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July 31, 2016:

CHAMPIONING GOWER

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I first saw Hello, Dolly! in 1965. The national tour actually was the first show to play at the newly opened Music Center in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I was new at LACC and they offered us the chance to usher and see the show, which I did. I absolutely fell in love with it. No, it wasn’t the greatest musical I’d seen even back then, but the score was so tuneful and it was really funny and best of all I thought the staging and choreography were incredible. I saw the show about six times during that run, first with Carol Channing, then Ginger Rogers, then Ginger Rogers’ understudy, who was really good. The next time I saw it was at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in the round starring Dorothy Lamour. I didn’t think it worked at all in the round and Miss Lamour wasn’t one of my favorite Dollys.

The next time was the night my new wife and I arrived in New York. We literally checked in our hotel and immediately walked the short block to Broadway. We tried for tickets to Promises, Promises but there were only crappy balcony seats. So, we walked over to the St. James and got great seats for Hello, Dolly literally ten minutes before curtain. David Merrick had the idea to do an all-black company of the show starring Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. Well, we loved it and I just sat and marveled at the sheer genius of Gower Champion. In his staging, there was not a wasted step, not a wasted moment, the pace was amazing, and that choreography was so inventive and brilliant.

The next time I saw it was months later at the St. James again, this time with Phyllis Diller as Dolly and Richard Deacon as Horace (and Georgia Engel as Minnie Fay). Phyllis Diller surprised the HELL out me – she was fantastic – hilariously funny, but also very touching and real. I saw the 1970s tour with Channing (I took my Darling Daughter, we sat in the first row at the Pantages, and during the curtain call when Miss Channing came out on the runway, she waved to my daughter, who loved that. And, of course, I not only saw but recorded the 1994 tour, and I received a Grammy nomination for the album. It wasn’t the most pleasant album I made, but even so seeing that staging again was thrilling, even though I think Gower would have whipped the choreography into better shape.

The next time I saw it was a couple of years ago at the Ford’s Theater in Washington – I hated that production with a passion – dull, lifeless, and without Gower’s genius. And then I saw it yesterday. I have friends in the show so I’m not going to dwell on it, but I will say our very own Robert Yacko did a great job with Horace and Valerie Perri as Dolly was fun.  So, all I’ll say is save me from directors who need to trumpet that they have a “vision.” I just need to stay far away from any classic musical directed by some guy with a “vision.” The problem with the “vision” was in evidence instantly: Instead of the curtain rising on Call on Dolly, with its flurry of exciting energy (well, there was no curtain – another thing I hate in today’s theater), what did we get? We got Dolly sitting at her mirror doing a speech that happens later, one of the Ephraim speeches. I couldn’t believe it, actually. Then instead of an energetic Call on Dolly we get a slow acapella version. I couldn’t wait to get past all that and right into I Put My Hand In, only we didn’t get to I Put My Hand In because they launched into the movie’s opening song, Just Leave Everything to Me, that despite the program telling us we were getting I Put My Hand In. That should tell you why this production was upsetting to me – it’s not that you can’t bring something fresh and fun to the table, but you know, really great people made this show – putting in Barbra’s bits and lines from the movie is not a good idea – whatever one thinks of the film, and I don’t think much of it, the film is the film and the show is the show. Adding some bits from The Matchmaker is also not a good idea. This is not your show to tinker with and I would be more than surprised if any of this was sanctioned by the company that licenses the show, although who knows, maybe they did. There is currently a production of Bye Bye Birdie at Goodspeed, directed by another director with a “vision” – she opens the show with The Telephone Hour, a really idiotic idea if you want my opinion, but they got permission to make the changes she made. Anyway, without going into any more details, let me close by saying this production received rave reviews, and Gower Champion was a genius and people should trust the material of the show they’re doing instead of trying to “fix” something that was never EVER broken.

After the last time I’d driven down to see a show in Fullerton I swore I would never do that drive again – that time it took almost two hours to get there, a drive that should take forty-six minutes. This time it only took seventy-five minutes (and an hour to get home). The 5 freeway, a major artery in LA is a sad joke. I wasn’t so happy anyway, as I’d only gotten a bit less than four hours of sleep and had no time to jog in the morning. I met the folks who’d invited me to the show at a nearby Eyetalian jernt. I knew I was either going to do my splurge day or be good and I opted for good. I ordered a submarine sandwich consisting of ham and salami. It was fair. It came with a little pasta salad that literally had no flavor, and a teeny-tiny side salad (about three bites’ worth) that was fine. I also had one small bit of a piece of pepperoni pizza – had it been good pizza I might have been tempted but it was, like the pasta salad, completely bland. Note to people who make pizza: It’s all in the tomato sauce, baby – if you don’t know that then stop making pizza. It’s why I love Dino’s Pizza – perfect tomato sauce. After the show I said hey to Robert and Valerie Perri, and Leslie Stevens, who choreographed. Then I went home.  This was actually the final show this company will do in Fullerton – they move to Cerritos and they still do Redondo Beach, a much easier drive.

I immediately did a two-and-a-half mile jog, then some friends came over and we watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Victor/Victoria, a Blake Edwards film starring Julie Andrews, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, James Garner, and Alex Karras. I was there opening night to see it at the Bruin in Westwood. I was really surprised by how great it was and more surprised at the incredible laughs and audience reaction – surprised because it was so old-fashioned in its construction, but it was a hit and it’s one of Blake’s best films. And it charmed all over again in this lovely new Blu-ray. Highly recommended by the likes of me.

Today I hope to sleep in, get up around eleven, do a jog, then prepare the new Kritzerland CD for the release announcement (some time this week), relax, and then around 2:30 I’ll mosey on over to The Federal to do the band and singer sound check, run the notes I gave, and maybe do just a bit more staging on two things, nothing major. Then I’ll sup (I’ll be with Doug Haverty and Sami – Sami’s mom is shooting a video of the show. I’m sure I’ll know many people in attendance. I will, of course, have a full report.

Tomorrow I have to do the pick-up that I didn’t get to last week. Then I’ll hurry back to the Valley, either eat and then jog or jog and then eat. I have to be through by three-thirty, when the Kritzerland rehearsal begins. I’m looking forward to it very much. The rest of the week is ALS stuff and the second Kritzerland rehearsal, the stumble-through, then sound check and show, and also finishing the casting for the Kritzerland anniversary show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, prepare our release announcement, have a band and singer sound check, and then sup and see the little show we’ve been working on. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had this tiny opportunity to be Championing Gower.

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