Posted by bk @ 05/11/2003 09:36 AM PST

Happy Mother's Day! I still have to get a card for my mom. We're meeting at my parents's house for a late lunch and it will probably last into the evening, so I don't think I'll make it to the chat tonight (but if I get home in time I will join in). Have a good time!

On Friday, I got several CDs (most BK related) and earlier in the week I received BK's "Together Again" on vinyl (from eBay and it was still sealed!) but I haven't had time to listen to any of them. I'm going to try to record "Together Again" tonight and listen to them all at work tomorrow!

Now off to the store to get a card!

Posted by George @ 05/11/2003 09:44 AM PST

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!
I just got in from buying my card - late, late, late!

I sw a brilliantly written play on Friday night - PERA PALAS, by Sinan Unel. It's a marvelous piece for actors and directors. Believe it or not, it is all about TURKEY, not the bird, the country! The play bends times and characters as it tells three (or four or five) tales from 1918 to 1994. It is brimming with wonderful characters, and according to the playwright's request, all roles (26 in all) are portrayed by 13 actors. It was quite a bospheric experience.
Hey, all I knew about Turkey came from Bette Midler ("Istanbul is Constantinople") and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. PERA PALAS (the name of a grand hotel) takes the events of a politically changing Turkey and brings them to a personal level with wit, romanticism and theatrics.

KT - I have a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article which I would like to send your away about HEDWIG at Pgh's City Theater.

Tom from Oz, yes, indeed, SECRETS AND LIES is one of my favorite films. . .

Posted by td @ 05/11/2003 10:09 AM PST

Dear suave, perspicacious. and comely BK....

Well, the morn started out by our lolling in the arms of Morpheus, only to be rudely jarred awake by the incredibly grating sound of multiple gasoline-powered chain saws. Our neighbors are having a very large hedge on our south trimmed. I thought of you and you lawn mower serenades!

Happy Mother's day (toot toot, yea, streamers) to DRs Laura, Ben, Lulu, Jrand, JB aka JK, Hapgood, Rabbi Plotkin, and Mother Theresa. I am a firm believer in an equal opportunity Mother's Day.

What fun for the creative and pixie-like BK today....arranging, creating, causing tympani to tymp and harps to gliss...woohoo... If they get especially puckish, they may even end something dramatic with a deceptive cadence! I always loved that term, and I use it to death (the cadence, not the term).

Put On Your Sunday Clothes......and a special Mother's Day greeting and hug to the uber-mensch of all, Mr. Jerry Herman.

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 10:14 AM PST

Happy Mother's Day to all DRs who are also mothers.

Nothing much new today. See you all in chat.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 05/11/2003 10:58 AM PST

Gadzooks, Viola, and Huzzah....SO QUIET??? I know about lunches, moms, errands, weekends, etc., etc.

BUT, I can not even imagine the strength, harshness, and quantity of Mega-BitchSlaps that the esteemed BK will be itching to mete out, if there ain't some good old-fashioned jawwin' and spittin' goin' on here. The screams from assaulted dear readers will be heard from Studio City all the way to Greenwich Village and Long Island!!

I'll post more later, but I'm going to go check my A-bomb fallout shelter to see if it is Kimmel-proof??

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 12:03 PM PST

Thank you, thank you, for the Mother's Day wishes. I have yet to receive good wishes from my own two children, as they are still both sleeping.

Posted by Laura @ 05/11/2003 12:08 PM PST

Seven count them seven posts? No, no, no (that is three nos), that will not do, oh, yes, that will simply not do (what a positive/negative sort of sentence). We want all you mothers to post (you know who you are) - let's get the lead out (no mean feat) and get some postin' goin' on.

Posted by bk @ 05/11/2003 12:22 PM PST

Mother's Day...so it is. With parties for Moms and graduation parties galore!

I am now going to watch MR HOBBS TAKES A VACATION with James Stewart and Maureen o'Hara and John Saxon and LOTS of other people including the lovely Lauri Peters who was Broadway's first Liesl in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and now - or at least a few seasons ago taught acting and NYU. I asked a friend who was taking her class to ask her what it was like to kiss Fabian - but he declined to do so, so we shall NEVER EVER know her thoughts on the matter, unless someone else knows her and can ask and if so then come back to the board and then write out her answer so we can read it and then know what she thought about being kissed by Fabian in MR HOBBS TAKES A VACATION. -30-

Posted by Jrand52 @ 05/11/2003 12:29 PM PST

When I got home from the grocery store this morning, there was a Mother's Day card in the bottom of one of my grocery sacks. My mom has been dead since 1999, so I didn't buy it, and I wasn't charged for it, but how bizarre! There was no way I was going back out to return that card. So, I have an extra Mother's Day card to give to someone for next year. They will get it almost a whole year early.

