Well, dear readers, continuing on my journey to the past, I listened to three more of the Terry Trotter CDs and here is my report. First up was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in Jazz. Of all the Sondheim shows we did, this one kind of has the most old-fashioned (for Sondheim) score, so naturally it lends itself more easily to the jazz idiom. I was quite surprised at how enjoyable it was and of the six Sondheim albums I’d put this one right in the middle in terms of its recording – it sounds very clean and clear the way I like. Then I moved on to The Fantasticks in Jazz. I remember thinking it was quite good when we did it, but I wasn’t as enamored of it these many years later. I certainly enjoyed it, and Terry’s arrangements are, as always, wonderful. But the sound isn’t as good as the other CDs – in fact, sound-wise it’s the least of them all. We were in a studio I didn’t care for, that was part of problem. It’s just not as clean and sparkling as the other Trotter CDs. I did like the hat trick of starting Soon it’s Gonna Rain with Harvey Schmidt and having it morph into Terry.
Then I moved on to one of the oddest albums we ever did – Star Wars in Jazz, whose title is actually Sketches on Star Wars, which I don’t like as much. I can’t remember who came up with the idea but by the time we did this CD everyone at Varese was flailing about being completely idiotic. It certainly wasn’t my idea to do Star Wars, but once I said yes I immediately went to Terry and we had a long chat about it and I said, “If they can do Lawrence of Arabia in Jazz we can do Star Wars.” And what ultimately informed our approach to it was that John Wiliams dabbled in jazz in the 1950s. First off, it sounds really good. And Terry actually almost manages to bring it off – it’s kind of an impossible project, but there are some very creative things and some of it plays beautifully. A few tracks aren’t successful, at least to me, but overall it’s kind of really an audacious album. More to come, of course.
Yesterday, I got up at eleven after only six-and-a-half hours of sleep. I must start going to bed earlier than three – it’s really getting tiresome. Once up, I did the usual morning things – answered e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, and was irked because AOL mail was completely down – not just here but worldwide. It came back after about an hour. But I quite buckled down, Winsocki and chose all but two of the songs. We’re still desperately trying to cast our final guy – it sickens me to my core how difficult this process is. But once he’s cast, I can choose the other two songs and be done with it. I’ve been trying to get stuff from Little Dancer and Rocky to no avail. So, that took quite a bit of time, and then I did a two-and-a-half mile jog. I did more work on the computer, and then got ready and did the long drive out to Thousand Oaks to see a talented young man who was playing Frankie in Parade.
The first part of the drive was the usual expected horror show – it cleared up once I got past the 405 interchange – then I fairly flew out there until two miles before the exit I needed – then it slowed to a crawl again. I was about four minutes late but there. Then the young man (fifteen), his mom, and I went to a place called Stacked for a meal. This is one of those build your own places that seem to be so popular with the populace. I find it incredibly annoying – if I’m paying to eat out I don’t want to work that hard. With this place, there’s a thing on the table and you enter your order on it – you can mix and match things the way you like them – it’s wacky. The food, however, was very good. The mom and I both had a salad with chicken, cranberries, candied walnuts, bacon, and avocado, in a very light kind of raspberry vinaigrette dressing. It was yummilicious. We also split a mac-and-cheese and that was kind of out of this world. I probably had a little less than half of that – but no bread, no butter, and I’d done the longer jog so I’m sure it was within my calorie range.
Then we moseyed on back to the theater. This was a community theater production of Parade, as much as I think they try to sell it as a more professional thing – but it’s community theater, it has to even say that in the program, which it does. Anyway, not much to say – I simply don’t like the show very much, never have, never will, and this is my fourth try. The young man did very well, and our costume designer from Welcome to My World was in it, and my friend Tessa Grady was in LA visiting and was there, so that was nice to see her. Then I drove home and there was no traffic whatsoever.
Today, I think Richard Sherman is stopping by with a script for me to read, but other than that I just have to cast the final guy, choose the final songs, then get the remaining music to those folks. Then I’ll eat, hopefully pick up packages, do a jog, watch a movie of some sort, and then I’m meeting Doug Haverty at eleven after his show to have a little meeting about a little project.
Tomorrow I must make a show order and begin writing the commentary, then I’m hoping there might be a nice dinner in the evening. Sunday I have a work session, then next week is crazy busy.
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 visit from Richard Sherman, watch something, and then have a late evening meeting. 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 final two Trotter CDs. Blu and Ray – something from the big stack on the couch. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had another little journey to the past.