Well, dear readers, we had us an amazing Kritzerland 124 show last evening, surely one of our best. We had a great audience and I knew they were great the minute I got up to do the opening patter. Lots of big laughs throughout, everyone loved hearing all the rarities, and the cast was on fire. So, here’s what we did: The opening number was Make the Most of Your Music from the London Follies revisal from the 1980s, done to perfection by Robert Yacko. Then came Marissa Margolis who hit it out of the park with the film version of The Glamorous Life from A Little Night Music. Next was Kevin Spirtas who did a wonderful job on Good Thing Going. Trisha Rapier was next with the wordy and difficult More, which she did to perfection. Then came Kerry O’Malley, recreating Moments in the Woods from the 2001 revival of Into the Woods, in which she played the Baker’s Wife. Keri Safran did a beautiful job with Anyone Can Whistle, and then I did one of my Sondheim parody What If lyrics – this one being What if the Stephen Sondheim at the time he wrote A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum had written Sweeney Todd. It went over like gangbusters, I’m happy to say. Robert Yacko came back with a gorgeously sung What Can You Lose from Dick Tracy. That was followed by Kerry O’Malley doing a brilliant Send in the Clowns. Then came the rarest song of the evening, Dawn, from the unmade film musical Singing Out Loud – Keri Safran did a great job. Then I did With So Little to Be Sure Of from Anyone Can Whistle, because Guy Haines was a no-show. Then came my put-together of You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow and Not a Day Goes By, done beautifully by Trisha Rapier. Keri Safran was next with The Ladies Who Lunch, in which she brought the house down doing each verse as a different singer – she’s a brilliant impressionist and she did Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Bebe Neuwirth, Liza Minnelli, Dolly Parton, Brittney Spears, Julie Andrews – I think that was everyone, with a little Stritch thrown in at the end, and then each lady came back for the “Rises” at the end. I called out the names during the song. Hilarious it was. Then Robert was back with Multitudes of Amys, cut from Company, Kerry closed with a fantastic version of Everything’s Coming Up Roses, and finally Kevin Spirtas did a wonderful Being Alive. We always close our shows with a sing-along, but as I told the audience, there is no known Sondheim song that could be a sing-along, so instead we did Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang – why? Because Richard Sherman was with us as was his lovely wife Elizabeth, her first time out since the pandemic, I believe. What a treat to have them there.
There was a table filled with people I’d gone to LACC with, including old pals Dorothy Collier, Anna Raner, Hali Burton, and Linda Hart. Howard Green and friends from Disney were there, Linden Waddell, who did Stages at LACC and the Matrix, and many other nice folks. It really could not have gone better. Michael Collum, our pianist, did great, especially considering it was his first time with us. Here are two photographs of our merry troupe.
And here are Richard and li’l ol’ me – this is one of my favorite photos of us and there are a LOT of photos of us.
The only downside of the entire evening is that we weren’t completely sold out. It looked full, but in terms of the covers I get, it wasn’t what it needed to be and so it was a costly evening for me, unfortunately. That hasn’t happened in ages. After the show. Robert Yacko and I went to Crave Café in Studio City because they’re open very late. It’s not my favorite kind of place and it was amazingly rowdy with low-life people last night. When I entered, there was a lot of screaming going on in the back of the restaurant, so much so that the manager had to put a stop to it. I don’t know when Studio City became a magnet for dangerous looking types, but I’m not going back there. I’d only had a tiny Caesar at the Gardenia, so I had a couple of chicken tenders and fries. They were okay. Then I came home and here I am, hurrying through these here notes.
Yesterday was there, certainly. I got eight hours of sleep, answered e-mails, shaved and showered, and was happy to see the countdown to the premier of Sami has begun. Again, if you haven’t, you must follow the Sami the Series pages on Facebook and Instagram and if you’re on TikTok, there, too. We’re putting up tons of production photos and there’ll be some short clips coming, too. Let’s build that excitement, baby. Then I went to put gas in the motor car but my station, which is the lowest priced in the neighborhood was jammed, every pump taken, so I figured I had enough to get to the club and back and I did. I stopped at a CVS and got some Ricolas, and then I got to the club at 4:15 and we had our sound check. Then we did our show and so we’re all caught up now.
Today, I’ll be up early to go to the bank to deposit what I did make last night, then I’ll come home and it will be an all Sami day and, if the galley is ready, a book day, too. I’ll call the mail place and see what’s what, I’ll eat something, and then if I’m up for it, I may go see some auditioning actors at the Group Rep. Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of all that, but mostly, and I cannot stress this enough, we need us a major MAJOR miracle or there will be hell toupee and plenty of it. I don’t need the damn stress, frankly – who does? But the premier of Sami will keep me going.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up early to make a deposit at the bank, do Sami stuff, maybe book stuff, check with the mail place, eat, maybe see some auditions, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could travel right now anywhere in the world, where would you go? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had an amazing Kritzerland 124.