I have edited a post which I created recently for the Scarlet Street Forums, a post in response to xome very nasty, uniformed things being said about people whom I consider "friends:"
In my college years, I saw a musical film which has proven to be yet another life-altering experience: THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL, for it was with this film that the name Bruce Kimmel became known to me. (Almost certainly I had seen his guest shots on M*A*S*H, HAPPY DAYS and THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, but TFNM was in a different ballpark than television fare).
It wasn't until 1993, however, that Bruce would truly make shattering changes in my life. On the Varese Sarabande Label, Mr. Kimmel began producing a series of "Unsung" albums - cds devoted to either composers or shows with songs which had shamefully not been recorded. Unsung Sondheim was the first in my collection, but the next one, Unsung Musicals, came at a time when I was working on a benefit revue devoted to flop musicals. A godsend indeed, for here was yet another wealth of material which could be put to use by the five voices in my show. Not only that, but, if it weren't copywritten, what a great title that would be for my show! Thus came my one and only "meeting" with Bruce Kimmel. Yes, it's true. I have never met Bruce, but through the years, I have come to think of him not only as an inspiration, but as a friend. But one afternoon, in 1994, thanks to Esther Monk, I was connected to THE Bruce Kimmel. Our telephone conversation was brief - he gave me his blessing to use UNSUNG MUSICALS for the title of my revue and told me how much he, as many others had already told me, loathed Stephen Sondheim's new musical, PASSION. Oddly enough, only ONE of the songs from Mr. Kimmel's cd wound up in my show, and that song ended up there only because a certain vocal coach I had know for a few months handed me the sheet music to a song which she felt I should be learning. That song was from the flop musical SMILE, and has since become my signature song: "Disneyland." Odd that Roseanna Irwin, the coach, had never heard of Bruce's work, or that he had has Jodie Benson record that song for him; she just felt that song was right for my range and emotions. . .
Now a big flash forward to the year 2000. . .
That would be the year that I saw an advert in the newsgroup alt.video.dvd for reviewers for a new dvd site. Now I had written plays, I had written cabarets, I had written revues, but, I had never written critical analyses of anything (other than required term papers and such), so I thought, "Why Not?" I submitted my review of the dvd of the Broadway production of VICTOR/VICTORIA (yes, a musical) to the new site's owner, Zach Borden. Zach took me on as a reviewer and posted that review.
So, I was writing for dvdlaunch, I was writing for Scarlet Street when a very special dvd was released. A dvd of a movie very special to me, directed by a person whose online antics I had followed from a Sondheim site, rec.arts.theatre.musicals' newsgroup, fynsworth alley, and finally, the most popular site on the internet,
www.haineshisway.com - yup, the one, the only, Bruce Kimmel. Not only did I review the dvd for both the site and Scarlet Street magazine, but, I had the extreme honor of interviewing Mr. Kimmel for the site. I still have yet to have a full-frontal meeting with Mr. Kimmel, but, I speak to him on a nearly daily basis on his website, and a dream came true when my name appeared in print on the liner notes of a cd which BK had a hand in creating . . .Anyone who thinks that Mr. Kimmel is only a dissenting voice in the fandom wars, should hie themselves to
http://www.brucekimmel.com/, a gloriously comprehensive site, to see just what kind of accomplishments Bruce is capable of.
This site, and BK himself, has brought so many of us together! My trips to NYC would not be complete without a dinner at Joe Allen's with Larry . . .I've shared the company of Ben, Michael S., AlexPaige, EvilTwin and so many others.
HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY TO HHW AND ALL ITS DENIZENS!
