TGIF!

Well, it's Friday, and about time too...
 
Not much of exciting to report, except that this weekend I will be working hard to complete choreography for the show I am currently working on Sweet Charity at Elden Street Players.   
 
It's been a very good ride so far, although it was definitely a challenge choreographing a show for a community theatre after having choreographed several professional shows.   I keep having to remind myself that it's a whole different ball game.   The main difference is that the perfomers are not paid and the theatre has less resources than some of the regional theatres I have worked for.    It's just a different mood to get into.     It causes some friction on occasion, but nothing that can't be resolved.    The director, Ellen Dempsey, is working extra hard to get it all together.   I really don't envy her, she is really putting 200% into the project, and meanwhile I just show up 1 or 2 times a week and do my thing.     But hey, I guess that's why I don't direct.   Ugh.
 
I'm hoping the weekend will be sunny, at least tomorrow.  I need some pool time!   I pay enough in condo fees, I should at least be able to enjoy my pool, right? 
 
Speaking of Sweet Charity, did you know that Dusty Springfield recorded a song from the show in the 60s?    She recorded "Where Am I Going?", which was also the title of her 1967 LP Where Am I Going?  It's a wonderful Dusty album, typical of her pre-Dusty In Memphis days.   (As some may or may not know, Dusty's most critically celebrated LP was DIM, often on critics top 100 lists of best pop albums of all time, most recently scoring a position on Rolling Stone's top 100 LPs of all time).    But DIM came out in 1969.    Where Am I Going  is from an earlier era, before Dusty found a more unified sound.     This one is eclectic, full of wonderful vocal highs and lows and an emotional range not heard before or since.   
 
I can never make up my mind with Dusty about which period of hers I prefer the best.    I love her pre-DIM period (1964-1969), with her wildly eclectic song choices, her pioneering approach to music and singing and her ability to enfuse emotional weight to pretty much anything she sang.   But then there's the post-DIM period (1970-1974) which has her singing in her upper register, almost like a female falsetto, with a softer, cooler feel, and this vocally seems to be her strongest period as well.    It's really hard to chose one period though, so you know what?
 
I don't.    I love them both and I love other periods of her career as well, I love them all!   : ) 
 
Maybe that's the key to why I love Dusty Springfield so much.    I never get bored of listening to her because she's always different, yet always consistently good.     Gotta love that in a pop singer.