Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon. So it is written, so it shall be done. I somehow managed to get eight hours of sleep so that was a good thing. Once up, there were the usual e-mails to deal with, and then we had not one not three but two ALS rehearsals. First up was Eric Petersen, who’s doing a song from Shrek, a role he played for a year in the national tour. We had to figure out one little cut, which we did in short order. Then Devin Kelly was with us for her second time to run her Fascinatin’ Rhythm number, during which she sings and plays the violin. Both rehearsals went well and then I decided to eat a little something and that little something was the same salad I’d had the night before – a chopped salad with veggies with oil and vinegar, mostly the latter. Yesterday I added avocado to the mix and I also had a bagel. After that I came home, did some work on the computer for a while, and then decided the rest of the day and evening was mine all mine.
Yesterday, I finished watching the rest of The Missing, five episodes in all (I’d already watched three). I quite enjoyed it, although it’s very bleak. As with most of these multi-episode stories based on one plot, they have trouble sustaining it. The role model for this kind of thing was the original Danish version of The Killing, which is now apparently the only show to imitate. Even The Killing, which is superb in its Danish version, has trouble sustaining for eight to ten episodes. The problem is, you keep having to introduce possible suspects and as they go away you have to introduce more possible suspects. By the time you get to the final episode, most of the suspects have been done away with in one way or another and then it just really becomes not much of a deal who it is – and indeed that’s the case here. You know in advance it’s going to be some arbitrary character we’ve met a couple of times but who’s played no important role in the show. Then it becomes the how and why show. What this show does that’s interesting is not tie things up in a neat ribbon at the end. The ending is somewhat enigmatic – not setting up for a sequel either – there will be a second season but a whole different story. But they don’t really give solid closure to the show and that’s fine – in the ending no matter how you want to interpret it, bleak rules the day.
I did like the actors very much. Some of them are asked to play unrealistic beats here and there, just for plot sake, but they’re all excellent. I couldn’t put my finger on where I’d seen the leading lady before, but I looked her up and instantly saw that she was the mom in A.I: Artificial Intelligence. The show features mostly a combo platter of English and French actors.
That took up the latter part of the afternoon and a goodly portion of the evening. At some point, I went to Gelson’s and got some cucumber roll and one egg roll thing and some melon balls for my evening snack.
Today, I’ll jog in the morning, then I’ll go eat a very light meal of maybe an omelet or poached eggs, then I’ll mosey on over to the Pasadena Playhouse to hang out for a while and make sure everything is set up to work the way I need it to. I’ll probably stay there for an hour or two, then hopefully pick up some packages and no irritating mail, after which I’ll come home and do the entrance and exit maps for all the performers. Then I’ll relax.
Not sure what’s happening tomorrow, but I’m sure I’ll do some writing on something that’s very important and I suppose if Petula Clark was up for it, I’d take her and her musical director to dinner. Monday, of course, will be total insanity as we prepare for our show, which includes writing all the light cues, getting the sound right, rehearsing the video stuff and teleprompter for the awards portion of the show (roughly thirty minutes out of what will hopefully be a two-hour show), then running all the musical numbers with the singers and our band – that will be daunting but we must get through every number at least once in our three-and-a-half hour session and that includes running the two huge production numbers. Then they’ll be a tiny break, and then it’s show time. The rest of the week is Sami rehearsals, meetings and meals, and Sami rehearsals.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, hang out at the Pasadena Playhouse, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and do the entrance and exit diagrams. Today’s topic of discussion: Which have been your favorite multi-episode mini-series or series? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully get a good night’s sleep before she of the evil eye arrives. So it is written, so it shall be done.