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December 20, 2021:

THE YEAR IN REVIEW, PART TWO

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, shall we have the year in review, part two? I think we should. We left off with my directing a little short play at the Group Rep. Soon thereafter, my friend David Wechter asked me to write a screenplay with him. He’d told me the idea some time ago, but he hadn’t gotten far with it and because we write well together, thought we should do it together. I said of course I’d do it, so we began to plot out the story over the course of the next few months. In July, we came back with our first live Kritzerland show since March of 2020. While we were very proud of our online shows and felt they were very influential, we were all chomping at the bit to get back to performing live with an audience. We had a nice crowd and boy was it fun to have actual reaction to the show. As soon as it was done, I began to plan for our eleventh anniversary show, which we did in September, and that was a load of fun, too. David and I kept plugging away and at some point, we began to split up the sequences – I wrote the first several and he wrote the second several. He picked up on stuff I’d done, and I did the same with his stuff. We knew this first go-through would be too long and it will be by about thirty pages, but I can already see where there’s repetition and fat, but we both feel it’s best to keep plowing ahead. Doug Haverty asked me to direct two back-to-back play readings – one of his plays and another by writer Bill Fitzhugh. I knew it would be daunting to do so, but I said yes because I knew Doug’s plan was to show the members how these should be done – lightly staged (and hopefully in a way that would illuminate the play but not bog it down with endless stage direction – in Doug’s play we read zero stage direction and no one had a problem understanding what was going on because I’d devised a way of staging his play that made everything very clear. Bill’s play was harder in that it had to move very quickly, and it was an out and out comedy – but with both shows, it was three three-hour rehearsals and then we did the reading. It certainly was exhilarating, and I think it did exactly what Doug was hoping it would do. Prior to doing these, members had been rehearsing these one-night staged readings for weeks – well, that’s not how it should work, especially in a theater that is as busy as they are. We also found out that we’d be bringing back L.A. Now and Then, this time to the Group Rep, as they’d gotten several grants to do it. That opens on April 1, 2022.

I also got contacted by some folks who have a company that releases films and makes streaming deals. The guy who got hold of me is a huge fan of The First Nudie Musical and wanted to know if it was available. I told him it was and he also wanted The Creature Wasn’t Nice, so we made a deal for them to handle both films for any theater showings, which is their intention, and then streaming services. So, that will get both films out there. Doug and I also made a deal to license A Carol Christmas, so that’s now available for productions and we’re hoping for some during next year’s holiday season. I also directed a fundraiser cabaret for the Group Rep. David and I continued writing and we’re more than halfway through now and hope to be through with the first draft before the end of the year. We did our annual Kritzerland holiday show, and I made the announcement that next year Kritzerland will be introducing a new series – a single musical score in concert, but in a very specific Kritzerland way. We’re very excited about that and the first of those happens the first Sunday in March. We’ll do four or five regular Kritzerland shows, and four of these concert things. I had a nice birthday, and while there was other stuff, including ongoing car issues, it was a very busy year, and I got a lot done.

Yesterday was supposed to be a ME day but it was anything but. I was up at eleven after seven hours of sleep, I answered e-mails, then moseyed on over to storage after first putting gas in the motor car. I dropped off what I had to drop off, and then I went directly to the Apple Store and bought the little plug thing so you can use the high-speed charger cable. Why the little plug doesn’t just come with the phone is anyone’s guess. Then it was on to the mail place to pick up a package, then I came home. I began the arduous task of forwarding all the Vincent Youmans and Vernon Duke orders to the helper so she can begin shipping on Tuesday morning – she picks up the CDs in the afternoon. I’ll be forwarding for another hour or two.

Then I shaved and showered and had a couple of hours to kill, so I watched a DGA screener entitled Belfast, written and directed by Kenneth Branagh about his childhood. Steven Spielberg is now making a film about his childhood, which sounds very much like Benjamin Kritzer – he was certainly sent the three books but who knows if he or anyone in his company actually read them. The big difference is that he liked his parents, and they were very supportive of him. It’s such a shame that no one has made films of the three Kritzer books. I think people would really like them. As to Belfast, people seem to love it, at least critics do – I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don’t think it’s any kind of a great movie. It looks good, the acting is very good and it’s certainly well directed.

After that, I moseyed on over to Vitello’s and met Robert Yacko there. We arrived just after they’d opened doors. For our shows, by the time they open the doors there’s usually quite a line as people come upstairs to enter. There was no one there when we arrived – only two tables had people at them. We chose our table and then people began arriving, although most of the audience didn’t really show up until an hour before the show, some even later than that. We ordered pretty quickly but were just about the last people to get their food, which was a little irritating. I had a Caesar salad with chicken and some garlic bread – very good. The show was Amanda McBroom, accompanied by Michele Brourman. Amanda is the real deal, the show was well put together, had a point and purpose, the show order worked, so we were in good hands and knew it right from the opening number. Most of the songs were hers – some written by herself, some with various writing partners, including Michele. Her penultimate number was Carousel from Jacques Brel, a show she did quite a bit with hubby George Ball. No one does it better. Her encore was, of course, The Rose. After, I had a nice chat with George and then Amanda. We all had so much fun when I recorded her show Heartbeats.

I came right home after the show. I caught up on e-mails and then it was time to write these here notes.

Today, I’ll be up by ten, and then I’m lunching with dear reader Jeanne at noon o’clock on her side of the hill. Then I’ll come right home, do some banking, hopefully pick up some packages, choose more songs for the January Kritzerland and get stuff to the kids who’ll be singing them, do some writing, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same. I may take the motor car in tomorrow morning, but I’m thinking maybe I should wait until right after Christmas, as I won’t need to go many places at that point. More writing, more song choosing, and then we do our annual Christmas Eve Do on Christmas Eve, which is the best time to do a Christmas Eve Do.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, lunch, bank, hopefully pick up packages, choose songs, write, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are plans for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have looked at the year in review, part two.

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