The Day Before Kander and Ebb

Well, tomorrow is the big Kander and Ebb Tribute and I am nervous. Everything is going fine, but the strange lack of control I feel and the enormous burden of being all alone on this is leading me right to valium closet. There will be sound and light checks in the afternoon...some people are not coming in, but Liza IS. What a pro! I finished the script for Sheldon Harnick early last evening after having seen the matinee of Curtains! I am so glad I got to see the show so that I could hear the song that David Hyde Pierce is going to sing tomorrow night before tomorrow night. It's a charm song and I placed it slightly differently after hearing the gentleness of it. It's very sweet but not a drop dead show stopper. So I switched it in the program with Everybody's Girl sung by the great Deb Monk. That we know is a show stopper. So how did I like Curtains? I liked it, but am still formulating my feelings. As someone close to the show said, it's not art...although there is an art to not being art as well. There are some good songs and all the performances are top notch. I can't wait to see how the critics deal with it. The audience certainly had a good time. I did too, but I think the first fifteen minutes needs trimming and I wish there were a killer opening number. The show really starts when the detective shows up. He is the star. David Hyde Pierce. I also wish it were a more emotional show in some way. I really miss the big emotional grandeur of John Kander's Rink, Spider Woman and Visit scores. But this is an out and out musical comedy and the choices were made. It's interesting comparing it to my own Road to Qatar! I don't have much emotion in that either. It's an out and out musical comedy. Would I like my own show if I paid to see it? Good question. But content dictates form and both shows content dictated musical comedy approaches and not a lot of emotion. How did The Drowsy Chaperone do it? I was in tears at the end. They pulled off the big trick. Funny funny funny and then wham...tears. I think that's why it's a great success. Well, the next time I write here will be a report of tomorrow at the Morgan. Fingers crossed, legs broken, mirrors covered...no, not that...I'm not sitting shiva! Wish me luck anyone who is reading this!