Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Hilary Hahn play the beautiful Mendelssohn violin concerto. I hereby confess to being woefully ignorant about Hilary Hahn, other than having heard her name and seeing stuff on Amazon come up when searching certain things. But this five-CD The Complete Sony Recordings set has set me straight and I’m now a devoted fan and want to get her other recordings, which are many. These first five were at the beginning of her career – the first CD and album I haven’t heard yet, because it’s solo violin doing Bach and while I’ll listen to it, solo violin is really not my thing. But the interesting thing is, she was a mere seventeen when she made that album and it got raves for both her technique and playing. Her second album, the Beethoven concerto coupled with Bernstein’s Serenade was made the following year when she was eighteen – and it’s a superb disc and she’s wonderful in both pieces. But it’s her third album, the Barber concerto coupled with a piece written for her by Edgar Meyer, that shows her not just as a prodigiously talented youth with extraordinary tone, technique, and control, but as an impressive interpretive artist, as well. There have been quite a few recordings of the Barber, a wonderful concerto. My go-to has always been the Isaac Stern/Bernstein on Columbia, an absolutely wonderful performance. But I found Hilary Hahn’s performance more moving, and I listened to it twice in a row – there’s just something so absolutely right about it. The fourth disc is Brahms and Stravinsky, and both are simply terrific. Finally, we get the Mendelssohn, which is gorgeous, and then a fantastic performance of the Shostakovich. She was twenty-two when she made that album. Prior to that, I did manage to watch a motion picture on the Firestick – Amazon Prime – Die Hard 2. I didn’t think I’d seen any of the sequels, and I hadn’t, or at least not the first of them. Well, it was terrible, save for Mr. Willis and Bonnie Bedelia. Everything that worked in the first film doesn’t work here. Louder and bigger are not better, the villains here are no fun at all, unlike Mr. Alan Rickman in the first film, and coincidences of certain people from the first film just happening to be where they are is just ludicrous. Blame must go to the screenwriters, one of whom co-wrote the first film, and majorly so to the director, Renny Harlin – I have never liked a single Renny Harlin film – they’re all the same and they’re all terrible. There are three more sequels and I’m debating whether to watch any of them – they’re all free on Prime. At least the third one has Jeremy Irons, but the people who make these sequels make them for all the wrong reasons and forget why the original film was such a big hit. It doesn’t help that they mostly made a lot of money, so quality obviously is of no concern to the people who love these things no matter how bad they are. That was pretty much my evening.
Yesterday was a short but okay day. I got eleven hours of sleep, so that was really good, and one more night of good sleep will put me back on track, in terms of my energy level. Once up, I finished reading the play, which is a bit long and a bit repetitious at times, but also very funny. It’s kind of a real throwback to the absurdist plays of the early 1960s – things like Arnold Weinstein’s Red Eye of Love and Kopit’s Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad. The trick with these kinds of plays is all in the pacing and keeping it moving along very quickly.
Then I went to Taco Bell for food – and amongst the items I got was their new crispy chicken taco thing, basically white meat chicken in a soft taco with chipotle sauce. I came home and tried that first – and I was completely surprised at just how tasty it was. Then I ate my crunchy tacos and that was that. I’ll have that chicken thing again, for sure. It’s also VERY calorie friendly, only 290 calories.
I did some work on the computer, then had a casting conversation with Doug Haverty – we came up with all but one person for the absurdist play, so he’ll reach out to those people – if they can do it (not much of a commitment – just three short rehearsals and a one-night staged reading) then we just need to find one more person. And we came up with all but three people for Doug’s play – and he’s suggested two of those three missing people, but I don’t know them at all, so want to read them via Zoom and make sure I think we can work together.
Then I watched the sequel thing, after which I began listening to the remainder of the Hilary Hahn set – interrupted by a brief conversation with the musical director of the singer’s act, just to talk through a few things. I had a bagel for my snack, and for a sweet I had my new obsession, chocolate covered Chocolate Dips Very Cherry jellybeans from Jelly Belly, which make me very cheery. I discovered these about six weeks ago and I just love them. I have found of late that my tummy is not doing well with any kind of frosting on cake or that kind of thing, and I can’t do frozen yogurt – it’s just not digesting well. But these Jelly Belly things are fine and so are a few other things. I also can’t handle donuts right now – and that’s mostly the chocolate icing or the apple fritter kind of thing. Here’s a photograph of this new Jelly Belly treat. I’m sure the minute I post these here notes, that they’ll be sold out the next time I’m there.
Give ‘em a try – they’re simply divoon. And that was pretty much it.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hear about the casting as to whether people can or can’t do it, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something light but fun, I’ll set some more rehearsals with the singer, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same – another Zoom session with David Wechter, meetings and meals, working with Kerry O’Malley, a going away partay, and then seeing Kerry’s duo act thing.
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, hear about casting, hopefully pick up packages, eat, set rehearsals, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite male Broadway singers, from then to now? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have shared the new Jelly Belly Very Cherry chocolate covered jelly beans with everyone far and wide, as well as wide and far, especially wide.