Back from my various and sundried travels and seeing Jason Graae's run-through of his new Jerry Herman act. He did it at a retirement home in Burbank for a very appreciative audience of elderly folks, including his delightfully delightful mother. All the songs in the show are great and Jason is, as always, a complete pro and wonderfully funny. Afterwards he asked me what I thought and because he only wants honesty, I told him that I didn't feel the order of the show was quite right and that the beginning of the show, unusually for him, felt awkward to me. I recommended flipping around five numbers and he was very keen on that - I was especially strong about the second slot as he has a perfect number for it, one he now does in the middle of the show where it works fine but not as well as it would work second - it's what I call the comfort position, where you do something fun and endearing and let the audience know they're in safe and good hands - I also felt it was important for Jason to be Jason right up front. By the end of it, he at least saw the reasoning - whether he does it or not is totally up to him and he'll make the right decision, I'm sure. I also recommended that they focus the "overture" a little more and get a musical joke in right away (right now they start it with a ballad) - and I said it needed a big "overture" like opening with Hello, Dolly's tune - something that says Jerry Herman and Overture right off the bat. That was it. I may drive up to Palm Desert on Saturday to see it, if I'm feeling like I won't mind the two-hour drive.
