Well, dear readers, I think we went out on a high note (G#) with Kritzerland at Home 113, the last of our online shows. I thought the show came out really well, the cast was sublime, the song choices seemed to work, and other than YouTube deciding to be glitchy (I read up on it – server overload) so a lot of buffering that could be gotten around by refreshing. We didn’t do Facebook Live this time because of IT being glitchy. Most of it worked fine, but it was irritating. Those who watch after the fact will probably be fine. But I’ve noticed the buffering thing happening more than usual recently, usually at peak hours. In a way, I’ll miss doing the online shows – they were daunting, truly, but I’m so proud of them and the work of our great performers and Hartley Powers making sure it all went off without a hitch. I had many favorites from last night – well, just about everything. And everyone really delivered – Charles Busch, Marc Ginsburg, Lisa Livesay, Kerry O’Malley, Hartley, Sami Staitman, Adrienne Stiefel, Walter Willison, and Robert Yacko – what a group. Richard Allen did his customary great job. There were a couple of challenges with this show, which I won’t go into other than saying there was a bit of post-production work we had to do, but it all came out swell in the end. I’m sure I’ll miss doing these, and perhaps at some point down the road we’ll do another one or two so people around the country can see them. We could live stream the live shows, but I don’t feel that would be helpful to us, frankly. We want LA folks to come out and see us live and if we live stream, I fear some will rather stay home. Anyway, we’re all really looking forward to returning to Vitello’s on July 28. After the show we had a fun afterparty – about eighteen people showed up and we all gabbed, and a couple of our cast members were there, too. We didn’t have as many attendees as usual, but we knew this would be a tough weekend due to the holiday and people having parties and traveling. The partay lasted about an hour. After that, I took a drive, came back home, listened to some music, specifically Ravel’s L’enfant et Les Sortileges – a marvelous performance. The only other I’d heard was Lorin Maazel and I liked Previn’s much better. Also, the Shostakovich tenth, which is a GREAT performance, and then the Richard Strauss Alpine Symphony, which I didn’t love. I think there are better performances out there, and Previn did it again on Telarc and that’s the one everyone loves. I don’t care for Telarc, but I listened to a bit of it on the Tube of You and it did sound pretty good. Then I took a little break and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first hour of the theatrical version of Blade Runner, which I saw on its opening night at the Bruin Theater in Westwood. I thought it was a visually beautiful film that simply didn’t work. You could feel the disappointment in the audience – it was palpable. Only much later did we find out that they’d added the narration and made cuts in the film and changed the ending. I think then came the work print thing, and I went to see that on its opening day. It didn’t look great but it was interesting to see it without the narration, but I was so used to the narration that it just seemed weird. I also still didn’t care for the film, save for visually. Then came Ridley Scott’s director’s cut – didn’t love it – and then came his final cut, which I can’t really remember but will watch when I finish the theatrical, just to see what he ended up with. It certainly must be the most versions of any film, and this set is five discs, including supplements, which is just a little overkill for a film that’s never really going to work the way I think everyone would like it, too. Of course, the film has its FANatics who think it a masterpiece. And visually it is probably close to that. I haven’t seen any version in probably fifteen years, as I didn’t run any of this five-disc set other than to check out the quality.
And now, I’m taking a slight Previn break and listening to more Walter Braunfels music I’ve never heard. It’s quite good. Then I may listen to the Charles Munch version of the Berlioz Requiem, to see if I like it as much as Previn, and I also re-uploaded the Berlioz Romeo and Juliette, which I hadn’t really cared for on first listening, but since I’m now in opera mode, I’m thinking I might enjoy it better.
Yesterday, I got eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, relaxed just a bit, but then had to get everything ready for our afterparty and the show, plus shave and shower and all that stuff. I decided to eat around two-thirty and got a Cobb salad from Stanley’s with another eight-dollar off coupon. Then we did our show, had our afterparty, and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, we’ll continue shipping stuff, I’ll start finalizing the cast for our return to Vitello’s, I’ll start figuring out what I want the show to be – I suspect it will be a potpourri show as that will give me much more song choice freedom and will probably be more fun. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat (I might finally go to California Pizza Kitchen with my two gift cards – they have Keto-friendly stuff there, including good cedar plank salmon), I’ll try to do the remainder of the Indiegogo stuff we can ship, although there’s not much until we get the Blu-rays, CD, and song folios in. And then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, then on Thursday Sami’s mom is going to take some photos of me – I haven’t had professionally taken photos since around 1982, I think. Yes, I’ve had photos since then, but not professionally done. So, that will be fascinating. All I need is one good shot. Directly after that, I’ll drive out to have a meal with David Wechter, who recently had a bit of surgery (successful) and that will definitely be fun. Friday night, I’m supping with the Pearls, and then I think we have a rehearsal for the playlet on Saturday for a couple of hours. I think we’ll do one Zoom read-through prior to that so I can take script notes. Then the following week will have three or four more rehearsals and that should be that, until we tech and have a final run-through before opening.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, continue shipping stuff, start finalizing the cast and figuring out the show, hopefully pick up packages, eat, do the remainder of the Indiegogo stuff we can do that doesn’t require any of the Tonight’s the Night stuff, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Harrison Ford, star of Blade Runner? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gone out on a high note (G#) with Kritzerland at Home 113.