Times Square Photo Series: Peace and Quiet

Today, after doing soup at the Polish Tea Room, we were walking through Times Square. Now that it they've widened it into a plaza, there is more room to do public exhibitions. For instance, the other night, Microsoft filled the entire place with computer work stations for Windows 8.

Today, I spied this little hut.

Edwin Booth's 179th Birthday Celebration at The Players

Edwin Booth was the most famous, respected and celebrated actor of the 19th century. The Players Club was his mansion on Gramercy Park, which he donated as long as he could live on the upper floor. His apartment is still there, exactly as he left it. There's even a skull someone donated to him for his performances of Hamlet, which was his most famous portrayal.

The Master of Ceremonies was David Staller, who produces the fantastic Shaw Project there at the Players. Jim and I were sitting with Keith Merrill, who produces a wonderful Noel Coward themed series of play readings. There were several speakers who told the story of Booth. Particularly, the shame he felt after his brother, John Wilkes, did that thing that he did at Ford's Theater.

Nichole Donje reading "Edwin Booth's Youth by his sister Asia Booth Clarke and William Winter.

Tom Vinciguerra read a story about how Edwin Booth had, unknowingly a few years earlier, saved the life of Abe's son, Tom, when he almost fell off a train. "A Booth Saves A Lincoln." Then, John Martello read Edwin's Letter to the People of the United States, denouncing the horror caused by his brother.

Jim Brochu read "The Curse of Rome" by Laurence Hilton,
a story about the power of Booth's acting. 

This is a huge portrait of Booth as Cardinal Richelieu.
It was said that he did the entire play with his legs bent so that, at the exact moment,
he straightened them up and the audience gasped that he could grow an extra foot tall.
Now that's special effects.

Keith Merrill and Steve Schalchlin in front of a portrait of Booth.

 After the short readings, we watched a slide show produced by Elizabeth Jackson. Then, took candles and went into Gramercy Park and laid a wreath at the statue of Booth.

Then, David Copeland read "On Edwin Booth's 104th Birthday - Nov. 13, 1937" written by Player Edgar Lee Masters.

History is fragile. It gets lost too easily. I love little ceremonies like this. The Players Club was a daring adventure in the beginning. Imagine society men hobnobbing with actors!

Nowadays, society people appear on reality shows.

The Kidney Stone Mystery Solved?

So...

After many tests, some of which are too gross to get into, we have results.

My kidney stones seem to be coming from an accumulation of uric acid. In some people, this can become gout. In me, it apparently creates kidney stones.

At least, that's our presumption.

In plain talk, it means that my diabetic diet, the meat proteins I'm eating -- chicken, fish, meat -- are creating a great deal of uric acid. So, the prescription is to cut down on "meats" to one meal a day, in smaller portions, and up the plant protein quotient, and add in some whole wheat carbs to make up for the lost calories.

(I can just hear my vegetarian friends and readers wagging their fingers and saying, "I told you so.")

So... good plant proteins. I need some new recipes.

Clips from Jim Brochu's Character Man

Post Sandy: 3 am gas line 10th Ave Manhattan.

Facing south. Running right to left is 42nd street. Up and down is 10th avenue. The Yotel is on the left with all the purple. World Trade Center, up center. The line is to the Hess station on 45th. Yesterday, they announced gas was now being rationed.

Giving Thanks: The Untold Story of 'Shades of Blue'.

My brothers and various family members have been posting 30 Days of Thanks. I don’t think I want to do that, necessarily. Not that I can’t think of 30 things to give thanks for. I just hate the pressure. And, if I mention people, will other people feel left out?

So, what I would like to do is say I’m thankful for my crazy family. They are long-suffering. Also, my friends, both IRL and cyberly, and to the Bonus Round readers.

But my first thanks has to go to Jimmy for keeping me alive. And how he accomplished this task can really be tracked back to before The Last Session. There were a number of months -- I don’t know how many -- that led to the moment I wrote “Connected,” which set it all off.

THE UNTOLD STORY OF "SHADES OF BLUE"

I had been sick/bed-ridden for a year or two. But then, I had started to play music again. I could finally sit up at the piano, after what seemed like forever, lying in bed or on the couch, too weak to do anything but stare into space or be online in the earliest incarnation of the internet, where many of us positoids were getting getting our information about the disease -- what was working and what wasn’t.

And the playing and singing of the music was bringing strength back into my body. So, I was asking everyone around me to help me write words. Any words. Just words that I could set to music. We had a neighbor who contributed something. But then Jimmy, answering the challenge, wrote a lyric called “Shades of Blue.”

