Well, dear readers, we played our second performance last night and it was terrific any way you slice it. Sound, band, cast, projections, lighting – all worked. Pace was fantastic. We had a smallish but good audience – I wish there was some way this theater could have great first weekend crowds, but with every show I’ve been involved with and every show I’ve seen, the first weekend’s always tough. The only time that wasn’t the case was my first show there, Dial ‘M’ for Murder. That had decent-sized houses the first weekend. But this is a title that no one knows so it’s going to take word of mouth to get those bigger houses – that said, we did have a pretty big opening night house. But the folks who were there loved the show, and those folks included two South Pacific luminaries, Miss Barbara Luna and the incandescent France Nuyen. It was really fun to have them there and they were delightful. I’d met France before, when I was signing at one of the Ray Courts celebrity shows – she was there with John Kerr and we spent some nice time chatting. Afterwards, Doug Haverty and I went to the Coral Café for food. I hadn’t eaten all day, so I had a patty melt and fries and took home a small slice of cheesecake for dessert. Very good. It’s funny to me how things have changed here in LA in terms of going out after shows. When I was an actor and did theater here, we always went out after the show for some dessert or fries or something. Now, no one seems to do it anymore. The food was excellent, and we had nice conversation. Otherwise, I’m sitting here like so much fish, taking a break from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Mozart – almost through the Mozart CDs and ready to move on – by listening to a 4-CD set of Burt Bacharach’s instrumental tracks that someone put together. It was sent to me from overseas, I presume by the person who put it together. The music, as you might imagine, is wonderful.
Yesterday was a very short day. I didn’t get to sleep until around four-thirty or thereabouts and didn’t wake up until two-thirty. I was truly zonked and probably could have even slept later, but I got up, answered e-mails, then just relaxed. I wasn’t hungry and therefore didn’t eat, figuring I’d grab something after the show. I got ready and moseyed on over to the theater around six to make sure the gal who was doing sound was all set up and ready, and she was, and she did a very good job of it, so that was good. I suspect that she and the other gal will now share those duties, which is fine by me. Then we did the show, then food, and then I came home and had the cheesecake and now I’m writing these here notes for those who may not have noticed and thought they were reading something of importance.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll shave and shower and then I’ll mosey on over to the theater at noon o’clock. Then we play the first of our matinee performances. I do know we have a bigger audience and I think we could possibly end up with half a house, which would be lovely. I’ve asked for two little lighting adjustments and I’ll see those when I arrive. Then we’ll play our matinee, and depending on if I know anyone (well, I know Robert Yacko is coming but he’s got plans after), I may try to go and have a nice dinner with someone after the show. That would be very nice. Then I’ll come home and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and this entire week will be catching up on all the stuff I’ve let slide for the past two weeks and that’s a lot of stuff. We have a lot of discs to ship, I have to get back to writing on the project with David Wechter, I’ll have some meetings and meals, try to watch some stuff, finish the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra box, and also get in some relaxing time. Then we resume our performances on Friday night. There’s a talkback on Sunday and I have to go directly from that to the Burbank Airport to catch a flight to Las Vegas for this David Cassidy event. I’ll return on Tuesday evening.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, shave and shower, see our matinee performance, maybe dine afterwards, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had an excellent second performance.