Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to nothing after having watched nothing. Well, THAT is not going to make for interesting reading, is it? Okay, okay, now I’m listening, I’m listening. Is there an echo in here? I chose Arthur Bliss simply because his A Colour Symphony IS bliss. I love the monophonic version he conducted himself, but for stereophonic, it’s the Charles Grove version, which also includes the Things to Come suite. I had this LP when it came out and it was a real favorite of mine. I did do a bit of non-viewing last evening, viewing quite a lot of nons. I just couldn’t find anything that caught my fancy – my fancy is apparently very picky. I did watch some irritating YouTube videos, though, and they were especially irritating. But prior to that the day was quite enjoyable. First of all, I got ten hours of sleep and boy, was that enjoyable. Once up, I answered e-mails, did a few things that needed doing, printed out a show order for everyone, ordered food to arrive at five o’clock, and then it was time for rehearsal.
First to arrive was Kerry O’Malley. She’s doing three numbers from Promises, Promises, which is fun because she played Fran Kubelik opposite Martin Short at Encores. So, we ran her two solos and then since Jason Graae wasn’t with us, I sang I’ll Never Fall in Love Again with her. After Kerry, it was Robert Yacko. We ran his epic medley, finessed a few things within it, then ran his other solo. Then Adrienne Stiefel arrived, and we ran their duet, a put-together of two Bacharach songs no one has ever heard before. They’re really interesting and fun. Then Robert left and we ran Adrienne’s two solos, two Bachrach and David hits.
After Adrienne we had Brittany Anderson. She did her Dionne Warwick medley of three songs, a well-known Bacharach title song, and a put-together of two songs from a film. Then came Joan Ryan. We ran her epic medley, finessed stuff and I think it’s going to be great. After Joan, we had the unusual occurrence of Guy Haines showing up, and we ran his put-together. He sounded okay but he was wearing a ski mask, so we never actually saw his face. John Sawoski on piano is very even keeled and good to work with. He seems very methodical, which is a good trait. Sometimes someone who musical directs for us for the first time can be taken aback by how fast I work, that I don’t talk around things but cut to the chase, and how strict I am about chords being exactly right. My ears are one of my biggest gifts, but they can also be a curse in that nothing escapes them. But I feel that’s a good thing, not a downside.
Then food arrived, my chopped Eyetalian salad, which was more like the half version – much less than usual. Oddly, they dressed it and gave me an additional dressing, which I always ask for – usually all salads arrive undressed, or nude as we salad perverts like to say, but this time it was fully dressed, and I didn’t need much of the second dressing at all. Thankfully, it wasn’t soggy by the time it reached me, which is the danger of dressing it in advance. Anyway, it was very good but not filling like it usually is – but less calories, too. The full version, dressed, is 1000 calories, but this had to be more like 800 or even a bit less.
Because I needed something else, I made an artichoke and took it easy on the butter, so that was a nice companion piece to the salad. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish, trying to find some damn thing to watch other than irritating YouTube videos, but it was not to be. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, but mostly I’m relaxing and resting my voice. Allergy season is rough again. I’ll probably bring something in, although I might want to take the air and maybe get something from Gelson’s. We shall see. I do have tuna here, so all I’d need is bagels or some kind of rolls. After I eat, I don’t think I’ll have the phone meeting with David Wechter – that will happen on Thursday when the Kritzerland show is done. At some point, I’ll watch, lisen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our stumble-through at three and then I rest my voice and relax. Wednesday, I relax and then we have our sound check at five o’clock. I’m sure I’ll have a salad of some sort before the show, then we do the show at eight-thirty, and then hopefully we’ll find some jernt that’s open so we can have some food after. I know Little Toni’s is and they do have an Eyetalian sandwich I like. So, that’s a possibility. Then the rest of the week is starting to cast the June show. First, I’m going to see if an alternate date is available a week later. I’m hoping that works.
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, relax, rest my voice, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If money were no object, what kind of car would you love to own? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had an enjoyable rehearsal.