Good Afternoon!VIBES Request:I just got back from visiting my cousin, Richard, who's currently in the hospital with some mystery ailment. He was admitted last Friday due to a "shutting down" of part of his lower intestine, and as of this morning, his doctors still have no real idea what's going on. He's been going through all the usual and non-usual tests, but they have yet to provide him with an official diagnosis. -It's a very "House"-like situation (minus the bedside-manor-free doctor). And since he's not been able to keep any solid food down, he's been living off of Italian ices and Sprite for most of the past week.To further complicate the situation, he is dealing with some pain. However, if he takes the meds to alleviate his pain, then that in turns slows down his digestive system. So, he's been testing his pain threshold over the past couple of days in order to keep things "moving" - he even opted not to take the meds last night when he went through another round of tests. -But at least his body was 'smart', and he ended up blacking out during the procedure.Needless to say, Richard is very frustrated, and he and his wife just want some kind of answer. And soon. He was hoping to get discharged this afternoon, but that's not likely. He has another consult with a doctor this afternoon, and they'll also be bringing in a surgeon this time.I hadn't seen Richard in a couple years - I even met his wife for the first time today - but we practically grew up together during grade school. My father and his father met while they were in the Coast Guard, and the families have been close ever since. And in true Filipino fashion, since the fathers and mothers became such good friends, they children of each family have become cousins. He's also a musician - rock bands. Even though it was not under the best of circumstances, it was nice to be able to catch up with him this morning. He's always been a mover and a shaker, and not one to stand still, and all the bed rest is definitely making him antsy.I'm gonna stop by again tomorrow, and, hopefully, the mystery will be solved.So... Vibes would be much appreciated, both for my cousin, Richard, and the staff of doctors and nurses attending to him.Thank You.
I just finished my new section for the editorial notes on Toyland, and here's what I wrote:The popular musical theatre is a commercial venture; the show is produced to entertain an audience, and, by maintaining that audience, to provide its creators and investors with a nice bundle of cash. Because of its need to please an audience, the show is a fluid entity, constantly in flux, reshaping itself by whatever means it can employ to bring in the crowds. In previews, the show is under close scrutiny as it plays to an audience: dull spots, poor jokes, and inept performances are all reasons for immediate cuts, rewrites, and cast replacements. Much of this can be seen by the creators in performance with an audience, but the reviewers' opinions are equally important in determining what does and does not work.It was imperative that the show be fixed well enough to attempt a New York run of performances since it was this "New York hit" billing, true or false, that kept the show touring the country for years, and this tour, if successful, was the primary source of income from the piece. If the show had been a major success in New York, first-class and second-class tours could take to the road and do even better: the Shuberts' Sigmund Romberg hit BLOSSOM TIME toured for years until it became a joke. Once the show opened in New York, if it were a hit, it was imperative to keep the publicity machinery running and the audiences returning. Often a cast replacement meant a new number and a bit of publicity. In one of Townsend Walsh's scrapbooks, an anonymous and undated newspaper clipping has a photo of Bessie Wynn with the announcement that she has a new number, "Our Castle In Spain," in the hit BABES IN TOYLAND. Come back and see it.If the show were lucky, it might be picked up by a rental agency for stock and amateur performances, and Victor Herbert's publisher M. Witmark & Sons had formed the Witmark Music Library to represent the shows they published. The shows were simplified for casting and scenic concerns and the orchestrations were standardized so that all their shows used the same orchestration, usually 5 reeds, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, percussion, harp, and strings. Often, Herbert's concerns over how an amateur or pickup orchestra would play his music prompted the removal or simplification of the writing. Many of his shows for the rental package lost their original overtures in favor of the popular (and published for anyone's use) concert medleys.After touring for several years, the orchestra parts would have been recopied several times from the constant wear. Often the part was recopied by the player or music director, accidentally replacing old copy errors with new ones: notes that had originally been cues were now accepted and played, accidentals were missed, and often bars were omitted. After the tours shut down and the rights reverted to the authors and publisher, the original performance materials were discarded, burned, or lost in the shuffle with the costumes and scenery.In an era before easy access to multiple copies, the chorus and actors learned their parts by rote, reading from lyric sheets, while the conductor taught the notes. Until some of these lyric sheets turn up, the lyric for "If I Were A Man Like That" will remain incomplete. The original chorus parts written by Victor Herbert for BABES IN TOYLAND were copied into the scores Max Hirschfeld used to teach the singers and rehearse the orchestra. Unfortunately, a number like "Jane" had no choral writing, perhaps because it was still a solo for Jane when Herbert composed it. By the time the show opened, it was performed by Jane, Alan, and the Piper Children, and Hirschfeld may have written harmonies for the Piper Children since they usually sing in three parts. We also know, from a Pittsburgh review, that the song had some whistling as well, but any routining today is conjectural, based on what is known.The loss of original orchestra parts, especially those of the original run, leaves many questions involved in a restoration of a musical theatre piece unanswered: how were numbers routined? how many verses in a strophic number were performed? how many encores? cuts? utilitiy pieces such as scene change, entr'acte, curtain calls? Much of this information is not provided in the rental package or any extant libretto to BABES IN TOYLAND. Luckily, Hirschfeld's notes on his scores provide some answers. Herbert has a note on his rescoring of "Floretta" about an Entr'Acte, but there is no date to tell when this rescoring occurred. The rewrite employs the same paper as that used for the finales to Acts One and Two, so it's possible this rescoring occurred in Chicago, July 1903, to remove the dance to "Floretta" and shorten the number. Since this is the only source for any information on an Entr'Acte, it was determined that a reconstruction would be impossible. Nearly everything about a reconstruction, especially when there are no survivors connected with the original production, becomes conjectural, based on the knowledge, experience, and tastes of the person(s) recreating the piece.
Do you know that I shall achieve my new plateau of 18,000 postings quite soon. If others would post alongside me, it could even be tomorrow morning.
There are no such things as meaningless posts, only meaningless fences.
I thought the Makato was an opera by Gilbert O'Sullivan
Makota is part of DR MakotaCelt's name! There!
As requested here is a photo of yesterday's job fair outfit. Rodzinski gets credit as stylist.And yes, my head is cropped. Because I had the loopiest expression on my face which I believe greatly distracts from the outfit!
