Well, dear readers, a little bye bye birdie told me that there was a little haineshisway.com get-together yesterday in the city that never sleeps. I hear tell it was fun and that everyone enjoyed seeing Grand Hotel, where, like this here site, people come, people go. I’m sure it’s very well done, but I have such fond memories of the original, in which Tommy Tune did such astonishing work with what is, for me, essentially weak material. To watch a director/choreographer at the top of his game, shape that and mold that into something unique and one-off was breathtaking. And the show holds so many other memories for me. I first saw it the night I met Harvey Schmidt. I’d come to NY for several reasons, one of which was to meet Harvey because he was contributing to Classical Broadway, and also to meet about doing The Anastasia Affaire. So, cast member and old chum Walter Willison arranged tickets for me and from the first downbeat I was amazed at the creativity on that stage, from the staging and dances to the amazingly haunting set of Tony Walton (who also became a wonderful friend), to the musical direction of Jack Lee (who also became a wonderful friend), to meeting Lynnette Perry (who’d just replaced Jane Krakowski), meeting folks I’d soon work with, like Tim Jerome, Brent Barrett, and others. I ended up seeing the show several times more – with Zina Bethune, John Schneider, and finally Cyd Charisse. And of course later I would connect with Jane Krakowski and work with her several times as well as becoming very close with her (all detailed in Album Produced By). From the clips I’ve seen of the Encores it did seem like its director/choreographer was definitely inspired by Mr. Tune’s work as some of it seemed very close. I do wish I could have been there to partay with our East Coast denizens, but alas I was having a rather mundane and uneventful Saturday right here in the Oaks of Sherman.
I only got around five hours of sleep, and then she of the Evil Eye arrived and I went and had some bacon and eggs. I ascertained there was no mail, and came back home around eleven-thirty. I got the good news that we finally have our final cast member, someone knew to me but who Robert Yacko spoke highly of. We chose his two numbers, I chose the one remaining song, and we’re all set. I was so ready to cancel if this all hadn’t come together but thankfully it did, but now we’ve only got a week to sell tickets, and I not only have our rehearsals, but I have to write the commentary and figure out the show order. It’s going to be a crazy week and one that I’m sure will be slightly overwhelming, but we have to do what we have to do. If you feel like sending some most excellent vibes and xylophones for getting through this crazy week and also for a miracle, that would be swellegant.
Otherwise, I did the blurb for our two new releases, which may or may not announce on Monday, which is wholly dependent on whether I get the audio samples or not. I watched another episode of Wild Wild Country, so three more to go. I must say, like all these multi-part documentaries on Netflix, there’s an awful lot of repetition and flab and I can’t help thinking they’d all work better if they were shortened by two or three episodes. Remember when documentaries ran under two hours? These people apparently do not. I also watched The Silence of the Lambs extras, most of which were recycled from previous DVD releases – not much new here, so I believe I’d seen them all before. It would have been nice to have had some new interviews.
Then I listened to music and relaxed, worked at the piano, had a telephonic conversation and that was that.
Today, I’ll do some work at the piano, then I have a work session for the Kritzerland show – not that much arrangement work in this one, just one three-song put-together. No duets, and no other put-togethers, so that’s quite nice and makes things easier. Then I have a dinner to go to.
Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal and I have to also make sure books will be printed and on their way as well as make sure the little problem gets fixed for subsequent print. Then the rest of the week is announcing our two new releases and praying they sell well, meetings and meals, our second Kritzerland rehearsal, our stumble-through, and then sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work at the piano, have a work session, then attend a dinner. 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, where people come, people go, like Grand Hotel.