Well, dear readers, it was a night to remember. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, last night was a night to remember, the twelfth anniversary show and show number 120. We had a very vocal and wonderful audience – disappointing only in number – around fifty – but that’s the way it’s been because this copycat show has been booking their show to close to ours, which hurts everyone. Their next show? Tonight. I mean, honestly, that is just ridiculous, but their copying of our show and now especially our flyer and the way we do our blurb and always have the show number in the title – we were the first to ever do that – is just shameless. But enough about them and more about us, the one and only original Kritzerland show. The opening patter was really fun, then we opened the show with a put-together of Irving Berlin’s I Love a Piano and Let Me Sing (and I’m Happy), done to perfection by Damon Kirsche. Then, in the funniest thing that happened all evening, I inadvertently skipped a song and went to the song after. I don’t know how my brain could have done that – it’s right there on my clipboard, and I always talk about the opening number’s songs before moving to the second number. But there I was, jumping to the third number. I set it up – one of the shorter set-ups – and introduced Robert Yacko and went back to my seat. But he didn’t enter – finally, he came out and said, “You went out of order.” I saw what I’d done instantly, got back up, amusingly had him exit, and went wild with unplanned stuff and it was so much fun and the audience ate it up. Finally, we did the correct second number – the great Bob Merrill song from Carnival – Mira – beautifully done by Danika Masi. Then I got up and said, “How many of you remember what the next number is?” That got a big laugh, then Robert Yacko came out and did the Frank Loesser party song, The Delicatessen of My Dreams. I must say, I spent as much time doing off-the-cuff patter as I did with the scripted patter – as someone in the audience put it, “You were on fire.”
Then came my song, Little Miracles, from A Carol Christmas, which Adrienne Stiefel did a fantastic job with – she was petrified of forgetting lyrics, but she was perfect at sound check – she did flub one lyric but covered well and I don’t think anyone really knew anything was off. Then Ilene Graff (with hubby Ben Lanzarone on piano) did a put-together of Lullaby of Broadway and On Broadway – the audience ate it up. Then it was Damon again, this time with a put-together of two time songs – I Didn’t Know What Time it Was and Time After Time (the Styne/Cahn classic) – that went wonderfully. Then Danika was back doing the very funny What’s Gonna Happen from Tootsie – she brought the house down and landed every laugh. Then Robert did the gorgeous This Is All I Ask, and it was very moving. Then I did the song I wrote with Richard Sherman, Two Roads. I almost blew the second line of the final verse, just because I got in my head about it, but I got it pretty quickly and got through the rest. Richard was with us and I can’t tell you how much fun it was to watch him mouthing the lyrics with as I sang them. Then Adrienne and Jason Graae did a great duet – Close, But No Cigar, from an unproduced musical version of Bedazzled, the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore film. It was written as a project for the BMI Workshop by the new team of Steve Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. It was wonderful.
Then Irene was back with a short medley from Grease – she was one of the original Sandys from Broadway. She brought up Barry Pearl (who had no idea), to do the hand jive and that was great fun – the entire audience joined in. After that, Damon did a delightfully sly The Picture of Happiness from Tenderloin. Then Robert did two rarely performed Sondheim songs – Live Alone and Like It and High Life (from the unproduced The Last Resorts). After that, Jason was back with his hilarious version of Just a Gigolo – oboe and all. It was hilarious. Then Danika did a sublime put-together of I’ll Know and Somebody Somewhere. Then came the thank yous, the announcement that December would be our final show at Vitello’s because they’re closing the room and completely redoing it as a lounge and not a cabaret room. Then I announced the web series and that got a great reaction. Adrienne Stiefel closed the show with In the Name of Love by Cy Coleman, from Welcome to the Club.
The comments after were wonderful and I think everyone had a great time. And now it’s on to show 121 on December 1, our annual holiday show. Here’s our merry troupe.
Here’s a selfie of two selfs – Jason Graae and you-know-who
And here’s the obligatory photo of Richard and me.
Yesterday wasn’t so bad. I got eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, but just basically rested my voice and relaxed, doing a few things on the computer. Then I shaved and showered, after which I moseyed on over to Vitello’s for our sound check. That all went very well, then the audience began arriving. Then we did the show and you know all about that.
They closed the kitchen before we could get down there, but they did give me a small Caesar on the house – I’d had one earlier. There were a few of us hanging out and that was fun. Then I stopped at McDonald’s on the way home and got a couple of things. I came home and ate them and that was that.
Today, I wish I could sleep in, but I cannot. I must be up by ten and to a meeting at eleven, seeing a potential new home for our shows. Right after that, I’ll pick up a package that arrived yesterday, then I’ll come home, and the helper person will arrive and we’ll do the rest of the perk stuff. That will be a big load off. After that, I think I’m having a Zoom with my cameraman – if that happens, that will probably be an hour. David Wechter also wants to do a Zoom, but I just can’t – maybe tomorrow, if it’s brief. We’re trying to complete our casting by tomorrow and that’s of paramount importance. At some point, I’ll eat, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
The weekend is all web series stuff – going over schedules, figuring out what sequence shoots when and for how long – it’s crazy doing eight episodes in basically eight days – even though the scripts are all twelve pages long, there are multiple locations in each episode save for one. I’m pretty quick, but there are a couple of days that will be daunting. Then next week is more of the same and then I shall be on my way to the city that never sleeps, New York, New York. We must figure out the haineshisway.com get-together evening. We’ll usually wrap filming no later than six, but probably closer to five on certain days. Also, if anyone would like to come play and be in an episode, let me know. Those days would mostly be Wednesday September 28, Friday September 30, and Monday, October 3.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten and to a meeting by eleven. I’ll hopefully pick up a package, we’ll do the rest of the perk stuff, I’ll have a Zoom with our cameraman, I’ll eat, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your favorite delicatessen food? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had an absolutely wonderful Kritzerland 120 and twelfth anniversary show.