Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, at 1:45 in the morning and just starting to write these here notes. I got involved in some detective work and the time got by me and I got by the time. So, I’ll just breeze through these here notes in a breezy manner. I’ll be breezin’ along with the breeze, starting here, starting now, like the song by Maltby and Shire. Of course, they weren’t the first to use that phrase in a song – my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim, used it in Everything’s Coming Up Roses – “starting here, starting now, honey, everything’s coming up roses.” That’s from Gypsy. Speaking of Gypsy, I happened to watch the Bette Midler version on Amazon Prime. I didn’t love it when it aired, and I don’t love it now. Midler just doesn’t do it for me, I’m afraid. Laurents adapted it or so the credits say, and it’s pretty much everything. It uses the original Jerome Robbins choreography for most of the numbers, just as the original film does. I know it’s very fashionable to hate the Rosalind Russell version, but I’ve never been very fashionable, and I like it, despite some of the changes and the very stodgy direction. No, she can’t sing the score, but she acts the part beautifully, at least for me she does. It’s an interesting cast – Elisabeth Moss plays young Louise – she looks all of ten or eleven. Cynthia Gibb is okay but certainly not my favorite Louise. That would be Crista Moore on the stage and Natalie Wood in the original film. I know Peter Riegert has lots of fans, but I find him a very boring, one-note actor. I like Karl Malden’s Herbie and I’m sure Jack Klugman was a great Herbie. Didn’t care for the older June. I so wish I’d seen Merman and the original cast. It’s nice they use Jerome Robbins choreography, but while the Tulsa is merely okay in All I Need is the Girl, it’s not really his fault, as the number was choreographed for Paul Wallace and fits him to a T. I have not seen one other Tulsa who comes close to Mr. Wallace. It says they use the original orchestrations, but they sure don’t sound like it in certain instances. There are two six degrees of ME – the sound gal was our sound gal on Nudie Musical and the dolly grip was the dolly grip on The Creature Wasn’t Nice. Best Rose for me was Tyne Daly. I’m not interested in all these performances that turn Rose into a mass of craziness and darkness – too much sauce.
I only got five hours of sleep, had a nice breakfast with Robert Yacko – I had a chili, cheese, and onion omelet. After that, I did some quick banking – there was a BofA in the shopping center where we ate and they never have any lines there – I was in and out in two minutes. Then I put gas in the motor car. Thankfully, there’s still one place near me that’s a buck cheaper than anywhere else. I came home, answered e-mails, had several long telephonic conversations, later in the day I had some wings from Wingstop – terrible and I’m of the opinion that the only place I can get wings the way I like them is Jinky’s Café. So, most of the wings went into the trash. I then sat on my couch like so much fish and instantly dozed off and had some pretty wacky dreams.
Then I watched Gypsy, and it really made me want to watch the 1962 film again. I had another telephonic call, then got hung up on the detective work and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by noon at the latest, I’ve already ordered a pastrami sandwich from Daughter’s Deli thanks to a 40% off coupon. So that arrives around one. I have no real plans other than that – just to relax and catch up on stuff here. Then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then we’re back to performances. I’ll be there early to work with our piano sub and our leads, to make sure the tempos and ins and outs are correct. Then we’ll run the group numbers, too. And then, we’ll all pray it goes smoothly. I know several people who are coming to the show and perhaps we’ll go out after. Saturday, we have our MD back – not sure I’ll attend that performance, and then Sunday I have people coming, so I’ll be there for that.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by noon at the latest, I’ll eat a pastrami sandwich, catch up on stuff, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: How many productions of Gypsy have you seen, and which were your favorites and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, sorry for the lateness of the noes but detective work was the culprit.