Positively Patsy Part 41

My first priority was to get the whole cast up to speed with a three week stint in New York. I was surprised that all of my stars were happy with it as they had all had dreams of appearing on stage as genuine actresses when they were young, rather than being pop stars. Greg was more than happy and said that it was the idea of change that kept him alive.

Our crew of security guys were very amused at being in a New York theatre production as well as being on TV. Minh, and the rest of the ‘Amazon’ band were philosophical about the whole thing as just another line on their, already long, CV’s. It didn’t seem like long before the TV date came around and we all gathered in San Francisco at our hotel, two weeks before the event, I was able to give them more information about New York at that time, hotel, venue, performance times and the like. I told them it would be very much a test run of the opera in real life. We would be getting a lump sum from the TV Company for the show and had fifty percent of the box office for the one night but would have to rely on sixty percent of the ticket sales in New York. We would have to put bums in seats to make it work.

Our venue for the TV show was available from the Monday so we went to see it then. It was pretty big, with about three thousand seats, and the stage was a good size. The contractors were already there when we arrived, building the platform for the choir just above the orchestra pit and assembling the ship bits on either side. There wasn’t much we could do until it was ready so we did a bit of sight-seeing. By the weekend it was all ready to go. The TV people had been in and erected their camera positions and the lighting guys had done their magic. The band and choir were due on Monday so I just had the cast I had available go through their paces as we marked out the stage positions to suit the area we had to work in. Lucy and her crew turned up on the Sunday and we put all the costumes in the dressing rooms. She had brought a lovely long dress for me to wear on the night as the TV guys had a plan that I would sit in one of the boxes with their arts presenter and we would open up the TV show from there. I would answer questions during the first and third breaks and they would run an informative clip about the Reece Trove during the half time intermission. With that on the cards I made sure that Joanne was fully up to speed with the production so she could solve any problems that may arise backstage.

We did a full dress rehearsal on the Tuesday and there were problems with the fore and aft castles. They tended to impede some of the sight lines so we got the riggers to move them back into the wings by a yard or two and, when we did another rehearsal on the Wednesday, it was much better. On the Thursday we did a full dress rehearsal with all the cast properly miked up and balanced out the audio. Friday it was the whole box and dice with the TV cameras rolling and being fed, along with the audio feed, to an outside control truck for recording. We now had our back-up in case of disaster. After all of the preparation, Saturday was a breeze. The crowd arrived and started to fill the auditorium, I had a talk to the whole cast to say how proud I was of them to be doing something so far out of their comfort zone with such a high level of performance and then I went to get preened and changed to look good for the TV.

As usual, we all had ear buds so we could hear the TV stage manager and when the count reached zero, the camera in the box with us started feeding the picture of a filling auditorium to the nation. As it came around to the presenter and me, he opened up with the welcome to the theatre and the usual nice things about what the viewers were going to see. He introduced me as the producer and lyricist for the show. I had insisted that Justin sit with us and he was introduced as the composer. We had a time down to the start of the overture and as the introductions were finished, the camera light went out and I could see, on our monitor that the picture was the stage where the band was starting with the overture.

The choir was already in place and then the curtains opened for our big event. At the end of the first act there was good applause and the presenter turned to us to ask about how the opera came about and how hard it was to write. Justin and I tried to give as much information and insight as we could and then we were into act two. During the intermission I was asked about my family link to Reece and the finding of the Trove and then we went to a twenty minute film about the Trove, after which there was time for more chat before we got to act three. In the break before act four I managed to get a plug in about our upcoming run in New York and, at the end of the opera, while the audience was applauding lustily and the whole cast was taking their bows, the presenter made the closing comments while the credits rolled and, as the curtains closed, we were off the air. I must say I was a bit clammy by then with worry but the presenter was very happy with the show and said it would depend on the ratings but he thought it had a few repeats in it. I hugged Justin and told him that, in New York, he would be on stage at the end of the first performance to take his own bows.

