Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, having had a four-hour rehearsal in the afternoon. Since they were building our set in the theater, we could have gone upstairs to the black box theater, but I put the kibosh on that because I think working on a much smaller stage actually does us harm. So, I decided we’d have a much-needed music rehearsal in the lobby. So, that’s what we spent the first ninety minutes doing and it was very helpful – doing all the group numbers. Then we got the stage and reviewed the number we’d done on Saturday, the title song, and it’s super cute and moves along at a steady clip. I’ll probably finesse it a bit more, but I’m pretty happy with it and I know everyone is having fun doing it. And I did watch a motion picture in the evening – a completely wacko sequel to Salem’s Lot, the Stephen King book and miniseries, called A Return to Salem’s Lot. In fact, there was only one man who could make such a completely wacko sequel that contained not even a mention of any character from the original (or if it did, I must have missed it), and that man was my pal Larry Cohen. The cast was as wacko as the movie – Cohen favorite, the completely wacko Michael Moriarty, Andrew Duggan, Evelyn Keyes, and June Havoc. I mean, really. But the most wacko casting was Mr. Samuel Fuller, the iconoclastic writer/director as a Nazi hunter and vampire killer. It makes almost no sense, it was shot as a TV movie but had a very brief theatrical release. Now, when I say brief, it played one week in one city – Des Moines, Iowa. The local paper reviewed it and gave it no stars. Some of the choicer quotes from said review: “Return, in fact, plays like a movie made by people who’ve HEARD about how movies are made but who’ve never seen one.” “Cohen’s flick, quite possibly the most amateurishly made vampire movie in memory, features a festival of bad acting. Actor Michael Moriarty – whose lightweight delivery always makes him sound like an understudy who’s just been thrown, unprepared, into the lead role in the class play on opening night – performs true to form here.” Anyway, any Larry Cohen movie is worth watching.
Yesterday wasn’t horrible. I got ten hours of sleep, answered e-mails, relaxed, and then went to rehearsal. That you know about. After we finished, I came right home, ordered my chopped Eyetalian salad from CPK with a 50% off coupon – but you have to spend $25 for that to kick in, so because the salad isn’t all that large, I ordered a kid pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom pizza to get it up to $25. It ended up costing less than if I’d gone there and had just the salad. Both items were very good. I caught up on e-mails, had a couple of telephonic conversations, and then you know about the rest and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, but basically it’s a ME day in which we’ll continue our prayers for a modern major miracle. I’ll eat something fun, I do have to put gas in the motor car, but I’m not planning to go out today so that can wait until the ‘morrow. Once I’m done with whatever needed doing, then I’ll just watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, we’re back in rehearsal and there’s a rumor going around we may, in fact, actually have a full cast. We’ll continue running the second act and my hope is we’ll finish it. I still have the final number to block, but that’s easy to do. If we have any time left over, we’ll drill musical numbers. Wednesday, we’ll continue slogging through things and set any set change things and stuff like that. Then, if things have gone okay, we’ll attempt a complete stumble-through on Thursday, which means no stopping to ask what the next scene is – all that will be posted backstage. Then, if that’s gone okay, we’ll have run-throughs on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
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, do whatever needs doing, have a ME day, eat, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movie sequels and what sequels did you find the most ludicrous? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, glad to have had a not so horrible Sunday.