Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 72 is done and it was a pretty great show. It took a little getting used to the audience for me, but I figured them out at some point and it was fine. There were lots of patter laughs, but I find I write patter that’s particularly suited to people who really know their musical theater, especially in terms of the funny stuff. There were a lot of family members there and we’ve had that before – they don’t necessarily understand the weird humor stuff right away, so you’ve got to make them “get” it – it did happen about three songs in, and I actually went off the script several times.
I don’t know at which point it filled up but it was really full. Everything went really well. Carly Bracco who’d been fighting something, came through with bright, flying colors, doing a great duet with Marc Ginsburg, and then soloing on the classic Another Hundred People and a rare Sondheim song that I introduced to the world, Dawn. Amy Gillette had a rather perfect night – great on Everybody Says Don’t and Take Me to the World. Marc Ginsburg was simply great in his three solos, but especially poignant on Anyone Can Whistle. Maegan McConnell, whose first show this was, did a great job and probably got the evening’s biggest within a song laugh on Truly Content – I wrote her something to say in the instrumental break and boy did it work. She also did a fierce Green Finch and Linnet Bird, then was very moving on her duet with Amy doing Every Day a Little Death, my personal favorite Sondheim song. Jenna Lea Rosen only had one song in the show and it was not an easy one – a put-together of You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow and Not a Day Goes By, an arrangement I did for The Stephen Sondheim Album. We worked on it a bit, and I must say she got every ounce of emotion out of it, every nuance, and I was so proud of her – a real step forward for her, I think. She’s always been wildly talented but tonight she went into a whole other place. Sami Staitman closed the show with her solo from Dick Tracy – More. It’s a tongue twister and an incredibly hard song to both sing and sustain and she hit it right out of two ballparks. For me, watching these kids grow up (and in the case of Jenna and Sami I’ve been working with them since they were twelve) and watching the growth makes me a proud papa). Robert Yacko was his usual great self – I use him over and over again because I can always count on him to be stellar, kind of a no-brainer for me. He had three not so easy songs and just did a great job on all three. And Sami, Samantha Rosenberg, and young Carly Shukiar got the evening’s biggest ovation for their rendition of Getting Married Today – it’s like no version you’ve ever heard – I had it created as a hidden track on The Stephen Sondheim Album – a nightmare version of the song as covered by a Maguire Sisters-like trio. Brad Ellis did the actual arrangement and these gals learned the incredibly hard harmony, learned staging, and brought the house down. Finally, John Boswell is like no other – he is so sensitive and the most supportive accompanist, which is why everyone wants to work with him. For me, he’s so easy – one can throw anything at him and he makes magic out of it. And his surreal version of Send in the Clowns was hilarious and a highlight.
Afterwards, a few of us went out and got some food at Little Toni’s. I had a little Caesar salad, which was so-so, and a very good Eyetalian cold cuts sandwich. Prior to that I’d gotten nine hours of sleep, which was great. I listened to music and relaxed. I’ve been discovering some really wonderful twentieth century women classical composers, mostly Brits. Ruth Gipps is fantastic – I’m now a huge fan, especially of her symphonies, and her great horn concerto. I found three of her symphonies on You Tube from radio broadcasts (only one of her symphonies has been recorded) and I now have a way to save You Tube stuff as mp3s, so I have those in iTunes now. The other really good woman composer I’ve found is Phyllis Tate. Not very much recorded, but I did get a copy of her opera, The Lodger, based on the same book that served as the source material for the Hitchcock silent film and the John Brahm film with Laird Cregar. I was quite taken with this opera, I must say. I’ve heard only one other piece by her, some light music that is quite tuneful and lovely. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for these women, trying to create art in a world that was 99% male. I did a two-and-a-half mile jog, then got ready and moseyed on over to The Federal for sound check and then, of course, we did our show.
Today is going to be very nutty. I have to be at LACC by ten or so, to get the band set up the way I want them, then sound loads in, then we do a band rehearsal. But I also have to figure out the whole Brown Paper Tickets thing, since the box-office person from LACC isn’t there for our show. In fact, I’m calling them as soon as I get these here notes posted, so I can figure all this out before I leave in the morning. I have to put in all the comps to get those seats assigned. I probably won’t get to bed before one, but I have to figure all of that stuff out. Then our cast arrives at one-thirty and they’ll get miked and in costume, and then we’ll start our run-through as close to two-thirty as possible. I’m hoping I have fifteen minutes to work on the Feel-O-Rama bits and the scene change stuff. And I’m hoping after the run-through we at least have a few minutes to fix any rough spots. We’ll bring in pizza for the cast to nosh on, and their call is six-thirty for a seven-thirty start. I do think we’ll have over 100 people, maybe closer to 130 if all the students show up, but I’m still hoping for more than that because this cast deserves a big and nice audience. It’s pretty clear we’re not going to raise much money for the department, and that’s a real shame and I’m real annoyed at people who aren’t busy but who can’t be bothered to come support this. And I’ve now put publicly that if they don’t come they should not even think about asking me to be supportive of anything they do. I wanted to go to that land days ago, but bit my tongue – but now there’s no reason NOT to go to that land.
I’m sure after the show, some of us will go grab a bite somewhere, maybe even Genghis Cohen if we start on time and the show runs the two hours it should.
Tomorrow I’m sure we’ll all be inundated with the election, but I have to watch a motion picture and prepare for the audio commentary on Tom Sawyer with Richard Sherman, which we record on Thursday. Happily, the Kritzerland holiday show is just one person shy of being completely cast, so I’ll choose the songs this week, too. Otherwise, it’s the usual meetings and meals and stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, figure out the whole tickets thing (right now), I must have a band rehearsal, then our final run-through, then our show. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite holiday songs, and especially the obscure ones? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a wonderful Kritzerland at Sterling’s 72.