Well, dear readers, we had us a truly fun first show for the Group Rep cabaret benefit. About forty people – always surprised that it’s not more – but they were a great audience. The singers all did splendidly – a few lyric fumfers, but they were covered and I’m not sure anyone was even aware of them. Since I haven’t mentioned the songs we’re doing, here’s how the show laid out: I opened with my song Opening Numbers. Then it was It’s a Perfect Relationship from Bells Are Ringing, followed by a wonderful Billy Goldenberg and the Bergmans song called If I Close My Eyes, which was from the movie Up the Sandbox, starring Barbra Streisand, then we had In My Own Little Corner from Cinderella, followed by My Defenses are Down from Annie Get Your Gun. After that, it was the super cute song Rhode Island is Famous for You by Dietz and Schwartz, then No Moon from Titanic, and When You’re Good to Mama from Chicago. The final three for act one were I Won’t Send Roses from Mack and Mabel, A Giant Step, written especially for the Tommy Tune revival of Bye Bye Birdie and then also used in the TV version with Jason Alexander, and finally 100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man. Act two began with Ooh, My Feet from The Most Happy Fella, then it was Guido’s Song from Nine and Agony from Into the Woods. Then Think of the Time I Save from The Pajama Game, Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like from The Will Rogers Follies, then our mystery guest’s song, What’ll You Do (mystery guest being Sharon McNight), then the Agony reprise, followed by Sue Me from Guys and Dolls, the title song from She Loves Me, If He Walked Into My Life from Mame, and our closer, Thank You for the Music by ABBA. I chose each song for each performer to show them off as best as possible and it really worked out well. Lots of laughs, hefty applause throughout, the commentary was fun and got its laughs, and everything ran smoothly, tech-wise. There are a few things to smooth out in the commentary and some small notes for a few people, but I was really pretty happy with the entire evening and the show structure played like a dream. After the show, there was a dessert buffet, which everyone seemed to love – I did not partake, oh, no, I did not partake. But we had such loverly comments from everyone – they really loved the evening. Didn’t go out after the show – too tired – so I went to In-N-Out for a cheeseburger and animal fries, which I came home and devoured whilst continuing listening to all the Shostakovich string quartets – not that big a fan of string quartets, but these are all pretty wonderful as played by the Fitzwilliam Quartet in superbly recorded sound.
Yesterday was a fine day, I suppose. I got a little over eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, printed out the commentary and got everything ready, went to Gelson’s and got a small chicken Caesar salad, came home and ate that to tide me over, listened to music, relaxed and rested my voice, shaved and showered, then moseyed on over to the theater for sound check. That took awhile, then the house opened and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I’ll relax and rest my voice, eat something very light to tide me over until after the show, and I will be going out after the show, I can assure you. Then I’ll shave and shower and mosey on over to the theater for sound check for show two. Then we do our second show, which will also be followed by a dessert buffet. I will, of course, have a full report.
Tomorrow, I will be working on the Kritzerland anniversary show, choosing songs, getting singers their music, trying to get us at least one fun guest star (everyone seems to be magically out of town or leaving town the day of the show – funny how that happens), I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. The rest of the week is more of the same, meetings and meals, and then hopefully a relaxing weekend.
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, relax and rest my voice, eat something light to tide me over until the show, shave and shower, mosey on over to the theater, have a sound check to check sound, do our second show, and then go have a proper meal after the show. Today’s topic of discussion: Who were your favorite cartoon characters from the Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a truly fun first show.