Well, dear readers, it is late and she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon so I must write these here notes in a hurry, mustn’t I? I must and therefore I shall, not necessarily in that order. Let me begin by saying that I attended the opening night of the Group Rep’s production of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers. For some reason I never saw the show until LACC did it about fourteen years ago. That production was paced lethargically and so I didn’t really get into it much or think much of it. So I came to this pretty fresh, and I must say it’s one of Mr. Simon’s very best plays – rich characters, some very dramatic and touching writing and, as you’d expect, some great laughs. No one knows how to set up a gag early in the show and then not actually pay it off until the second act better than Simon – he’s kind of a genius at it. The audience was enthusiastic and really enjoyed it. They had their little opening night partay after, but I didn’t stay very long because I was meeting occasional dear readers Leslie Young and daughter Alexa at the Coral Café.
I had a wedge salad (new on the menu and really good – had it with 1000-Island dressing), and we all had lots o’ fun and then at midnight Doug Haverty, who is the producer of Lost in Yonkers for the Group Rep, sauntered in and had some pie and milk. We talked about the play and the production and I mentioned my little nit to pick – the younger brother character is reading a comic book in bed and it’s clearly not a period comic book – wrong size, wrong kind of cover and when he had it open one could clearly see Spider-Man inside – that character didn’t exist in the time period this play takes place in. So, today I will drive to Doug and give him an actual period Superman comic (doesn’t have its covers but it’s authentic and reads well from a distance, and if he folds it open to an mid-section story you wouldn’t see the cover anyway.
Prior to all that, I’d gotten about seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, answered e-mails and had telephonic calls, and then I went and had a small pepperoni pizza at Jerry’s Deli – I quite like their personal pizzas there and it was just the right size. Then I picked up the errant and truant envelope, did some banking, then came back home. I listened to the rest of La Boheme, then went out to the garage and went through four of the boxes I’d pulled. I found some wonderful photographs that I’ll scan and share, I found all my worksheets for the songs I ultimately wrote for the show Yearbook (two of which were used), and I found a huge batch of LA newspaper movie sections, which I’ll write about in tomorrow’s notes when I have more time. The only problem with finding them was that I then spent the next three hours going through them – it’s amazing that I remember seeing what was playing in specific theaters on the days when these papers came out. I have still more in other boxes – most of these were from the very late 60s and early 70s, as well as several from 1960 and 1961, and a few from 1955 through 1959. I’ve always hoped to find a 1959 movie section with Li’l Abner and North by Northwest playing at the Wiltern, which is where I saw both those films that year, but I haven’t yet. But hope springs eternal and eternal springs hope. I then actually had to get a move on to hie myself over to the Group Rep. The rest you know and you know the rest.
Today, I’ll be up at eight-thirty and gone by nine-thirty. I’ll probably have a light breakfast something-or-other, then I’ll drive the comic book to Doug’s, then do some errands and whatnot. I’ll come home, go through more boxes, throw out more junk and consolidate what I’m keeping, then take more boxes down. After that, I’ll do some work on the Kritzerland show, which I’ve decided will be the music of Frederick Loewe – we have one male cast and are waiting to hear from the other male we asked, then I’ll attend to the three females. No kids in this one, I think. Then I’ll relax and watch something.
Tomorrow I think the Havertys and I may try for our Genghis Cohen meal – otherwise I’m just relaxing and choosing Loewe songs. Next week is very busy with all manner of meetings and meals, doing a workshop at LACC, and then attending the opening night of The Red Shoes at the Ahmanson.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a light breakfast, hopefully pick up packages, do errands and whatnot, go through more boxes, plan a Kritzerland show, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could have a collection of old newspaper movie sections, which years would you most like to have? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, a lovely land where hope springs eternal.