So, I wrote music for “Shades of Blue.” We didn’t really intend for it to be anything. A writing exercise. Maybe he saw a picture in a book or saw the phrase somewhere that caught his attention.

Anyway, as he was writing the book for The Last Session, we were choosing from among the songs on our list and there was no dramatic place for “Shades of Blue.” But he found a place for a snippet when the engineer needed a sound check. (It has a particularly lovely hook).

But I never wrote the song out in sheet music form. Back then, I wasn’t very good at it. Plus, during that first workshop, I was so sick, I could barely write out anything.

However, during the Los Angeles production, the cast wanted to go into the studio to make a souvenir CD for the fans. We didn’t have the money to make an actual cast recording, so instead, they sang other songs I had written, and Bob Stillman recorded his version of “Going It Alone.” (We also recorded “Preacher and the Nurse” with Michelle Mais, since she wasn’t in the NY production.)

One of the other “outside songs” we recorded was “Shades of Blue,” and it was done by Jeff Juday, who replaced Joel Traywick during the run. Jeff had a gorgeous voice, and I remember I just gave him the lyrics and played it for him -- and we did it in a single take, if I recall.

Okay. Fast Forward to last month. John Yap of JAY Records, fully committed to the cast album, asked if we could record a bonus track of “Shades of Blue” and have Buddy (AJ Dean) sing it; theoretically, the version he has handed to Gideon at the start of the play?

Problem is, I got this request on Saturday. The session is Monday. I’m in New York with the Storm of the Century headed at me. They’re in London. They needed the music now, so he can learn it. First, I would send them the mp3. But where would that be?

The TLS LA Souvenir album is very rare. I think we only pressed 500 and donated the money to Youth Guard, who sold it on their site. I looked into our boxes and found one -- but when I opened it, it was the wrong CD. The manufacturer had put something else in the box.

So, I looked through some ancient hard drives. Eureka! There it was! I knew I had ripped it, at one time or another.

And this is where I realized I’ve learned a few things over the years. I listened to it and effortlessly reproduced it onto score in about two hours. Fifteen years ago, I would have labored on this for hours and hours. Days, even.

Sent it off. Thomas Turner, the musical director, suggested a different key. So, we did that. And then he and AJ learned it at the studio and recorded it right after they finished the rest of the score that day.

And the hurricane is now upon us. Lights are going out all over Manhattan. We are on 43rd street. We hear the darkness is spreading. First, the bowery. Then, the Village, Then all the way to 34th. The power blinks for a moment, but stays on. We’re safe.

All the while, I’m Skyped into London, listening to the session and giving notes from my computer and they are hearing me over an iPhone lying on the counter.

So, what does all this have to do with a thank you to Jim?

Well, he had now seen how playing music was bringing me back to life. He saw me begging for words. Any words. Anything to make music with. And “Shades of Blue” eventually led to “Connected.” In fact, without it, maybe “Connected” would never have been written.

So, when you get your London Cast Album of The Last Session this spring, and you hear a simple little love song at the end, know that it is much more than just a simple love song.

It was a gift of life.

I think things like this.

New York in the Aftermath of Sandy.

Down below us, there is a gas line -- mostly taxis trying to get fuel -- that has been there for a week. The line goes from 45th street down 10th avenue to below 14th. It feels like this is the only open gas station in Manhattan. But they wait. Patiently, until someone tries to cut in line, either inadvertently or accidentally. And even then, it doesn't take long for the interloper to be thown back 30 blocks to the end of the line.

Mark has been in the dark for a week. I kept leaving messages and he finally called, once he found a place with wireless. Andy's lights got turned on yesterday.

I can't go to church this morning because there's no easy public transportation -- if there's much as at all -- from Brooklyn back into Manhattan because those subway lines aren't working and it looks like the lines for the buses are long, long, long.

Mostly, Jim and I -- thankful that we have power -- have stayed close to home. There's a collection box in our lobby for clothing and food. I'm going to take the extra food I bought in case we lost power and put it all in there. We just got rid of a bunch of clothes only a few weeks ago, but I'm going to look for more. Maybe a blanket or two we don't use. The problem is that NY apartments are small. You can't live in them unless you strip down to bare minimums to begin with. All one really feels is helpless. 

Pre-Mix of Two Songs from The Last Session.

JAY Records has released this monitor mix of "Going It Alone" from London's The Last Session. AJ Dean with Darren Day. Thomas Turner on piano.

