Well, dear readers, Drat! The Cat! has purred its last purr at the Group Rep and overall, I could not be happier with the run. Our last performance is not the one I prefer to remember, through no fault whatsoever of the cast, who did a great job and played a great last show. The problem? A what I’ll call an “incident” that happened about thirty minutes before we began some ten minutes late due to late arrivals. Some woman was standing on the stairs, halfway up, talking to someone and also blocking the stairs from other patrons. She stepped back to let someone go by, tripped herself, lost her footing, and went down, hitting her head on one of the lower steps. The first I knew about it was standing in the lobby and hearing an usher yelling at the gal who runs the box-office, which is really bad form. Next, a woman interrupts Doug, who’s having a conversation, saying she wants to fill out an accident report, that the woman has taken a Tylenol but doesn’t feel good, and what is Doug going to do about it. Doug finally gets a clipboard and paper because the woman talking to him will not stop. To me, it sounded like a classic set-up to hold the theater responsible somehow. The usher is still upset at the box-office gal and is still yelling and I calmed her down very quickly and she actually thanked me for doing so. I went into the theater to see what was what. Everyone was being very solicitous of the woman that fell, making sure she had some water and was okay. But to ME, the whole thing smelled and maybe that’s just my cynical nature, but it seemed the woman who’d come to Doug kept making more drama. Doug got her some ice wrapped in a washcloth. With all the goings on, my first course of action if it were me dealing with it, was to ask the woman if she wanted an ambulance or paramedic. She certainly never asked for it. The result of all that was that you could slice the negativity in the theater with a carving knife. There was a pall over everyone, and I sent word backstage to alert the actors and for them just to play the show with a big bowl of JEF. Doug’s welcome speech has built-in laughs, and it always gets them. Nothing. And I now know the writing is on the wall. The show begins, and the first jewel theft occurs, which always gets a nice laugh because it’s cleverly done. Nothing. While there were a couple of pockets of folks trying their damndest to laugh, they could not break the negative spell. The actors did exactly what I’d asked them to and played the play. I don’t think act one got anything louder than a tepid chuckle and even the quietest of our audiences laughed out loud throughout the act. At intermission, I again sent word back telling everyone they were doing great, but to just let loose a bit more on the Fun of JEF. By the time act two began, you could feel the pall lifting and act two was much better in terms of laughs and applause. And then, as these things seem to go, at the end they cheered and woo-hood as if this were the most entertaining thing they’d seen in ages. Indeed, several people said that to me. I was sort of hanging out in the lobby because Mel Swope, one of the producers of The Partridge Family, was there with wife Judy and we were chatting. I think we’re going to have a lunch soon. As I walked back to the theater, the woman and her enablers were standing by the door that leads into the theater, and I heard the woman who’d come to Doug say, “Yeah, this is going to be great.” There is no question that they will file a lawsuit, but unfortunately for them, we have witnesses who saw the whole thing, all of whom say that she tripped over herself and fell – nothing to do with the theater. She didn’t look where she was going, simple as that. Certainly, she knew she was standing on stairs, as she’d climbed them to talk to her friend. The icing on the cake, intent-wise, was when a company member went and talked to her, this is exactly what the woman who fell said to her: “Are you an attorney?” See what I mean?
Anyway, I’ll prefer to remember Friday night’s audience, which was great and even the quieter but very responsive audience of Saturday night. After the performance, the set was struck in only an hour because our cast stayed to do it with the others who showed up, unlike the strike that happened with the show before us were almost no one showed up and the strike to clear the stage for us took three days. After, we all moseyed on over to the Coral Café, where we had the back room all to ourselves. We ordered food, one of our cast members gave me a poster from the show, signed by everyone with lovely sentiments, then he gave out awards to everyone and that was fun and laugh-filled. Earlier, before the show, our leading lady, Sydney, gave me the most wonderful note I’ve ever received from an actor – very sweet and very moving. I just adore this young woman and I feel if she gets the right breaks, she’s going to have an amazing career. There was not a single person who saw the show who didn’t rave about her. We all schmoozed, ate, and then I took my leave around eight.
I came home, wanted a treat, and so ordered the strawberry cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I then sat on my couch like so much fish, turned on the TV, and promptly fell asleep for thirty minutes, until the doorbell rang and the slice of cheesecake arrived. It was very good, but I could not finish it. Same thing earlier – could not even finish the fries that came with my small chicken salad sandwich. Something is awry with me, my taste buds, and the way my body is processing things, which is not well. I’ll take it easy for the next few days and see if I feel any better.
Prior to all that, I got barely four hours of sleep. And that was our Drat! The Cat! closing – a show and a cast I will really, really miss. Of course, I’ll see the shows they do, and then I’ll be back to direct the original play we’re doing. And just before beginning these here notes, I began watching a horror movie about a malevolent elevator, called Down. So far, it’s one of the most ineptly acted and written movies I’ve ever seen. It’s a remake of a 1983 Dutch film called The Lift – I’ll watch that after I finish down to see if it plays better in a different language and its country of origin. The only two people I recognized in the 2001 remake were Edward Herrmann and then-newcomer-to-US-films, Naomi Watts. In fact, she’d already been filming Mulholland Drive with director David Lynch, but that film was released several months after Down. I’ll try and stick it out, but if not, I’ll switch over to the original film. Both are on Prime for free.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll look at young people videos and decided on the final few cast members for that show, begin choosing songs for both it and the July show. I’ll eat something amusing and light, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, the helper will come over and pick up the books to be shipped plus a few other things that need shipping, so that will finally get done, and then the rest of the week is catching up on a lot of stuff, hopefully picking up two important envelopes, and a couple of meetings and meals.
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, look at young people videos and then decide on the final few folks for that show, begin choosing song, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite guilty pleasure horror movies that feature malevolent things like killer elevators, possessed dolls, killer carpeting. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, already missing the cat’s meow.