Well, dear readers, Kritzerland at the Gardenia 10 is done and it was a pretty wonderful show, thank goodness. I really thought we were only going to have about twelve people in the audience, and that’s what we had pretty much in terms of diners, but by eight-forty we had close to forty people in the room, which looks pretty full in this club, so in the end it worked out fine. We began about five minutes after nine and I did my opening commentary, mostly about how I met Cy Coleman and our small relationship over the years. Then I set up the first song and we did the Big Spender joke and it got a great laugh for Melody and then she proceeded to kick the living daylights out of Hey There Good Times. She actually made a mistake with the lyric, swapping two verses, but this little thirteen-year-old is fearless and no one, not even I, had a clew anything was amiss. She is, in fact, the poster child for how to handle a tiny mistake like that – don’t let the audience know and they won’t know. Then James Mulligan did our put-together of Firefly and he did very well. Juliana followed with the put-together of Hey, Look Me Over and Pass Me By and was great, and then Andy Taylor did a fantastic job on Real Live Girl. Then it was Alet with You There In The Back Row – she, too, had a problem with the ending lyric but she handled it with aplomb and just did a beautiful job with the song. Then came Kim Huber who did a breathtakingly beautiful rendition of With Every Breath I Take. Kim’s done a few of these shows and last night was the best she’s ever been and that’s saying something. After that, it was back to Juliana for a socko On The Other Side Of The Tracks, which was followed by Alet doing Lost and Found, which she did splendidly. My little anecdotes between songs played well, I thought, and there were quite a few nice laughs.
Then James was back doing a lovely version of Our Private World, followed by Andy bringing down the house with Gimme A Raincheck/The Rhythm Of Life. At the end, he thanked Richard Berent, our MD, by calling him Blind Lemon Berent. Well, those who know me in the least know that I wasn’t going to let THAT name go by without repeating ad nauseum throughout the rest of the show, and it became a really funny running gag, especially when I started calling him Blind Melon Berent, and Richard kept correcting me – it’s the kind of thing I thrive on. Then Kim was back with a gorgeous Then Was Then and Now Is Now, followed by Alet stopping the show with Nobody Does It Like Me/You Can Always Count On Me. Then Juliana and James did a beautiful job with At My Side, followed by Andy doing the song that no one in the audience had ever heard – it turned out to be the gem of the evening – So Little Time, a song cut from Barnum. And then, we closed out the evening with Kim and Alet socking home Little Me. After I brought everyone out again, the cast and the audience did a final chorus of Hey Look Me Over.
I announced our July show, a Kander and Ebb evening. Then we hung out at the club and had lots of nice conversations with lots of nice people. A couple of them came up to me and said that one of the best things about the shows is the little running history lesson about the shows and songs, so I guess that part of the structure really works. Plus, with Cy, I had quite a few personal anecdotes, and I love doing those. Then a few of us went to Little Toni’s, where I ate too much pizza and even a little pasta. Starting today, it’s 1200 calories a day for the next four weeks and I will not go over that, no matter what.
Prior to the show, I’d had a pretty nice day. I got up early, found out that Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones just didn’t really want the soundtrack of The Fantasticks to be released – way too many musical comprises they had to make and neither of them like the result. While they don’t really have the power to stop a release, I would never do it if they weren’t happy about it, because I love and adore Harvey, and Tom is a great guy and we’ve just all done too much great stuff together. I got some good news about three or four upcoming Kritzerland projects that now seem like they can move forward and just in the nick of time, too. I picked up one package, did a jog, and did some work on the computer. Then we did our sound check and then it was show time.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it is very late and I am very tired and need what little beauty sleep I’m going to get.
Today, I shall be meeting the helper at the storage facility and transferring all the Nudie Musical stuff to my storage space. After that, I’ll do errands and whatnot, jog, and eat lightly, as well as begin choosing the Kander and Ebb material. There are certain Kander and Ebb shows I’m just not that familiar with, so I have to listen to them. After that, I hope to at least get some relaxation in, although I have to write the blurb for our new release, approve the master, and write some more on both projects I’m working on.
Tomorrow, I have lots to do, and Saturday there’s something going on, a birthday partay, I think, and then Sunday is, I think, the Tony’s? Is that right? If it is, then we’ll be having our annual haineshisway.com Tony Awards Bash right here at haineshisway.com. Be there or be round. Of course, I could be totally wrong and it might not be the Tony Awards at all.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, transfer the Nudie Musical stuff to my storage space, I must do errands and whatnot, I must pick up a package or three, I must choose songs, I must write, and I must relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Since I need all the help I can get, what are your favorite Kander and Ebb songs, and what are your favorite Kander and Ebb songs featured on the Brent Barrett album (since I have all those charts). Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I’m quite certain I shall dream of pepperoni pizza slices running amok.