Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 66 was a boatload of fun and from what I heard from various and sundried audience members, one of our all-time best. Of course it didn’t hurt that we had an incredible cast, all at their peak. It also didn’t hurt that we had an amazing full house and just a great audience. As I’ve said many times, I can always tell how it’s going to go in the first thirty seconds of the opening patter and I knew this audience was with the show from moment one and the first laugh of the evening, when I said, 66 shows, we’re like the AARP of cabaret. Shannon Warne opened and closed the show – opening with a new What If – what if Kander and Ebb, instead of writing Cabaret had written – Gypsy. I did new lyrics for Don’t Tell Mama and she got every single laugh there was to get. Here’s a little of it:
Mama, really thinks I have no talent
And because I have no talent
I’m the back end of a cow
M-m-m-mama, doesn’t even have an inkling
That I have the kind of talent
That she never would allow
So, please sir, if you run into my mama
Don’t reveal my indiscretion
Let me entertain you now
Hush up, don’t tell mama
Shush up, don’t tell mama
Don’t tell mama, whatever you do
If she sees this Gypsy
Do her little strip, see
She’ll sing Rose’s Turn, it’s true
But here’s the one thing that we can determine
If she finds out she’ll start to sing like Ethel Merman
So let’s not have that drama
Keep this from my mama
Though my strip is not against the law
You can go tell Yonkers, that’s all right
‘Cause he comes in here every night
But don’t tell mama what you saw
She just did it great. Her rendition of Both Sides Now was very different, very personal, and a real highlight, and she did me proud debuting my song from the LA show, Sunset Strip 1965, a seven-minute number about the Strip circa 1965 to 1968 – not an easy number to sing, it goes to many different places in the story it tells, but Richard Sherman, by the end of it, was in tears. Robert Yacko did the second number – when I told him the idea of it, I think he thought it could be funny or it could die – I knew it was funny, I could “hear” the laughs as I was writing it, and when that happens I’m usually right. It took a while to get it right in rehearsal – I was strong that it had to be done exactly as written (in the spoken sections) and that any fat would dissipate the reality and the humor. Well, Robert, I think, was shocked at the first laugh in the number, which was not only huge, but went on and on and on. He began with Maria from West Side Story. When he got to “say it soft and it’s almost like praying” the music changes and he begins They Call the Wind Maria, which he pronounces Maria as in the West Side Story song. John Boswell, our pianist, corrects him and they have some funny banter, all of which got laughs, then he does another verse of the song pronouncing Maria correctly as Mariah. Then the music changes again and he sings “How do you solve a problem like Maria” which he pronounces like Mariah. John stops again and corrects him and their timing could not have been more perfect. Happily, I will have the video of this up in the next couple of days. His other two songs were superb – Race You to the Top of the Morning from The Secret Garden, and You Must Believe in Spring.
Jason Graae had everyone in the palm of his hand for all three of his numbers. First, The Slasher Song, which he stopped the show with, the his duet with Sharon McNight, I’ll Never Be Jealous Again, which was truly laugh out loud funny, and which ended with a duet between him on oboe and Sharon on flute. Priceless. And then his All for the Best duet with John Boswell. Sharon’s two solos were great – a funny song called Another Woman’s Story, and then her Mae Westian take on Everybody’s Girl from Steel Pier.
And then there was our newcomer, Keri Safran. She’s really terrific, but she had a difficult track in the show – first The April Fools and then I Never Know When from Goldilocks, both ballads in the midst of all the fun stuff. But it was the best track because then she did her final number, which was the penultimate number in the show. Almost six minutes long, it’s a medley from The Sound of Music, which I set up thusly – “It was really hard to keep this a secret and people are going to be pissed that they didn’t come to the show tonight – but we’ve got some very special guest stars to do this medley – so, please welcome Kristen Chenoweth.” At that point, Keri comes out, doing a perfect Chenoweth impression, and then John calls out a ton of names at her and at the drop of a hat she becomes Cher, Dolly Parton, Brittney Spears, Melanie Griffith, Liza Minnelli, Billie Holliday, Judy Garland, Kermit the Frog and more – she was absolutely brilliant and the audience was gobsmacked and she got a huge ovation.
Eleven-year-old Hadley Belle Miller was the best she’s ever been – she did Fortuosity, which Richard Sherman didn’t know we were going to do. I rewrote the lyric to the verse, making it about NoHo and The Federal and she got really nice laughs doing it. She did a great job on the song.
Guy Haines was a no-show so I had to do Richard Sherman’s new song, The Whimsey Works, about being at Disney circa 1965. It’s a very moving song. I had the first two verses down cold, and yet there was some talking in the audience and it just caused me to wonder what that was about rather than thinking, so I screwed up a lyric, but then did it correctly, and everything else in the song went really well – several people told me the song moved them to tears. John Boswell was amazing, as always. Here’s a photo of our merry troupe.
Left to right: Doug Haverty, Shannon Warne, Robert Yacko, John Boswell, Sharon McNight, Jason Graae, li’l ol’ me, Hadley Belle Miller, Richard Sherman, and Keri Saffran.
Prior to the show, I’d gotten a wonderful eleven hours of sleep, and boy did I need it. I did do a little jog, then relaxed until it was time to go to sound check. After the show, several of us went to Little Toni’s. Oh, and we had some fun people in the audience, including a whole slew of Disney people – one of whom directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules.
Today, I shall just relax, cast the next Kritzerland and assign the songs, and work on the LA show.
The rest of the week is all working on Kritzerland and the LA show, meetings and meals, and the book signing on Saturday, presuming the damn books actually get here, which they’d better.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work on the Kritzerland and LA show, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite shows about doctors, hospitals, and medicine? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that Kritzerland at Sterling’s 66 went so well.