Good morning, all! Thanks for the continued vibes and good wishes. I thiunk HHW alone got us through this recording.
First, let's get to the important news:
DR Cillaliz, I love the new avatar! Is it new or one you've previously used? I really like it.
DR Ginny, I would have preferred a pint of Haagen Daz as well, but after seeing myself in the many many mirrors on the walls of my room's bathroom, it's time for a salad-only diet for at least six months.
DR MichaelS, Linda Lavin had other commitments and could not do the transfer to Broadway; I personally think Houdyshell's a better choice. Now, if they could get Elaine Page to learn her lyrics and not backphrase so much!
DR TCB, I have only great hopes and good wishes for your neurosurgeon visit today!
DR Jose, what are you doing to provoke all those OK injuries? Give those boys a rest!
Last night's sessions went really well, but up to the wire. We got ourt two leads Eamonn and Mary finished up by the first break; they had two duets and Eamonn's cut song 'Cupid the Cunnin Paudeen,' which is a second-rate Herbert song sung as charmingly as any wonderful Irish tenor could sing it. After break, we did Rachel's flirtatious 'My Little Irish Rose,' and went on to the Overture. We read it down for wrong notes and finished it by the hour break between trhe two sessions.
The last session got in the Big Dance from Act Three, along with the two Entr'Actes, and then we reached the problematic moments: a redo of the choir boys' Ave Maria, which was pitchy. I knew what the problem was: too few strings to focus the pitch and a long section with the violins divided into four parts, two on a part. I had a discussion with Fionnuala, our wonderful concert mistress, and we took the top and bottom parts of Violin 1 from two players on each line to three on the top part and only one on the bottom. That focused the pitch and what everyone feared would take forever to get right was accomplished in 15 minutes or so.
The other problem was the 8-minute Orchestra Selection from EILEEN, which both Judy and David our conductor thought would take years to record, and I was prepared to see it go if we ended up in overtime; I wanted it, but it was the one piece on the recording not written for the show but written to capitalize on the show. We did a couple of complete takes, and then Judy broke it down into three sections. We recorded each section twice, picking up fixes in each, and finished it just before the session ended. Major relief!
Today, I will pack, make a visit to the pharmacy around the corner for aspirin with codiene - I'm stocking up for my next crippling round of sciatica or whatever it was that laid me low in 2009 - and at 2 I'm having coffee with David Brophy, our conductor, since he cannot make tonight's festivities and Joe and Jonathan about future projects. Then, tonight, Fionnuala, her husband, our Dublin producers, God knows who else, and myself are celebrating.
I've decided as well that I'm going to give my bound photocopy of the full orchestra score we used to make this edition to Ireland's National Library for its collection. I think that would please Mr Herbert.
Tomorrow morning I fly back to New York.
