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January 3, 2015:

THE LONG OVERDUE RETURN OF THE ROBBY AWARDS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I’m happy to tell you that the Robby Award nominations (critic Rob Stevens’ annual awards – he’s done them since the mid-1970s and he’s been reviewing LA theater for over forty years) are out and I could not be more thrilled that my production of Li’l Abner has been nominated for nine Robby Awards.  Not only that, but three of our Kritzerland shows are nominated, and not only that but our very own Sandy Bainum is nominated for her Ira Gershwin show, which I wrote and directed.  Other than the two albums of mine that were nominated for Grammy Awards, this is the first time I’ve ever been nominated for anything having to do with theater.  So, send some excellent vibes and xylophones that we actually win one of them.  Anyway, that was a great afternoon treat yesterday.  The ceremony will be held on February 9 at the El Portal Theater.  These Robby ceremonies are a total hoot and a half.  The most memorable one I attended was back in the early 1990s, where a young singer blew the roof off the room with Can You Read My Mind.  The young singer’s name was Michelle Nicastro.  I sought her out and the rest is history and pretty wonderful history at that.

I think I got close to eight hours of blessed sleep.  I left the heater on all night, which I don’t like to do, but when I got up in the morning it was only at 68, which I couldn’t believe.  It should have easily been at full tilt 73.  The helper came over, got invoices and then we had a little chat about how things have to work and everything is fine and dandy and also dandy and fine.  While she was here, she fixed the blinds, which were funky again, and I also realized that maybe the reason the heat wasn’t working at full speed was that the filter may have needed changing.  Luckily, I had one in the closet.  The packaging said the filters should be changed once every three months.  We opened the heater vent and the filter was from mid-2011.  No wonder it hasn’t been giving out much heat – it was all clogged up with guck, this filter was, along with being much too noisy.  We put in the new filter and voila, real heat came and in fifteen minutes it was 73, the way I like it when it’s cold outside.

Then she left and I settled down to writing.  First I futzed and finessed with what I’d written the day before.  I adjusted quite a few things, rewrote some stuff until I was happy with it, then finally finished that part.  It took over an hour to do that.  Just before I was on my way for some lunch, I wrote a couple of pages.  For lunch I had a small turkey sandwich and some onion rings, then I ascertained there were no packages to pick up so I came home.

Then I buckled down, Winsocki and wrote more pages – by the end of the day I’d written a little over twelve pages again and I’m really liking that pace, I must say.  I managed to finish chapter one, which, even though I knew what would happen, was surprisingly emotional for me.  I’m not fooling around with this particular book – it gets right to the main story at the end of chapter one – I didn’t feel the need to drag that out in any way.  Then I sat on my couch like so much fish, exhausted.

Yesterday, I watched the first half of a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Funny Lady, the sequel to Funny Girl, starring Miss Barbra Streisand, Mr. James Caan, and many others.  I really didn’t like the film when it came out, but I am surprised to find that I’m enjoying quite a bit of it all these years later.  It’s not a wonderful script, by any means, and some of the big numbers just don’t land right (especially a long sequence of things going wrong in the big Billy Rose show).  In any case, I’ll finish it today and have a full report plus my thoughts on the transfer.

Then my friend Grant Geissman gathered me up and we went to see his darling daughter Greer in some vampire play at some hole-in-the-wall theater in a disgusting strip mall just above Sunset Blvd. on Highland.  I don’t really know anything about the group putting on the play, I can only tell you that as a play it was more than excruciating, and that the performances were all over the map, and none of them good, save for cute little Greer, who really didn’t have much to do.  The show went up almost a half-hour late, too, but thankfully only ran an hour.

Afterwards, we talked to Greer for a bit, and then Grant and I went and had a bite to eat – he, a burger and fries, me a small piece of custard pie.  Then I came home and began taking Airborne, Coldeez, Claritin-D and I’ll also be taking a swig of Ny-Quil.  I’m not sick, but I’ve been around many who are and I’m taking no chances, plus the Ny-Quil will hopefully help me get a really good night’s beauty sleep.  I will leave the heat on again, now that there’s a clean filter.  When it reaches the proper set temperature, it doesn’t really come on all that much, just once every thirty minutes or so.

Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, and then the order of the day will be writing, writing and more writing.  Hopefully I’ll pick up some packages at some point, I’ll eat at some point and I’ll relax at some point.

Tomorrow will be more of the same.  Monday is our first Kritzerland rehearsal.  Tuesday I have a morning meeting and then later a dinner.  The rest of the week is meetings and meals, with our second Kritzerland rehearsal on Thursday.  Friday I have a lunch with Neal Hefti’s son, which I’m very much looking forward to.  And we have to finish casting Inside Out, as well.  Sunday is our stumble-through and Monday 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, write and then write some more, eat, hopefully pick up packages and then relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite songs of Jerome Kern?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we hit the road to dreamland, so happy to have gotten so many wonderful Robby Award nominations.

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