Saturday, October 27, 2007

So, Tell Us, Uncle Neal, What Happened?

Well, the show's over. We had our three week run and now it's time to take stock. Did it work? Were we successful? Did we lose our shirts?

Here's the rundown: In the last three months I got more press than I've had in my whole life. The majority of the reviews were good to great. (A few were bad. For some reason, a couple of the reviewers had no clue that this show was supposed to be funny. They actually thought I was bitter about losing that money and that I wasn't doing anything but sitting back by the pool with a drink with an umbrella stuck in it all those years.) We made contacts with many theater people and a few agents who are anxious to work with us. The audience reaction was great.

Right now I'm finishing up editing the video we shot. We're going to make a promotional DVD of the show to go with our press kit. So, it was tough, but we did what we set out to do.

In stressful times you find out who your friends are. One person that stands out above the crowd is Lori Falling. Lori is the widow of my old band mate, Keith Falling. Keith and I and Gus Mancini were in a band together called the Feather Merchants. We played mostly out on Long Island during our college years.

In fact, that's where we all met. At the New York College Of Music. Keith was the drummer, Gus played sax and guitar, and I played organ. We also used rubber chickens whenever we could. We had sort of a jazz/rock Marx brother thing going.

Keith passed away from a brain tumor a few years back. He was one of those guys that would always keep you laughing. When we got together it was one joke or sound effect after another. He was one of the really nice people on this planet.

Lori is also one of the greats. She didn't just offer us help. She actually did help. That's rare these days. We can't thank her enough. What a friend!

My hat's off also to my partner and producer, Stuart Wiener. Stu has been a friend and business partner for almost 40 years. Another one of those people who don't just give lip service. He's always there when you need him.

Saralyn Singer is a doll! She decorated the lobby, tended bar, got lots of friends and strangers to come down. Handed out tons of fliers to strangers on the street. And most important, laughed at my jokes even after the tenth time hearing them.

And then we come to Naomi. She worked at the computer for twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for months. She put together the mailing lists, wrote the press releases, got in touch with the press and reviewers, set up the ticket sales, made the press kits and mailed them. And all just because she believed in me. (I also told her she'd get half of the money, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.) I would never have attempted such a big job without Naomi with me. She's one amazing wife and friend.

So now we move on. There are so many things to do. The important thing is that we did something. We had a plan, we took the steps, and now we continue.

Thanks for reading along. Hope you got interested enough to check out the other things I do.

For the latest, go to www.TheRealNealFox.com . Hope to see you in the audience one day.

Neal