Well, dear readers, we had us a full house again and another good show – not quite as sharp as the night before, but still very good. Unfortunately it was like the Ibsen version because the center light blew out the minute the first light cue came up. So, right in the first number, there are three solos in isolated light pools – first on stage left, then on stage right, then center. So the poor leading man’s solo was in darkness. And that light is used a lot during the show so in that regard it really does a number on the show, and not in a good way. Fortunately, the audience loved the show anyway, and I’m sure they were smart enough to figure out that something was amiss. But I always tell my actors in theaters like this, you are your own spotlight. If you shine you will seem as if you’re in bright light. It works, too. The show sailed along – no line flubs or lyric flubs, although one person just forgot the direction they’ve been doing for the past ten weeks and so a joke was lost. I don’t really understand that stuff, frankly, but it happens.
My old friend Betsy Slade was there – we did Forget-Me-Not Lane at the Mark Taper Forum, and then she was in the TV version, too, as was I. It was fun to see her after all these years. Daniel Bellusci was there, and a few others I knew. And then there was Michelle Lee. We had so much fun after the show – she really liked it. I reminded her that I went to high school with her brother, Kenny Dusick (she also went to Hamilton). And she was tickled when I told her I’d done How to Succeed at LACC – not by the fact that I did it, but at our kind of stellar cast – Mike Lembeck as Frump, Annette Cardona as Rosemary, and Linda Hart as Smitty, all of whom she knew. We laughed a lot and then she and the her party (she knew a cast member) went to sup. Here is an actual photograph of actual her and actual me.
Prior to that, I’d gotten six hours of sleep, got up, got ready and went and did the Costco run. It was fairly horrible there, with all the nutty people buying five hundred dollars’ worth of big things. I maneuvered my way around quickly, since I knew exactly what I needed. One ingredient that I get there and have gotten there for the past decade they suddenly don’t carry that brand anymore. That was most annoying. But they had all my other stuff and I got everything into the cart in about ten minutes. Then I went to check out – every line was HUGE, so there was nothing to do but wait it out – about fifteen minutes. I got out of there pronto and then went to Gelson’s for the item that Costco didn’t have, and to get the stuff that I don’t get at Costco – garlic, onion, mushrooms, butter, tuna, and stuff like that.
I came home and put everything away, then I ate shrimp cocktail shrimp that I’d gotten at Costco – almost no calories, so that was good and I ate about half. I answered e-mails, chose all but two songs, and began getting everyone their music. I listened to music, went and picked up a couple of packages – some screener called Bird Bits or Bird Bath or Bird Brain – wait a minute – ah, Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock. It’s supposed to be terrible and sounds very much like the movie I already saw, A Quiet Place. I guess I’ll watch it at some point.
Then I got ready and at six-thirty I moseyed on over to the theater. The rest you know.
After the show, I stopped at Gelson’s to get something I’d forgotten, and then came right home. I had the rest of the shrimp and I’d gotten a tiny bit of salad to go with it. I had one small piece of fruitcake, too.
Today, I have to be up by eleven so I can shave and get ready for our matinee. I know a bunch of people who are coming, and we’ll probably go eat afterwards. Then I’ll stop and get the rolls for the Do, then come home. I’ll listen to music whilst I prepare the big boy batch of tuna pasta salad, and I’ll do all slicing and dicing and chopping so that all that will be ready to go. Then I’ll probably watch a screener.
Tomorrow, I’ll sleep in, then I’ll begin the day-long cooking of the spaghetti sauce. I’ll probably call the mail place and if there’s something to pick up then I shall pick up. I’ll get ready, and then guests begin arriving at six o’clock. I’m hoping there will be happy attendees who are in a festively festive mood. The Shermans will be here, as always, but I have to find them a ride, as he’s not driving anymore, and she doesn’t like to drive the canyon at night. Christmas Day, I think the Darling Daughter will come for a visit, otherwise I’m just staying around the house. Then on Wednesday, I have to get all the print for the five titles that are done to the printer and then we’ll be able to ship the following week. Then we play our final weekend of A Carol Christmas, and I suspect it will be sold out for all three shows.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, attend our matinee, eat something fun, get rolls, and then prepare the tuna pasta salad and do all slicing and dicing for the Do. 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, looking forward to the non-Ibsen and fully lit version of A Carol Christmas.