect they want.
Then the show began. I will say right from the beginning that Kiss Me, Kate has never been one of my favorite shows. I first knew it from the film version, which has its pleasures, certainly. The first time I actually saw it on stage was the 1999 revival directed by Michael Blakemore and starring Brian “Stokes” Mitchell and Marin Mazzie. Even though liberties were taken, it was a pretty good production with nice sets and Stokes and Marin were wonderful sparring partners and really understood who they were playing. Mr. Blakemore is a wonderful director and the only real downside for me was the pedestrian choreography of Kathleen Marshall. I love some of the songs and don’t love others. The book itself is very funny, though, especially when played with just the right amount of ham on rye with Fred and ham on diva with Lilli.
So, not a rabid fan of the piece. So, I will just say that this production was not my cup of tea. I had no problem with making it a musical of color (save for the gangsters and the General), but I do have a big problem when the entire score is newly arranged and orchestrated (for a band of seven or eight) and not for the better. In fact, I found all of the new stuff offensive, starting with the opening number, Another Op’nin, Another Show, arranged like a Soul Train number. Sorry, this is Cole Porter and Broadway here. Actors riffing notes, some numbers sounding like they were being sung as pop songs – just not for me, I’m afraid. The show’s above the title star Wayne Brady (I honestly had never heard of him, but then I don’t watch the television) could use a lot more ham in his performance, as could the Kate. There are several scenes with them that are played as if they were doing A Raisin in the Sun rather than a big, splashy oversized musical comedy. There were quite a few liberties taken with the script, most of which weren’t helpful and none of which were as funny as what’s actually IN the script. A portion of the friendly audience whooped and hollered as if they were watching American Idol, but that’s become typical audience behavior at musicals. The show, with intermission, ran close to three hours, thanks to the occasional added stuff.
Prior to that, I’d slept over eight hours, stayed in bed and relaxed, then finally got up and did some work on the computer. I made a first pass show order, then watched two-thirds of a motion picture on Netflix entitled 3 Days to Kill, a film from this year starring Kevin Costner. I’ll finish it up before writing about it. I had a few telephonic conversations, adjusted two lines of a lyric and then it was time to be on my way to the opening night.
Today, I shall finish liner notes, finish the movie I was watching, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, start writing the commentary for the Kritzerland show, and then I finish comping the Sandy vocals.
Tomorrow I finesse the mixes and I’m quite sure we’ll be eating Astroburger. Wednesday I have a work session for the Kritzerland show, then Lanny Meyers hears the mixes and adds his finessing and that should be that. Then Friday night I do the first part of the Ray Courts celebrity show and I’m there all day on Saturday, as well.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish liner notes, finish watching, eat, hopefully pick up packages, start the commentary and finish comping vocals Today’s topic of discussion: What classic musicals do you actually not like at all? What bad musicals are guilty pleasures? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, still full from the prime rib.