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July 28, 2021:

THE RETURN OF THE KRITZERLAND LIVE SHOWS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, we had a fun stumble-through yesterday and I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to all be together and to hear us do the show live after a year-and-a-half since our last live show in March of 2020. The show order worked perfectly, the songs are really fun and so eclectic – some really rare stuff in this show. And our cast is so great – Daniel Bellusci, Jason Graae, Sharon McNight, Adrienne Stiefel, Mary VanArsdel, and Robert Yacko, along with Richard Allen at the piano. As you know, we all love the stumble-through day, where we just perform for ourselves. There were just a few rough spots, so we went over those at the end, but all in all, it went very well and frankly I prefer the rough spots on the stumble-through day rather than on show day. And now, I am sitting here like so much fish listening to music, namely Titanic, the cast album. I haven’t heard this thing since the day it came out. And hearing it now, all these years later I remember why. It’s one of the deadest-sounding albums I’ve ever heard, the polar opposite of the Goddard Lieberson cast albums on Columbia, the gold standard as far as I’m concerned. But the sound on this is very typical of the producer, who usually produces for his own label. The vocals are dead, the band is far away and dead, and the sound is mastered very low, which doesn’t help. The sad part is that most people simply don’t care, and they certainly don’t understand the difference between the classic Columbia sound and this. As to the score, Mr. Yeston can write an attractive tune, but his lyrics can be so ordinary at times and excellent at other times. Some of the tunes in Titanic are attractive, especially No Moon, which we’re doing in our show, but boy are some of the lyrics pedestrian. And a lot of them are what I call statement or declamatory lyrics, my least favorite kind of show lyrics, but something that happens in most shows today. I saw an early preview of the show, when they were in utter chaos and turmoil both technically and show-wise. It’s shocking that Peter Stone wrote the book for this – there’s no character development – they’re just types with one beat to play. When I saw it, Jonathan Tunick, who is notoriously slow, hadn’t orchestrated several songs, and I know they were putting in new songs like crazy – I think one spot had three or four songs within a week. Everyone who saw the early previews could never have imagined that they’d open to respectful reviews. I’m sure it got better or smoother as they played their previews, and ultimately it played over 800 performances, if I remember correctly. Not a runaway hit, but not terrible. It had a national tour, too, and many productions around the world. In any case, all I remember from the preview, other than loving Jennifer Piech as an Irish lass (I would hire her instantly to sing on a few albums), was the derisive laughter of the audience. I’m sure that the James Cameron Titanic film opening six months later was helpful in getting people into the theater because of the Titanic mania. I do like the Tunick orchestrations very much – I just wish you could actually hear them better.

We now interrupt these here notes to bring you the latest news: I just this very minute received an e-mail from some class action lawsuit I guess I belonged to – a huge class action lawsuit against Apple – Grace vs. Apple – some Facetime issue. Apple settled for eighteen million. I think this is the first time I’ve been part of a class action thing, so with eighteen million, I’m set, baby, right? And you retrieve the check online and print it out – easy, breezy and just in the nick of time. So, what is my take of the eighteen MILLION dollars? $3.06. You can’t even have a filet o’ fish sandwich for that money. But I printed out my check because, why not? And now we return you to the notes.

Yesterday was an okay day but a bit stressful, too, due to all those large bills that got paid at the worst time. I got up at one after nine hours of needed sleep. I relaxed, shaved, showered, and then it was time for our stumble-through, which you know about. After the stumble-through, I went and got two count them two In-N-Out cheeseburgers, came home and ate them – excellent. And under 900 calories. I had some chips with them. I wasn’t in the mood to watch anything, so I finessed the commentary and printed that out and got everything ready that I bring to the show. Then I listened to music and now playing is the cast album of She Loves Me. It starts off rough, recording-wise, as if they were still getting the band blend and they couldn’t go back to do another take. Once we’re into the songs, it’s better. No, the producer isn’t Goddard Lieberson – the MGM engineers weren’t as good as the Sony engineers, and they hadn’t done a lot of cast albums – Whoop-Up and Carnival – those are two I remember pre She Loves Me. Oh, and off-Broadway’s The Fantasticks and The Threepenny Opera, neither of which sound great. But even as rough as some of She Loves Me as a recording is, it’s one hundred times better than the Titanic album – it’s alive, it has space, the way cast albums should be.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, and them I’m just relaxing and resting my voice. I have on errand to do, but that’s it. Then I’ll mosey on over to Vitello’s for our sound check, and then we do our show at eight o’clock. I think we’ll have a nice crowd. I’m hoping for five or ten more people to come last-minute, but even if it’s what we have it’s almost full to the 60% of capacity seating. After the show, I’m sure some of us will go downstairs and have a proper meal. I will, of course, have a full report for you.

Tomorrow, I’ll sleep in for sure, but then I have to go to storage to sign the Tonight’s the Night CD booklets. The CDs finally came yesterday so we have them. Once I sign the booklets, we can finally get all this Indiegogo stuff on its way, plus the handful of orders for the Tonight’s the Night Blu-ray and CD combo. Then I have to rehearse with our cast replacement – yes, the extension was voted down, and then they re-thought that decision so it’s on again. But I won’t allow our playlet to be done unless I feel it’s up to the standard I want. So, I’ll have to work with our actress a few times. I don’t think I’ll see the show this weekend. And I have to start planning the Group Rep cabaret, although that’s being pushed two weeks due to the extension.

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, relax and rest my voice, do one small errand, do a sound check, do our show, have a meal, and then have a full report. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, so happy to have the return of the Kritzerland live shows.

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