Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up very early to be on my way to Florida for my one-day trip to put up the Linda and Gregory show. I get in around four-thirty, I think, and then we rehearse and do the show tomorrow, then I leave even earlier the next day. So, a whirlwind trip. Please send your most excellent vibes and xylophones for a safe, secure and on-time trip at at every step, coming and going and also going and coming, and for good weather everywhere. As to yesterday, I had a very nice Valentine’s Day doing not a lot at all. I didn’t kiss anyone just in case I was still sick, but I’d gotten almost eleven hours of sleep and while it took me a couple of hours to de-groggify I felt lots better than the previous day. I think those Mucinex tablets really work and I’ll be bringing a couple for the trip, along with a couple of Alaverts. I did some errands and whatnots, I ate a small early lunch, I met with the helper (she’s staying at the house while I’m gone), did some banking, mailed a few bills, and that was pretty much that, other than answering e-mails and such. I sat on my couch like so much fish and began watching a motion picture I’d TIVOd called Behold A Pale Horse, but I dozed off after five minutes and woke up thirty minutes later. I did one other errand and then I put the motor car in the garage, packed, and sat on my couch like so much fish once again.
Last night, I watched that most bittersweet of romantic films, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a French film from France, directed by Jacques Demy, starring an impossibly beautiful young Catherine Deneuve, with a brilliant through-sung score (before that clichéd term had even been coined) by Michel Legrand. In 1964, who would have ever thought that a completely sung romantic film would not only work, but capture the fancies of audiences everywhere around the world. It did, and audiences flocked to see it over and over again, at a time when repeat business was almost unheard of. It became the film for “young lovers everywhere.” I wrote about my first experience seeing it, the day it opened in Beverly Hills. I was so captivated I stayed a second time (when you could do that) and saw it again, and then went back three or four times during the following week. I then followed the film everywhere it played in LA. Frequently it would play on a double bill with another favorite French film from France, Sundays and Cybele. I bought the 2 LP set the day after I first saw it, and wore it out. Because the French words and their translations were included in the LP set, I could follow along, and sing in French. I got the sheet music as soon as it was published, which had Norman Gimbel lyrics to all the major themes in the film. I’ve probably seen the film over 100 times by now and it never fails to captivate, to move, to delight both eye and ear. It is perfection. I’ve owned it on Bets, VHS, laserdisc (the Criterion version and the much superior Japanese laserdisc), DVD (several versions of the less-than-stellar Agnes Varda restoration), and I will but it again once it hits Blu and Ray (hopefully newly restored not by Ms. Varda but by the brilliant team who just did the Blu-Ray of The Young Girls of Rochefort). If for some reason, you’ve been in a cave since 1964, watch this film – you will love it.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I will be up all too soon and Florida bound.
Today, I shall be up very early and then on my way to LAX. Then I fly to Houston where I get on another plane ninety minutes later, which then flies to Ft. Myers, Florida. Then I will go to the hotel and check in, then have some dinner (with or without Miss Purl) and then relax and proof.
Tomorrow, we’ll be rehearsing during the day – one run-through at which we’ll make sure all our limited staging is going to work, and I’ll work with the lighting guy to make sure he knows what we want. Then they do the first show, then the second. I’m not sure when either begins, but after the last one I’ll get right back to the hotel and to sleep because I have a very early flight the next morning.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, fly to Florida, and all that other stuff I’ve already mentioned. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Michel Legrand scores and songs? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and don’t forget those excellent vibes and xylophones for a safe, secure, on-time flight every step of the way with good weather everywhere, as I’m Florida bound.