Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 65 was a sterling affair from start to finish. First of all, you have the amazing songs, one after another, but structured very carefully so that each does the job it needs to do. I think that is where our shows differ from all other show of this type, whether ones before us or the ones that came after and try to use our format. It’s something we’ve done from show one and it’s really always worked – I structure these evenings like a real show, like a play or musical. And then you add the hot fudge and whipped cream to it all by casting the right people to bring it all to life. And I’m here to tell you this cast was superb. At the stumble-through, a few people were struggling with things so I talked to them and gave them notes or hints – some one line, some extensive – and even did some of that at sound check. And these amazing folks took the notes and made magic out of them, which is what I love most about working with incredible people.
There were so many highlights, from the perky opening number (It’s Only a Paper Moon/I’ve Got the World on a String beautifully done by Juliana Hansen and Eric Petersen), to Kerry O’Malley’s torchy Stormy Weather and her brilliantly acted The Man That Got Away, to her winning charms on You’re a Builder Upper/Accentuate the Positive. There really is nothing she cannot do. Robert Yacko was really solid and really delivered, from his rousing Ridin’ On the Moon, to his simple and beautiful Right as the Rain/My Shining Hour, to his hilarious Lydia, the Tattooed Lady, which brought down the house and got great laughs throughout. Juliana and I had a very long chat after the stumble-through because I felt her two solos were not working the way they should, and we talked about them at length and boy did she deliver last night – everything we talked about was there, and it was a lot to absorb. She did great with Get Happy, and even better with Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home. Barbara Minkus (first time with us), did well with That Old Black Magic (I said that someone on Facebook would probably say it was not PC to even speak that title), and then When the Sun Comes Out.
Eric Petersen is a major find for us – I struggle with guy casting in our shows, but he’s everything I love. He’s got a great voice, he’s funny, creative, and he also can take notes and make them work really well. His One for My Baby was just superb and then he did If I Only Had a Brain (he came up with a really cute Scarecrow outfit), and then he came out twice more and did If I Only Had a Heart (with Tin Man hat) and then If I Only Had the Nerve (in a funny lion “outfit”) – the audience ate him up. Then there was Chelsea Emma Franko – we’ve been working together for several years now and she just keeps getting better and better and last night she was the best I’ve ever seen her. Her first song was one no one knew at all – My Mama Thinks I’m a Star – I’d told her to get very specific with the jokes in the song and not be subtle about them, since it’s a about a child of a vaudeville couple – she took that and ran with it and got huge laughs. She went up on the lyrics at one point, but got right back on track and took the end of the song home like nobody’s business. Her Come Rain or Come Shine was, for me, the best version of the song I’ve ever heard – she was gentle with it at the beginning, then let the song do its natural build and by the end it was just so great and the socking home the money notes at the end could not have been better. It’s the first time the song has ever gotten to me emotionally.
And Sami closed the show with Over the Rainbow. Sami’s like a sponge and whatever version she’d listened to she was doing whatever that person had done and I felt it was really wrong for the song. So, at both rehearsals I kept pounding away at that trying for simplicity, honesty, and warmth. It still wasn’t right at the stumble-through and we worked on it after. And it still wasn’t quite right at the sound check, so we really worked the top of the song, and sure enough when she came out she was everything you’d want her to be. Several people came up to both her and me and said how beautifully she’d sung it and how simple and effective it was. Part of that was not letting her get big at all until the last line. And she just delivered it so beautifully. I’ve said it before, but the Sami I worked with when she was twelve is a whole other person now and it’s been just incredibly gratifying and moving to help her get where she is.
John Boswell is simply as good as it gets. He’s supportive, a brilliant player, a brilliant and quick arranger, and he played the entire show off his iPad Pro. We had a fun bit about that in the show. I was very pleased with the patter, which I could tell in the first ten seconds was going to work with our most appreciative audience. One funny line had come to me on the stumble-through day and boy did it get a huge laugh. I talked about discovering the music of Arlen the way many people had, via The Wizard of Oz. Then I said that I’d first seen the movie during its first ever showing on television in 1956. I said as a young boy I was just entranced with the film, especially that magical moment when Dorothy opened the door of her cabin and went from black-and-white into glorious black-and-white. Because of course we didn’t have color TV in 1956. It was really fun. I was also very loose in this show, which is scary for me but keeps me on my toes. And the audience LOVED the Groucho story, where I went to his house and played the piano for him, and his repeated joke to his about to be neutered cat that “You’ll have no balls tomorrow” which he said to the cat every five minutes. It was hilarious then, and I kept repeating it after I told the story, and it worked like a dream.