And also "When You Care" with Darren Day, AJ Dean, Simone Craddock and Lucy Vandi (with a touch of Ron Emslie at the end).

These are just pre-mixes so that you can get an idea of how great these singers are. The final mixes will be ready in the Spring.

Vote to nominate The Last Session...

...for Best Off-West End production. Follow this link and then, on the drop down menu, The Last Session is not in alphabetical order, but toward the bottom of the list.

Scenes Post-Sandy: New Yorkers are Nice.

“Everyone is being so nice,” she said as she looked at the prices on the salad bar. “These aren’t bad at all!”

“No,” I agreed. “This is where we come for chicken salad.” Instead of the bodega across the street.

She told me she had heard there was an open grocery store on 57th street and she had been taking the now-working M11 up until someone told her about this store on 42nd.

She was from below 34th street on the West Side. Probably Chelsea. Her neighborhood has no power, so all the shops are closed.

Many of the shelves here were bare of certain staples. Fewer meats. And there were no chicken breasts at the little meat market across the street. Only legs and wings.

She said, “I’ll get stuff here and then take the M11 back.”

I told her she could get that on the 9th avenue corner.

Like the others, I got a few things and then stood in the long line. No one was griping. No one was hoarding.

The car horns are honking constantly. The traffic on 10th avenue is a nightmare.

We've been told to stay in unless there's a reason to go out. So, that's exactly what we're doing.

DVDs Sold Out.

The Kickstarter sold out in a single day. There are no more limited edition DVDs of The Last Session/London.

Thanks to all the creative team for making this possible.

There will be a cast album on JAY Records. Look for it around February.

Jim and I are okay.

The black-out did not affect us. Missed us by nine blocks. The grocery stores were still picked clean today. Luckily, I stocked up on soups and other canned food. Not sure when the stores will get new supplies. Have friends who lost power completely. Water is safe. 

Skyping the London Cast Recording of The Last Session.

A hurricane was bearing down up on us when I got a call from TLS producer Rob Harris in London. He was there with the adorable Huw Allen, his associate producer. They were in Angel recording studios with John Yap, who is producing the JAY Records release of the original cast. Huw had just snapped a pic of them at their mics. 

The London cast of The Last Session recording their original cast album.

Also, he had Skype. So, we started chatting. And by the time it was over, I had attended the entire session, listening to the various takes, correcting a few lyrics and cheering them on. Since they had just finished their month-long run, they were a tight unit, and the fans will be able to hear the show they saw and heard sung on stage, with all the vocalizations and harmony intact.

Our goal was not to gussy it up, but to let them sing from the heart just like they had been doing all month.

Simone Craddock as Vicki. Darren Day as Gideon.
Photo: Doug Craib

And that means getting them in all their raggedy glory. 

The Last Session is supposed to be a bit messy. Unlike a lot of the hulking musicals one might see today, where the score is on a click-track and you all but see the exact same show every night -- like watching a movie, where, if they suddenly were playing a tape, you'd never know the difference -- TLS is raw and alive. 

Love it or hate it, it's a show where the actors are filled with genuine emotion. The issues and the pain run just deep enough that they know they're singing something real. Yeah, it's a kind of Vaudeville, too. But that's what gives it its power. Ultimately, you surrender to the fact that it's not plastic. Not artificial. It has flaws. Just like life.

The keyboard player is live and the singers are free to act their songs, varying the tempos night to night and letting the emotion of the moment sway their performances. 

AJ Dean as Buddy.
Photo: Doug Craib

The first time I heard AJ sing, it sounded like Ray Charles had walked into the room. This devotee of American music dresses like James Dean and plays in a rockabilly band when he's not acting. What took me by total surprise was how touching, honest, intense and focused he was as an actor. Like the other more veteran players, he is a completely present actor. 

His Buddy was as heartbreaking as it was authentic. He was singled out in many of the reviews. I'm thrilled for him. 

Lucy Vandi as Tryshia.
Photo: Doug Craib

Lucy Vandi is like a big prize in a small package. A very professional package. Not only is she a deeply sharp actress who can level Vicki with a raised eyebrow, but when the warm dark tones of her voice have you crying, she can, on a dime, suddenly rise up in a virtuoso brassy riff that knocks you on your ass, and then extends the note and the riff long past what seems like human capacity. And all of it perfectly on pitch.

I told her she's going to have every theater queen in the world falling at her feet when they hear how she ends "The Singer and the Song." It's an "I'm Telling I'm Not Going" tour de force that raises the hair on your head while managing to only sound like it's going to fly out of control, but instead comes in for a soft landing. Brilliant.