What a weird choice I made for movie watching this afternoon - TIME AFTER TIME. Oh, I love the movie, but it somehow doesn't seem a movie for Mother's Day Sunday.

Posted by Matt H. @ 05/11/2003 01:26 PM PST

Good day!

Happy Mother's Day to All you Mothers - and Muthas - out there!

-Hmmm.... why did I type "muthas" - ah, well...

It's been quite the lazy day for me today. But I did replace the bulb in the ceiling fixture in the bathroom - which turned out to be quite the "crane and stretch" operation, but, alas, success!

I'll post a bit more later... I finally logged onto the net just a few minutes ago for the first time today. -That's how lazy a day I've been having!! No internet access by 11:00AM - WOW!

Well, if any of you DRs are playing along from my late posts last night... Here's a clue: All these songs did appear together in one place...but the may have been abridged. ;-)

Ciao for niao...

Posted by Jose C. Simbulan @ 05/11/2003 01:31 PM PST

I'd rather ask Ms. Peters (NOT Bernadette) what it was like to kiss the now-knighted, Cliff Richard. . .
Anybody else remember Fabian's poses for Playgirl Magazine?

Posted by td @ 05/11/2003 02:15 PM PST

Click "td" for a non-Playgirl picture of Fabian.

Posted by td @ 05/11/2003 02:23 PM PST

Thank you, td--I'd love to read it! My email is: ldyfrank@aol.com....that's so thoughtful of you.

Happy Happy Mother's Day to all you who are maternally-challenged and so-inclined. I received a gigantic bouquet of my favorite flowers, Star-Gazer lilies, from my daughter and ex- today. I am just wallowing in them, how nice.

Posted by KT @ 05/11/2003 02:41 PM PST

KT - YGM :-)

Posted by td @ 05/11/2003 02:56 PM PST

Jrand52: Not sure if it is a help but "Glendora" was released here on "Born To Be A Hit" Vol 3(1995 BMG Australia- Castle communications). I still only have the track on my old 45rpm.
Rusty Draper's "Greatest Hits" has "In The Middle Of The House" (Collectors' Choice - polygram NY)
The Como volume has his version of "No Other Love", "Round and Round", "Ko Ko Mo". "Tina Marie". "Girl With The Golden Braids" ("B" Side Of "Glendora" I think).
I shall try and locate the disc if you like but it may have been deleted by now.

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 05/11/2003 03:01 PM PST

Jrand: I do have the "Glendora" on CD but don't know of a Como version of the Railroad song. Let me know if you need copies of the Como or Draper(Can do them next month I hope!)
Tried your email contact but it was a no go zone!

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 05/11/2003 03:19 PM PST

the new Broadway Radio Show is now up and running...a lovely interview with the lovely Anne Kerry Ford....we'll hear some songs from her 2 CDs and she'll chat about her time as Grace Farrell in Broadway's ANNIE and her stint in Three Penny Opera with Sting!

Posted by Donald Feltham @ 05/11/2003 03:26 PM PST

Dear esteemed BK -- please, hold your wrath just a little longer, what are you doing with that wire hangar from my closet....Christine, help....

DR Jose -- I can't make the song connection, and so my brain is just laying here like so much fish. I'll watch for the answer.

DR TD -- yea, I remember the Fabian pictures in Playgirl...I remember, oh so well...

I've seen a couple of mentions of the overly-relaxed Mr. Perry Como lately. Some years back, I was music director for a church. We didn't have a choir, but instead always just had a soloist each week. My regular full-time soloist was one of the original backup singers on the Como TV show, I think in the late 50s. She was a god singer, but she WAS a soprano.

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 03:30 PM PST

As Sunday is a "free-for-all" day, I thought I'd post the following little anecdote from my past....it is show/entertainment related, and hopefully not too boring.

