Well, dear readers, I’m still listening to Sir Malcolm Arnold’s music – have moved on to the concertos, some of which I love and some of which I don’t. Right now, it’s a concerto for two piano and strings – very melodic and fun. That’s been the only music I played yesterday, because I managed to watch the two hours of interviews and extras on the Mulholland Drive Blu-ray. I think I may have watched some but not all of them before. Most interesting discovery the first time I watched them was finding out that Naomi Watts was Australian. Also interesting is that David Lynch casts the way I do, by instinct. He frequently doesn’t even have actors read; he just chats with them. I have, from the beginning, always cast like that. If I’m hearing actors read a scene it freaks out the others in the room that I don’t give “adjustments” or direct them. I can usually tell, even if the reading is less than stellar, who I’m going to enjoy working with and who’ll be best for the role. That’s exactly the way I cast Doug’s play, In My Mind’s Eye. He started telling the actors in advance that I don’t usually give any notes or stuff like that. The minute Kait Haire walked onstage I knew she was it, even before she opened her mouth. Same with the other actors I didn’t know – it was instant. And then I watched a documentary called Halston, about Halston. I think this was made some years ago, so I think the dusted it off and put it on Amazon Prime to compete with the recent film. Like many documentaries, the director is a little to in love with himself and his creativity and that stuff I can live without, because the archival footage is great, and the interviews are always interesting. But that’s not enough for these people – they have to put their own stamp on it. The problem with that is – it’s not about them, it’s about Halston. He has actors playing people who are deceased, and it just doesn’t work at all. And at two hours it’s a good twenty minutes too long and losing those twenty bloated minutes would have been easy and it would have helped. I did enjoy it, because Halston was fascinating, and I didn’t know much about him at all. Late news flash: I listen to a classical station every night before bed and on one of the many station breaks they always play this incredibly stunning and beautiful piece of music but of course they don’t identify it. I was sure it was Ravel or Satie or someone from the Impressionistic school. And whilst I was typing this very paragraph that music began playing – I couldn’t believe it. And yes, it’s Malcolm Arnold – the Sarabande from Solitaire – don’t know what Solitaire is, maybe a ballad, but at last I know what this gorgeous music is and who wrote it. That made my whole evening.
Yesterday was a kooky day straight down the line. First off, I only got six hours of sleep. Someone called the cell phone at nine-thirty and that woke me up. It was the storage place saying that before locking one of the units I’d neglected to slide the bolt into position before locking and therefore anyone could have gotten inside, although it’s almost impossible to tell the thing isn’t slid over. But I’m a worry wart, so I got dressed and drove over there, as they hadn’t mentioned which unit it was. I checked the main one and it was fine. I checked the other one on that floor and it seemed fine. Then I checked the one in the basement and it was fine but pulling the key out of that lock the key broke in half. Luckily, there’s a second key. Then I went back to the other units and that’s when I realized what they meant about the bolt not being in position, and on one unit I finally saw it – and unlocked the lock, slid the bolt, and re-locked it. But what a waste of time and gas that was.
I came right back home, and then we had our work session. That was quick and easy. Once that was done, I went to Gelson’s and got a chicken Caesar salad, came home, and ate it all up. I swear the large version gets smaller every time – less lettuce. It was good, though. Then I listened to Malcolm Arnold whilst doing stuff on the computer. Then it was time to mosey on over to the theater to rehearse our replacement actress. Unfortunately, her co-star “forgot” and didn’t show up. I had another actor read it with her so I could at least give notes and direction, which I needed to do. There’s a trap in the way the dialogue is written on the page and the original actress fell right into it at the first rehearsal and so did this replacement actress. So, I stopped that right away and got her on the right track and then she was fine. There’s not much blocking – in fact, there’s almost no blocking – just enter and sit and then twice they each stand up when they say something with excitement – that always gets a nice laugh. And then they exit with a comic button, which is not the replacement actresses’ bit. She takes over next Thursday, and I can’t be there before the show to help, but her co-star is being told she must be there at six-thirty to run it twice and that there is NO discussion about that. I will see our playlet that night but will get there just for that one. Our Kritzerland rehearsals don’t end in time to get there before the show.
After the rehearsal, I stopped at Gelson’s again for a little evening snack – a tiny bit of Thai pasta salad and an even tinier bit of spaghetti with marina sauce – just about two ounces – that was surprisingly good, actually, so I may have more of that at some point next time I go there.
Then I watched the Mulholland Drive stuff and then the Halston documentary and now we’re all caught up.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, and the only work I’ll be doing is making a show order and starting to write commentary. Otherwise, I know a small package is arriving, so I’ll get that, then I’ll eat something calorie friendly, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
This week is very busy as I plan out the Group Rep cabaret show, begin the Kritzerland rehearsals, have some meetings and meals, then hopefully ship out all the Indiegogo stuff when the Tonight’s the Night CDs finally arrive on Wednesday.
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, make a show order, start writing commentary, hopefully pick up a package, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. 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 postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the kooky day has come to an end.