And she did it every single night. This woman is a star. I'm not even sure how they found her.

She told me that life for an actor is hard, and that she was really grateful to find Tryshia. I saw her process. She carefully constructed her solos, trying out things, one by one. Testing every possible variation. She had to. Much of "Singer and the Song," the big 11 o'clock number where the character "improvises" a song (structurally based on an earlier one, "Preacher and the Nurse"), I left in much room for improv.

 But the truth is that it's a very careful balancing act. It's the first time someone is singing something that hasn't, in the world of the play, been already written. We have to believe that she's doing it. And then we have to see her drag in the others, one by one, including making Gideon follow along on the piano.

And then deliver the big satisfying note.

And she does it.

And it's fantastic live.

This professionalism showed in the studio. Because we're recording it live, just like in the show, she had to do it several times. Every time, on the money. Wow. She may not be a diva off-stage (she's actually sweet as hell), but she can play one on a stage.

I treasure the time we spent together in the dressing room. We felt a kind of personal intimacy that, if a camera would have been on, would be been ruined. I would love to have had this whole experience video taped. But real life just can't happen on camera. Unless you are on one of those "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" shows.

Darren Day listening to playback.
Photo: Doug Craib

Since I didn't know Darren's work given the fact that he's mostly been on British TV and stage, I wasn't aware of his tabloid history, which the press teases him about. And I didn't know he'd been on the original British "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" show.

Several times, reviewers expressed complete shock at how soulful and quiet his performance is as a "gay songwriter." As one put it, his tabloid reputation precedes him, and they weren't remotely prepared to take him seriously. In fact, I heard someone ask if this was a joke.

But joke it was not. And as his reward, he's received the reviews of a lifetime. Even those who criticized the book or the music still admitted they were genuinely moved by the sweet stillness that comes through in his Gideon. Turned out that he's quite a good actor.

He never raises his angelic voice in anger and yet, he has a powerful presence that brings a quite center to the drama onstage. He's real. You totally believe him there. Every world-weary sigh. And there's a moment when he leans his head on Jim, and it's so touching. A simple gesture. Yeah, we do like Darren. And that makes us like Gideon. We don't want him to die.

This is how I've found him in person, too. A genuinely kind person. He said to me that this show is a kind of redemption for him. But I said that he was a redemption for the show. Two things coming back to life. Our little show and a one sweet survivor.

He sings Gideon's songs so well because he has lived them. Lived the emotions in them. He has looked into the eyes of death. He knows what post-life looks like and he doesn't want that. He has a beautiful wife, who I met and fell in love with, immediately and kids.

He wants to live. The tabloid guy that crashed the car into a tree did not.

And maybe that's why we are so very well connected. The exact right actor finding the exact right show at the exact right time. AIDS was/is my tree.

Many young actors here in the City despair because of how hard it is to make a living, get work, etc. And then how hard life is after you do get work. Traveling. Working long hours. Working nights. And they say they do all this but nothing is happening for them. Many find it intolerable and go into another line of work. If they're sane, anyway.

But when those years suddenly become valuable is when people can walk into a room filled with strangers, look at you, believe you, and be transported for two hours.

Timing is the uncontrollable element. You can take all the classes in the world, make all the connections, but when the right person finds the right role at the right time, it's like the Universe has moved them into position on some grand chess board for a reason. Maybe it's just to learn a little lesson. Maybe it's to inspire others.

Rob Harris just posted on Facebook that our tiny show raised $5,000 US for MAD Trust. The actors held buckets every night after the show.

In the case of Darren Day and The Last Session, if nothing more happens than the healing we've brought to each other -- in his case, saying "Yes" to the producers to do a little known musical about AIDS for very little money at a 68 seat fringe theater, even making him audition several times! giving us precious expensive press exposure we otherwise would not have gotten -- it would have all been worth it.

Music Director Thomas Turner.
Photo: Doug Craib

Because Tom Turner would be playing the score every night, it was mandatory that he understand the kind of Baptist Texas piano that I play. I don't play it intentionally, mind you. It's just what's in my bones. Blues and Redneck Gospel Rock with a touch of Country and a dash of early Elton John (because I did have a record player). HOW I play my music is not something easily expressed on a piece of paper. There has to be a certain feel that's inherently built in.

For instance, when I play the piano, I can also hear an imaginary drummer and bass who've been playing in my head for a very long time. I have to find a way to make people playing my music hear that drummer and bass or else it will sound like the first time I played "I've Got You Understand My Skin" in a public bar and didn't know to give it a swing feel because "play this in swing feel" wasn't written down on the sheet of paper.  I think it's just 4/4.

