Well, dear readers, 70, Girls, 70 has played its final performance at the Group Rep. My hope is that when the powers that be see what we did with the show, that we’ll get a chance to do a staged reading in New York or somewhere. I would love to put it up again and not have to do the compromising that I had to do in this production, even though I’m completely proud of what we all accomplished. But compromise I did because there was no other choice but to do so. After two pretty great performances, I wish our last had gone better – too many missed lines, including an entire page of really important dialogue, a lot of ography that either was out of nowhere forgotten or not sharply done, and a few cast members who’ve been fighting illness who were just tired, I think. It was a packed house, and the audience would have been just as great as the previous two if the performance had been as sharp. In the end, it was a hugely successful run in terms of attendance and box-office, and had we had all six weeks it would have been a solid money maker. But even with just four weeks, it outgrossed many shows there that had the full six weeks. Almost all of the performances were audience love fests and it was so much fun to sit there and hear the big laughs and hefty mitts. The one thing I was absolutely right when we first talked about doing the show was that I knew it would play to their audiences, who skew older. Everyone always wants to cater to younger audiences, but there is no loyalty from them, whereas if you deliver the goods to an older audience, they are yours. We had many returnees to the show, too, which was fun. And revising the opening of the show was the smartest thing I did because it put the audience at ease and in the right mood instantly. The original opening is the cast sitting on bleacher steps (we used chairs), while a solo harmonica played Happy Birthday and two or three members of the cast said the date they were born. Not funny and then the song began. I wanted to start the show with a huge laugh. Interestingly, I could not think of a single musical or even play that starts out with a huge laugh on the first line. There may be some examples, but I couldn’t think of any. I just got lucky and hit the jackpot and the line got a huge laugh at every single person. Not a polite laugh, a big ol’ belly laugh that went on for quite a while. That was followed by three more laughs and then the song, which is a great opener, did its job perfectly. I’d tell you the line, but, you know, we have a lot of prying eyes on this here site, but as soon as I’ve seen all the video that was shot, I’ll put together a goodie reel and you’ll hear it.
After the performance, we had a little cast partay in the green room – lots of food and drink and that was fun. I finally left a bit after six and came right home, took to dog out, she peed, and we came right back in and I gave her her second meal. Then I caught up on e-mails. Despite having taken my allergy pill at midnight I was struggling with allergies all day and it’s only gotten worse. I just took tonight’s pill and hopefully that will kick in soon so my nose will stop running. Then I did some other stuff and then it was time to write these here notes, whilst listening to the wonderful music of Claus Ogerman.
Earlier in the day, I’d gotten up at ten, walked the dog and she did both businesses, and then I fed her her first meal, then I showered and got ready, after which I moseyed on over to Gelson’s and got a little platter thing that had cheeses, salami, pepperoni, and crackers. Then I stopped at the mail place and picked up one Christmas card. Then I moseyed on over to the theater and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, we’ll do the dog stuff, then I have to pray for a modern major miracle or things are going to turn very, very ugly, which will not make for a festive holiday season, which I’d like to have. I’ll go back to the project with David Wechter, work on the book idea, eat, do more dog stuff, and then I can watch, listen, and relax. Can someone explain to me why it smells like cigarettes in my house?
The rest of the week is more of that, then Sadie the dog goes away on Wednesday evening and then Thursday morning she of the Evil Eye comes and I need all dog hair and all that stuff out of here and I’ll air out the house. I have to do my big Do shopping, and then it’s just waiting to do the Do and then it’s Christmas.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do dog stuff, pray for a modern major miracle, work on the project with David Wechter, work on the book idea, eat, do more dog stuff, and then I can watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What will you be doing for the holidays? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we rang down the curtain on our very successful production of 70, Girls, 70.