Well, dear readers, I was attacked yesterday – viciously attacked by allergies. I did a jog in the morning and felt fine, then went and had bacon and effs. Bacon and effs? I guess the second finger of my left hand didn’t quite make the “G” key, but now that I’m looking at it, I like bacon and effs better. In any case, the allergies attacked even as I was sitting in my usual booth. I blew my nose for most of the time I was there – thankfully they always give you five or six napkins, which, in a deli, is SOP (standard operating procedure, in Internet lingo). Since I wasn’t going to go home, I had to stop at a CVS and get some Claritin. I took it right then and there and about thirty minutes later it kicked in but was still not strong enough to stop the damn drippy nose.
I went to the Pasadena Playhouse and it’s a good thing I did since the risers for the band had been set up incorrectly. So, those will be fixed and probably were before the end of yesterday. We discussed where the movie screen would live, where the main drape will be hung and where the mid-stage black drape is. Then my wonderful lighting person Hilda drew me a nice, simple diagram so I could plot out the entrances and exits. Then I left, then stopped at the mail place (first time in three days), where I picked up several packages and sadly one small piece of irritating mail, which hopefully won’t end up being irritating at all – and do keep those excellent vibes and xylophones coming this way, won’t you? Then I came home.
The nose was still drippy for most of the rest of the day. Not terrible, but causing me to blow ye olde nose more than I enjoy doing. But two of the packages made me very happy – the hardcover and the softcover of the new book. Here’s the hardcover handsomely sitting on my dining table.
Then I had to go over the final approved ALS script, because I felt that our stage manager would have trouble calling the show properly because the cues were not in the right places and not clear enough. So, I went through and made a lot of adjustments in terms of that, and then sent that off, so it could go where it needed to go. There were, in fact, a huge number of e-mails flying back and forth and also forth and back and that took up most of the afternoon. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a documentary on the Flix of Net, said documentary directed by Mike Myers, about his famous manager Shep Gordon. It was quite well done and Shep is a character and his history is interesting. And there were a lot of amusing stories told my some music and film industry stars. It wore thin after a while, but I did enjoy it.
Then I did the entrance and exit plots for all of act one and today I’ll do act two. Then I finally relaxed a little and played on the computer.
Today, I have a conference call at ten-thirty for the ALS thing, then I’ll eat something light but amusing and maybe jog, then we have two rehearsals in the afternoon – Lisa Livesay and Mickey Dolenz. After that, I’ll relax and watch the latest Mad Men, then write the notes early and get to bed early.
Tomorrow, I’ll be up at eight and to the Pasadena Playhouse by nine-thirty. The lighting person, Hilda, and I will write all the light cues for the show as fast as we can. She has the script and I’ll be able to tell her instantly where everything is happening – she’ll already have the “looks” done so hopefully it will go smoothly. At noon, they deal with the podium, the teleprompter and the video, none of which I’m involved with, although I will oversee it all and make sure it’s all working within our show framework. Then the band and cast arrive and we begin our three hour band rehearsal – we’ll try to go in show order, but I know there are some scheduling problems so that won’t always happen. Everyone gets one shot at running their number and that’s it. Then they’re free to stick around or go home and come back. The last half-hour of the band rehearsal will be our two big ensemble numbers, both of which have front curtain cues and more lighting. Then the presenters get an hour to run their teleprompter stuff at the podium and then dinner will be served in the green room. I’m so looking forward to seeing so many of my friends and especially Petula Clark. I’ll be having a late breakfast with her the following day.
The rest of the week is almost all Sami rehearsals, along with some meetings and meals, seeing Mary Poppins, which stars Juliana Hansen, and then two long weekend rehearsals so that we’re completely ready for next Monday night’s private reading of Welcome to My World.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, have a conference call, eat, have two rehearsals and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topic and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where, with the aid of a Claritin and some Ny-Quil, I hope to get through the night without the drippiest nose in town.