Well, dear readers, we are but a few short hours away from the end of our Indiegogo campaign. I’m actually not sure exactly when it ends but it’s at some point today or tonight. We will be doing the big and relentless puuuuuush to the end. Yesterday we went up to 111% and I’ve been told that someone is going to take a coaching session and that would be a nice jump up. In contrast, the Levi campaign closed at 124% – I’d love to get there or above, but that won’t be easy. Then again you never know. Lots of great perks left, so be sure to share with anyone you think might be interested in something. Here’s the handy-dandy link.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-carol-christmas-a-new-musical-needs-your-help/x/9165600#/
Yesterday was a day in which I could actually breathe a little. That was enjoyable. I believe I got about seven hours of sleep, I got up, answered e-mails but felt very sluggish and began to worry if I was under the weather, so I took some preventatives just in case. I’m sure I’m fine. Then I went and had a Chinese chicken salad and a bagel, both very good. Then I picked up no packages and no important envelope. If that doesn’t arrive today then it’s another conversation, I guess. Then I came home.
I chose some more songs, but we’re still lacking one female performer. We’ve put an ask out so hopefully that will work and we can be done with this search. I kept my eye on the campaign, did more work on the computer, then went to the garage and got really lucky and found every single book of music I needed to find. That all happened because I went into a box that said scripts and magazines and inside were all these Kritzerland show books I hadn’t been able to find, including the one that will be the book for our November show, so that’s a big load off.
I was determined not to get any actual food snacks for the evening because I really have to lose some weight. I had some M&M peanut things here and I ate a few of those as a dessert – not all that many, really. I proofed the last of the tracks and music that we’re getting to the actors of A Carol Christmas, so that’s good. At some point I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I decided to watch the DVD of Flower Drum Song. It’s such a shame Universal doesn’t seem motivated to put stuff like this on Blu-ray. I saw the film of Flower Drum Song the day it opened and sat through it twice. It showed at the Warner Cinerama, which had gotten rid of its Cinerama screen and projectors in 1961 and were showing regular movies and calling the theater the Warner Hollywood. It was mostly a Universal house. Amusingly, they had to put all that Cinerama stuff back just a year later for The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and then How the West Was Won.
I knew the Broadway cast album of Flower Drum Song and enjoyed it, but I thought the movie was so much fun. Perfectly cast, it was funny and charming and I loved every single song, but most especially Love, Look Away, which became one of my all-time favorite songs and remains so to this day. I loved Miyoshi Umeki and Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta and Jack Soo and Juanita Hall. I didn’t love Hermes Pan’s choreography, but that, at that point in time, was a minor nitpick. After seeing West Side Story, of course Hermes Pan paled. It looked great in scope and Technicolor, even though it was completely studio bound, including the entire Chinatown street in San Francisco. It was a real Ross Hunter production. Also completely captivating were the Dong Kingman paintings used for the titles. One wonders where those are today.
I’ve seen the film many times since then and I always enjoy it. I know some think it’s offensive these days and those people can go play in traffic as far as I’m concerned. The film, as was the novel, is of its time and I, having an actual thinking brain in my head, can process that and not look at it through 2018 eyes. It’s charming, still fun, and those songs, and that includes Chop Suey, which most people hate, but I really like.
After that, I listened to some music, had a couple of telephonic conversations, and that was that.
Today is, I suppose, Yom Kippur, a day of atonement and fasting. Some years I fast, some years I don’t, but I will today and won’t eat until after my five o’clock meeting with a potential lighting designer. I pretty much atone on a daily basis so there’s that. I’ll be cheerleading on our Indiegogo campaign as we get to the finish line and that will be fun, as it always is. I’ll finish the choosing of the songs, hopefully lock in our final gal, do work on the computer, but mostly take the campaign home. Then I have the lighting designer meeting, I’ll hopefully pick up the important envelope, and then I’ll break the fast after six with a nice meal somewhere nice with Doug Haverty – during which we’ll hammer out the budget for the show.
Tomorrow we have more auditions and I’m really praying we can finish casting and not have to worry about that anymore. Then the rest of the week is filled with the usual things.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Frug, for today is the birthday of the father of Annabelle and Thatch, dear reader elmore. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to the father of Annabelle and Thatch, dear reader elmore. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO THE FATHER OF ANNABELLE AND THATCH, DEAR READER ELMORE!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, fast for Yom Kippur, atone for the things I’ve done that don’t please me, cheerlead for the Indiegogo campaign as we head to the finish line, choose songs, hopefully find our final gal, take the campaign home, have a meeting, and then break the fast with a nice meal. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we’re at 111% and hopeful we’ll go up as we cross the finish line.