Well, dear readers, I was fascinated to see a meme tonight on Facebook that steals/borrows my flattening my curve joke from the last Kritzerland show, without attribution, of course. I suppose the wags would say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, while I, not a wag, like to say that imitation is the sincerest form of imitation. I gotta tell you. Not the first time it’s happened (although it is the first time for a meme), and probably won’t be the last. And now, for my next number: 10. Thank you! Has anyone but me noticed that June won’t be busting out all over much longer? This month has flown by, like a gazelle studying to be a haberdasher. And now, for my next number: 5. Thank you! This is like the Ed Sullivan Shew all of a sudden. Other than that, I am sitting here like so much fish listening to Mr. Ennio Morricone’s excellent score to Mr. Roman Polanski’s motion picture, Frantic. Well, I suppose we can move on to the next paragraph because THIS paragraph is making me Frantic.
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. I got nine hours of sleep, straight through, so that was nice. Once up, I answered e-mails, did a few things on the computer, then ordered a Chinese chicken salad from Stanley’s. It arrived about forty minutes later and, for the first time, Stanley’s slightly screwed up the order. They delivered an Armenian chicken salad – no, I’m kidding. I always pay for extra almonds – I check the box for it (it’s fifty cents extra) and then in the special request box I reiterate that I want it as checked above. But yesterday, they gave me extra little tangerine bits and there were so few almonds in the salad itself it was kind of annoying. But it was of the usual high quality and I ate it all up, along with a couple of pieces of their yummilicious bread. That was nice and filling and as of this moment in time I haven’t eaten anything else, although my stomach is crying out for food right now. We’ll see if I can hold out, but it wouldn’t be too horrendous, calorie-wise, if I made a little egg burrito – only about 225 calories and I don’t really think I had over 1000. We shall see, but I must say my stomach is revolting right now – revolting as in FEED ME.
After that, I did some Kritzerland show stuff – I really think this is going to be a fun show and maybe someone will even steal/borrow another laugh line and make a meme out of it. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray called Carousel, starring Mr. Gordon MacRae and Miss Shirley Jones. I saw the film in Cinemascope and stereophonic sound at my beloved Stadium Theater back when it came out, and I quite liked it. Over the years, I realize there are aspects of the show and score I simply don’t care for. For example: This Is a Real Nice Clambake I can live without, Blow High, Blow Low I can live without, and The Highest Judge of All I can live without. I do like the heaven framing device of the film. And the cast is excellent. But most of it is really excellent and the film does a good job with its locations and stuff. While I’m not really a fan of the dream ballet concept, I do like the Louise dream ballet in the film, with Susan Luckey as Louise, along with Jacques d’Amboise as the lead male dancer. Also, in the ballet is Bobby Banas (aka Robert Banas), instantly recognizable from West Side Story and a ton of other movie musicals. The direction is kind of stolid, but the orchestrations are tops. It’s ultimately very moving. I remember checking out the transfer and not thinking much of it, but once you’re beyond the opening sequence it’s pretty good, save for being a bit too dark.
After that, I continued on my Rodgers and Hammerstein kick and watched the first half of The Sound of Music, which I haven’t seen in some years, as I only checked out the Blu-ray when it came out. I must say, it really is a virtually perfect film and so much better than the musical play. Ernest Lehman was really good at these screen adaptations and added so much that is so good. I like the new songs, which apparently owe a lot of credit to Saul Chaplin’s creativity. Robert Wise made two of the best screen musicals, West Side Story and this. He really was great with those two films – his direction is just fantastic, every shot perfect. And Julie Andrews was on fire in this film – she gets every beat of Maria right – she’s fierce, hilarious, endearing, and just beautiful, and that voice has never been better. Christopher Plummer is completely unique as Captain Von Trapp – subtle, very funny, stern, dramatic, and endearing in his own way. Eleanor Palmer is also a perfect Elsa – I enjoy her performance more with each viewing, and that goes for Richard Haydn, too. The kids are all wonderful, especially Charmian Carr, and any film that has Norma Varden in it is okay by me. The Lehman humor is really helpful and so is his restructuring of scenes and placement of numbers. And the sound of The Sound of Music, those brilliant orchestrations, are amazingly amazing. I saw the film opening week at the Wilshire Theater – shot in Todd-AO and looking stunning, I think I must have seen it twenty times during its very long run there – ninety-three weeks to be exact. Yes, I loved it. I’ve had every home video incarnation of it, none of which has done the movie any favors and that goes double for the Blu-ray, which I find almost a complete disaster. I don’t know what they’ve done to the color but it’s not right. The sound is muffled, and even though it’s obviously in the correct ratio, the detail it should have is nothing like a 65mm negative should yield. I’m hoping they do this again, or maybe they have as there’s a new DCP they use for screenings – if that’s a new transfer I hope they put it out for people to purchase because I can barely watch this current Blu-ray. I got to the intermission, and I’ll finish it up tonight.
After that, I took a nice drive, I had a long telephonic conversation, and then I listened to some Frantic music.
Today, I’ll try to be up by eleven (that’s my new goal – to get eight hours of sleep and be up by eleven). I’ll do whatever needs doing, then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages (one was delivered yesterday but just before they closed, so no time for me to get it), I’ll eat something reasonable (would like to try something new, actually), then I’ll do Kritzerland show stuff, plus more planning for the August Kritzerland, after which I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is all Kritzerland show stuff and doing whatever needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, try to be up by eleven, do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up packages, eat, do Kritzerland show stuff for both July and August shows, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, which was the first you ever saw, what was your favorite stage production, and which of the films are your favorites? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to know that imitation is the sincerest form of irritation.