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November 28, 2018:

A FUN NIGHT FOR THE NEW MUSICAL REVUE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, we had a rollicking good time premiering the new musical revue last night to a sold-out crowd at Rockwell Table and Stage.  There were huge laughs throughout the show and the audience seemed to eat it up.  Joe Keenan’s parodies are razor sharp and this skewering of this administration was just what the doctor ordered.  The cast did great as did John Boswell at the piano.  The only downsides were the club itself.  The sound people, well, let’s just say that I am spoiled by the sound folks at The Federal and Vitello’s.  We used head mics for the show, but had I known that they have the cheapest head mics in town I might have rethought that idea.  Two of them went out during the show, so some great jokes were missed by some of the room until Kerry O’Malley, our producer and host, brought her wireless mic to those performers.  Other performers’ mics came on late – well, it was just not good.  The room itself is very strange and not to my liking, and they were having issues with the orders getting to the kitchen and so people were not receiving food until well into the show.  The lighting was a bit of a mess, too – he wrote the light cues during sound check and then left.  Before he left, I went to him and he acted like he was irritated that a director had the temerity to want to speak to him about lights.  I told him bright is good for this show – he didn’t care and left. This is not a room I would willingly go back to.  We want to do the show again, but at a club that we know cares about the show, where the sound and lights people want to listen and take notes so that the show runs smoothly, and who gets the food out.  Despite all that, the show got a well-deserved standing ovation, I think Joe, the author, was really happy, and other than my little rants, which I could not keep to myself after the show (I probably should have), it was quite the evening.

Prior to the show, I’d gotten exactly eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, did work on the computer, then spent a lot of time getting A Carol Christmas up on CD Baby (who handles our digital sales) – they’ve made it an endless task – it took almost two hours. I also got it up on Amazon, too. Then I got ready, after which I moseyed on over to the club, got good free parking, and then we did our sound check.

After the show, I hung out for a bit.  We had some fun folks in attendance – our very own Doug Haverty, Adryan Russ, Sami’s mom Karen Staitman, and Dan and Kendra Miller, folks of Hadley Belle Miller. Critic Rob Stevens was there, my old pal Ed Begley was there, actress Nancy Allen was there and looking as lovely as ever, and others I’m too tired to remember.

Then I came back to the Valley.  I’d only had a little thing of mac-and-cheese at the club, so I stopped at the easiest place, In N Out and got a burger to bring home.  I brought it home and ate it all up, then had a little ice cream to wash it all down.  Not a bad day at all.

Today, we have a noon-thirty rehearsal for one performer, then I’ll finish writing the commentary, which I began yesterday, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’m relaxing and perhaps watching more Bodyguard or perhaps a DGA screener.  Also, writing liner notes and prepping our next two releases.

Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, Friday we resume performances of A Carol Christmas, Saturday is the Kritzerland stumble-through, then Sunday we play a matinee and I go straight from that to sound check and then we do our show.  Next week, I begin planning the January Kritzerland, and I have meetings and meals and going and doing.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a brief rehearsal, finish writing commentary, write liner notes, eat, hopefully pick up packages, prep two new releases, and then relax.  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 to have had a fun premiere performance of the musical revue.

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