Sunny, but boy, is it cold out there!
I can’t believe it’s already Friday, but here we are. We have to recycle today, buy groceries, and run a few errands. Not very exciting, but very necessary.
Last night, we tried 3 different series on Netflix and Amazon Prime. All of them were new to us. In each case, we watched about 5 minutes, turned to each other and said “No.” We ended the evening watching a couple of our favorite Dick Van Dyke Show episodes and felt much better. There’s something so comforting about that show. An amazingly talented cast, wonderful writing- it takes us back to our youth and all those nights sitting around the television set with our respective families. We need some comfort these days and that show makes us happy.
I also spent a good chunk of time watching Michael Jeter sing “Let’s Raise a Glass” from the musical version of Grand Hotel. Jeter gives one of the best performances I have ever seen in my years and years of watching and performing in musicals. Something triggered that memory yesterday and I found a clip of it being performed at the Tony Awards. I played it for Don and he was amazed, so much so that he had me play it again. And again.
I saw it live during its out-of-town tryout in Boston, where I was living at the time. I had very little money, couldn’t afford a ticket, but in a wonderful fluke, I won a ticket in a radio call-in contest. I loved the musical, but to this day what I most remember is Jeter’s electrifying performance. And I mean electrifying. He brought the house down. I have never seen anything like it. The audience shot to their feet at the end of the number, cheering and shouting. These were the days when standing ovations weren’t routine as they are today. Today, almost every performance gets a perfunctory standing ovation. In those days, you had to earn one.
If you are so inclined, google “Let’s Raise A Glass,” and “Tony Awards” and you’ll find it on YouTube. The reaction from the audience at the Tony Awards is much the same as the reaction in Boston. Jeter died much too young at the age of 50. He was enormously talented and brave and wondrous.
Okay. Duty calls. I must get going.
Happy Friday.