Well, dear readers, it is time to write these here notes. I just thought I’d pass along that little bit of tid because we simply cannot have enough bits of tid in this world in which we live. In fact, today’s notes will be filled with bits of tid from which you can glean both bits and tid. So, here is the first bit of tid: How can this month be half over? That just boggles my already boggled mind. How can we be starting Levi rehearsals in just a few days? That is doubly boggling, boggle-wise. How can there be only two-and-a-half months left in this year? These are the questions that are roaming around the windmills of my mind.
Yesterday was a day filled with bits of tid. For example, I got seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails and did my usual morning stuff, including having some telephonic conversations. I did work on the computer, was happy to see we inched up one percent in the Indiegogo campaign, now at 86%. I do wish it would just move along to 100% sooner than later and I keep hoping a couple of the bigger perks will go. I had some lunch – a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and side Caesar salad, both excellent. Then I picked up one teeny-tiny package and no mail and came home.
I did more work on the computer, and then I had to mosey on over to the Grant Geissman abode, and we spent an hour chatting and then, since he was a hungry man, we went to the Hamburger Hamlet and he had a meal and I had the yummilicious Egg Custard Lulu – light, and very good. Then I came home.
I had a nice chat with both Richard and Elizabeth Sherman, and that was, as always, fun. Then I did yet more work on the computer, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a new Blu and Ray of the live TV version of Annie Get Your Gun starring Mary Martin and John Raitt. Obviously taken from a Kinescope, you don’t really get much benefit from it being a Blu-ray, but it was really fun to see. I love the songs, and I prefer the original book to the Peter Stone redo. Yes, it’s very politically incorrect for these politically correct times, but then again – and now wait for it – it doesn’t take place NOW, it takes place before the turn of the century in the later 1800s. So people behave differently than they would today. Add to that that it wasn’t written today, but 1946 and if you watch knowing all that context then you can just sit back and enjoy it. I suppose all the politically correct people would like all these shows to be scrubbed up for their sensitive souls, thereby actually lying about the past. The quality is so-so, although for a Kinescope not bad at all, the score remains a constant delight (trimmed for this broadcast, of course). John Raitt sings robustly and he’s a fine Frank Butler if just a bit stiff. The supporting cast is okay. And then there’s Mary Martin – and she is absolutely adorable and everything a star is about. She doesn’t go anywhere near Merman territory – she makes it completely her own. I laughed out loud and her performance – she’s really funny, she’s touching, and her voice is like no one else’s, something you can’t say about today’s crop of musical theatre people. I doubt someone with Miss Martin’s voice would get past an open call today, which is a crying shame. We can use unique voices. In any case, it was really a pleasurable hour and forty-five minutes.
After that, I took a hot shower, did a few more things on the computer, listened to music, and contemplated the bits of tid.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, I shall do stuff for the Kritzerland show, I shall do prep work for Levi, I’ll eat (I’m in the mood to make something here rather than eat out), I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and I’ll relax and probably watch a motion picture or two.
Next week is all busy all the time – meetings, meals, and then on Wednesday we begin music rehearsals for Levi, which I’m very excited about.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do stuff for the Kritzerland show, prep Levi, eat, hopefully pick up packages, relax, and watch something. Today’s topic of discussion: Which of the Golden Age musical theater stars were your favorites? And how many of them did you actually get to see on the stage? Let’s have loads of lovely performances, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall not dream of bits of tid.