Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 67 is done and it’s on to 68, the show wherein the Kritzerland shows and my actual age convene. Pretty amazing. Last night’s show was very good indeed – not my favorite of our shows, mostly for reasons that are my fault and just not having enough hours to be as hands on as I normally am. We cast this one so late (just two weeks ago), that I had to let the singers do some stuff they already knew – and therefore some of the song choices were simply not Kritzerland material. The performers all did well and there were certainly many, many highlights during the evening. The opening number of the LA show went over like gangbusters – we had the entire company with us doing it and it was great. I had written a What If, but never had time to teach it or have anyone learn it, so I did it as a throwaway in my opening patter, and it went over really well – if we ever do the What If show again I would definitely put it in. It was: What if Sherman Edwards, instead of writing his one and only smash hit Broadway show 1776, had written – Les Miz. And it went something like this:
Sit down, Jean
Sit down, Jean
For God’s sake, Jean, sit down
Someone ought to tell him to stop running
Have mercy Jean please
You’re killing my knees
So, for God’s sake, Jean, sit down
(music changes to He Plays the Violin)
He stole a loaf of bread
He ran and now they want his head
So he runs, yes he runs
See him run, never done
And so it’s run, run, run where fresh air is
And just don’t go where Javert is
His deeds are undone
Run, run, run, Jean Valjean, run till you’ve won.
For me the other highlights were Brittney Bertier doing A Happy Working Song, Sami’s Pulled from The Addams Family, Sami’s Once Upon a Time (from the LA show – during which she inverted a lyric and came out smelling like a rose, with nary a person knowing she’d done anything wrong – just a total pro about it), Kerry O’Malley taking it home with Home Sweet Heaven, Damon Kirsche’s funny and fun The Lusty Month of May and June is Bustin’ Out All Over, and the wonderfully entertaining Dueling Elizas medley from My Fair Lady. Everything else was well performed, too, but those were the really outstanding things from where I sat. Lots of nice comments after. We had a lot of our LA show contributors there: Doug Haverty, Adryan Russ, Shelly Markham, and Grant Geissman. All in all, a fun evening, not quite up to the best of our shows.
Prior to the show, I’d gotten about nine hours of sleep, did a jog, and then just relaxed until it was time to leave for the sound check and the show.
After the show, a bunch of us went to Little Toni’s. I’ve learned my lesson there and just had a little salami submarine sandwich, which was very good, and a little dinner salad.
Today, we’ll be shipping Jane Eyre, and then I’ll eat something, then we begin rehearsal at three o’clock and do a non-stop run-through of the show. Robert Yacko has to leave at five-thirty, so from that point on we’ll just drill stuff and run problem sketches.
Tomorrow we do a run-through at three, then the band comes at six and I’ll be with them for that rehearsal, while the final hour for the cast will be running stuff with the stage manager or, better yet, the choreographer, who’ll be there. Wednesday we do a run at three, and then at six we do our sitzprobe. I know that will be an ear-opener for the company and I think they’ll absolutely love that rehearsal. Thursday is another run-through start to finish and then working problem areas. On Friday we do a cue-to-cue tech, Saturday will be running the show a couple of times and getting the lighting and projections all up to snuff. We’re off Sunday, then we have our dress rehearsals, preview and opening.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the Pony, because today is the birthday of our very own dear reader FJL. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader FJL. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER FJL!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, ship CDs, eat, have a run-through and drill problem areas. Today’s topic of discussion: What are the funniest and worst theater mishaps you’ve either been a part of or seen happen? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have Kritzerland 67 behind us.