Well, dear readers, we had us a pretty terrific stumble-through without too much stumbling – just a couple of lyric fumfers but everything running very smoothly. Grant wasn’t with us, but he’s basically just playing one solo in the middle of the show. Exactly forty-five shows ago (today’s is number ninety) we did our first Cole Porter show (I didn’t realize that when I decided on this show – funny that the two shows are exactly halfway apart) and it was one of the very few shows I wasn’t happy with – it was fine and the audience enjoyed it but there was enough wrong with it that it’s always bugged me that it wasn’t quite up to our usual extremely high standard. Well, this time we are righting those few wrongs – a few different songs, a perfect cast, and a better structure. There were huge laughs, people swooned over the romantic tunes, and it’s just really a fun show. The entire cast is great and really deliver. So that was fun.
Prior to that, I’d gotten about seven hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, showered, and then Sami came to have her second rehearsal. We ran her two solos and I gave a few notes, then we did our duet. Then everyone arrived and we ran the show. Afterwards, Doug and I went to Barone’s and got a half cheese/half sausage pizza – we each had four of the smallish slices (about two and a half slices of regular pizza) and he took the rest home. Then I picked up some packages and came home.
I listened to some music for a bit, then sat on my couch like so much fish and finished the Hayley Mills movie, Take a Girl Like You. It’s based on a Kingsley Amis novel and it’s directed by Beyond the Fringe’s Jonathan Miller, his one and only film directing credit. He’s certainly not a very good director, but I do love Hayley so I can watch anything she’s in and the transfer is terrific.
Then I watched a little of the new Irma La Douce Blu-ray, supposedly a new 4K transfer off the camera negative. Nothing I saw would have led me to believe that was the case, since the image, for me, was extremely lackluster. The dye transfer Technicolor prints on this film were incredible – gorgeous color. This has color but it’s all fairly drab. I seem to have the minority opinion on this but I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.
Then I just relaxed, tried not to talk, and relaxed, listening to quite a diverse group of CDs, a little of everything, some good, some bad, and some ugly.
Today I’ll hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, then I’ll just rest my voice and relax, get ready, and then mosey on over to The Federal for sound check and then our show. I will, of course, have a full report for you. And I’m sure that some of us will go out for a bite to eat after the show.
Tomorrow I’ll finish casting the big eighth anniversary show and start figuring out the songs – it’s always a potpourri and fun. So far we have a fantastic cast and I already know what three of the numbers are so that’s good. And I’m sure I’ll write a new What If if I can think of a fun one. The rest of the week will be meetings and meals and getting ready to cast A Carol Christmas. And I’m hoping Advise and Consent will be in by Wednesday so we can finally get that shipped out. I even think Four Below Strikes Back will be in and we can get that out and be all caught up.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in, rest my voice, relax, get ready, have a sound check, and then do our show. 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 to have had a pretty terrific stumble-through without too much stumbling.