Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at Sterling’s 79 was a wonderful show. We had a full house and a wonderful audience, albeit one table that was rather, how shall we say, raucous, perhaps due to large intake of alcoholic beverages. I finally had to say something about it – and got a big laugh doing so. After one raucous moment from them I looked over at the bar and said, “Have you served like a huge amount of alcohol beyond what you usually serve?” Everyone near that table was glad I said it and the mood was kept light and jovial and it quieted down a bit after that. As I’ve often said, I know within the first thirty seconds how the patter will go, and last night there were such big laughs right out of the gate I knew we’d be fine. I was very prepared that the first of them would get a big laugh that would then turn into a groan. In every show, I always say, “For those of you who are new to us, I always have to say that I am elderly and I must read from the paper, because if I don’t read from the paper…” – and then every show has a different punch line. Last night’s was one of the best we’ve done: “… because if I don’t read from the paper I’ll just start doing selections from my new musical revue about Vladimir Putin.” That got a hefty laugh, which I followed immediately with, “We’re calling it Putin It Together.” That got a huge laugh which then turned into a groan, and I think all you dear readers know exactly what my next line was: “We don’t allow groaning here at The Federal” which I followed with “But we do have a spectacular opening number in the revue – Putin on the Ritz.” And that got another huge laugh and only a little groan. I then said, “I got a million of ‘em and if you keep groaning I’m gonna do each and every one.” After that, it was easy sailing.
The opening number, my lyrics set to the tune of the main title music from Mancini’s High Time went over great – Robert Yacko was petrified of going up on the lyrics because once the song starts it’s rather relentless in terms of how many lyrics on how many notes there are, with no time to stop and gather one’s thoughts – but he got through it splendidly, and I could not have been happier with the lyric. Everyone did a great job on their songs – I don’t really think we had any flubs – maybe one tiny one that no one realized happened, but it was a very smooth show. I love doing shows like these – it’s not theater music (except for Victor/Victoria), it’s just a bunch of great tunes with wonderful lyrics and for the occasional change of pace it’s like a breath of fresh air. I wouldn’t do more than one of these kinds of evenings a year, but I do love putting them together.
We had wonderful folks in attendance: the Shermans, Kay Cole and her ever-lovin’ Michael Lamont, neighbors Tony Slide and Bob Gitt and cousin Dee Dee and Alan, Grant’s wife and mom, composer John Scott (who actually played sax on the Two for the Road tracks), a bunch of film music fans, and lots o’ others, including Sami and her mom, Jenna Lea Rosen and her mom, and little Hadley Miller (who is not so little anymore) with her folks. Here is an actual photograph of our merry troupe of players. Front row (on the couch like so much fish), left to right: co-producer Doug Haverty (aka Inspector Hubbard), Amy Gillette, Daniel Belluschi, Adrienne Stifle. Back row, left to right: Wendy Rosoff, Grant Geissman, Richard Allen, Li’l Ol’Me, Robert Yacko.
Afterwards, several of us went over to Little Toni’s for some food. I had one slice of pizza and my little cold cut sandwich, which was basically the first food of the day since I’d only had a few bites of a Caesar salad before the show. Then I came right home.
Prior to all that, I’d gotten six hours of sleep, answered e-mails, did a bit of work on the computer, did a two-and-a-half mile jog, and then relaxed. Then I moseyed on over to The Federal for sound check and the rest you know.
Today, I’m not going to have time to get to the Monica of Santa to visit Nick Redman, so I’m hoping that can happen tomorrow. I have a ton of work to do in the morning in prepping Robert Yacko’s cabaret show. Then I’ll eat something, hopefully pick up packages, the helper has a lot of packages to ship out, and I have many telephonic conversations to have.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to visit with Nick and then we’ll have an afternoon work session with Robert and Alby – that will most likely be happening more often than not over the next couple of weeks. And I have to finish casting the big anniversary show and get all that music chosen by the end of the week. I also have many meetings and meals, and then we begin our final weekend for Dial ‘M’ for Murder.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work on Robert’s show, jog, eat, hopefully pick up packages, ship packages, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What new cable and TV shows have you been enjoying? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we had a wonderful Kritzerland at Sterling’s 79.