Well, dear readers, we had us a pretty fun stumble-through of our April Kritzerland show yesterday and, for me, it’s truly living up to its moniker of The April Fools. I love this cast and they all deliver the goods and then some. I won’t dwell on stuff other than to say Robert Yacko’s What If opening was non-stop laughs, so I’m pretty proud of that one. Hayley Shukiar, the little eleven-year-old bundle of dynamite has a recurring bit that had people in stitches. Kerry O’Malley actually did the mean feat of actually stopping the show at a stumble-through, with a huge cheer after her final number. And Bruce Vilanch is simply priceless. The show structure and order worked like a dream and so now it’s on with the show. I will also say that as I type these here notes I’m listening to music on my new speakers – and the music issuing forth is, for me, one of the greatest pieces of Broadway composing in the history of musicals – The Carousel Waltz – utterly and absolutely brilliant and sheer composing genius from Richard Rodgers.
Prior to the stumble-through I’d gotten almost eight hours of sleep. Once up, I answered a few e-mails, then did some banking and came right back home. I got the room set up for the stumble-through and then everyone arrived. After we finished, I gave just a handful of notes and we ran a couple of things – there were only a couple of minor lyric flubs, too, so that was good. After, Doug Haverty and I went to Jerry’s Deli, where I was a good boy and had only a cup of chicken soup and a bagel, my first food of the day.
After that, I went and picked up no packages and a few bits of mail, which did not include the pension check, which is annoying – hopefully it will be here on Monday. I stopped at Thrifty – of course they didn’t have any cherry chocolate chip ice cream, so instead I got a flavor I’ve been wanting to try – chocolate peanut butter, still low in calories and fat. I came home and tried some and it was actually quite tasty. Then I did some work on the computer, printed out the new version of the script for the musical I’m directing, which I’ll read on Monday. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on the Flix of Net – they call it a Netflix Original, but since Netflix had nothing to do with it, I find that a little silly. It’s a new film from this year called The Discovery, a weird low-budget sci-fi thing about the afterlife. It’s very slow paced, which is fine by me, and certainly I find the subject matter interesting, and I enjoyed the cast – Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, but more importantly, Robert Redford. Mr. Segel and Ms. Mara do their share of actor mumbling, so much so that I had no idea what they were saying in an important scene near the end – oh, well. They could take a lesson from a solid pro like Mr. Redford – you certainly can hear every word of every line because – wait for it – he talks like a human being. It’s certainly not a great movie, and it certainly would be better if a bit shorter, but it was interesting enough to stick with it until the end. I also watched the first twenty minutes of a German film called The People vs. Fritz Bauer, which I’m quite liking. I’ll finish that one up tomorrow.
After all that, I began listening to music and just relaxed and got everything ready for the show – printed out my commentary after making a few adjustments to it and put that in the car so I don’t have to worry about it.
Today, I’ll just relax until it’s time for sound check and then show. I may try to jog, even a short one – it’s been way too long. I will, of course, have my artichoke before the show, and then we’ll go to our usual hangout after. We’re not sold out or anything but it’s a nice sized crowd and I’m sure we’ll pick up some last minute folks this morning. I will, of course, have a full report for you.
This week is very busy with all manner of meetings and meals, casting and choosing songs for the May Kritzerland show, and getting ready to cast the new musical, as well as hold auditions at LACC for the Sherman Brothers musical we’re doing in November – they want me to lock up all the cast members I absolutely must have, so they can’t be used in the show prior to ours, as I’ve told them I will absolutely not share any actors this time – it was too difficult with the L.A. Now and Then show. And right after that, I cast Dial ‘M’ for Murder.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, relax, maybe try a short jog, and then mosey on over to The Federal for sound check and then show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we had a splendid stumble-through of our April Foolish show.