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We have only now, with the most-recent performance of each, got them to where they should be, at a minimum, in front of an audience, and I'm feeling okay about the whole season now. But it was pretty hard there for a while.
The shows are indeed huge. Huger than we figured in every way (except light and sound cues, which are on the small side for me, and thank god!). It was apparent that we had made a mistake in continuing with these shows, both of them, as our August season a while back, but unfortunately AFTER we were past the point of no return in being committed to them. So, we were committed to a mistake, and one we couldn't mitigate in any way - to make any of it work, we had to go full-bore on the whole thing.
A big rule we had learned in the last few years was that we SHOULD NOT do a June show in whatever festival The Brick was putting on AND and our usual August season. We had indeed been doing it for a few years, but the problems that came up were never good for us and the shows. So we stopped and had a MUCH easier and happier August. Well, with the Wedding happening in the Too Soon Festival this year for sure, we somehow convinced ourselves that we could handle all this again . . . and we were wrong.
We finished the Wedding-piece to discover that a lot of things we had thought (or rationalized) that we had in place for August weren't actually there, and we wound up spending more time recasting and fixing things than moving forward over July and the beginning of August, to the massive and deserved frustration of the companies of both shows, which just seemed to get bigger and longer and huger and more out of control (the shows, that is, the companies were already pretty big to begin with, and only barely under control).
So now we have two 3-hour-plus shows going on at The Brick (which makes them, with the original production of Harry in Love at The Piano Store, two of the three longest plays I've ever done). I'm far less concerned about the running time than a lot of other people on the shows are, but it's still hard on those of us doing the shows, sure (especially if you're acting in both and also have to deal with all the setup, etc., BELIEVE me).
It's obvious that with each of these shows, there will be people who will love it and people who will hate it, and only a TINY percentage of each of these would have their opinion changed by a shorter run time (in fact of the people who loved Spacemen, I've had a couple tell me they'd have been even happier with a LONGER run time! Ye gods!). There are people already at each performance of each show who have loved the show and others who despised it. So, they are what they are. I'm not ashamed of them at all, though it looked potentially close. I'm sure I'm happier with them than much of the cast on each, who had to go through all the problems caused by Berit's and my mistakes and who still feel down about it, but what's happening for audiences now is pretty much what should be, so while I'd like the casts to be more unified and cheerier, of course, it pales before the experience of the audiences.
We've had some reviews on Spacemen, and I'll link to and deal with those after the run. Interesting what people see or don't see in this show . . . If I cut it by an hour (which would mean eliminating the entire "Lavender Spectre" plot from it), added more songs and took out some of the more cutting satire (which almost no one notices anyway), it would probably be a successful Fringe show . . . but it would also not at all be the show I was interested in making in the first place, which does turn out to be a 3-hour endurance test of comedy (of course, people who like it never bring up the run time unless I mention it first).
So, it's been a hard August, that only now, with three shows left of Spacemen from Space and 5 of Devils seems to be all fine and good and coming together. But I still need to collapse and rest as often and as much as I can between shows.
Next year, we're going back to a very different way of working. Something more like we did with our plays Spell and Everything Must Go. I keep thinking to myself that maybe it's not the best thing for someone who makes beautiful miniature jewelboxes, Faberge eggs and the like, to keep trying to build cathedrals on the same skills and principles. It CAN be done, and even done well, but is it the best use of the skills and talents that are there?
So, fewer cast members, no big sets, lots more movement, lights, sound, and props. More about the figures against the ground than the ground being an equal element. Something like that. I look forward to the different kind of work again.
But this morning, all this seems very very small. For now, with everything else finally feeling somewhat positive and going well, my . . . well, I would say step-grandmother Rita Kabat died this morning at the age of 82.
Rita was my stepmother's mother, and has been in my life as long as any of my other grandmothers, and certainly as actively and constant a presence, so she has always been another grandmother to me, just like all the others. and I loved her just as much.
And she was wonderful. Berit loved her very much, too, and so it's rather gloomy about here today. We were both very unhappy that she was too sick to come to our wedding - we wanted her there so much - and we considered all kinds of ways to try to help her get to one of the later performances (or bring something of it to her). but none of them seemed practical, for her as well as us.
I've eulogized many celebrities I've cared about here, but the more this all (ie; life) goes on the odder I feel about that, and even more doing it for a family member, which suddenly seems unseemly.
In any case, even for what they call a "long illness," that is, one diagnosed with the end seen to be coming, this was a hard one. I've had quite a few family members go over a long period of time, which usually gives you the ability to spend time with them, and, in whatever way, say goodbye or have some kind of "ending" for yourself, but Rita went from diagnosis to gone much faster than I expected or was prepared for, and I haven't been able to process it all yet. The last time I talked to her - she was in the hospital, having had a bad fall - our conversation was mostly based on when we might see each other next, and catching up when that happened. And it never did.
She was wonderful, and sweet, and kind, and always thoughtful and energetic, and a joy to be around. Berit and I miss her, even as we try to keep ourselves upbeat and together for tonight's wild comedy, and the whole weekend of shows to come before we return to Rita on Monday for one more time.
And now, before I go collapse and nap again before tonight's show, a Random Ten from the playlist of 2,771 in the iPod that are from favorite artists, but have never gotten an actual spin . . . with video links, where available . . .
1. "Chinese Girls" - Wang Chung - Huang Chung
2. "What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You?" - Marva Whitney - It's My Thing
3. "After Hours" - Roy Buchanan - The Hound Blog
4. "Coca-Cola Commercial 1969 #2" - Gladys Knight & The Pips - Coca-Cola Commercials
5. "Hummin' Happy" - The Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermints
6. "Duchess" - The Stranglers - Peaches: The Very Best of The Stranglers
7. "Eyeball Kid" - Tom Waits - Mule Variations
8. "Complex" - Gary Numan & Tubeway Army - Premier Hits
9. "Friday Night" - Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
10. "Blow Out" - Radiohead - Pablo Honey
Hey, wow, SO close to finding all of the above tracks in YouTube form! All but one . . . the Roy Buchanan (the version of "After Hours" that came up in my playlist is NOT the one here on video, but an earlier - and, yes, better - single version). But here's the Random Ten+1, pretty much as listed above:
Okay, no more writing, or cats, or anything today -- I STILL have to finish some work on the projections for Spacemen from Space, and then try and nap for a bit.
