Well, dear readers, I am writing these here notes early so I can get to bed early so I can get a good night’s beauty sleep and get up early because, as we all know, the early bird catches the worm. I wonder if the worm ever catches the early bird or even the late bird. I wonder if the early bird ever catches the late worm or if the early bird catches the late bird? Yes, these are the things that are percolating in the windmills of my mind on this Friday evening as I write these here Saturday notes. And what exactly does the early bird catch the worm doing? The Dance of the Seven Veils? The Hoochie-Coochie? What the HELL am I talking about? Don’t I have early bird notes to write so I can worm my way into the bed environment? I do and I shall, not necessarily in that order.
Yesterday I arose after exactly eight hours of sleep. I had a local dealer coming to pick up his local CDs, which he did. Once he was gone, I answered some e-mails, had a telephonic call, did a spot of work on the computer and then went and had some lunch. Lunch consisted of the following items: One chili, cheese and onion omelet, some small cubed potato things, and one English muffin, all good. Then I went to the mail place where I picked up no packages. After that, I did some banking, then came home.
Once home, I did some more work on the computer, did a little organizing, Tom Griep came by and brought me three music books for some recent Kritzerland shows. I honestly cannot remember what I did for the rest of the afternoon, but after I did it I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on a DVD screener entitled Foxcatcher, the story of super rich John du Pont and his foray into Olympic wrestling and murder. It’s quite a grim film, slowly paced, austere almost, with no fancy editing or camera moves whatsoever. The story is certainly interesting and the actors are all very good, especially Steve Carell as du Pont. Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo are also good, although the entire film seems as if one of its main purposes is to get Oscar nominations for all. Mr. Carell may have a shot, certainly, since it’s such a departure for him. He’s got du Pont’s speech and mannerisms and nose down pat – I’ve known entitled, spoiled, crazy rich people like this and his portrayal is eerily real. I really haven’t a clew as to whether people will actually enjoy this or not.
I then watched the first forty minutes of Peter Pan Live, which used to be called Peter Pan. So far I can’t say I see much “live” in it – everyone has been directed to be “real” and subdued for the camera and this is, of course, a huge mistake. Yes, performances have to be adjusted, but never ever at the expense of energy, pace, and in the case of Peter Pan, joy – pure unadulterated joy and wonder. So far I haven’t seen a trace of it. I think the leading lady (boy) could have been better with a real director, but alas, here we get the same director as last year’s The Sound of Music. There’s really no getting past that little mistake. I don’t like the additions so far and they just pad out the running time with no real effectiveness. The biggest disappointment so far was the end of act one flying ballet. People are just accepting that that was the best they could do in a live telecast, to which I say poppycock and bosh – all one has to do is watch the original Mary Martin version. No problems there with energy and flying fun. Here it looks like they’re just dangling from the way too visible wires. And Peter needs to have the flying energy of five – that’s the entire point. For those who say there’s no way to hide the obvious wires, I offer this little clip from my favorite version of Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan. Just watch this number, taped for the Omnibus TV program, and you’ll see what Peter Pan is all about and while a wire or two may be noticed by some, it wasn’t by me because the actors made me believe they were flying. Compare and contrast the fun and playfulness of Sandy Duncan and I’d be interested to hear your opinions.
Wasn’t that the berries? One only wishes that they’d taped that production for broadcast. Sadly, not only did they not do that, they didn’t even record it. Were it only that I were producing CDs back then – no one could have stopped me from recording that magnificent production. I’ll have more to say, I’m sure, after I finish – I really want to see what Mr. Walken does in the rest of the show before commenting on his performance. The other decision that was really, really bad was having the actor playing Smee play Wendy’s father. That just makes hash of everything and is completely stupid. It NEEDS to be the actor who plays Hook and that’s all there is to it.
At some point, I went to Gelson’s and got a little thing of chicken noodle soup and a little seafood salad for my snack. Oh, and melon balls, always melon balls. After my viewing, I just relaxed and played on the Internet.
Today, I shall be up by nine-thirty at the latest. We have our stumble-through at noon, then I’m sure some of us will have some foodstuffs, then I’m going to a Christmas partay at the home of Doug Haverty. I won’t be there too long, then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then come home and relax.
Tomorrow is our stumble-through and show and I will, of course, have a full report for you. Monday is my birthday, so I won’t be doing too much work, although as of right now I am on my own for the entirety of my birthday. Not a single one of my chums has asked about a dinner or anything. That’s fine, though – I have no problem at all celebrating by myself and celebrate I will with a nice dinner out. The rest of the week is choosing songs for the January show and deciding if we’ll announce two more releases on Christmas Eve. We shall see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a stumble-through, eat, hopefully pick up packages and attend a partay. Today’s topic of discussion: When and how did you first discover the magic of Peter Pan, whether on TV, film, book or stage? What are your favorite Peter Pan memories? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland because the early bird catches the worm and I want in on some of that action.