Well, dear readers, the final day of the Labor Day weekend was spent laboring, although it was very pleasurable laboring in that we had the first of our rehearsals for the Kritzerland anniversary show. This one was much smoother than most – perhaps that’s because we got everyone their music many weeks ago. First to arrive was adorable little eight-year-old Lindsay Ridgeway, but somehow she’s now twenty-seven. Something doesn’t compute because if she’s now twenty-seven, why that must mean that I’m now… never mind, let’s just stop right there. She’s still adorable and she’s still very talented. First she turned back the hands of time and did her Ruthless number, Born To Entertain, which she just dove into and it’s so much fun to hear it all these years later. I gave her one other song because we wanted to show her adult side off, and boy does she sing it beautifully – I Will Be Loved from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Juliana Hansen was next and she ran Once Upon a Bedtime Story from my Peter Pan album, and then Disneyland from Smile, which is our little tribute to Marvin Hamlisch. Then came Dennis Kyle. He’s doing the song I put into What If during its run – Born Too Late and he does it great and will be choreographing some disco moves. His second number is a duet with our other male performer, the wonderful Kevin Symons. They do the arrangement I did with Tom Fay for Dear Old Syracuse by Rodgers and Hart – we did that for the Shakespeare on Broadway album. I adore the number and they do it to a fare-thee-well. Then Kevin did his solo, Old Habits Die Hard, from Amanda McBroom’s Heartbeats. You probably have figured out that all the songs are from albums I’ve produced over the years, but songs we haven’t been able to shoehorn into any of our shows. After Kevin, Lisa Livesay showed up – she did such a great job in the Bacharach show last month that we just had to bring her back. She did the first of her two numbers, West End Avenue, a very tricky and difficult song, which she’s negotiating extremely well. We ran it several times. Unfortunately, while I’d sent her generic sheet music for her second solo, I for some stupid reason hadn’t sent her the mp3 of the arrangement of Too Darn Hot as we did it on Shakespeare on Broadway. It’s a really unique arrangement and she simply hadn’t heard it. So, we walked her through it and then we sent her the track and a piano track to work with and she’ll be fine for Thursday’s rehearsal. After Lisa came Jane Noseworthy, who’s doing I Remember from Evening Primrose – I’d forgotten that she actually sang it in our Sondheim show, so she knows it and sings it beautifully. Her other song is also from Shakespeare on Broadway, Richard Adler’s beautiful Should I Speak of Loving You. Then we had Sarah and Sami Staitman, who are doing a put-together of Sisters and If Momma Was Married – they’re cute as buttons and the number will be terrific. I gave them just a few staging things, which they’ll know for Thursday’s rehearsal. Finally we had Jenna Rosen, thirteen years old with a killer voice – she’s doing The Glamorous Life, the film version, and she’s pretty amazing. I gave her just a few little notes and she’s going to be fantastic. That’s our show so far and I’ll write about the other numbers when our guest stars rehearse on Wednesday. Oh, and Guy Haines came by and ran his number, If I Had My Druthers.
Prior to that, I’d have another good night’s sleep. I got up around ten-thirty, and then answered e-mails. I went and had a sandwich and no fries or onion rings, then came back home. I did some organizing and moved some stuff to the garage. Then it was already time for our rehearsal, which lasted four hours. After that, I went to Gelson’s and got a couple of turkey meatballs, two small chicken tenders, and some apples for my snack. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Lonesome. I knew nothing of this motion picture but had read a glowing review on some site that compared it favorably with Murnau’s Sunrise, and that was enough recommendation for me. The film was made as a silent, but was caught in that rush to join sound films. So, they added three really awkward sound sequences that are just really strange but that don’t really hurt the film too much. I knew nothing about the director, Paul Fejos, but thankfully the disc has some extras about him – what an interesting fellow. In any case, Lonesome is utterly charming, winning, and delightful, and it’s rather astonishing filmmaking for its era, with lots of wonderful and fluid camera moves, lots of superimposed images, and a real vitality and freshness. The two leads are wonderful, and I especially was smitten with Barbara Kent, who seemed to have left the business in the mid-1930s and who apparently would never talk about her work. The real shocker is seeing a very young and very trim Andy Devine in a small role. The film is mostly all shot on location, with some jaw-dropping shots of 1927 New York and Coney Island. There are some gorgeous hand-tinted shots, too. The story is simple as pie – a lonely man and a lonely woman live in their one-room apartments, go to work and don’t want to be a third-wheel with their friends. In a bit of serendipity, they both decide to go to Coney Island for the day. They ultimately meet, woo, fall in love, and lose each other when they are briefly separated by the crowds and unable to find each other. They both go back to their apartments, both distraught and having lost what they knew was love at first sight. He puts on a gramophone record of Irving Berlin’s Always, something that they heard at Coney Island. In her apartment she hears it and it makes her so sad she bangs on the wall for her neighbor to shut it off – he goes to the apartment next door to see what all that banging is and, yes, they are neighbors and a happy ending ensues. That’s it, but the story is told so beautifully that it’s just enchanting. The transfer is from the only surviving nitrate print – it’s not perfect by any means, but it gets the job done. Recommended highly by the likes of me.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must try for another good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall do errands and whatnot, I shall hopefully pick up some packages, I shall write my part of some liner notes and get those off to the designer, I shall prep our announcement for our next release, I shall eat, I shall maybe do a jog, and I shall relax.
Tomorrow, I have a breakfast meeting, then it’s our second rehearsal, this one with our guest stars – Lea Thompson, Jason Graae, Joan Ryan, and Rita McKenzie. It should be a good deal of fun. Thursday our regular cast is back for their second rehearsal, and Friday is our stumble-through. Saturday is sound check and show and then it’s right onto the October show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages, ship a package, write liner notes, prep, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first silent movie you ever saw? What was your biggest discovery in terms of loving a silent movie? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, very happy to have had a smooth first rehearsal even though we labored on Labor Day.