In the late 60s to very early 70s I had a house up in the area called Nichols Canyon in the Hollywood Hills (kind of up at the top od where the Hollywood Bowl is). We had several colorful and/or interesting neighbors in the several block area. Rudy Vallee up on the crest of Mulholland (a really crackers old thing and not so nice), The house just a little around the corner where pretty Ingar Stevens killed herself, my own house which I bought from Hoyt Axton when he was still just a folk singer and not yet an actor...but the house was a pigpen with burnt candle wax on lots of the floors, and (I swear to god) chunks of lunch meat or bologna on the walls!!! At least it sold for cheap.

My across the street neighbor was a small young lady named Sue, and she was friendly and I got to know her and her boyfriend. She was one of the talent bookers at NBC for the Carson Tonight Show, and her boy friend was quite a bit older than her and his name was Del. That's all I knew about him, other than in conversation I found out that we both shared an interest in gardening, landscaping, flower beds, etc., and Del told me that he really enjoyed doing brick and concrete block work to relax. When he offered to help me with a vegetable bed that I wanted to build on one side of my house, I said "great" and gladly accepted. He was a lot of help, and it didn't turn out too badly.

Several weeks or months later, I was visiting with them and Del said "why don't you stop by my house in the Valley sometime and look at my gardens and some of my brick work?" Great, I accepted and went over a few days later.

We first walked around and he indeed had magazine quality landscaping, with some of the most beautiful masonry and brick work I had ever seen. After a little bit, we went into his house which was just a nice San Fernando Valley ranch style 1 story place....not too big. As we went into either the living room or the den, I couldn't help but notice several Emmys and other awards sitting around on book shelves. Turns out that "Del" was Guy Della Cioppa, one of the real talents in the early days of television. I think one of the Emmys was for directing Playhouse 90, and he had just finished ( a couple of years earlier) either producing or directing the Red Skelton variety shows from CBS Television City.......not far from the PicFair, the Lido, Canter's, and Farmer's Market.

So, you never know with whom you might be laying concrete blocks. By the way, his wonderful, true, and incredibly ribald stories about the "sweet and humble" Mr. Skelton could scorch ears from Encino to Palm Springs!

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 03:54 PM PST

Thanks for the info, Tom/Oz. I will check at some of the online services for that CD.

Hmmm...td, Fabian naked on a motorcycle? Nope never saw the pictures.

Great story, Music Guy. Let's have a Red Skelton story!

Posted by Jrand52 @ 05/11/2003 04:27 PM PST

Happy Mother's Day. I had intended a lazy morning but our older son and his girlfriend surprised me with breakfast at a local restaurant. I was informed of this at 8:00 this morning. The reservations were at 9:30. Our younger son apparently declined to join us so he could sleep in. After breakfast we went for a nice walk in the park, then went shopping. At 12:00 I called to thank our older son, who lives in Portland, for the gift. He was still sleeping-lucky him. It has been a very nice Mother's Day. Now we are off to an early dinner with our younger son.

Posted by Jane @ 05/11/2003 04:42 PM PST

Chat in just over an hour - be there or be round - and let's get some postin' goin' on here, shall we?

Posted by bk @ 05/11/2003 04:42 PM PST

Where in tarnation IS everyone. Hopefully all waiting for chat, but we really must get some postin' goin' on, too. We shall see if your suprise guest drops in this evening.

Posted by bk @ 05/11/2003 05:35 PM PST

I'm nervous and upset
because this room I've never met
I get to meet..tonight.. at 9

Posted by Georg Nowack @ 05/11/2003 05:37 PM PST

Must be everyone is out with their moms today.

Posted by Laura @ 05/11/2003 05:40 PM PST

Ermengarde keep smiling, no one likes a little ninny....

According to the old cactus clock here in the desert, it's less than 15 minutes to chat..

DR Jrand -- glad you enjoyed the little story about the brick work. Yes, Rudy Vallee was a first class, board-certified putz!! Even though they were completely illegal in passenger cars, he had a pair of compressed air truck horns mounted under the hood of his station wagon. He would let out a deafening honk to any of us who had dared to set foot (or buy a house) on what he considered his totally private mountain top. I had to work with him years later at a theatyre in Chicago, and he had gotten even worse.

The Red Skelton stories would scorch these here computer lines. They just aren't fit to print. It turns out that the person seen on TV every week was a total fictional creation of Skelton....he even refered to the "TV persona" by a different name and in the third person. This was all right around the time that he was dumping his wife (Georgia) of many years, and taking up with a much younger trampy thing named Lothian. What the hell kind of name is a Lothian.

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 05:43 PM PST

Chat in a mere four minutes - be there or be round. I'll probably open the room a bit early just because I can.

