Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I do need a good night’s beauty sleep befitting my age, which is younger than springtime but older than dirt. So, let’s dive right in with the stuff. I got the second time around pass from the two proofers – this time there wasn’t much from either, and I did most but not all of the recommendations, but I had strong reasons to not do the few I did not do. The Few I Did Not Do – that’s the title of my next novel. Now the book goes to the designers after I figure out the dedication, which I’ll try to do in the next day or so. I did finish watching Merrily We Roll Along. As a “film” it’s too much of an odd duck, I’m afraid. No geography, all close-ups or two-shots or medium shots, several sequences where the cutting is too quick for my taste, and the hybrid nature of purportedly shooting a live performance when most of the thing is not live and yet has the whooping and hollering audience reaction, including laughs on the laugh lines. I mean, if your goal is to make a “film” then make a film, don’t try to have it all ways from Sunday and that includes, for me, the insane decision not to show the curtain calls. Even some musical movies do that, like The Music Man. They also include titles to tell you the year and the setting – they did not do that in the production itself. I’d almost like to see the previous UK version where there IS geography and wider shots where you can actually see the staging and how the set worked. As to the show itself – believe me, I know that this show has legions of fans who love it no matter what – and that’s fine. I can only speak for myself and say that the structure of the show, due to the nature of the leading man, does not work because we meet him at his worst and he’s a first-class putz through most of the show, until we get into later in the second act, when we see the dreamer side of him. But after all that time of him being a putz and us knowing that even as we watch the dreamer side – it’s just peculiar. I know several plays have used the reverse structure, but I don’t think any of them have a lead character quite like this one. I was happy to see they fixed the worst of Furth’s later additions – Mary throwing acid in someone’s face – the someone still gets hurt but it’s not Mary who does it, at least I don’t think it is – when it’s all close-ups it’s sometimes difficult to know who is doing what to whom.

Maria Friedman, the director, plays it as a memory piece, which is a good device that I wish was even clearer. In the original Broadway version, the show began with the leading man giving a speech to his former school and it had a number called The Hills of Tomorrow. I don’t think that’s allowed to be used anymore and it obviously didn’t work for the audience back then. The three central performances are very good and the close-ups to allow us to see certain reactions clearly, sometimes too clearly, where something a little more subtle would, I think, work better. Another interesting issue is Beth, Franklin’s first wife, who appears basically out of nowhere to sing the show’s best song, before we really know anything about her. I don’t know that there’s a way around that, but, again for me, it doesn’t work. Eventually, we get to know her. Jonathan Groff works overtime to make Franklin somewhat likeable, but it’s just not in the writing until well into act two. He sings well and has the “look” certainly. Daniel Radcliffe is fine – a little one note in the video, but probably better onstage. I did not care for the actress playing Gussie – Michele Pawk was really terrific in that role at the York. The orchestration for ten or twelve is basically the same one we used for the York album. In fact, I listened to the new cast album and ours – haven’t heard ours since we did it – they both sound surprisingly the same and I’m happy to say that Old Friends ends with a high button. When we were recording it, they got to the end of it and it ended with a low button. I couldn’t believe it, so I said loudly, “A low button??? Wasn’t it high in the original? The song needs it.” There was total silence in the booth, including Mr. Tunick. That is, until Mr. Sondheim looked up from his New York Times and said, “Bruce is right.” Tunick went in and added it, and that’s what we used and I guess it’s now fixed in this orchestration.

I will say, that yes, it’s moving when you get to the end of it. You feel for Mary’s unrequited love, you feel for the knowledge of where they all end up. But the negativity of all of act one makes it difficult, at least for me it did. But – what a terrific score it is. Even Good Thing Going, which is just about the least likely song that would have ever become a hit, works in the show itself. Glad I watched it and I’ll seek out the Menier video if it’s somewhere. As to my history, of course I had the cast album and played it lots, the York was my first time seeing it live and it wasn’t an optimal production save for the really fine performances, then I saw a video of the original Broadway version and its faults were there for all to see, I saw a terrible production here at the Wallis directed poorly by Michael Arden and amusingly he never ever mentions having done it, and now this. I would like to have seen it onstage.

I had Birds for lunch – didn’t know they did delivery – one chicken breast, a tiny Caesar for my side, and some onion rings – they don’t travel well, unfortunately, although they weren’t terrible. I had a chocolate chip muffin for a sweet treat and nothing else for food. I did doze off for about two hours and slept through one and a half movies starring Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot. We had some very heavy rain early on, but it’s been sporadic since early afternoon.

Today, I’ll be up by eight and out the door by eight-thirty, I’ll breakfast with Robert Yacko, then do some errands and whatnot, come home, try to figure out the dedication, do whatever needs doing, listen to some stuff I need to listen to, if I figure out the dedication, then I’ll send all the files to the designers. Also have to send it out to blurbers and still trying to figure that out. Then I can watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of the same, perhaps a meeting and meal or two, then we start our closing weekend of shows and I hope we have nice houses for all of them – people do tend to wait until the last possible second.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight and out the door by eight-thirty, breakfast, do errands and whatnot, come home, figure out the dedication and get the files to the designers, figure out the blurbers and get the book to them, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Chicken. My childhood memory of chicken is almost non-existent. Other than the occasional horrible Swanson frozen fried chicken dinner, I cannot remember much chicken in our house. On Jewish holidays we did have Grandpa Gross’ favorite garlic chicken that my Aunt Lillie made, but I can’t remember my mother ever making chicken dishes much if at all. Once KFC hit I had that, but that was after I’d moved out and had started college. We always enjoyed KFC. I can’t ever remember having a chicken sandwich anywhere or chicken in a salad. At some point, I discovered chicken salad sandwiches and that became a favorite, then I had the best fried chicken ever in Lebanon, Ohio at The Golden Lamb, at some point I got hooked on Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, but still chicken is something I did not order much at all. Fish, yes. Beef, yes. Of course, there were no such things as chicken tenders or wings. Then in the last twenty years I began making chicken dishes here and since then I eat quite a lot of chicken. So, what are your histories with chicken? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that the second time around for proofing is done and was easy.