[Nancy]

Rick

I'm thinking about adding WDYDR to my shows in July. It's a fabulous song.


An explanation of what happened to Deborah:

At the rehearsals last Saturday, there were a lot of people waiting to try
their songs with the rhythm section, some of whom had Broadway gigs
(matinees) and couldn't stay long. BAD PLANNING.

Debbie had a couple of run-throughs with the pianist and percussionist.
If you know Peggy Lee's music then you are aware of the fact that "Lover"
has blaring horns and is a complicated chart. One would think the powers
that be would have allowed Debbie to do the song at sound check at
Carnegie Hall, but no, there wasn't enough time. BAD PLANNING. NOT EVEN
ONE run-through of Lover with the band.

There was also no time for us to try our duets with the band. BAD PLANNING.
Had we rehearsed we would have been told that the music director was
cutting a verse from the Siamese Cat Song. Didn't rehearse. Didn't know.

We knew it was going to be a train wreck but could do nothing but try to do
our best with what we had.

Critics shouldn't be expected to know all the behind-the-scenes details. All
they are supposed to report about are the results they see and hear. But oh,
my goodness, how Debbie begged and pleaded for a run-through of Lover. It
was really very sad to see. I felt so bad for her. It all fell on deaf ears for they
were more interested in running the overture than Lover or the duets. Petula
Clark also got no run-through at sound check. My song had to be run because
we changed the key and had to find out if the band could transpose on the spot.
If not for that, I would have had no sound check either.

BAD PLANNING. You can't put on a show of this scope without proper rehearsals.
Any fool knows that. Even critics.