I don't call myself a "great" musician. I'd rather write music than drill it. But I have been playing since I was 7, and I'm 59 now. I have a few chops.

So how did Tom do? At the end of this session, he would show me his bloody fingers. We made the decision to record the show using a real piano rather than the synth keyboard that, by necessity, we have to use in the show. It makes a huge difference because now everything is organic and real.

But his performance was spectacular. It's almost weird to hear someone playing like you play. And then improvising new riffs that are totally consistent with your playing. Hey wait! You're not supposed to play me better than I play me!

This would really be put to the test later on in the session.

Ron Emslie.
Photo: Doug Craib

Producer Rob Harris was out at the pub one night for trivia night with Simon, his partner. Rob and Guy Retallack, the director, had been seeing actor after actor for the role of Jim. And you'd think that since it's largely an off-stage role, it'd be easy. But you'd be wrong. Rob knew exactly what he wanted, but he wasn't finding it.

So, he and Simon decided to stop in for a pint, play a little trivia, and just relax at a local pub. Rob immediately took notice of the guy who was the emcee, Ron Emslie. He was putting up microphones, hooking up cables, running the joint and was a hilarious master of ceremonies.

And he's also a classically trained actor who has worked on stage with many, of not most, of the greats.

(TLS TRIVIA: Ron Emslie was in the cast of the West End musical BUDDY, about Buddy Holly with Charles Esten, who played Buddy Holly. who is now on the new smash American TV series, Nashville, playing a singer/songwriter. Charles Eston also played the role of Buddy in the first LA workshop of The Last Session.)

And that's how Jim was found. Guy planned a much more active role for Jim. He felt we should see him more. And, it turns out, he's also a musician. So, we were able to work in some guitar on "At Least I Know What's Killing Me" and "Somebody's Friend."

Ron Emslie was a find. He's the perfect balance. He's completely real. Utterly real on stage. He comes out as the recording engineer, you know he's done this before. And he has an acid tongue for Jim's angry, witty interjections, usually aimed at Gideon. I still hear a bit of the British in him, so I decided that Jim is a British ex-patriot who Gideon met when he first went out on the road. Why not? LA is the land of dreams.

Simone Craddock.
Photo: Doug Craib

Simone had one of the hardest jobs, vocally. She had to find her own way of singing Vicki. Amy Coleman is rather iconic in the part among fans of the US productions. Amy and I still sing together on occasion and she's kicking hard in blues bands in New York.

Vicki's big solo is "Somebody's Friend," which is not only the angriest song in the show, but is a flat-out rocker. Amy had those Janis Joplin style pipes. Simone, however, does not have that kind of voice.

Unlike Darren's voice, which has echoes of Bob Stillman's angelic qualities, and AJ's Buddy, which at times finds that same soulful edge that brings Stephen Bienskie's voice to mind, Simone does not sound like Amy. She would have to find her own way.

At the first rehearsals during tech week, I was amazed at how she had managed to recast Vicki's voice into a country blues soulful vibe. Clear as a bell, but with an amazing dexterity to bend all over the notes, without it ever seeming flashy or showy. This was not an imitation of country singing. This was country singing.

She told me later that she is from Australia and that her dad played and sang in a country music group. And that she would sing with them.

Of course. You can't fake those things. It has to come from inside.

I suddenly remember that at the first photo shoot on the set, the photographer asked someone "How did you fin all these session singers who can act?"

Simone is also a veteran actress who has such ease on the stage, you can't look into those big, gigantic eyes and not be hypnotized. We flirted a lot together. I love this woman.

AJ Dean
Photo: Doug Craib

This is a very happy cast. They truly like each other and formed a very tight bond.
There in the back is John Yap of JAY Records, producing the session.
Photo: Doug Craib

Darren Day, unposed.
The main gay paper said he looks like a good-looking Elton John.
Photo: Doug Craib

Somebody's Friend took a trip to Chinatown.
Photo: Doug Craib

AJ and Tom prepare something special.
Photo: Doug Craib

Strictly for the fans, there will be a Bonus Track on the new cast album.

I'll give you a clue. It involves a song that is both sung and not sung.

Today, we take on Darren's solos. I will report back later.

BTW, they say the worst of the hurricane has passed. Lights went out from the Battery up to 34th street. We overlook 42nd street in Hell's Kitchen. So, we maintained lights and electricity and was spared the brunt force of the wind and floods that apparently have made a mess on the east and south parts of the island.

