Back from a lovelier than lovely lunch with Miss Alet Taylor. Yes, her child was with her in the sense that it is still in her tummy. The food was excellent as was the conversation.
It is becoming very apparent that I was correct in predicting we would get creamed by the critics here in LA. We've had several more very negative reviews. I don't feel bad about them, though - I would probably feel weird if they were GOOD - I'd feel something was wrong, because LA critics are the worst in the nation probably. They seem to only respond to pretentious crap, amateur waiver theater, gay plays, and musicals no matter how poorly done. It has been that way for many years here in LA. In fact, of all the shows I've ever done here, only What If received decent reviews and even the best of those (from the major outlets) had very negative things to say. We'll probably do okay with the minor papers, but I'm afraid we're a bust with all the majors (haven't seen the Times but will assume it will be on a par with the others). I'd rather they hated it here, because if they loved it and we tried to take it into NY then NY would hate it. NY, knowing they didn't like it here, is more likely to go the other direction. The show that should really be worried about that backlash is The Drowsy Chaperone, which is why, I assume, its producers aren't in that much of a hurry to bring it in. From reading the LA reviews, you'd think that the Drowsy Chaperone was the greatest musical since My Fair Lady. It's entertaining, not without flaws, and hardly in a league with any great musical. But, that's LA.
