Well, dear readers, we finished up week two with a sold-out matinee – not the sharpest show we’ve done, but it was a great audience and I’m probably the only one who notices the stuff I notice. I have to say that the comments after the show are fantastic. People are feeling exactly the way I’d hoped they’d feel – that it’s a joyous show, fun and funny, with really cute songs and a great life-affirming closer with Say Yes. Speaking of that, I added a little something to the dialogue that precedes the song – it came to me yesterday morning at eight-thirty and it got a nice big laugh. And now we’re off until our Thursday night brush-up – a couple of things have gotten sloppy so we’ll get those back to where they were and then we play three performances, have another week off, and then back for our closing weekend. When it was the full run, we were actually going to play on my birthday, which I was looking forward to, so now that we aren’t, I’m hoping someone steps up and wants to have a dinner or something. I knew several people at the matinee – my pal Sara Ballantine, Jacques Lynn Colton, and a few others, but of course, the big thing was having the Shermans there and they just had a wonderful time. We got them in the first two rows, their group of six, plus our friend Howard Green from Disney sat with them. Here’s Richard and I in the lobby.
And here’s our cast, including our young stage manager, who does an excellent job.
Oh, and we had a very bad issue with the lights – when our stage manager went into the pre-set, the runner lights around the bandstand proscenium weren’t on. She tried everything – checked all the plugs – nothing. Then, when she went from the pre-set to the pre-curtain lights nothing worked. She then had the foresight to look back to where the breakers are in the booth and that was the problem. She flipped them all off, then back on and voila everything came up and we were fine. Now she knows what’s what, should that happen again. The other nice thing that happened was waking up to this rave review love-letter from Broadway World.
I gave Richard Preview Harvey and Kritzer World (softcover, but I’ll give him the hardcover when I see him, which will be a lunch around my birthday). I suspect he’ll go right to Kritzer World first, as those are his favorite books. And speaking of the hardcovers, looks like they’re arriving tomorrow, all four boxes of ‘em. We’ll try to get them right out.
After the show, I came right home, then ordered two tacos from the Mexican jernt I like. They came pretty quickly, and they were really good – also some rice and beans. That was it for food – no sweets, and no late-night snacks. I watched the first hour of a very good documentary on HBO about Mike Wallace. I’ll finish that up before going to bed.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I’ll finish up the sequence I’m in the midst of in the project with David Wechter. After that, I’ll go pick up the books, get something to eat, put some gas in the motor car, begin going through the DMV handbook, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Might watch Barbie, or I might watch the new UHD transfers of Vertigo and The Trouble with Harry.
The rest of the week is more writing and studying, some meetings and meals, hopefully announcing two titles, and then we’re back playing our three-show weekend.
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, write, pick up books, eat, put gas in the motor car, study the DMV handbook, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who were and are your favorite newscasters over the years? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gotten the rave review love letter from Broadway World.