happy Mothers Day

I love you Mumbo

You have given me the quiet purpose and steady support to build myself in to myself. Thank you, also, for the sense of humor and the knowledge that questions are the answer.
You've given me things that I miss terribly, (like being an expert downhill skier and being able to jump my own, five foot two, height - horseback) but I feel richer for your teachings and your bravery for letting me try.
The things I curse you for - my hair, the constant desire to rearrange my furniture - turn out to be not so bad.
My only regret is that you live thousands of miles away and I can't pop over with my ironing because I still refuse to buy an ironing board. Speaking of popping over, I still have fantasies about your perfectly golden brown, over-sized, crispy... yet moist and steam laden on the inside, buttery, POPOVERS. I remember a simple recipe from some mainstay Cookbook. Could it be that you just followed the recipe, owned the right pan, paid attention to it, cooked it just slightly longer than prescribed, and delivered it with grace, flair and love?
Hmmmm. Sounds like a recipe for life.


Below is a video (rights - ABC television, 1989) of two lovely ladies that you introduced me to back in the day. Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett singing "Mommas Alright". Happy Mothers Day. I love you.

Principal and Location photography has wrapped

"...however you live,
There's a part of you always standing by,
Mapping out the sky,
Finishing a hat...
Starting on a hat..
Finishing a hat...
Look, I made a hat...
Where there never was a hat..."

We are finished filming. All thats left is wrap... Releases, Purchase Orders, tracking down final Invoices...

My first time out as the big boss was everything I was afraid of... All encompassing, ridiculously difficult, satisfying, invigorating, maddening, dangerous, exhausting, scary... amusing, terrifying, and finally, finally financially closer to what I deserve to be paid.

Glad it's over, though. I'm proud of the job my department did. Proud of the team. We scouted, put under contract and managed as we filmed some very unique, unusual and difficult locations. And nobody died doing it. Lost a lot of sleep over it though.

Now it's time to take a week or two to put the papers in order to back up the hoops we all jumped through to get this flick made. Focus Features and Universal Pictures will appreciate our careful wrap. We will appreciate the 8 to 10 hour work days.

We filmed at a State owned Mental Institution that was miraculous in many ways. I adored their road signs 'on campus'. Their stop signs say "STOP! in the name of life". Of course, someone changed the sign by the entrance, changing life to love.

...anything special

"...Do something special
Anything special
And you'll get better because
Come on and just do mimic
When you gotta gimmick
Take a look how different we are!..."



Dustin Shuler's Spindle was de-constructed yesterday. I spent a lovely day scouting Berwyn for a Nike commercial two summers ago. I loved photographing the weird Cermak Plaza sculptures on a clear blue day.










The Spindle was copyrighted and I remember a great debate as to weather to pay for the rights to use it in their print adds. The 'no's won and the sculptors did not see the light of filming...
Shame, really.

"Anyone can whistle, that's what they say-easy"

We filmed at a real insane asylum a few days this past week. A forgotten wing, untouched and abandoned by the state of Illinois was filled with ghosts of the previous century. Crazy place on many levels.

Sakonnet personified

George Truscutt joined us in November of '06 on the most beautiful day for a walk on the beach.








Sakonnet will miss him. We will miss him. I will miss him.

good city

good day

good quiet

good filming location

front door to my set last week

This is not a blog about Patti Lupone

Photo by Amy Arbus for Vanity Fair

...but

Congratulations to Patti and all the lucky souls involved with Gypsy. A "triumphant opening on Broadway..." is not an understatement for what happened to Patti and company two nights ago in New York. Mr. Ben Brantley wrote a love letter review for The New York Times that is sure to create box office lines around the block.

I've been gone for quite a while from Isn't It Rich...

Life, work, work, and more life have kept me away from composing new Isn't It Rich entries for various reasons.

The inspiration, or reason, for my own artistic reawakening that began Isn't It Rich was the production of Gypsy that Patti and her friends mounted at Ravinia in the summer of 2006. I had been seeing her, Audra McDonald, George Hearn, Michael Cerveris and many more lovelies perform Sondheim concert productions at Ravinia every summer. When it was announced that Patti Lupone would be playing Rose in Gypsy at Ravinia with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the pit, I literally got* tears in my eyes. The "back story" of Patti's history with the desire to play Rose on Broadway is one of those theatre stories for the history books...

Here is Margo Channing's (from BroadwayWord) account:

"...Laurents and Lupone had a falling out over a regional production of his play "Jolson Sings Again." I've heard various reasons, but the real story seems to be that she wanted some guarantee from Laurents that he not only planned to take the show to Broadway and that if it made it, then she would be the star (she'd been burned in past). When he wouldn't/couldn't give her any reassurance, she withdrew from the production. Laurents SEETHED and blames her for the play never progressing beyond a few regional productions (truth be told: the reviews were always mediocre and Lupone was smart not to do it -- with or without Lupone, it'll never see Broadway).
So, ever since then Laurents has refused to allow any show of his to be produced with her on Broadway (under the Dramatist Guild contract, he has approval rights over casting of the original production, as well as any subsequent major revival of his work -- Broadway or national tour; a staged reading at Ravinia doesn't count)..."

I got* myself to Ravinia, alone, on a beautiful summer night (amidst a crazy busy filmakers schedule of full tilt boogie production) and sat 2nd row center for Patti's first time playing Rose. With the CSO backing her up and her "camp Ravinia friends next to her... It was magic, blow the roof off, electric theatre. The audience knew we were part of a theatre history time line and I knew, personally, that I can not forget my own artistic roots. No matter how tired, scared or unfulfilled I was. Patti was still exploring, reaching for the forbidden, and, at 57 years old, had the stamina of a draft horse and the work ethic of a super hero. (She used her 10 day vacation from Broadways Sweeney Todd to come to Ravinia and rehearse and play Rose for three performances.) Her road to Broadway as Rose had begun and I am so grateful (and was so inspired) to have been there that night.

When Patti's Gypsy was brought to City Center last summer, I made my way there with bells on. I brought the loveliest man in the world with me. We rejoiced in the exuberance of the theatrical event of the summer. (We also got* to see Audra in 110 The Shade - but thats another great theatre story!) And now I am assured a chance to see her create Rose on Broadway as her Rave reviews will keep it running well past my current film production....





My absence from Isn't It Rich isn't an absence from my own artistic expression. My Flickr page has always remained active.

*Apologies to Rod for using the word "got" three times in this blog!