Posted by bk @ 05/11/2003 05:44 PM PST

Hi DR Laura......happy Mom's Day to you...did Sandra make you homemade DuPar's pancakes with freshly squeezed orange juice????

I hope you got a dishwasher for Mother's Day!!

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 05:45 PM PST

There is a special guest currently in chat. We had to play "What's My Line" to guess his/her identity. Come join us and find out who he/she is. Go to the main page, click on "Live Chat" and type in your name. No password needed.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 05/11/2003 05:58 PM PST

Well it certainly was a jiggy chat! Let's do "What's My Line" more often!

Posted by td @ 05/11/2003 07:54 PM PST

Hi everyone. I missed the chat (sort of - I did get to say hi to DR Laura and BK as they were closing up) Speaking of closing up, we closed up "The Boy Friend" today with another sold out house, we almost had to put the mother of a reed player in the pit with us so she could see the show! It was off to mom's for a dinner and some bs'ing with the famn damily. This week is production week for "Hello, Dolly!" at a local middle school that I MD for. (thanks for all the "Hello Dolly" references, even though one was from that MOVIE with that certain PERSON as that certain LEAD) It's a great show. Our Dolly is a 6th grader with the best timing I have ever seen at that age. It was all natural, also. She knows all her lines, others that have one or two don't. A model for them all. I received the Sherman Brothers CD in the mail... seems to me, bk, that you were going to share some things you heard about it this weekend. I'm sure most of us are waiting with baited breath. It was nice to see the bk nod in the credits, though. Oh, and I bought it used so the label made $0 on it. The only way to deal with it!

Posted by Matthew @ 05/11/2003 08:40 PM PST

Used already, Matthew? Didn't it just come out?

Posted by Laura @ 05/11/2003 09:02 PM PST

DR Matthew -- what city do you music direct in? Is it at a school level, or what? Thanks for letting me be nosy.

DR Laura -- Did you have a nice dinner with your son? Where did you go? What did you eat? Did Sandra and the hubby stop bickering? Anyway, happy M's Day to you.

Posted by MusicGuy @ 05/11/2003 09:22 PM PST

Thank you, MusicGuy. Yes, I had a lovely dinner with my son and my 83-year-old mother. Knowing his limited finances, we went to Boston Market and I had a cup of chicken tortilla soup. DH and Sandra must have settled their differences, because all is quiet now.

Posted by Laura @ 05/11/2003 09:42 PM PST

I had the craziest dream ( a mack Gordon/Harry Warren reference). I dreamed it for you, Bruce ( An SS reference).
In the dream Ethel Merman wanted Lyn and me to see her in "Gypsy" and let her know what we thought. She had special seats picked out for where she'd be directing her attention for "Rose's Turn." This dream got very convoluted and interrrupted but kept coming back to us seeing Merman in Gypsy. I remember the set for the "Gimmick" number and the sombreros for the Toreadorables, but the show never got around to "Rose's Turn." Then there was some delay with a long intemission or something. I awakened without ever seeing Merman do "Rose's Turn." So, I never got to give her my opinion. ANYONE have a clue as to what this all might mean?

Happy Mother's Day to all and one and one and all.

Posted by Kerry @ 05/11/2003 10:07 PM PST

DR MusicGuy, I live in the SF Bay Area and MD at the High School, Middle School levels and local Community theatre. I love what I do :)

Posted by Matthew @ 05/11/2003 10:25 PM PST

Just sing out Kerry. I suspect it is not an invitation to strip of go nude parachuting. At least it was Merman rather than Mermaid. It might be just the gypsy in your soul.

Posted by Tom Guest (from OZ) @ 05/11/2003 10:33 PM PST

Dear Reader Kerry -- I'm sorry to inform you that your dream means that you are insane.

Posted by Laura @ 05/11/2003 10:43 PM PST

Note to Dear Reader Dave: So, is it Sparky or Smudge?

Posted by Laura @ 05/11/2003 11:59 PM PST

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! Sorry I missed the chat...

DR Kerry...Here's what I think your dream means. (Cue music, "I Had a Dream...") I think with all the talk about Ms. Peters being ill and missing so many performances that your dream about missing "Rose's Turn" was a projection of the sentiments felt by those audience members who paid to see the star of the show and never got to see her. While this may be a fun analysis, I am well aware that it is totally convoluted and made up, but I thought it'd be fun to throw that out there.

