Well, dear readers Kritzerland at Sterling’s 69 was a pretty great show any way you look at it. Everything about it worked really well. I knew right off the bat just how great the audience would be because everything in the opening patter landed beautifully. But how can you fail with amazing Rodgers and Hart songs, and a great cast and wonderful musical director? Everyone did beautifully – there was exactly one teeny-tiny lyric flub and the performer handled it with aplomb. Each cast member shone brightly – from Roger Befeler and Will Collyer (they ended up being so perfect for this show and their Dear Old Syracuse, which opened the show, was really great) and their solos were also great. Jenna Lea Rosen did her two songs wonderfully and the audience loved her – you would never have known that four days ago she didn’t even know these songs. Christina Saffran was new to us, but she can come back any old time – beautiful voice, beautiful actor, and even though she had a stomach bug you would never have known it – poised and lovely. This was the first show where Sami was part of the five regular cast members and she was just great – from the Sing for Your Supper trio with her friends Sierra Morgan and Samantha Rosenberg (stopped the show – and they did the staging perfectly), to her solos, My Funny Valentine (interesting hearing a teen do it – one person told me they thought she was too “young” for the song, but I disagree and the fact that no one remembers is that it was sung in Babes in Arms by a seventeen-year-old) – I thought she did it beautifully and she rocked the house with Johnny One-Note. And then there was that force of nature, ninety-one year-old Bill Hayes – the audience could not have loved his two numbers more. He was just amazing. Alby Potts played beautifully and co-producer Doug Haverty and I were pleased as we could be.
Many fun folks in attendance – of course, the Shermans were there, Grant Geissman, his ever-lovin’ Lydia, and his mom were nearby, neighbors Tony Slide and Bob Gitt, dear readers Amy and Mark, Barry Pearl and his ever-lovin’ Cindy, a whole slew of Disney folks, including the director of The Little Mermaid (the movie), Susan Watson, several proud parents, and lots o’ others. Here are the obligatory photographs. First up, our wonderful troupe; Left to right: Will Collyer, Doug Haverty, Alby Potts, Roger Befeler, Jenna Lea Rosen Christina Saffran, Sierra Morgan, Samantha Rosenberg, li’l ol’ me (with a fifteen-pound thinner face), Sami, and Bill Hayes.
Here is the obligatory Sami and me photo.
Here is the obligatory Sami, Richard Sherman, me, trio girls Sierra and Samantha, and two of Sami’s drama classmates whose names I don’t remember, although maybe they were Auggie and Bob?
And finally the obligatory Sing for Your Supper trio photograph with Samantha, Sami, and Sierra (or the three S’s as I dubbed them).
We’ll have a few obligatory videos soon, too.
After the show, a whole slew of us went to Little Toni’s. I had a bit of salad and a salami sub – very good and probably 1000 calories all in, which is fine. Then I came home to find that we’d had a power outage – I don’t think it lasted all that long, but it did last long enough to shut down the computer, the router, and the mini cell tower, which it not only shut down but completely fried, so that’s not happening anymore. I had to reset the two kitchen clocks, restart the computer, and call the alarm company to make sure all was well since I was getting an error reading because the phones went down, too. Thank you DWP – your ineptitude never ceases to amaze me.
Prior to all that, I slept ten hours, got up, got a merged script that has the ALS stuff in it, so I’m going over that carefully, did a two-and-a-half mile jog, and then it was time to get ready and mosey on over to The Federal for our sound check and show. The rest you know.
Today, I have a lunch meeting at eleven-thirty, and then I’ll hopefully pick up packages, and then the rest of the day I have to finish casting the next Kritzerland show (although much of it is cast already), assign songs, and then I’ll start to do my entrances and exits plot for the ALS show. I have to do over twenty of those, so it takes a bit of time.
Tomorrow, I have a tech meeting with my lighting designer and her operator who’ll be there day of show. The rest of the week is ALS rehearsals, meetings, locking down and finalizing the script, and other stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a lunch meeting, hopefully pick up packages, do a jog, finish casting and choose songs, and begin the entrances and exits diagrams for the ALS benefit. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite wacky show tunes – weird and outré is what I’m looking for. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that Kritzerland at Sterling’s 69 went so well.