Well, dear readers, I have had a few tortilla chips with salsa for my evening snack and now I am listening to the Brahms symphonies, all four conducted by the wonderful William Steinberg with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the recordings he did on 35mm for Command. Sound is excellent and Steinberg is one of my favorite conductors and his work in this cycle is right up there with the best of ‘em. And, of course, the symphonies are brilliant and tuneful. Prior to that, we had our rehearsal. We lost a cast member yesterday and so a lot of rehearsal was dealing with that – fortunately, our wonderful swing knows all her stuff and stepped right in. The biggest issue was switching back to a guy for the number I’d given this girl, but it’s the new guy and he’ll be really fun. We ran about half of act one, then I worked on the long female monologue, and then with an hour left, I staged one of the new songs – it came out really well, I think, and the cast had fun doing it and even making suggestions. We thought we’d gotten mats for the wrestling scene from a friend of someone’s but they’re the wrong size – we need four by eight mats and these seemed more like three by six. I think we’re going to have to purchase them and that best happen quickly. But things are coming along, I just wish all the drama would stop and that we could just be a little further along than we are.
Yesterday was a completely wacko day. I’d set the alarm for eleven-thirty, which would have gotten me eight hours of sleep. Unfortunately, the alarm did not go off and I slept until almost two-thirty – eleven whopping hours of sleep, which completely messed up the chance to get anything done. Once up, I got the e-mail about the cast member and had to deal with all that BS, I ordered a salad from Stanley’s, the chopped salad, because they usually get it here within fifteen minutes. Not yesterday – yesterday took thirty-five minutes. Then I had to shave, the salad arrived, and I wolfed it down, answered other e-mails, Grant sent me the book in its initial design, but I can’t even proof it until he makes the proper chapter and page layouts because everything will change, page-wise and where things break. I told him I could come over and that part wouldn’t take more than thirty minutes. Hopefully, that will happen soon and soon that will happen hopefully.
Then I got ready and then moseyed over to the mail place, where there were a couple of packages waiting – small ones. Then I went to rehearsal. The stage was taped out and they even had risers placed where they should be, but in their attempt not to have to take down the fake back wall so we can go to the real back wall, they moved everything downstage so far that there’s no room to do the dances properly. So, we pushed it all upstage and they’ll have to figure the rest out when they’re there on Saturday. After rehearsal, I stopped at Gelson’s and got some more salsa and chips, then came home and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up but not later than eleven – too much stuff to do. I’ll try and be in bed by two. I’ll do some writing, I’ll eat something, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, then we have our rehearsal. I’ll continue running act one from where we left off, then move on to act two. We’ll go as far as we can until about nine-fifteen, then we’ll let everyone go but the four people who are doing the second new song that requires staging. After that, I can relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same – we’ll finish act two and then run as much as we can. Friday we’re off and then Saturday we have our six-hour rehearsal, and we can get a lot done and drill stuff over and over. Sunday and Monday are off, then we’re back rehearsing on Tuesday and without one cast member for next week’s four rehearsals – I’ve got to have her up to speed by then. Our swing will then cover her track for those four days.
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 but not later than eleven, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages, have a rehearsal, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hope we’ve had enough with the wacko days.