And the cat is fed.

Steve Schalchlin
Your Living in the Bonus Round correspondent

I've been somewhat immobile for two days.

Tests. Tests to find out why these kidney stones keep recurring. But they won't keep me down. Yes, sometimes you have to stay still, or be confined to an area, or be too weak to think. And when you do, you surrender to it and do nothing. Let the process of healing take its time. Otherwise, if you go too fast, you just end up back in bed, anyway.

Overseas in London, they're approaching the final weekend of the run of The Last Session. There are only a few tickets left. They will immediately go into the studio to make the cast recording. This will be hot. They know each other so well, and love each other so much. I can't wait to hear them now that they've connected as true band mates.

There is also talk of what might happen next. It's bad luck, they say, to discuss any possibilities out loud until it's all said and done. But there are several options. What we do know is that this show is playing to standing room audiences who are also standing ovation audiences. And in London, they don't hand those out like candy. Not like over here.

I'll keep you as up to date on everything as much as I can.

Anyway, two days of rest and semi-confinement to the house. I can now get out a little bit and walk around more. Being confined has also helped me focus on this Mass. As I said before, it's the most complex composition I've ever attempted. A friend of mine said, "I don't know anyone who's writing a Mass!" I haven't really given it that much thought.

Part of me is screaming, "LISTEN TO THIS!!" And the other part feels like a Freshman in college whose trying to finish his first term musical dissertation. I can just see myself getting slaughtered by the critics, assuming we'd ever do this anywhere but at our own church. You never know.

Too, I was approaching this project with a Baptist brain. First, I had to look up "Mass" to find out what, exactly, it is. A ritual. The Baptist brains going boink again. We don't believe in rituals. And even the Tao says "Rituals are the husk of true faith."

So, I had a mental block. Until the day I looked at the Kyrie and realized how human it is. A cry of pain. A begging for mercy. And only three or four words. All in Latin. I found myself thinking like a songwriter, and I wrote what felt like a mini-play, or a scene from a play. And, using music, I tried to tell a story. No one else even needs to know what the story is. It's there in the melody and harmony. I called it Kyrie Tremulare (trembling).

The Gloria has more words, but who doesn't love to shout with joy? I just wrote joy. And the Credo? It's almost ready. It's more cinematic. It's like taking a vow while watching a movie. It has heaven and hell and judgment. And redemption. And rebirth. Always a topic on this blog.

So, we'll see. Some of it may be really difficult to sing. But I'm the back row tenor in a choir in Brooklyn with a musical director who conducted for Bernstein, a historic organ being played by a Carnegie Hall virtuoso from Finland, and some of the finest trained young voices in the City. It may just be a few folks in Brooklyn who'll hear it, but it will sound good!

Then? Carnegie Hall, of course!

TLS-London Original Cast Album Announced.

Today, Playbill.com announced that JAY Records will record an original cast album of the terrific London production of The Last Session.

The London production of Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu's musical The Last Session, starring Darren Day as a songwriter battling AIDS, will be recorded by JAY Records in late October. Producer John Yap told Playbill.com that the London cast album will be recorded Oct. 29 and 30. A spring 2013 release is expected.

The cast consists of Darren Day as Gideon. Simone Craddock as Vicki, AJ Dean as Buddy, Lucy Vandi as Tryshia and Ron Emslie as Jim.

I was there for the opening and they are a powerhouse together. Every review, whether they liked the musical or not, went out of their way to rave about this spectacular cast.

A note: The reason this happened is because, long ago, I joined an email list called CAST RECORDINGS. Since I wasn't really from the world of musical theater, a lot of it went over my head. But most of the people on there are extremely knowledgeable on the subject and I've learned a lot over the years.

On that list, back 15 years ago, was John Yap, who runs a small label specializing in cast albums.

So, a few weeks ago, his name pops up on Facebook and I see he's in London. (He lives there.) So, not knowing if he'd know who I was or anything, I asked him if he knew about the production and if he'd go as my guest.

He responded immediately, mentioning that he knew about The Last Session, but never saw it in New York. That week, he went to see the show, met Rob, the producer, and had a long reunion with Darren Day, who he recorded, years ago, as Jesus in his recording of Godspell. (One of the things John does is make a "dream cast" album of a show, recording all the original orchestrations down to the last note. Many cast albums cut down the score to the songs.)

And that's how it all started. You never know when or how your connections might pay off. And now, we're going to get a cast album. This is very, very exciting.