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July 30, 2017:

DIAL ‘L’ FOR LAUGHS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I have just returned from last night’s performance of Dial ‘M’ for Murder. I saw it once last week at the matinee, but tonight’s performance was simply terrific, everyone on their A game and a wonderful audience who actually knew where the funny bits were and laughed loudly. Most of our audiences get so caught up in the mechanics of the play that they’re listening so intently (I have yet to hear anyone shuffling in their seat and thus far I have heard not one single cough during any performance I’ve attended) that the humor, and there is some, gets by them. But last night, all the laughs were there, and from what I understand they were there on Friday night as well. I sat with Kay Cole and her ever-lovin’ Michael Lamont – she told me she loved the production and believe me if she hadn’t she would have told me that without any compunction whatsoever. It was a pleasure to see it last night and when I got home I e-mailed the cast and told them so.

Prior to that, Kay, Michael, and I had supped at the Eclectic Café. It’s been sketchy there the last few times and I was worried it would be again. I hadn’t eaten at all, so I had a small Caesar salad and the rigatoni Bolognese, which hasn’t been good the last two times I’ve had it. Happily, it was perfection last night – wonderful, flavorful, and just the right amount (couldn’t have been more than five ounces of pasta, maybe as little as four.

Prior to that, I’d had another really late night, not sleeping until after four, so I slept until noon-thirty, eight hours in all. Once up, I listened to music, answered e-mails, then did a two-and-a-half mile jog. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched another Hitchcock hour, this one pretty good, starring James Gregory, a young Katherine Ross, Norman Fell, and LACC alumni, Chris Robinson, directed by Bernard Girard, who was mostly a TV guy, but who directed the James Coburn film, Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round. Then I began watching another, this one starring Robert Culp and Stubby Kaye, which I’m enjoying, sort of.

Otherwise, I did listen to the rest of the Miasksovsky box set – it’s just great and after a few days I’ll listen to the symphonies in order. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of other stuff to catch up on.

Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I probably will have a Freshly meal around noon, presuming it still seems fresh, or I may forego that meal, do my jog, then do the talkback after the matinee, and go eat after that. We shall see. In the evening I’ll go over the commentary and make any adjustments I deem necessary. And watch more Hitchcock hours.

Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal. I’ll probably eat prior to it, and then I have a few things to do afterwards. Tuesday is a possible lunch with Kay Cole at noon o’clock, followed by a two-hour work session with Robert Yacko and Alby Potts, for Robert’s cabaret show. Wednesday, the two singers who couldn’t be with us on Monday will have their first rehearsal, Thursday we have our second rehearsal, Friday there’s a lot going on, Saturday is our stumble-through, and Sunday is sound check and show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, do a talkback, work on a commentary, eat, and relax. 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 the Dial ‘M’ is also Dialing ‘L’ for laughs.

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