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January 31, 2022:

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CASTING

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I’m not quite sure how to tell all of you this, but today is the final day of January. How did this happen? Wasn’t it just the first day of January? This month has flown by, like a gazelle with food poisoning. Being that this is the final day of January, it would follow that tomorrow is the first day of February and it is my fervent hope and prayer that February will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. And speaking of beautiful, I am sitting here like so much overtired fish, listening to the spectacularly beautiful Pelleas et Melisande by Gabriel Faure. If you’ve never heard this music, you are in for a real treat. Prior to that, I attempted to watch one of those tacky Liam Neeson thrillers and didn’t make it past the credits due to falling asleep. But I just kept waking up, falling asleep, waking up – too dreary, so I finally shut the damn thing off as I had not a clew as to what I was watching in terms of plot.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I only got six hours of sleep – that wasn’t so interesting. Once up, I had to shave and shower and then be on my way to a casting session at the Group Rep for our upcoming production of L.A. Now and Then. We had about ten people audition, which seems to be the usual turnout for anything we do that’s a musical. But thankfully several people are right for the show and gave very good auditions, so that was good. More auditions this coming Saturday plus I’m going to start looking outside the company because clearly we need to do so. I’m reaching out to a couple of original cast members. I was surprised to see that the fourteen-person cast wasn’t split evenly with seven males/seven females. We had eight females and six males. And that’s good, because for whatever reasons it’s just really hard to find excellent men who are willing to do a 99-seat show. But we’re well on the road with the females, so that’s good. Our own Daniel Bellusci would be perfect for the show, but he’s working full time right now and so it’s not feasible. Thankfully, I didn’t fall asleep during anyone’s audition.

After that, I came right home, answered e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, and caught up on a few things and then it was time to have an early dinner meeting, so I moseyed on over to Stanley’s to do that very thing. They have a “specials” menu along with the regular menu, so I tried something new, which is very unusual for me. Chicken pot pie, which came with a small side Caesar salad. I really enjoyed it – the pot pie’s crust was fantastic, but the innards were a little bland until I salted ‘em up, after which they were excellent innards of chicken pot by. The Innards Were a Little Bland – that’s the title of my next novel, a tale of surgical imprecision and gaiety. What the HELL am I talking about.

Anyway, the early dinner meeting was fun, mostly about this event I have to go to in April – a David Cassidy thing in Las Vegas where I’m one of the guest speakers. I’ll be there for three days, which I’m not thrilled about, but I actually don’t arrive until after six on the first day, the second day is off and I’m being taken to dinner and I know some folks in Vegas so will probably have some visits, then the third day is the event followed by a banquet. I’ll get the last flight back to the Bank of Bur that night.

Then I stopped at K’s Donuts and got a chocolate muffin, came home, ate it, did a few things on the computer, tried to watch the Liam Neeson thriller to no avail, and here we are.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope (the most important envelope came on Saturday, thankfully), I’ll eat something (probably tuna sandwiches), I may Zoom with David Wechter, but what I really need to do is rest and catch up on sleep. In the evening, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same, writing on the project with David Wechter because we have to finish this thing and a week has gone by with no work – he’s doing the next sequence and is hung up on some technical details – I told him to just write and not worry about that stuff because we can change whatever need be changed, but he really needs to do it his way. For me, I would have just barrelled on because when you lose the momentum it’s really hard to get it back. But we’ll mush on. I’ll continue doing prep work on L.A. Now and Then – we’re making a folder for the cast with all the charts and stuff – some meetings and meals and whatever else needs doing.

Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the Turkey Trot, for today is the birthday of dear reader Michael Shayne. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader Michael Shayne. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER MICHAEL SHAYNE!!!

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, hopefully pick up packages and an important envelope, eat, maybe Zoom, rest, catch up on sleep, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What do you think about today’s up and coming actors and their attitudes about themselves and the business. I find some young people are very focused and committed and dedicated, but many of today’s crop of actors are so entitled and attitude laden that I simply would never want to work with them. I will never understand actors whose dream it is to get a Broadway show, and then miss performance after performance because they need an off day or they have this to do or that to do. Nothing used to keep a Broadway actor off the stage – they performed unless they were so sick they couldn’t. They didn’t miss because they sneezed or had a headache or because their friend was in town visiting. I’ve never seen anything like what goes on today, but as soon as the people in charge allow it, then everyone takes advantage. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we were able to fill some rolls on our first day of casting.

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