Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the Bruckner fourth symphony – I’ve been going through all his symphonies as I’ve never totally gotten with them. But this time through, I’m enjoying them a bit more than before, but this happens sometimes – the more you hear something, the more familiar it becomes, and your ears get used to it. It doesn’t always happen, but with certain things it absolutely does. There are some very catch melodies in the first symphony and the fourth – not as much in the second and third. I’m listening to Eugen Jochum’s first symphony cycle – he did a later one, but I remember not liking it as much, especially sound-wise. Prior to that, we had our first rehearsal for the play reading that happens next Monday. Doug Haverty specifically wanted me to direct the first two, the reason being to show the company what could be accomplished with only a handful of rehearsals. They’ve been doing readings for years, but several folks have abused the process by rehearsing a long time, sometimes as much as an actual play production, and that’s not what a staged reading is supposed to be about. Doug’s play is a memory play, so I had to figure out how best to make what he wrote have clarity in terms of what’s taking place where, so that no one is confused. I knew I didn’t want any entrances and exits, so I figured out how I wanted the stage set up – we’re using only black chairs. There are five playing areas, so I set up two chairs in each area in a staggered way, and then two additional chairs in back of the other chairs, the two additional chairs facing upstage. So, when people aren’t in a scene, they’re sitting in the chairs facing upstage. It makes the flow seamless from one scene to another. We began right at seven and I staged the entire play in two-and-a-half hours. I obviously kept everything simple, but it works fine and is very smooth. I wanted to get all that done because until ninety minutes before doing it, I won’t have the full company again. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday we work the scenes, and I’ll have more than half the cast on Sunday and can at least work their transitions. And in the ninety minutes before we do the show, I’ll run the beginnings and ends of each scene to make sure all the transitions are right, fast, and smooth. And when we work the scenes, I’ll have plenty of time to get everyone on the same page, as it were, in terms of energy and the internal pacing of scenes, and to finesse the performances as much as possible. The cast is very good, and we all had fun and it was all very relaxed. We had one more hour booked, but I let everyone go because I feel their time will be better spent getting as familiar with the material as they can.
After rehearsal, I stopped at the Studio City Gelson’s and got some turkey, provolone, a tomato, lettuce, and an onion, then came home. I made two small turkey sandwiches on the remaining sausage rolls. They were very good – probably the equivalent of eating a footlong Subway turkey sandwich.
Yesterday wasn’t such a bad day. I got a little over eight hours of sleep. It was pouring rain outside, so that was a nice change of pace, weather-wise. As you know, I figured I’d have a dead battery, but I was delighted to find that the motor car started right up – and now, I’m pretty sure that that blinking light has always been there, showing that the alarm system is working. I went to Gelson’s, intending to get what I ended up getting later, but the deli counter had only one person working and too many people waiting. So, I just got their cheese enchiladas thing, came home, heated it up, and ate it – it was pretty okay but not filling at all. I did a few things on the computer, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched the return of Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever. The movie actually starts off very well – Connery looks better, his toupee is better, and he doesn’t look bored at all – he looks fit and like he’s having fun. Unfortunately, the 155-minutes that follows is the worst of the Connery films. It’s a real shame, but the screenplay is a dud, and it’s the worst cast Connery Bond, with only a few exceptions. All the American actors are awful in this – not always their fault because the dialogue is so pedestrian, but Jill St. John is embarrassing, as is Lana Wood, and all the American gangsters. Most embarrassing of all is the total sub-high school performance of Mr. Jimmy Dean. It’s shocking, actually. It also doesn’t help that it’s the worst transfer in terms of color. What a sad ending to the Connery Bonds. He does come back one more time as Bond, but not for EON and the regular franchise, and that one is also awful – Never Say Never Again. The John Barry title tune is great, but it’s his least effective score for the Connery series. Now, I have to decide if I’m going to endure the Roger Moore series, some of which I’ve never seen.
After that, I showered, and then moseyed on over to the theater. Oh, and I booked my Moderna booster shot for November 3 at ten-thirty in the evening at a nearby jernt. The rest you know, and you know the rest.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll eat something, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and envelopes, I have a Zoom thing with David Wechter in the afternoon, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and Thursday are rehearsals in the evenings, Friday can be a ME day, not sure what’s what on Saturday, there’s a four-hour rehearsal on Sunday, and then we do the reading on Monday.
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, eat, hopefully pick up packages and envelopes, have a Zoom thing, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: When was the very first time you got on the thing called the Internet aka World Wide Web, and what did you do that very first time? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping we can pull off this play reading successfully, so that we establish this template on how to do them.