Well, dear readers, today is the day or should I say tonight is the night we begin working on the new play I’m directing, which is called The Altruist. It’s by quirky novelist Bill Fitzhugh, who wrote a daffy first novel called Pest Control. I began this journey over three years ago when I directed a staged reading of it, throwing it together in about three hours, fully blocked including some ography. Then there was a two-nighter that I didn’t direct because I was angry at the theater and would not step inside until the people who caused the anger were gone and boy were they gone pretty quickly. Then I did a two-nighter, also, and after that I began mentoring the play with Bill, trying to get it into focus. The premise and style of it, using public domain tunes with parody lyrics was fine, but the chosen tunes were all of the same style and I felt that had to change and so I began suggesting much better known tunes that were PD – things like Give My Regards to Broadway, Toot Toot Tootsie, I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan, Yes, We Have No Bananas. He embraced that totally and would write the lyrics but not having written lyrics he occasionally would have the right number of syllables in a line but that doesn’t mean the lyric sits on the music correctly, and I was maniacal about all that stuff being accurate – no false rhymes, no weird syllable emphasis on the wrong word. Doug and I both felt we had to strengthen one of the characters quite a bit because I felt since he was telling us the story everything was filtered through his eyes, which wasn’t always clear enough. Bill was great about making the adjustments, and little by little the play got stronger and stronger until Doug felt comfortable presenting it to his artistic council. It’s the first in-house written play to get a full production in the big theater – it’s being presented as an added attraction at the end of their season. I think we have an excellent cast, but we still need two boys for the ensemble. I’m looking forward to working on it and seeing what the actors will bring, and I look forward to staging it. Some of the staging I’ve already done will remain the same because I liked it. So, today is a day, but tonight is the night of the day.
Yesterday was not today or tonight, and it was certainly an okay day as days go. I got about six and a half hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, got dressed and then left to do my banking. Thankfully, no waiting at either bank and I was done in about six minutes between them. After that, I stopped at Western Bagel and got some onion bagels. I came home, caught up on stuff, then made two tuna sandwiches – very good they were, too. I had a couple of telephonic calls, and we are proceeding with this new version of The Sherman Brothers Album – in a couple of weeks we’ll record about six new vocals. I’m still hoping to have this ready in December along with the new version of Guy Haines’ first album, Haines His Way. It will definitely have a couple of bonus tracks on it. Then I rested, dozed off for about twenty minutes, tried to watch something, failed, dozed off again, had a bacon cheeseburger for a snack, took all pills, and here we are.
Today, which is the day that will lead into the evening, I’ll just rest and relax and prep and figure out kind of what I want to do with the opening number. I have to remember to bring my speakers and get the tracks on the laptop so we can work to those and learn the number. I’ll eat something very light – maybe a hot dog of my own making, since I still have buns and a couple of dogs left from the other day. Those are very low in calories and won’t make me feel full. Then around six-fifteen I’ll mosey on over to the theater, get everything set up, and the company will arrive at seven and we’ll meet and greet, I’ll do my usual spiel, show them a set rendering, and then we’ll sing through the opening number a few times, get on our feet and see how far we get. Then I’ll come home.
Tomorrow we’re meeting our lighting designer at five then rehearsing, Thursday is a rehearsal, Friday we’re off, Saturday we have three hours in the morning, maybe four if it’s going well, then Sunday and Monday are days of rest.
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, prep, eat, rest, get the tracks on the laptop and bring the speakers, get everything set up, meet and greet, do the spiel, learn the opening number, and start staging, then when we’re done I’ll come home. Today’s topic of discussion: Which of the following do you like, and which don’t you like – chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad, turkey salad. Which do you like on sandwiches, and which do you like just eating scoops on a bed of lettuce. Do you have special ways you like them prepared? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that tonight is the night we begin our journey for The Altruist.