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September 1, 2015:

THE SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, can I just call your attention to the fact that it is September? How did THAT happen? I gotta tell you, this year is flying by, like a gazelle aboard a Spanish frigate. The gazelle was previously aboard an Armenian frigate, but the gazelle felt that variety was the spice of life, frigate-wise, and made a change. In any case, it is September and might I just say that it is my fervent hope and prayer that September will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.

Yesterday, the final day of August was a final day of August kind of day. I didn’t get quite the amount of sleep I wanted thanks to the dinging of the cell phone’s text messages coming in one after another at nine in the morning – therefore I only got seven hours of sleep. Once up, it was the usual morning stuff – telephonic calls, answering e-mails, working at the piano, having word with the production manager of yet another film shoot down the street, and finally I went to get something to eat. I had a breakfast burrito of egg, cheese (I’m not actually sure there was any cheese) and onion, with a tiny side of guacamole and salsa. It was very good. Then I picked up a Fed Ex envelope that contained my replacement credit card for the compromised credit card. Then I came home.

And then it was time for the first Kritzerland rehearsal. First up was Darcie Roberts. I’ve met her several times over the years and she’s been to a couple of Kritzerland shows. I’ve been after her to do one and this is the one that worked out. She ran her two solo songs – first He Has a Way from Busker Alley by the Sherman Brothers. She actually introduced the song in the show – she played the female lead opposite Tommy Tune. And then it was Don’t Rain on My Parade – she’s played Fanny Brice and I’m here to tell you that she just hits the song not only out of the ballpark but all the way into Orange County. Then Damon Kirsche arrived and he and Darcie did their duet – the marvelous Better than a Dream, which was written for the film version of Bells are Ringing. It’s rarely done, and they do it wonderfully. Then Damon ran his two solos – the Gershwin song Liza and Ten Percent, a cut song from Chicago – he performed the latter in my Lost and Unsung revue a few years ago. He’s just a wonderful performer and he and Darcie acted together recently in a production of 9 to 5.

After that, Robert Yacko arrived and we ran his two solos – my new song that I just wrote for this upcoming LA revue I’ve begun working on – the song is called C.C. Brown’s and is my little paean to my favorite place that LA ever had. Then he ran the put-together of She Dies and Time and Again, from Time and Again, written by our very own Skip Kennon. He’s done this before, but he really wanted to do it again and since he does it incredibly well we decided that he should absolutely do it. Then all our young people came in and joined Robert for a thirty-minute rehearsal of the What If parody that opens the show. Then Robert left. I didn’t really need Sami to run her solo, since it’s a song from our show, but we did choose a starting point for the portion of the monologue we’re using to set up the song, which is called Note to Boys. Brennley was next with her very touching and beautiful rendition of Not While I’m Around. Then Jenna Lea Rosen did a put-together of Here’s That Rainy Day and Now When the Rain Falls by Frank Wildhorn. They work beautifully together and boy does she sound great. Then it was little Hadley Miller’s turn. She’s JUST turned eleven and I gave her the incredibly difficult The Dressing Song from The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. And she nailed the damn thing. John Boswell and I just sat there with our mouths on the floor.

Then the kids left (Sami had already gone home) and they apparently all went to Hugo’s, where they had an amazing celebrity encounter with – wait for it – you won’t believe it – Miley (the tongue) Cyrus, who was there inconspicuously dressed in onesie unicorn pajamas. I’m not making this up, you know. Finally, we had Sammy Williams, who’s doing a three-song put-together from my musical Stages. The first was First Apartment – I’d adjusted a few lyrics for his club act, and he does it really charmingly, then that leads into the title song, and that leads into his big solo that he did in the show, Musical Comedy. He sounds great and looks great. On Thursday we get our other two performers, Jason Graae and Sharon McNight. I think it’s going to be a pretty damn entertaining show.

Then I headed over to the theater just to say hi to my set designer – he was there with his new hubby and they’d already painted the floor white – he had to do that before actually painting it for the show – he’s doing fun and colorful different size and shape squares for the floor. And he put up the two sets of panels at the back, and those looked great. That’s actually pretty much the set, save for a single colorful cube center stage, and two benches that are the size of two cubes angled at either end of the stage. And there’s a screen for projections hanging up center. I think it’s going to look really nice.

Then I stopped at Gelson’s and got a few drumettes and came home. I did a jog, then ate all the damn drumettes one after another. And that was basically that.

Today, I’ll jog, eat, and then go to the theater around three to see how everything is progressing. Then we have a little work-through session for a handful of things, and then around six-thirty or so we’ll begin our full-out run-through. I’ll give notes after.

Tomorrow is more of the same, and I believe they’ll also be hanging and focusing lights after we finish our rehearsal. Thursday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, and while we’re doing that, our tech team will be putting all the finishing touches on the lighting and the set. Then on Friday I go in at noon and see all the light cues as our designer writes them. We’ll adjust anything I may think needs adjusting, and then we’ll do a full run-through with lights – if there are mistakes we won’t stop – kind of what they call a light-over. Saturday we do a full tech fun around noon-thirty, then we have our stumble-through and then I’ll ascertain whether we’ll need to have further rehearsal at the theater. Sunday we do a full tech run around one o’clock, and then it’s sound check and show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, hopefully pick up packages, go to the theater, rehearse, and give notes. Today’s topic of discussion: I’m trying to figure out our October Kritzerland show – I’m thinking of doing something very personal, like songs or shows that had a huge influence on me. I’m not sure what to call it – need a snappy title. I was thinking The Soundtrack of Life, but I don’t like it. So, give me some ideas. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that it is September and reiterating that it is my fervent hope and prayer that September will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.

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