Well, dear readers, Kritzerland 129, our fourteenth anniversary show was perfectly marvelous in every way – just a perfectly perfect evening of amazing songs with laughter and tears, sung by a stupendous cast. I knew within ten seconds that the audience was a winner and boy were they. Big laughs throughout the whole opening patter, which I do off book. So, here’s how it went. First up was Thirty Weeks of Heaven, a cut song from By the Beautiful Sea, which I recorded for one of the Lost in Boston albums. It was also the first song performed in Kritzerland 1. It’s a great, energetic, and very funny song and Adrienne Stiefel and Robert Yacko were tippy-top great. Next came Kerry O’Malley doing a brilliant job of it with Someone Woke Up from Do I Hear a Waltz? I cannot imagine anyone anywhere doing that song as well as Kerry. Then Adrienne was back with the gorgeous Michel Legrand and the Bergman’s song, On My Way to You. A wonderful song, done wonderfully. After that, we had a newish What If – we’d done this one a long time ago, but I wasn’t satisfied completely with it and always wanted to rewrite it to make it fully work. That I did, and Anastasia Barzee could not have been better – many laughs and she’s just a treasure as a performer and human. The What If was, what if Kander and Ebb, insead of writing Cabaret, had written Gypsy. Then Robert was back with my put-together of Bookends and Old Friends by Paul Simon – Robert nailed it and it was very moving. Then Guy Haines was supposed to be there but was a no-show, so I filled in for him with young Ava Madison Gray – You’re Just in Love, with Ava doing the Merman part and me doing the Russell Nype part. We used my arrangement, and it worked really well. I’ve done this several times with different kid and it’s so much fun and Ava is grand.
Then came Jason Graae singing She Touched Me from Drat! The Cat! and I got to let the Cat out of the bag at long last. I’ll be directing the show at the Group Rep and we open next March. There is an entire saga about getting the rights, but we’re thrilled it all worked out. Jason, of course, owns the song. Then it was Bruce Vilanch doing The Best of Times from La Cage Aux Folled, interspersing it with his hilarious repartee. Next, Kerry was back with a song I adore called Why Can’t I Forget by Jeff Harris and Judy Barron – Kerry really can do anything and this one was funny and touching. Then Robert was back with a wonderful Billy Barnes song called Ambivalent, which Robert did great. Then it was Adrienne and The Alto’s Lament – lots o’ laughs. Anastasia came back with Not a Day Goes By – glorious. Then we did another What If, this one a perennial favorite – What if Frank Loesser, instead of writing Guys and Dolls had written Sweeney Todd. Robert has done it many times, and nobody does it better.
Next, Adrienne did a stunning job with The Man That Got Away – amazing. Then Jason did his hilarious Popular, which he did to me, so that was grand fun. Kerry did the penultimate song, a ME original from my musical Feast – The I’m-On-a-Diet Blues – she rocked the house, really rocked the house. Finally, to end the show on a wistful note for these wacky times, Ava did my song, Everything Is Gonna Be All Right from Welcome to My World. Gerald Sternbach did his customary great work. And that was our anniversary show. Here are some photographs. First, our cast plus Doug and me.
Here’s Adrienne.
Here’s Anastasia.
Here’s Ava Madison Gray and me.
Here’s Kerry.
Here’s Robert.
Here’s Vilanch.
That’s what I have so far.
Otherwise, all that I did after eight hours of sleep was relax and rest my voice, then I shaved and showered, we did sound check, I had a Caesar salad pre-show, we did the show, hung out for a while, and then I came home and got some food from BJ’s restaurant – some clam chowder and a couple of kid’s order of chicken tenders. Very good. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by nine-thirty or thereabouts, there’s a book auction that I’ll follow, as there are a lot of books I own, and I’ll be curious to see what they go for. Otherwise, just relaxing and getting ready to dive back into this little thing I’m writing, I’ll eat, and then watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week and the weekend are more of the same. There may be a dinner or two to be had.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the Frug, for today is the birthday of our very own beloved elmore. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own beloved elmore. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN BELOVED ELMORE!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by nine-thirty, follow an auction, relax, eat, and write, after which I can watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite chicken dishes? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a perfectly perfect Kritzerland 129, the fourteenth anniversary show, brought to you by Bristol-Meyers.