The after show party was memorable with the whole crew being feted by many of the rich and famous who were amazed that a bunch of pop singers could have produced such a class act. I smiled as I thought that every time anyone goes on stage it is a class act, it is just the opinion of the watcher that changes. We all had a few more days in San Francisco to read the reviews, which were quite good, and then we all went to New York. It took a few days to move that set to the new theatre so we had a few days in New York before opening night. The promotors had told me that the ticket sales had rocketed after the TV show and it looked like we were going to be the place to see and be seen. As long as it filled seats I did not care about the audience state of mind to be there. We did our rehearsal and made alterations to the set layout and then opening night was upon us. Joanne and I were able to be backstage up until five minutes before the overture and then joined Simon, Justin and Sarah in a box seat. Unlike the TV show I had no buds so sat back to see the opera as a normal audience member. I must say that I thought it looked, and sounded, good, but then I am biased.

Just before the end, Justin and I made our way to the wings and, after the cast had taken their bows, Greg and Jake gestured for us to go on stage and take our own bows. It seemed a bit of an odd thing for me to be taking a bow when I had not been in the performance but I was happy to be there. The reviews the next day were all very positive with Justin and I being likened to some of the earlier great composer/writer couples. The three weeks passed in a blur, with more parties and meetings than I had been to in my whole life up to this point. Simon had come to an agreement about distributing an Original Cast CD which would be in the stores in a few weeks; the TV network had asked me to be a guest commentator for, yet unknown, future shows; Justin had been asked to write some music for a few big orchestras and all of our stars had been given offers to perform in other stage shows. It all ended up as a big positive for everyone and I felt very pleased that it turned out in the end. Greg and Peggy left to return to England with Greg thanking me for the opportunity to do something so different and Peggy giving me a big hug and thanking me for extending her fathers’ life.

Instead of going back to Nashville straight away, Joanne and I flew to London, after a few days’ rest, to talk to the opera company there. After a couple of days of meetings we had come to an agreement for me to be the producer, with Joanne as my assistant, of a new version of the opera, this time with professional opera singers, including a few knights and a couple of dames. No pressure there!!

Part 42

We stayed in England for a few weeks with Greg and Peggy. There were meetings with the opera singers and production people. They were more technical and businesslike than I had been used to but I was starting to get used to being serious so was now known as Patricia Meyers. I had a strong discussion with the dressers, who wanted to use some outfits left over from an old production of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ and I told them to go and see the Trove and take note of what the sailors of the day actually wore. I had insisted that Joanne was to be a co-producer and I left the discussions of staging and positioning to her while I concentrated on the music and overall presentation.

They were, happily, a very professional group and took to the story with gusto. By the time we reached a full dress rehearsal I was amazed at how much more this production would be. It made our show in New York look amateur. We opened in the theatre in the West End on a Saturday night and it was a glittering affair. We had a lot of the rich and powerful in the audience and Joanne and I had to be glammed up with long dresses for the evening. Justin had flown in for the Opening Night and was resplendent in his tux. As the show went on, the audience became obviously more involved and, by the end of the second act, the applause was solid. Joanne, Justin and I mingled with the guests in the foyer during the intermission and received some lovely compliments. The second half started and there was good applause at the end of Act 3, with a rousing applause at the end. Justin and I were brought on stage after all the cast had taken their bows and I was given a big bunch of flowers. I gestured to the wings and brought Joanne on stage as well and we all bowed to the audience, which, I noticed, had several on their feet. Maybe they were just rushing to catch the tube.

The after-show party was pretty mundane until one very drunk guest had to complain that a mere pop star could never have written the songs (or arias for the purist) and that I must be the front for a real lyricist. Some of the older members of the cast stood up for me and told him that I was a song-writer of note and the fool said he had never heard of me. I joined the group around him and asked him what type of music he preferred and he replied that he liked cabaret. Ahah! I thought, we may have him here. I wanted to know if he had ever listened to the ‘Angels of Joy’ album and has slurred that it was a magnificent collection of songs, so I told him that I had written about half of them. He decided that I was lying so, having noticed a grand piano in the corner of the room, I bet him that I could sing six of the songs tonight, and, if he agreed it was me on the album, he would apologise to me and the rest of the room for being a buffoon.

