Well, dear readers, we had us another excellent show yesterday – that’s three in a row – there was only one thing where I felt the energy of a couple of actors flagged, which made one of the sure-fire sketches that’s been getting huge laughs, barely get any. I’ll talk about it before we do it again on Friday. But otherwise, cast was great, band was great, and the audience was fantastic. I was told there’d be thirty – there was almost double that, so the house actually looks full with that many people. It was mostly an older matinee crowd, but if it’s the right show, they can be great audiences. They were laughing, vocal, giving hefty mitts and cheers to every number, and it’s just so much fun when audience and show are in sync. And now, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the fourth symphony of Darius Milhaud. I was so entranced listening to La Creation du Monde yesterday that I began listening to all the symphonies – there are twelve – and they’re unlike any other symphonies, uniquely Milhaud’s sound world. They’re not all masterpieces, but they’re always interesting and moody and jazzy and weird. I don’t think there are a lot of alternate recordings of his symphonies, I’ll have to check, because I’ve never been all that enamored of this set by conductor Alun Francis on CPO. The orchestra is occasionally not up to the music and the sound’s a bit distant. I’ve been a Milhaud fan for many, many years, beginning in the early 1970s when I heard my first Milhaud piece, Le Boeuf sur La Toit, a wonderfully tuneful and eclectic piece that is quite addictive. After that, it was Suite Provencal as conducted by Charles Munch. That, too, is a brilliantly colorful piece. Many years ago, I found a copy of his book, Notes Without Music in some store. I bought it without even opening it. When I got home and did open it, I found it was signed by Milhaud with a musical quotation. What fun that was. Anyway, I just love this guy’s musique. Prior to that, I’d had a great fine dining experience at the Smokehouse – I met Robert Yacko and brought along our stage manager and backstage person, because they have both done such a great job. I had a gift certificate that actually covered everyone’s meals, so that was nice. I had three pieces of the garlic cheese bread – excellent – a small dinner salad with thousand island dressing – excellent – and their small filet mignon with Béarnaise sauce – excellent – with my side dish being creamed spinach – excellent. The conversation was fun and we were there for a couple of hours. The jernt was jumpin’, too.
Yesterday was another day of not enough sleep – maybe five or six hours. I was up at eleven, shaved and showered, and then moseyed on over to the theater. I knew a few folks in the audience, so that’s always fun. Then we did the dinner. Once home, I had a rather amusing experience sitting on my couch like so much fish. I began about three different things on Netflix, only to immediately doze off about a minute into each. Then I switched over to Amazon Prime and watched the beginnings of about six different things and the same thing happened. I can’t even remember what a single one of them were. And now, Milhaud’s second symphony has begun – it’s wonderful. The way they pair these is always peculiar to me. The first disc and one and four, then this one has two and three.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m hoping that my check-in coordinator will have e-mailed me and then we’ll be able to get her the book files so we can get that show on the road. Then I’ll do some work on this idea I have for a play, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something reasonable and hopefully tasty, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is making sure the book stuff is on track, doing whatever needs doing, and then on Thursday I’ll work with the gal who’s replacing our departing cast member – we’ll run her solo, the trio, and her duet. Then on Friday we’re all coming in an hour early to run her stuff with the band. Then on Saturday, she goes into the show, our stage manager replaces her, and our backstage gal graduates to the stage manager position and runs the light cues.
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, hope we can send in the book files, do some work on an idea, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite not in the mainstream classical composers – the ones you find especially interesting. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that we had such a wonderful three-show weekend.