Well, dear readers, I am happy to report that the opening of the kids show was very successfully successful. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the opening of the kids show was very successful, if success can be measured by butt cheeks in seats, screaming, excited kids, kids dancing in the aisles, kids laughing, and kid generally having the time of their respective lives. When the kids arrived for the early show, they were greeted by balloon makers, a man on stilts, and various face-painting stations. By show time, we had about 220 people, kids and parents, which was just about thirty less than a sold-out house. Once inside the theater, they got to see the Silk Sisters who do flying stuff in sheets or whatever it is – the kids seemed enthralled by it. Then our producer/writer took the stage and basically did a warm-up and since he’s a kids party entertainer, he was great at it. He raffled off to Party Animals Live CDs, and then the show began. As soon as we hit the first scene, I knew the sound was going to be problematic. Mics were too low, actors were hard to hear (remember, kids are not a quiet audience), and it was unfortunate, but the actors did the best they could to project loudly. The kids ate up the characters and the comedy stuff worked well, and, as I said, they were up and dancing and it was really fun to watch. After the show, they got to meet the cast – I suspect it was a memorable experience for all. Between shows, we tried to fix the mic situation and we thought we had, but it was the same story in the second show, although it was a bit better at times. The second show kids weren’t quite as vocal as the first show, but they clearly loved it and they were actually more energetic about getting up and dancing along. The other fun thing was how much fun the parents seemed to be having, which is a key component in making this work. I’d made a couple of small adjustments between shows, and both worked really well. After the second show, I had a powwow with the producer about something I wanted to fix after the penultimate number – he completely agreed and we’re doing the fix for today’s show. It was very gratifying seeing it in front of a full house, and we all really think we have something special here, given the wonderful reaction of the kids and parents.
After the second show, I came home, did some stuff around the home environment, and then toddled off to the opening night I had to attend, a new play at some little theater on Fairfax. I attended with Miss Adriana Patti and her mother. The publicist for the play was our very own Mr. Steve Moyer, the publicist for What If and The Brain From Planet X. We had a few photo ops, and I was happy to see our very own Miss Cindy Williams there, with our pal Vern. Also in attendance was Mr. Kevin McCarthy. I’m sure there were other interesting people, but I didn’t really recognize anyone else. The play’s director is the wonderful actress, Salome Jens, star of one of my guiltiest pleasures, John Frankenheimer’s Seconds. She looks incredible and it was fun to meet her. I wish I could say the play was great, but it was too long, too unfocused, and the dysfunctionally dysfunctional family was just too dysfunctional, what with a former alcoholic husband, a retarded daughter, her retarded boyfriend, a son who is suffering great pain from having been in Desert Storm, and on and on. The actors were all very good, and Miss Jens’ direction was fine. They had a little reception afterwards, but I only stayed for but a moment before taking my leave and coming home to sit on my couch like so much fish.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I can barely keep my eyes open and the bedroom environment is calling me.
Today we play our final performance of the kids show, and I’m hoping our producer jumps on the success of this and finds another venue where we can reopen in a couple of weeks – I feel if we let too much time go by it will be like starting from scratch. These kids loved the show and want to come back – they must have sold 150 CDs today. So, hopefully, he’ll get on this and do what he needs to do – certainly the cast is ready. After the show there will be some sort of after party.
If I go to the after party it will only be briefly, because I then have to begin to deal with all the crap that came down on me on Friday – any excellent vibes and xylophones will be gratefully accepted. I also have to write the press releases for The Brain and Joan Ryan CDs, get all the stuff to the web designer, and try to get this up for preorder by next Friday. A lot of work to do, and I want to get it all done by the end of this evening.
I updated my iPod last night – somehow I’d imported over 300 songs since I last updated. My goodness, I hope these here notes aren’t too too mundane. They’re just sort of sitting there like so much fish, with no zip and no zing and no sparkle. Tomorrow I promise we will have sparkling notes, but today we have fish notes.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog (a MUST), write, attend the kids show (and fix the sound problems), attend the after party, and do all the other stuff that needs doing. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I wrap up these here fish notes.