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October 24, 2021:

THE DRESS REHEARSAL

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, we had us a lovelier than lovely dress rehearsal for the singer’s cabaret act – the singer being our very own Laura Wolfe, all 5’10” of her. We had about twelve people in attendance, mostly friends of hers, and it all went swimmingly, I must say and have said and may say again if the fancy strikes me. Of course, if the fancy strikes me, I shall strike it right back because why should I let the fancy get away with that? Where was I? Oh, yes, the cabaret act. The singer, aka Laura, was on top of everything and it all jelled really well – she was spontaneous-sounding (even though everything is scripted), she sounded great, she got all her laughs, and the structure of the act just works like a dream because it tells a story and every song plays into that story, which is, of course, what you want and yet what so few acts do correctly. Our pianist, Cassie Nickols is terrific – just the kind of accompanist a cabaret singer needs – always there, always supportive, and giving the singer complete comfort. The pianist is always one of the most important decisions you can make, and we had a VERY difficult time finding someone we felt totally comfortable with. But thanks to a Robert Yacko recommendation, Cassie came to us and that was a good thing. I’m hoping this is the start of a great working relationship. The young girl – the young girl being Alexa Margolis – did great and is cute as a button – well, I don’t find buttons all that cute, so she’s cuter than a button. I’ve meant to time the act every time we run it and yet I’ve forgotten each time, but I think it’s probably a little over an hour. Whatever it is, if feels right and very balanced. I had only a few notes, very nitpicky stuff. Seeing it with an audience showed me I needed to adjust one small bit involving the young girl, aka Alexa, just adding a beat that was missing – my fault for not catching it earlier, but I knew it because the laugh that’s usually there (this is a song and bit we’ve done at Kritzerland) wasn’t there because the beat was missing. A very easy fix – we ran it, and the beat made the bit perfect. Alexa, I must tell you, really takes direction well and so, for that matter, does Laura. We all felt really good about it.

Afterwards, the young girl, aka Alexa, and her mom, aka Sheri, and I, aka me, went over to Stanley’s for some fine food. I tried to be good and failed to be good – I had the pasta dish I love with chicken, broccoli, red onions, and cashews – it was superb as always and I was a member of the clean plate brigade, as always. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the next James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It’s amazing to me how, long after its release, that so many people NOW consider it the best Bond film. That certainly was NOT the impression when originally released. First, you have George Lazenby, in his one and only appearance as Bond. He’s not as bad as some of the reviews made out, but he’s not so good either. He has none of the wryness of Connery and certainly none of the danger. The best casting in the film is Diana Rigg, but she disappears after her first scenes and isn’t back until the final thirty minutes or so. Blofeld always, for me, worked better unseen and voiced by Eric Pohlmann. Telly Savalas is okay but that’s not really enough. The lady who plays what I call the Lotte Lenya role is no Lotte Lenya. The script is fine and faithful to the novel, but it goes on way too long at two-hours-and-twenty minutes with too many snow chases and other chases and then scenes in the chalet with the girls that seem interminable. Since the director is first-timer Peter Hunt, who’d edited all the previous films, you’d think he would have been more brutal with himself about cutting the run time down, but alas, after the flabby Thunderball and You Only Live Twice perhaps they’d all lost sense of what made From Russia With Love and Goldfinger so great. The best thing about the film is John Barry’s score, which along with Goldfinger is probably the finest of all his Bond scores. There are excellent sequences in the film, but in the end, I could never call this my favorite Bond film or even my second favorite Bond film. It’s hard to play the guessing game of how Connery would have been, especially after his bored performance in You Only Live Twice, but I think we actually have that answer in the next film, Diamonds Are Forever, in which he returns to the role.

Prior to all that, I’d gotten just under eight hours of sleep. I answered e-mails, did some work on the computer, and then shaved and showered and then it was time for the cast and pianist to arrive. We ran the duet as a warm-up, and then our audience arrived and the rest you know. And now, I’m doing my level-headed best to get with the symphonies of Mr. Anton Bruckner, beginning with the first. I have several cycles of the complete symphonies and am listening to the first of the Eugen Jochum-conducted ones – he did a second cycle, which some prefer and which I think I’ll revisit. And then I have both Gunter Wand cycles, but I remember not caring for either that much.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll relax, then be on my way to sound check at Vitello’s, but first stopping at the mail place to pick up some package – I have no idea what it is because I don’t think I have any outstanding orders, but who knows – could be something I pre-ordered a while back. We shall see. We’ll do our sound check, and then I’ll be joined by Karen Staitman and Robert Yacko for dinner. Doug Haverty, who was at the dress rehearsal and who loved every minute of Laura’s show, is going to try and make it tonight so he can see it again. I will, of course, have a full report for you and will reveal the song list.

Tomorrow, we begin our brief rehearsals for the reading of Doug’s play. I think we rehearse tomorrow night, Tuesday night, Friday night, and one of the weekend days – then we do the reading a week from tomorrow. I think we only have our full cast tomorrow night, so that doesn’t make things easy, but we’ll get through it. I also have a lot of other stuff to do, and I shall do it.

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, pick up some package that’s waiting for me, do a sound check, eat, and then we do our show. 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 topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a lovely dress rehearsal.

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