Well, dear readers, I’m happy to say that having gotten “THAT” rehearsal out of the way, yesterday’s rehearsal, our first time running without any stops with our pianist, and only her third time with us, could not have gone better. Only a few nitpicky things to adjust. The singer did great, the patter all worked really well, the structure of the show couldn’t be better, and the songs all tell stories. The young girl did perfectly, and the pianist is wonderful and will, in fact, be playing the January Kritzerland show, which is the all young person show – she’s worked with kids before and understands that deal, so that will be fun. Lots of laughs in the show, some heart, some lovely ballads, and I think we all knew how well it had gone right from the start right through to the finish. So, that was a good thing and what everyone needed. We began by running the duet as a kind of warm-up, which I think we’ll do today and tomorrow, as well. Gets everyone in the right frame of mind. Then we went over the order with the pianist, just to make sure we’d told her all the little changes we’ve made, so that when we ran it, we wouldn’t have to stop. I’ve given her quite a few little bits in the show and she’s really fun when she does them. I felt no need to run it a second time. After that, I made two yummilicious sausage, peppers, and onion sandwiches, my first time making such a thing. I did it on the stovetop – first cooking the sausages in a bit of oil. When those were done, I put them on some paper towels to get excess oil off of them and I dumped the red peppers and onions in the leftover oil and cooked them. Then I put the whole thing on the rolls and here was the result.
Nifty, huh? And I must tell you, they were absolutely incredible, and I wolfed them down. They were very filling, and I am, in fact, still full from them. The two sandwiches were approximately 900 calories. And then I watched You Only Live Twice, the fifth James Bond film. Everything I was disappointed in with Thunderball is tripled in You Only Live Twice. The ONLY upside of the film is that it’s ten minutes shorter than Thunderball. The downside is that it seems an hour longer. The plot is stupid, the writing by the usually great writer Roald Dahl is terrible, Mr. Connery looks bored most of the time, is heavier, doesn’t wear his wardrobe well, and the toupee has gotten even worse. Too much plot and too silly, too many sets, too many gadgets (something From Russia and Goldfinger did not overdo) and too loud. The John Barry score is lovely, as is the title song sung by Nancy Sinatra. It was a hit but not as big as Thunderball, but again, audiences just walked in to love it no matter what. The other issue is that by 1965 the market had been saturated with rip-offs and terrible ones at that. While the first three films looked pretty good, both Thunderball and You Only Live Twice are spotty transfers and while it’s said they were done from the camera negatives, I’m not sure that’s true except for the first three. The color is off for most, but not all, of it – same with Thunderball. Next up will be what has become a lot of people’s favorite Bond film ever – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. I only remember that very few liked it at all, but somehow over the years it’s just gained in reputation. I’ve never cared for it much, but it will be fun to see it again. I did go through all these films back in 2012 when this set came out, but boy do we need some new transfers on the films after Goldfinger. I’m sure that a 4K box will be coming at some point. This time, I’ll try to get through some of the Roger Moore films, several of which I’ve never been able to sit through. And I’ll be interested to see if I still hate the Daniel Craig Casino Royale film as much as I did the first time around. And now, I’m listening to a very good performance of the Bruckner 8 conducted by Otmar Suitner – I like this performance better than any I’ve heard so far, but Bruckner remains someone I’m not quite used to yet. I have all the symphonies done by Eugen Jochum, but I’m not in love with any of those performance, so maybe I need to seek out others.
Prior to all that, I’d slept about eight-and-a-half hours. Once up, I answered e-mails, and then got read for our rehearsal. Right after we finished, I did a quick Gelson’s run to get the red pepper and the rolls, which were conveniently called “sausage rolls.” And that was all the news that was fit to print and to print to fit.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, which won’t be much, and then I’ll get ready for our dress rehearsal at four-thirty. We’ll probably have about ten people here for that, and that will be very helpful. After the rehearsal, I’ll give whatever small notes I may have, and then, if no one wants food, I’ll decide on what to eat and then I’ll eat it. Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, we have our sound check at four, then we eat at five-thirty, and then we do the show. I’ll be sitting with our very own Karen Staitman and Robert Yacko, so our table will be most jovial and there’s something to be said for joviality in all its jovialness. I will, of course, have a full report. This coming week is very busy, starting on Monday night – three rehearsals for the reading of Doug Haverty’s play, one on the weekend, and then we do it on November 1 and that’s followed immediately by another play reading I’m doing, so it will be more than a little nuts for the next two weeks, and I have to announce two more titles at some point soon.
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, have a dress rehearsal, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What classical composer who’s extremely well-known and loved have you never been able to get with? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we had us a terrific rehearsal and that we finally have our pianist, and more importantly, that I made my very own sausage, peppers, and onion sandwich.