Well, dear readers, the 10-year anniversary staged concert of The Brain from Planet X is done and I must say I thought it was a rather splendidly splendid evening all around. Yes, there were a handful of flubs but nothing terrible, and the cast was so great and they got huge laughs throughout. Some laughs went on so long I thought how will we ever continue. Perhaps the biggest laugh in act one came in the first scene with General Mills, when the two benches with the cardboard cut-outs of his staff came in, followed by John Massey as the General. Just as he was about to speak his first line one of the cut-outs upper torso came unstuck and folded over and John timed the most perfect take to it, while the Private Partz then went over and righted it – that laugh was so loud and so long and my absolute favorite kind of laugh, and John just kept it going. In act two, David Wechter at my request revised one joke – the original line was, “Next you’ll be telling me that women and negroes will run for President.” David adjusted it to: “Next you’ll be telling me a woman can be President” and that brought the house down with cheers. Robert Yacko waited a very long time before delivering the comeback, “Well, you trumped me” and that doubled the laugh. It was so much fun. Barry Pearl hit his stride in his second scene and got tons of great laughs. Lauren Rubin, our original Joyce, was great, just as she was ten years ago. Marc Ginsburg was absolute perfection as Fred and the best we’ve ever had – he just understood the tone of it right from the start. Cason Murphy was back recreating his original role of Zubrick and the audience ate him up. Robert Yacko was fun as the Narrator/Professor Leder. Sami Staitman did really well as Donna – lots of sparkle and great energy. Kole Martin, the one and only current student was a great Rod. And last but not least, Alet Taylor recreating her role as Yoni owned the role just as she has since the day we began rehearsals ten years ago. Her laughs were huge and I Need an Earthman stopped the show cold.
We had our very own Mark as our Brain Tap victim – he was just what we always hope for and that whole section of the show, which is unpredictable, was a four-star laugh riot from start to finish. Our terrific ensemble of Jackson Hinden, Janelle Lillian, Drew Mizell, Nich O’Neil, Samantha Rosenberg, and Kendyl Yokoyama were all great in their various roles, and they tapped the HELL out of The Brain Tap. The worst of the fumfers happened right out of the gate and had happened at the dress rehearsal – I told my stage manager and the spot operator they could not blow the first laugh in the show, but alas, the error was repeated at the performance – not lighting the first Feel-O-Rama audience gag – you could kind of see it and it did get a laugh, and I’m told the stage manager called it correctly but the spot operator was listening to the lighting guy who thought it happened later than it did. The light finally got to the bit but not really until after it was over. But we put this thing up in less than fifteen hours and everyone in attendance was amazed by how smooth it all went. Richard Allen, our MD, and our kick-ass band sounded great and I have to give the two sound guys major props – they were so on top of everything it was frightening. They didn’t miss a beat the entire show.
While one wishes that more people had supported this, so that the department could have made more money, alas they did not. But we had quite a nice-sized audience (with some no-shows – what else is new), but a few people who just showed up at the box-office, so it evened itself out. The middle section was pretty full and we had some people on the sides, too. I’d forgotten just how much fun The Brain is and how big the laughs are. David Wechter was there and was thrilled, and Richard and Elizabeth Sherman were there and loved every second of it.
Prior to the performance, I’d gotten up after about six hours of sleep, got ready, and then headed over to LACC for the sound load in and our band rehearsal. The latter went very well, and sound took a little longer than planned to get up and running but once they were we were able to do a complete dress rehearsal from start to finish. It went well and as soon as we finished I quickly blocked the curtain call. Then we brought in a bunch of pizzas for the cast and they got almost ninety minutes before they were back for their call.
After the show, a few of us went to the House of Pies, where I must say I absolutely had a huge splurge meal – two broasted chicken breasts, cole slaw, a dinner salad with ranch, corn bread, and boy was it spectacularly good.
Today, I will be watching Tom Sawyer and making lots of notes for the audio commentary that Richard Sherman and I are doing on Thursday. I’ll also eat, jog, hopefully pick up some packages, but most importantly, relax. I’m sure I’ll check out how the election is going, too, but not much because I simply loathe and hate the media with every fiber of my being.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, choosing songs for the December Kritzerland, and just catching up on tons of stuff that’s been piling up.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, watch a movie and make notes, eat, jog, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Too tired for a topic, so you choose one and let’s all post about it. Go. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the Brain concert was a rousing success.