Haines Logo Text
Column Archive
May 11, 2015:

THE SUNDAY REPORT ON MONDAY OR THE MONDAY REPORT ON SUNDAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it is late and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry so all will be right with the universe and environs.  I had quite an uneventful day yesterday, which is what I needed.  Oh, there were a couple of events, but the rest were events of un.  I finally had a night where I actually slept straight through – I got nine hours of blessed sleep.  Once up, I did stuff on the computer, then the helper came over and picked up some invoices and whatnot.  Then Sami, our MD Alby and Sami’s mom came by and we watched a video of the tap steps she’s been learning for our show.  Right now, they’re just that – steps – I’m bringing in someone to help shape the number and make it theatrical, but that won’t happen for a week or so.  But Alby is going to do a rough track of dance music they can work with until we actually set the number, at which point we can do a real dance arrangement.

Then they left and our very own Robert Yacko stopped by to sing me a song I needed to hear for our upcoming Kritzerland show.  It’s from Leonard Bernstein’s version of Peter Pan, although it was never performed in that show.  After the Broadway run with Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff, the show was to tour, with Veronica Lake in the lead role.  For Hook they cast opera singer Lawrence Tibbitt.  Mr. Bernstein wrote an aria for Mr. Tibbitt to sing – there is conflicting information on whether this tour actually happened and whether Mr. Tibbitt actually performed this number.  It, and Dream With Me, which we recorded for our Peter Pan album, have apparently been restored to the show.  The song is so weird that we simply must do it.  The lyrics are Barrie’s and I never realized just how much Comden and Green used of Barrie in their Captain Hook’s Waltz.

Once that was done, I went and had a cup of chili and some chicken tenders.  Then I came home, did a spot of work on the computer, and that was it for the day.  I then sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I was roaming around the Flix of Net and decided to watch The Sixth Sense, which I hadn’t seen since it came out.  This was a film that took everyone by surprise.  It had a twist that no one saw coming and was the talk of the town and a big hit.  In fact, it really began the obsession with “twists” in films even though there had been many, many films with twists before it.  But after it, everything had to have some outrageous twist.  The problem with twist endings is that once you’ve heard there’s a twist ending, it’s not all that hard to figure out what it is.  And since people cannot keep their mouths shut and will tell you “I won’t tell you anything about it so the twist is a surprise” there’s usually no surprise for me.  So, since I’d heard there was a twist, I knew what was going on after the first scene ended.  But the film is very well done, doesn’t really cheat and the performances of Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette are so good that you just go with it.  A lot of people took great enjoyment rewatching it to make sure there were no cheats.  I enjoyed seeing it again very much, and especially liked the score by James Newton Howard.

Then I watched the follow-up film to The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable.  I hadn’t seen that since it came out either.  At the time, I actually liked Unbreakable better than The Sixth Sense.  Again, it has excellent performances, this time by Mr. Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and Robin Wright Penn.  Watching it again I think I still like it better, although the very end of the film, after a little “surprise” plot turn, just kind of peters out with two title cards.  Still, it was nice to see it again – hard to believe it’s fifteen years old.  If you’ve somehow missed these two films, I do recommend them.

Then I watched the penultimate episode of Mad Men.  I thought last week’s was the penultimate but nooooo, this week’s was the penultimate.  With so little precious time left, I wasn’t thrilled with the Don road trip, which I found really tiresome, and the Pete stuff wasn’t that interesting either.  Peggy was nowhere to be seen, nor was Joan, nor Roger.  The rest was about the January Jones character.  I wasn’t really surprised what direction they took that in.  So, they’ve got one hour to wrap this thing up and I’ll be very curious to see how that plays out.

After that, I played on the computer, had a long telephonic call and then relaxed.

Today, I have to get everything done for the Kritzerland show.  Most of the songs are chosen, so I have to assign them then get the music for them and get everything to the performers.  We’re fully cast save for one gal.  At some point I’ll eat, hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, and then I have other stuff I need to attend to.

The rest of the week is meetings and meals, seeing shows and doing a book signing.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, assign songs, finish casting, eat, hopefully pick up packages and relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movies with plot twists you didn’t see coming?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland,

Search BK's Notes Archive:
 
© 2001 - 2024 by Bruce Kimmel. All Rights Reserved