Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to volume two of Franz Waxman movie music – this volume labeled Comedies and Thrillers. It’s delightful, as was volume one. Now, I wish to say here and now as well as now and here that I made every attempt possible to watch something – anything – but every time I made an attempt I instantly dozed off for various periods of time. And so, I watched nothing, unless you count the various and sundried dreams I had whilst dozing, as well as several YouTube things of Don Rickles on Johnny Carson. They together are a textbook of how funny people play off each other perfectly. And when Don Rickles is “on” he is as funny as funny can be, and that’s funny. Now, the amazing thing about all that dozing was that I got nine hours of sleep. I probably slept a total of fourteen hours with all the damn dozing. It was a damn dozing day during which I got not a damn thing done. That is apparently what I needed the day to be. I did have a nice lunch delivered from Maria’s Kitchen via UberEats and a 40% off coupon thing. I’ve got two more times to use the 40% thing, so that’s good. The ONLY productive thing I did was make a Facebook post about our closing Drat! The Cat! I’ll reproduce it here so you dear readers who may not do Facebook can see it. Here it is.
“And so, we closed Drat! The Cat! yesterday, a very bittersweet thing for me. It’s been an eighteen-year journey for me to do a production of the show, and the sweet part is having had it been one of the best directing experiences I’ve ever had with one of the best casts I’ve ever assembled, truly. They were very much like family – no divas, no temper tantrums, no negativity – just all there to do the best we could do. The run was successful, the reviews were lovely, and we had a few of the best audiences ever. Best of all, I know in my heart of hearts that Ira Levin would have loved hearing his dialogue get huge laughs, hearing he and Milt Schafer’s songs get cheers of delight, and hearing audiences leaving the theater humming the song that’s the finale of the show. Having many people who are Group Rep subscribers come up to me after the show and tell me they thought it was the best production they’ve ever seen at GRT was the icing on the cake.
The bitter of bittersweet is that I will really miss this show, this company, the backstage folks, all of them. I don’t really miss shows when they close, it’s usually onto the next, but this one was just too special. The stars just aligned – great cast (see below), great choreographer (Cheryl Baxter), great set (Audrey Szot), great costumes (Shon LeBlac), great lighting (Echo Brejcha and Robbie Myles), great backstage crew, great first time stage manager (Maxwell Petrie), great sound designer (John Harvey), great sound operator (Cathy Tomlin), great props (Terrie Collins-Grant), great wigs (Krys Fehervari), our producer (Koushik), and a great, great band led by my longtime friend, Gerald Sternbach.And especially my assistant director who also did a million other things, Cyndy Payo, whose dedication to this show was above and beyond. And everyone at Group Rep – from the folks who built the set, the artistic council, the board of directors, publicity, social media, box-office, ushers, concessions – everyone in a membership company who have to do everything. Finally, to the Group Rep artistic director, Doug Haverty, with whom I’ve been working since the late 1990s, who’s also designed over 400 CDs for Kritzerland, does the Group Rep’s graphic designs, a bunch of book covers for me personally, a playwright – I’ve directed three of his shows and one short play – and who lets us do shows we’ve always wanted to do.
And our cast – I can’t just call them “our cast” – at our first rehearsal I told them that each of them were integral to the show, and I meant it because I wanted every member of the company to shine and shine they did. Ben Anderson (he was in our production of A Carol Christmas, too), Amy Cronin (also our dance captain), Lareen Faye (also in my production of The Man Who Came to Dinner), Amy Goldring, Lee Gruber (our third adventure together), Doug Haverty (who’s acted in a good many of the productions I’ve done at GRT), Angie Lin (her first show), Hisato Masayuma(our third show together), Savannah Mortenson(or Red, as I call her), Maxwell Oliver (thanks to Barry Pearl for sending him our way), Rob Schaumann(our second show together), Nicole Slatin, Melissa Strauss, Steve Young, April Audia (we love her – she was in the original production of L.A. Now and Then), Constance Mellors (who came in two weeks before opening when our original actress had an accident and had to bow out, was off book in two DAYS, and is a consummate pro), Lloyd Pedersen (a wonderful actor and even better friend), and our two leads – Alec Reusch(he did L.A. Now and Then at GRT, and I knew he’d be perfect for this, and boy was he – so easy to work with, so talented – another of my anytime/anywhere people) and then our – SPOILER ALERT – The Cat, Sydney DeMaria. I told her at our closing party that I thought the reason it took me eighteen years to get a production done, was that we were meant to do this show together. I first worked with her when she was fifteen – two Kritzerland shows. Then five years after that, she did one of our online Kritzerland shows, a group number, but she was the one you looked at the entire time. And then, as I pondered the impossibility of finding someone who would be perfect for Alice Van Guilder, she popped into my head – can’t tell you why – and it was just about the best casting decision I’ve ever made. I cannot say enough about this human – down to earth, a pro, she drove from Laguna Niguel for every rehearsal and performance, wonderful instincts, a director’s dream, great singer, great actress, great comedy chops, and the loveliest person you’d ever want to know, who also wrote me the loveliest note I’ve ever gotten from an actor. She’ll be joining us for the July Kritzerland show and I’d work with her at the drop of my proverbial curmudgeon hat.
Sorry for the length, but I had to.”
There, I said it and I’m glad. Anyway, it was pretty much a dozing day, which means I have to buckle down, Winsocki, and do some work today.
Today, I must buckle down, Winsocki and do some work, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, make some telephonic calls, eat, finish casting the June Kritzerland (have some videos to watch), start choosing songs, eat something amusing and/or fun, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, some meetings and meals, including one tomorrow morning, maybe, and I know this weekend will be weird without our show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, buckle down, Winsocki and do some work, I’ll be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, make some telephonic calls, eat, finish casting, choose songs, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: How often did you watch Johnny Carson and what are your favorite memories of the shows? And who were your other late-night favorites over the years? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having had a doozy of a dozing day.