Well, dear readers, it was one of THOSE days. You can’t really predict when they’ll occur, they just do. It was just one of those days when everything clicks and goes as it should, when all is in alignment and you just sit back and enjoy it. I love when it’s one of THOSE days, don’t you?
First of all, I got eight hours of sleep, which is always nice. Once up, I answered e-mails, one of which was a confirmation that we finally found our guest star for the August Kritzerland show – the wonderful Bill Hayes. We’ve had him as a guest once before and I just love his energy and verve. He called and we had a nice chat and talked about what song he might sing. He said he’d take a day or two and think about it, which I said was fine. Ten minutes later he called back with his choice, which he played me over the phone, a not very well known song from a 1928 Rodgers and Hart flop, which is, of course, perfect fodder for a Kritzerland show. Here’s a photo of Bill.
I also was happy to hear from another performer we’ve been after for six years to do one of our shows, and happily she’ll be with us for the big anniversary show in September – Ilene Graff. So, those two things were really nice.
Then I did a two-and-a-half mile jog, then saw that a podcast will be airing starting tomorrow all about The First Nudie Musical. I have a memory of doing it, but that’s about it, so I’m looking forward to hearing it and I’ll post the link as soon as I have it. Then I had a telephonic conversation with the head of the theatre academy at LACC and the date for the ten-year anniversary staged concert of The Brain from Planet X is now confirmed for October 24. I am now seriously beginning to cast it. All I know at the moment is that Lauren Ruben will reprise the role she created, Joyce. And Sami will be playing her daughter Donna. I’ve spoken to Cason Murphy about coming in to do it, but I don’t think that’s going to work out. So, I have an idea and we’ll see if it’s a possibility. I have an idea for General Mills, too. Joyce’s husband Fred I’m going to try and get someone known for that, and for The Brain. We’re trying to get Alet to come in and recreate her performance as Yoni. I’ll use some students, too, but we’ll have some really good tappers and I’m hoping Cheryl Baxter, who did the LA show, will choreograph the big Brain Tap number. I’m looking forward to it. After I directed my third production, the one at the Chance Theater, I was pretty much done with the show, but as a staged concert thing it will be fun to revisit. I’ll let you all know the particulars when they’re available.
Then Kerry O’Malley came over and we had our first rehearsal for the Michael Sterling anniversary show at The Federal – it’s his tribute to Rosemary Clooney, someone he worked with for many years. We sang through her set (she opens the show, then her fellow cast mate, Mary Callanan, does a set – they also have three duets together. It’s going to be a fun show. I made a couple of musical adjustments, and Kerry and I will work closely together to make sure each song is different from the others. We worked for about two hours, then Hilda Kane came by – she’s my lighting designer for the ALS show. We figured out what the band layout will be – I’ve wanted two aisles to break up the band sections last year and the year before, but because we allowed the musical director to tell us how it had to be set up, I never got my aisles. This year we took him out of that equation and after four minutes of planning I had my two aisles and it will look really good. We’re going to give the show a slightly different look this year in terms of lighting and the soft goods. Unfortunately, she’s not going to be with me on the day of the show – she has a grave unveiling in Florida that she has to attend, but she assures me I’ll be in good hands and I’ll meet the fellow who’ll be with me that day in advance.
After that, I made the rest of the hamburger meat I had left over and made two tacos, and put the leftover meat in a little bowl with some low-cal cheese on it and ate all those items – total calorie count for all that was only 620 calories. I finessed the liner notes I wrote the day before and got them to the designer, had some telephonic calls, all nice, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two motion pictures on Blu and Ray. The first I’d begun the day before – The Black Stallion Returns. As most of you know, I really like the first film – in fact, I like it more now than I did when it came out. It’s mythic and magical and just kind of perfect. I’d never had any interest in seeing the sequel and I have to say, despite some okay sequences, I didn’t really care for it all that much. The fellow who edited the first movie was the director here – and he’s a much better editor than director. Different writers, too. It meanders too much, and the film suffers from some really bad casting mistakes, the most egregious of which is Allan Garfield (here billed Goorwitz) who is beyond bad, and really kind of embarrassing. The other weird performance is Jodi Thelan. The film looks handsome, and it has a nice score by Georges Delerue and the transfer is very nice.
Then I watched the second motion picture, which was entitled Movie, Movie, a film of Stanley Donen, written by Larry Gelbart and Sheldon Keller. I saw it when it came out and hated it – I found it completely unfunny and found the conceit precious and the writing just rancid, surprising given the writer’s pedigrees. I found Mr. Donen’s direction leaden and the whole thing just kind of lays there, especially the first half. They knew they were in trouble with this back then and shot a really awful little opening in which George Burns explained the conceit. The film was a huge box-office disaster. Of course, the filmmakers blamed the distribution, but you know what – no one wanted to see it, and those who did most certainly did not give it good word of mouth. Vincent Canby of the New York Times liked it (but for my money he is one of the all-time worst movie critics) and Variety hated it. Mr. Donen’s auteurist critics praised it. I haven’t seen it since – until last night. And it’s every bit as bad as I remember it. The dialogue is terrible, the jokes are terrible, the actors are mostly fine with one horrible casting mistake that basically kills whatever chance the film may have had for me. The second half, the musical, is also forced and leaden, and Michael Kidd’s choreography is terrible – what happened to the guy who did Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? The big casting error – Trish Van Devere, an actress whose appeal I have never understood. I found her absolutely dreadful and more importantly absolutely wrong for both “movies.” I did like Harry Hamlin and of course I always enjoy the great George C. Scott. The transfer is off an internegative and looks like it – in fact, while they removed all the cue marks, they forgot the final one at the end. There are a lot of opticals in the movie. Anyway, not one I’d recommend unless you happen to like this sort of pastiche.
After that, I made two soft tortillas with some low-fat cheese inside, total calories about 400, if that. So, total calorie intake for the day was a bit over a thousand. Then I decided to do a second jog, this one a mile-and-a-half, so a total of four miles for the day, so I jogged off at least three hundred of the 1000 calories. All in all, it was one of THOSE days, and I enjoyed it all.
Today, I’ll be up by ten, I’ll do a two-and-a-half mile jog, then I’ll eat a salad and then hopefully pick up some packages. Then we have a rehearsal with Mary Callanan for two hours starting at two, after which Kerry joins us and we’ll start at the top and run down the entire show. We’ll finish by seven, although it looks like I have a short rehearsal after that, probably for the ALS show. I’ll probably go out and eat something light after that to get my calorie intake up to 1000.
Tomorrow is a morning rehearsal until one, then I think I’m lunching with our very own Robert Yacko. Thursday I have a work session for the Kritzerland show at noon. Then at four we have a run-through of the Sterling show with the band at a rehearsal studio, so that will be fun and give me a chance to see everything on its feet, as we’re then not together until show day. Friday, I have to go over the hill to pick some stuff up, but otherwise I should be able to relax a bit, and the same with Saturday. Then we have sound check and show on Sunday, and on Monday we start the Kritzerland rehearsals.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, hopefully pick up packages, have a long five-hour rehearsal followed by a short rehearsal afterward, eat again, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of George C. Scott? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had one of THOSE days.