Well, dear readers, the first performance of the Elmer concert went very well. The band pulled together, Robert Yacko and Maegan McConnell did great, and the So-cal Chorale was great. I knew after Henry made a twenty-minute opening speech that it was going to be up to me to keep everything moving along. Thankfully, my brain was functioning really well, I went off the patter frequently, and there some really huge laughs throughout, and I got through my song okay. But the show is too long and we’re probably not going to be able to do anything about it, other than ensure that Henry’s speech is under five minutes. But I think the audience had a great time and we got a standing ovation (well, Elmer, too) and I only hope my voice comes back for today’s matinee. But I have to be up by eight-thirty to shave and shower and then to rehearsal by ten, so no time to relax tomorrow, although I’ll try not to talk much at rehearsal.
Prior to that, I got nine hours of sleep, answered e-mails, and mostly just relaxed and rested my voice. I proofed some more pages, had an English muffin with butter and jam, and that was about it until I shaved and showered and then moseyed on over to the Autry. I watched the band rehearse, gave a few suggestions, and then it was to the green room until show time. After the show, I stopped at the nearby McDonald’s, as I’d only eaten an English muffin. I came home and ate the food, then just tried to relax.
I’d earlier gotten the news that my old pal Marsha Kramer had passed away. We’d met a bunch of time in the 1970s, and she auditioned for Stages in 1978, but I felt she didn’t look young enough to play a college student. A year later I saw her on Broadway in Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan, she was playing Wendy and she looked to be about ten. We laughed and laughed about my Stages folly. A few years after that, I did cast her in my show Together Again, and when I wrote Pals it was with her in mind and she did four years’ worth of readings and was always wonderful. She appeared with me in my act at the Gardenia club, did a Kritzerland show and the first ALS benefit I directed. She was a dear, sweet person. I gather she had cancer but opted to not tell anyone. Rest in peace, dear Marshie.
Today, I’ll be up no later than eight-thirty, I’ll shave and shower and dress for the concert, then mosey on over to the theater for some play rehearsal, although we’re without Peyton so can’t run the show. But there are a few things to clean up and we’ll attend to those, but I have to be very careful not to talk too much. Then at twelve-thirty I’ll mosey on over to the Autry and at two o’clock we play our matinee, after which they’re having a nice dinner for us somewhere. After that, I’ll come right home and relax and rest.
Tomorrow, I have to be at the theater for our ten o’clock rehearsal. We’ll do a run-through and then work whatever we need to, then I’ll go have a nice lunch somewhere, and I’m back at five to pre-record stuff for the show. Most scenes begin with a character talking via tape in the darkness, so it’s all that stuff, plus some off-stage voices for a couple of scenes. Once we’re done with that it’s home, James, and I will relax and perhaps watch something. Monday is completely a ME day and a proofing day. Then the rest of the week is entering fixes for the book, back to the musical I’ve been working on, and our final run-throughs before tech begins Friday night. The weekend is all tech, and then we’re into our invited dress, two previews, and we open.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up no later than eight-thirty, shave and shower, have a play rehearsal, do our matinee, eat, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If someone were doing a little bit of ballet dancing to some music, what would your favorite Chopin piano piece be to accompany it? Let’s have load of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had the first concert go so well, albeit too long.