Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 60 was one for the Kritzerland ages. The show was everything I wanted it to be and is the poster child for what we do better than anyone. The fact that it was such a hard sell was odd and irritating, not necessarily in that order. You’d think people would just trust us by now, but I guess not. We actually ended up with a terrific crowd and a great audience. As I said during my opening patter, “You know, when I announced this show at the end of the last show you could hear a pin drop – and not in a good way.” But the people who took the chance got to hear incredible songs, most of which they probably hadn’t heard before, and sung by a great cast of singers. There were two tiny lyric flubs at the top of the show, but after that there were no further fumfers. There were so many highlights it’s hard to call them all out – we began with a rousing Camaraderie from The Good Companions. One of my favorite things was Adrienne Visnic’s beatnik performance of Like Young/Like Love – in fact, Adrienne was on fire last night and all three of her numbers went over incredibly well. Jeffrey Christopher Todd’s hilarious 1960s go-go version of The Swinger/Goodbye, Charlie was great. Our three newbies all acquitted themselves beautifully. Jill Marie Burke was simply great on You’re Gonna Hear from Me. Tyler Matthew Burke was great on his Valley of the Dolls put-together of The Easy Way and Give a Little More, and Laura Dickenson gave us the perfect ending with her amazing rendition of I’ll Plant My Own Tree. Of course Guy Haines was a no-show, so I had to sing The Faraway Part of Town – it went well, I thought. Tom Griep on piano did a great job. I threw in a few improvised bits of patter and they all got laughs, so that’s always fun. The general consensus from our audience was that it was one of our best.
We had some fun folks in attendance, including neighbors Tony Slide and Bob Gitt, Udana Power (she was in Coco with Katherine Hepburn, but they let her go during previews because Hepburn didn’t want anyone who sang that well anywhere near her and the role kept getting cut down), my interim helper Makinna was there, our own Robert Yacko was with us, Jenna Lea Rosen and Hadley Miller were there (both in the next show) and just moved to LA Sarah Uriarte Berry was there. Karen Staitman and Sami’s sister Sarah were at our table. Doug Haverty was there Howard Green from Disney brought a very special person and I gave her a big shout out at the end – Katherine Beaumont, the voice of Alice in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, and the voice of Wendy in Disney’s Peter Pan. Jeffrey’s mom was there, and Adrienne’s folks flew in to see her. Jill Marie Burke’s folks were there, too. Anyway, it was a wonderful evening. Here’s our wonderful group of players – left to right: Tyler Matthew Burke, Adrienne Visnic, li’l ol’ me, Jill Marie Burke, Tom Griep, Laura Dickenson, co-producer Adryan Russ, Jeffrey Christopher Todd, and Sterling himself, Michael Sterling.
And here I am with Alice and Wendy herself – Katherine Beaumont.
Prior to that, I’d probably gotten around six hours of sleep. Then I got up, did a jog, and then relaxed and watched the first thirty minutes of a 2014 serial killer movie with Angelina Jolie – I think it’s called Taking Lives, and surprisingly I’m kind of enjoying it. Then I got ready and then moseyed on over to The Federal for our sound check. Then I had my usual artichoke and then it was show time.
After the show, a few of us went to Little Toni’s – I had my rigatoni with butter and cheese, and shared it with Hadley. So really only about four ounces of pasta and butter. Then I came home.
Today, I shall work on finishing the song choices for the fifth anniversary Kritzerland show. I’ve got most of them chosen already, so it’s just figuring out the last four or five songs. The cast, like all our anniversary shows, is double the size of our usual cast, but boy what a cast it is – I’ve added one more person, too, and that just makes it even better: Brennley Brown, Jason Graae, Damon Kirsche, Sharon McNight, Hadley Miller, Darcie Roberts, Jenna Lea Rosen, Sami Staitman, Robert Yacko, and newly added Sammy Williams, who, of course, was a Tony Award-winner for his performance as Paul in A Chorus Line. The best part is he’ll do a three-song put-together of stuff he sang in my show Stages. I’ll do a jog, I’ll eat, and then I’ll relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, plus meetings and meals. I think I have some shows to see, too.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, choose songs, gather music, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films about serial killers? My top is Silence of the Lambs. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that Kritzerand at Sterling’s 60 went so wonderfully.