Well, dear readers, the singer aka Laura Wolfe’ show went really well – full house – friendly and appreciative and vocal crowd, and the act just played kind of perfectly. The young girl, aka Alexa Margolis, came through with flying colors and was adorable and the audience ate her up, and Cassie Nickols on piano was wonderful and I’m looking forward to working with her lots more. The chatter after the show was wonderful – everyone saying they’d had a great and grand time. Even though it was mostly her friends, we did have Robert Yacko, Doug Haverty, Karen Staitman, Kerry O’Malley, and a few others that are part of our merry troupe, so that was fun. My only slight disappointment was with the sound. It was perfect at sound check, but when you put in all those bodies, the sound occasionally gets absorbed and you have to raise the level, but that never happened – it would have been better if the sound had been slightly higher, but most people wouldn’t notice that stuff – my ears are very sensitive to that kind of thing. So, here’s the layout of the act, sans the patter and set-ups, but I think you’ll see there’s an easy-to-discern structure here.
The opener is Back in Business by my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim. It’s my arrangement from the Sondheim at the Movies album and Laura did all the tap stuff that we built into the song. The lyrics said everything we needed them to say, and she delivered it wonderfully. Song two was Journey to the Past from Anastasia – very pretty song that sets up everything that follows, plus it’s a smiler and I always want a smiler for song two. Then it was the MGM Medley, a put-together I did for the first iteration of her act ten years ago. It tells a little story through song – the patter is pretty clever in this one to get us from song to song. The songs are Wonderful, Wonderful Day, Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks. If, Too Late Now, and finally In Our United State. Then comes what I would call one of her signature numbers. She talks about auditioning and her height, which is a bit over 5’10”, and how she’d never land a part due to that. Then she sings Randy Newman’s Short People. We did it in her original act, and many times since. When I had her do it in a Kritzerland show, I added a bit where Peyton Kirkner skips in after the first verse – at the time, Peyton was super short. It was really funny, and it was equally funny with Alexa. Then it’s My Own Space from The Act. After that, we start a sequence about dating.
We do three numbers from my A Broadway Love Story album – it begins with Tonight at Eight, segues into Look at That Face, and then that leads directly into You’re Just in Love. Laura sings the first verse and after singing the final line, “I wonder why”, she asks Cassie, the pianist, if she knows why. Cassie has a funny line, then Alexa comes on saying she knows why. This little section contains several big laughs and then Alexa sings the counterpoint (the Ethel Merman part), and we have a couple of staging things that are really cute. Then they duet and it got a huge applause. I think Laura was nervous about doing the encore, so that didn’t happen, but it would have worked just fine. Then Alexa leaves and we close out the sequence with A Quiet Thing. Then comes I Want to Be a Rockette, which got a great reaction, then a funny song about auditioning called What’s Gonna Happen from the musical version of Tootsie – that landed very well. Then comes Not While I’m Around – prior to singing it she talks about helping raise her nephew Johnny from the time he was born – he’s nineteen now and he was there in the front row. She says that this song makes her think of him. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, including Johnny. Then it was a thing we call the Overdone Medley – cabaret songs that are so overdone by every cabaret singer. We did this ten years ago, but I switched up several songs to keep it current and it brought down the house. Very funny. Then it’s Thank You for the Music, the ABBA song, which she dedicates to her parents. And then it’s her closer, The Life I Never Led, which worked perfectly and got her a huge ovation. She leaves, but comes back quickly, does her thank yous, and encores with a simple, heartfelt Count Your Blessings. And that’s the show.
I had a chicken Caesar salad for food – it was okay – not very much food. But after the show, Robert Yacko and I went downstairs and I had a SMALL Caesar, a few pieces of garlic bread, and then a little slice of something called spumoni cake – it was pretty good, actually. Not much cake, but the ice cream just hit the spot. Oh, and here’s a photograph of adorable Alexa and less adorable ME.
Then I came home, took stuff out of the trunk, and closed the trunk. And now there seems to be yet another short in the failing electrical system, because the trunk light on the dashboard started blinking. I tried opening and closing the trunk several times, but it kept on blinking. I’m praying it doesn’t drain the battery, but the charger is here if it does. But I’m gonna have to go to my car place and see if they can fix it or disconnect it. But I suspect if we fix that, then something else will go. Very frustrating, but we’ll see how it is in the morning.
Prior to all that, I’d only gotten two hours of sleep, but managed to go back to bed, getting an additional four for six hours total. Once up, I just relaxed, then shaved and showered, went to the mail place and picked up a return, and then moseyed on over to Vitello’s for sound check. And the rest you know, and I feel it was a hugely successful evening.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hope that the motor car will start, I’ll do a Gelson’s run and get stuff for sandwiches, eat, I’ll go through the script for Doug’s play, and then at seven we have the first of our four rehearsals. This is the one where I think I actually have the full cast or most of the cast. So, it’s all blocking tonight, and I won’t even run scenes until I’ve set how everyone gets from area to area. I’ll keep it simple as can be. That goes three hours – if I have any time left, I’ll begin running scenes. Then I’ll come home and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same and I can’t remember if it’s our second rehearsal or if Wednesday is. Ah, it’s Wednesday. And Thursday. And then Saturday, and then we do the thing a week from today. And then it’s right into the next play.
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, hope the motor car will start, do a Gelson’s run, eat, have a rehearsal, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite novelty songs – you know, like Yes, We Have No Bananas, and Itsy Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy the act went amazingly well.