Well, dear readers, rather than talk about the new musical I saw last night, I think I’ll talk about the audience I saw it with. I have come to loathe going to the theater precisely because of this kind of audience. You know the kind – they scream, they whoop, they holler, they cheer – now, you might go with that if it happened ONCE, but when it happens on every single song, even the occasional quiet song, then something is very wrong. I understand that the majority of the folks there knew the authors, knew the actors, knew someone. I get it. Note to audience: You’re not doing anyone a favor reacting like that. In fact, it sends the wrong message to everyone. Want to know how your show is? Go play it in front of 100 strangers and get back to me. I mean, the reaction was so out of proportion most of the time it was actually humorous and not in a good way. When a person of color would hit a high note and maybe do a little riff, pandemonium ensued. Um, no. And no again. I have seen, in my life, many showstoppers that really did stop the show and deserved to. Hello, Dolly’s title song stops the show cold. There is always cheering and big applause. Back in the days when the show was on Broadway, there was no whooping and hollering like today. Yes, the title song got cheers – CHEERS, not woo-hooing – and non-stop, sustained applause. But whatever one thought of last night’s show, there was no Hello, Dolly number and yet every single song in the show got just that kind of reaction, except with the addition of the whooping and hollering.
I pride myself that at our Kritzerland shows we don’t get that. I’m sure they do at the shows that have ripped us off, but our audiences are old school – they’ll cheer when a performer or number is the kind that deserves that reaction. They’ll always give big and gracious applause but it’s earned. They’re not easy marks, our audiences, and even though I always know people, the audience isn’t made up of my friends or friends of the performers. In the LA show, I loved our audiences. We had nothing but full houses of appreciative people, but they were not my friends and mostly not friends of the cast. They were people who’d heard great word of mouth or sometimes folks who knew my work, and sometimes folks just interested in the LA aspect of the show. We NEVER, not in one single performance, had that outsized reaction I witnessed last night – and I am GLAD because folks, it just ain’t real. When our audiences at the LA show cheered after Sunset Strip 1965 (which they did every single night) or the cheered after one of the big dance numbers, it meant something because it was heartfelt and they weren’t being cheerleaders for their chums. They were giving an honest reaction. The proof of this, of course, is that they did NOT do that for the ballads or numbers that simply wouldn’t get that kind of reaction. Those numbers got exactly what they should have gotten – lovely, appreciative applause, not whooping and hollering.
We got several standing ovations. I know that every show, including high school and middle school gets a standing O these days. But we didn’t get ours arbitrarily, we got it because it was earned, not automatic, and we certainly did not get it after every performance, nor would I ever have expected it to. And here’s another thing – I was at every performance of the LA show – there was not a time or an instance where I tried to lead the laughter or applause, and yet I’ve seen directors and writers do that constantly and no I won’t name names. When we got our standing ovations I remained seated for most of it, arising only towards the end. I was never the first on my feet, nor were my friends, when I had the occasional friend at the show. They know I don’t need that crap, they know I’m secure enough to know I’ve done good work, and they know the cast isn’t expecting it.
But last night’s audience was as bad as I’ve seen. It basically ruined whatever chance the show had to engage me – that’s sad, but that’s the result and I wasn’t the only one in the party I was with who felt that. The show, like our LA show, was a musical revue, and all I’ll say is that despite their rave reviews I don’t think they’ve quite found the show yet. It didn’t help that the sound was pumped so loud they probably could have heard it in Santa Monica (the theater was in Hollywood). Being a Fringe show, there was no set, bad lighting, no real costumes – that’s the problem with Fringe and while everyone wants to be hip and do a Fringe show I cannot imagine a scenario where I would EVER do one. The composer is a friend of mine and we issued the cast album of this team’s last musical, Bukowsical, a show audiences screamed for and that courted a hipper than hipster crowd – these kinds of shows are simply not my cuppa for various reasons, but the writers are very talented. But again, the overly amped up sound (the head mics were literally in these people’s mouths – and fed back a lot of the time) is just too much and too relentless and I just don’t have the ability to enjoy myself when my ears are being assaulted like that. The original Joyce from The Brain from Planet X was in this and very good, and the rest of the cast all did well. But the audience gets a big, fat pan from the likes of me. End of rant.
The rest of yesterday was the rest of yesterday. I got seven hours of sleep, did work on the new, unexpected release, whose master went to the plant by the end of the day. I did all my work on the packaging and we should have the final component, the liner notes, in two hours, so I’ll have it when I wake up in the morning, which means the print can probably go in on Monday morning.
I then had lunch with Sami and her mom – she’s getting so adult and it’s fun to see, yet not fun to see, because I’ve been working with her since she was twelve and in the past year she’s just grown up. She’s just becoming such a genuinely sincere and sweet person – she also drove to the restaurant. We went to Casa Vega, where I had my usual beef taco (only they brought me a chicken taco – it was good so I just ate it) and two cheese enchiladas. We had a lot of fun and talked about a lot of stuff. Even though she’d decided to absolutely not do the summer musical at her school, she got bored so she’s doing it – Urinetown, a show I just don’t care for, and I’m never thrilled when she’s working with amateurs, but if she’s having a good time then it’s all good, as long as she never goes down to the level of the lesser lights in the cast, and there are always lesser lights in high school shows.
After that, I picked up the framed Collier’s cover, which looks great. I hung it, but I’m not sure I’m happy with the space I chose, but what I think needs to happen is I just have to lower it a little and it will look fine. Then I picked up no packages and came home. I relaxed until it was time to go to the theater.
Once there, I met Adryan Russ (who’d invited me), Shelly Markham, and the actor/writer Rick Podell, who I worked with in the CBS pilot I did with George Kennedy. We all chatted after the show, and then I stopped at Gelson’s and got some food. When I got home, I made a little hamburger on a bun for my evening snack and it was very, very good.
Today, other than making sure the liner notes are fine, we’ll get the packaging approved, I’ll probably make a couple of burgers for my meal o’ the day, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’ll try to just relax.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here after being gone for three weeks. At one, I’m speaking to a musical theatre group that meets once every month – I gather the guests usually just talk for two hours about everything and anything they like – I may start like that, but I always enjoy if they ask specific questions. Hopefully there will be a nice turnout. Sunday, I think I can relax, and then next week we will finish casting and assigning songs and get everyone on the road with their material, and we have a LOT of work to do on the ALS benefit.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, proof liner notes, get packaging approved, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, the next Kritzerland release, which I’m rather obsessed with. Blu-ray, the movie Inserts, and then I’ll dig into the Airport box set. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I hopefully will not be met with cheering, whooping and hollering, screaming, and relentless woo-hooing.