We had a wonderful crowd, much more full than I thought it would be. Richard and Elizabeth Sherman were with us, and so was Grant and Lydia Geissman. Cousin Dee Dee was there and so were neighbors Tony Slide and Bob Gitt, as well as our very own Amy and Mark. Barry Pearl and his about-to-be wife, Cindy, were there, editor and pal Marshall Harvey, Disney’s Howard Green, and my old LACC pal, Linda Hart, who once upon a time was a Harlette for Bette Midler, and who starred in Hairspray on Broadway, creating the role of Velma von Tussle. She’s an amazing performer and I’m really hoping someday she’ll do one of our shows – she was actually one of the first people I went to when we began our shows back in 2010 but her schedule was too busy. We’re going to get together this week. After, just a couple of us went to Little Toni’s – I had some spaghetti with butter and one small piece of pizza. Here’s a photo of our wonderful group. Left to right, you have co-producer Doug Haverty, the great John Boswell, Kerry O’Malley, Robert Yacko, Chelsea Emma Franko, li’l ol’ me, Sami Staitman, Eric Petersen, Barbara Minkus, and Juliana Hansen.
And here’s me with Sami.
And here’s Sami, me, and the wonderful Linda Hart.
Prior to all that, I hadn’t quite gotten eight hours of sleep. I did some banking, I did a jog, our very own Nick Redman stopped by for a few minutes, the helper came by and I never quite got to relax. I picked up two copies of the hardcover of Patrick Bronstein Presents and I’m just not happy with it – the printing is too light and it’s not what I approved. I had a long talk with them and they’re telling me the galley’s black type is at 82% of black. That makes no sense to either Grant or me because he always does all black at 100% unless something happened when he made the PDF, which I find doubtful. More likely is that the galley made from our PDF had something go wrong with it, and of course I would never have noticed that on the computer screen. Anyway, today they’re going to output a new galley with 100% black, then reprint both softcover and hardcover and overnight them to me. As long as I order books by next Monday we’ll be fine. I’m not accepting this until it looks right and they know that. All that said, it really is a handsome book.
Then it was time to mosey on over to The Federal for sound check, I had my usual artichoke and then we did the show. Oh, and the Indiegogo campaign had some good action and we’re now at 92% of our goal, so only 8% to get there, and we really must. We need less than a thousand bucks now, so we have to do the big push in these last two days. We can’t fall short, because if we at least get to our goal, Indiegogo takes a much smaller percentage. And if we go beyond our goal, which is my hope, then we’ll cover whatever Indiegogo fees there are and that’s a good thing. For you dear lurkers, here, once again, is the link and any contribution is great and very much appreciated. Let’s take this sucker home.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/l-a-now-and-then-a-new-musical-revue/x/9165600#/
Today, I shall make sure we’re getting the book fixes done. Then I have to talk to Lanny about Richard Sherman’s song – that’s the only chart that my guy didn’t do, and it’s just so hard to understand, with endless repeats and coda signs and I really couldn’t make head nor tail of it and apparently Lanny couldn’t either because sections are missing. His orchestration sounds superb, though. So the guy who did that chart will redo it so it starts at bar 1 and goes straight through to the end with no repeats or codas or anything – just the layout from start to finish, which is the way theater music charts have to be – no musicians are going to sit there and try to figure out what coda goes where or what repeat goes where – there’s no time for that. Theater music charts go straight through, repeats or no repeats, and if that makes the song thirty-seven pages then that’s what it is. Other than that, I have to start planning and casting the April show – the good news is that I already have Jason Graae. Hopefully I’ll pick up packages, I’ll eat, I’ll jog, I’ll work on the LA show, and then relax.
Tomorrow through Sunday is more of all that.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, deal with book stuff, with LA show stuff, jog, eat, hopefully pick up packages and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that Kritzerland 65 was such a grand show.