Well, dear readers, we had us a pretty wonderful Kritzerland 119 last night. A smaller crowd than we’re used to due to a whopping thirteen people not showing up – they paid the cover charge and didn’t show up. How wacko is that? But the forty-something folks who were there seemed to have a nice time – great reaction, patter worked very well, and the cast did great. We did have a couple of fumfers here and there but everyone covered well. I honestly didn’t know if I’d get through my songs because of allergy issues, but I did, so that was good. So, here’s how it went. First up was eleven-year-old Ava Madison Gray who did a put-together of High Hopes and Pocketful of Miracles – she did great. Then came Talya Sindel, new to us, and she did a difficult patter song called An Occasional Flight of Fancy from Skyscraper. She jumped a section, but the audience never knew it and Richard Allen got with her pretty quickly. Then came Robert Yacko and a put-together of The Tender Trap and Come Blow Your Horn – and that went great. The Cahn and Van Heusen songs are just so damn tuneful. Next was Kerry O’Malley who did a beautiful All My Tomorrows. Then it was Damon Kirsche doing a put-together of Thoroughly Modern Millie and the title song from Star. I had little Ava Madison Gray come out after the first verse of star to act like a star and blow kisses and pose – it was really funny. After that, Talya was back with a beautiful Call Me Irresponsible. Then it was Kerry and Robert doing a duet called Opposites from Skyscraper. Also really funny.
Then it was Guy Haines’ turn, but he’d stayed home because he was worried about getting monkeypox – so, I filled in for him and sang a Sammy Cahn/Sylvia Fine song from The Court Jester – Life Could Not Better Be. The idea was to do one song that either Cahn or Van Heusen wrote with a different collaborator. I got through it without any errors. Then Damon did All the Way beautifully, and then Talya did a put-together of Our Town and Love and Marriage from the Cahn and Van Heusen 1955 TV musical version of Our Town – she did great. Then Guy was meant to do a song that Van Heusen collaborated on with Johnny Burke, but not only was he at home worried about monkeypox, he was also studying to Torah as he’s converting to Judaism so he can say “What is it, fish” properly. So, I sang Here’s That Rainy Day.
Then Robert was back with another put-together, this one from Skyscraper – I’ll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her and Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong – that went great, too. Kerry then did her usual amazing job with the title song from Walking Happy, and Damon closed the show with the great My Kind of Town. For the first time in three years, we were blessed to have my wonderful friend Richard Sherman with us – and he had a blast. His daughter brought him. So, for the sing-along we did a bit of Chim Chim Cheree and then Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Here’s a photograph of our merry troupe.
And here’s one of Richard and me.
After the show, Robert and I and Talya went downstairs and had a proper meal. I had a chicken Caesar and a couple of pieces of garlic bread and that was very good. Then I came right home. I thought I deserved a treat and I’ll probably regret it later, but I got some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. That’s in the freezer awaiting the posting of these here notes.
Yesterday was weird. My brain was on overload with the Kritzerland show, the web series, and the screenplay, so I only slept less than five hours. Once up, I answered e-mails, but mostly relaxed and rested my voice. Then I showered and shaved and moseyed on over to Vitello’s for sound check. Then people arrived and we did our show. The rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll go through all ten scripts for the web series, looking for typos or spacing problems, adding the title pages, and adding lines in three or four episodes – just a line or so to set up something that pays off in the season finale. Then I’ll send those off to the cameraman and others who need them. Then I’ll start doing my adjustments to the screenplay and get those done. That’s a bit complicated, as I have to have our notes up at the same time, but I’ll get it done. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and I’ll eat something light but fun. Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same plus going over the locations we’ll need for the New York shoot so we can book them. We have to book around anyone who’s in a show so that we don’t schedule them on a matinee day. That shouldn’t be that hard, frankly. Plus, we’ll start casting all the roles in all ten episodes, and we’ll finalize the next Kritzerland show cast.
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, go through ten scripts for typos and spacing issues, add title pages, send them out, do adjustments to the screenplay, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who’s up for a haineshisway.com get-together while we’re in NYC? Evenings will probably be the ticket. I don’t think we’ll ever shoot after six o’clock. And for a couple of sequences, we’ll need audience members in a club, so any dear reader who’d like to do that, let me know. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy our Kritzerland 119 went so well.