The rest of the room, by this time, were grinning as, I know, many of them had researched my body of work before asking me to London. Joanne sat at the piano and I sang six of the songs from the album. It was actually an uplifting moment for me as I had not sung in public for quite some time now and it felt good to be here tonight. When I finished, the guests gave me polite applause and all turned to look at the guy, who was getting less drunk as he realised what a fool he looked. To give him his due, he stood up straight and announced that he was sorry he acted like a buffoon and that I was, indeed, a gifted song writer. He was then led from the room by his friends and everyone had a good laugh. A couple of the opera singers took me aside and asked why I didn’t sing any more. I answered that I had been so busy with the opera I had not had time lately. I told them that it was doubtful ‘Amazon’ would tour again and that we had never performed the ‘Angels of Joy’ live. I was taken over to a group of men who were talking among themselves and introduced. One said that I sang beautifully and asked if I could meet him for lunch the next day, with Joanne, of course, to discuss a little project. I noted the details and said we would see him at the restaurant he nominated. So I like free meals!

When Joanne and I arrived at the restaurant, we were taken to a table in an alcove where the gentleman who had invited us sat with the drunk from the night before. I didn’t know whether I was affronted or intrigued but he quickly stood and took my hand, saying “Miss Meyers, I sincerely apologise for my actions last night, I was an absolute fool and was put in my place by your wonderful voice. I had not followed your career as I am not into rock and roll, and certainly did not connect you with the ‘Angels’ album. Since then, I have been shown a DVD of your ‘One Night In June’ concert and was very attentive when I read, on the liner notes, how many of the songs that you contributed. I also had a look at my copy of the ‘Angels’ album and I gather that Patmin is a writing duo with you as one half. My name is Sydney Rocco and I own a string of night clubs here, in London and the Home Counties. I am eternally grateful to my colleague, John, here, that I have been given this opportunity to properly apologise to you by being your host for this lunch. Do you forgive me?”

I smiled and told him that he was an excellent example of why I was teetotal and said that, if his lunch measured up, he was surely forgiven. “You did give me the opportunity to sing, something I have not done for some months.” I assured him. We sat down and the lunch did go a long way to getting him in our good books. As we sat with our coffee I asked “Now, why have you really invited us here, today?” John took up the discussion and said that he and Sydney were partners in night clubs and were always on the look-out for new, and good, singers. They were due to open one in Soho the following Saturday night and their booked artist had called in on the Friday to back out, citing a throat infection and they wondered if Joanne and I would grace their stage with our considerable talent. He certainly had the BS down pat. I asked about the performance times and he said we could go on from eight until nine and then eleven to whenever. We would, of course, be paid and, as the opera was off and running, were probably not needed at the theatre unless something urgent came up.

I asked about the space between our sets and was told it would be mainly recorded music so that the customers could eat. I excused myself from the table and went to the ladies, where I pulled out my phone and called Peggy. When she answered I asked her if she was missing singing and if she would like to sing in a Soho Night Club. She said yes to both so I told her to set next Saturday evening aside for the performance and that Joanne and I would be at the Manor during the week to put together a set. Going back to the table I asked the gentlemen if they were interested in another of the singers from the ‘Angels’ album and when they said yes, I told them that I could get Peggy Evans to join us on the Saturday evening and that we would put together a set for most of the evening. I asked Joanne if she was good with playing piano for an extended period and she said she was OK with it. John told me they did have a small band they used to accompany the artists and I told him we would be at his night club on Friday morning and to get the band in to rehearse with us. I expected that they would all be professional enough to get up to speed quickly as our material was either standards or in the same format. We were given the address and I told them that this was a bit of R&R for me after the stress of the opera.

Back at the hotel, I called the promoters of the opera and told them that Joanne and I would be in the Cotswolds for a few days and singing at the night club on Saturday evening but would just be at the other end of the phone if needed. They thanked us for letting us know and asked me if I had seen the papers this morning.

Marianne G 2020