I have no idea what it REALLY meant.

Posted by Jason @ 05/12/2003 12:53 AM PST

Oh, yeah...Tony nominations in 4 1/2 hours!

Posted by Jason @ 05/12/2003 12:54 AM PST

Any chance that you will be nominated for best performance by a box office person Jason. Any news yet on call backs (or is that calls back?). How is that Nigel Kennedy CD going? His recording of the Four Seasons was the top selling classical CD for months months months and months in the UK. Vivaldi of course - not Frankie Vallie and "Big Girls Don't Cry"

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 05/12/2003 01:16 AM PST

Tony nominations in 90 minutes.

I actually sneaked into chat last night around 10pm and had a very nice time with TD and MusicGuy and Jrand52. We had a jiggy time.

Posted by Ben @ 05/12/2003 03:54 AM PST

Here is the link to the nominees. I watched live from the Tony Website

http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/index.html

Posted by Ben @ 05/12/2003 05:44 AM PST

I can sum up the problem with the Tony nominations in 2 words: Paul Newman. I'm sorry, but Mr. Newman, a very good actor, did not give one of his Best Performances or one of the season's Best Performances in OUR TOWN. But Mr. Newman is a movie star and the chance that he will show up for the telecast and help the ratings was the only possible excuse for nominating him. I am so enraged with his nomination that every nomination that AMOUR, HAIRSPRAY, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY and other worthwhile shows got means a lot less. If anything, OUR TOWN and Mr. Newman's performance in it should be voted the most disappointing event of the season. This was the general consensus during the play's run, which sold out before it opened strictly on Mr. Newman's name. Nothing personal against Mr. Newman who is one of my favorite movie stars, but in no way was his work in OUR TOWN Tony (or any other award) quality. His nomination was for being a movie star who gave up a few months of his time to star on Broadway, not for giving one of the Best Performances.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 05/12/2003 06:26 AM PST

Laura,

I'm Smudge. I'm somewhat torn, because it's a great part, and I get to sing some great songs, but there is no way I'm going to hit that low C at the end of "Sixteen Tons". I can sing the rest of the score, but not that note. We'll have to figure out how we're going to deal with it.

RAGTIME auditions are tonight, and I am more than a little nervous.

Saw a very good production of SIDE SHOW on the weekend. I had a few friends in the cast. The twins were played by Jeanne DeLong and Patti Ward (both sisters of Joe Kolinski...what a talented family!), and they were both wonderful. Jeanne played Violet, and it was so nice to hear the part sung so well. I like Alice Ripley, but someone should tell her that she is not a belter.

Just read the Tony nominations. I didn't see any real surprises, and I doubt the awards will hold many surprises, either.

And WEL, are you implying that the Tony awards are not always about artistic merit??! I am appalled. Aghast and agog am I. Disillusionment overcoming me...world crumbling all around me...must go to my happy place...

Posted by Dave @ 05/12/2003 06:45 AM PST

Dave: You mean the very last note? You don't have to hit it. It's funnier if you don't. Most of the professional Smudges I've seen don't hit it. E-mail me and I'll tell you the best delivery I've seen of it.

Posted by Laura @ 05/12/2003 07:27 AM PST

Dave---
I normally have more respect for the Tonys than any of the other awards which is why the Newman nomination strikes me as so wrong. Usually if there is a glaring error it is in who is omitted. Everything else this year is pretty much as expected and as should be, which makes the Newman nomination even more out of place.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 05/12/2003 07:48 AM PST

Laura,

When my friend played Smudge, he couldn't hit it, either. He paused right before it, took a deep breath, and blew out the lowest note he could muster, and got a ton of applause. This seemed like the only way to handle it.

When I got the script, I read the director's notes at the front, and it says that if Smudge cannot hit the low C, then do not make a big deal of it, and just sing it as best as he can.

I'll just be a good little actor and do whatever my director tells me. ;-)

Posted by Dave @ 05/12/2003 07:48 AM PST

WEL, I also have more respect for the Tonys than, say...the Oscars, but I also recognize them for what they are. Beyond recognizing excellence in theatre, they are designed to promote the business of theatre, and market "Broadway" (which includes touring companies) to the national audience.

Given last year's low ratings, it can hardly be surprising that the Tony administrative committee is interested in doing what it can to bring in viewers.

Of greater note is the number of nominations for closed shows which don't seem likely to tour.

Posted by Dave @ 05/12/2003 08:25 AM PST