This was a very strange day for me. If you had asked me, I would have sworn that I had an appointment for dental surgery tomorrow -- Wednesday. However, when I awoke to my alarm and turned on the local news (I tend to gravitate to WBZ for some reason, even though it is a CBS affiliate), and someone mentioned the date, it resonated in my then very sleepy mind. December 15. I have a dental appointment, but it can't be the 15th because it's Tuesday and I made a Wednesday appointment. Then it began to penetrate and I went into warp speed. Showering, shaving and dressing in record time, I arrived a full 15 minutes early. And the doctor had an early appointment that ran late. Anyway, I got what needed to be done taken care of, got the prescription drugs (for pain -- which I ended up needing) and am making the adjustment to soft foods and chewing on one side of my mouth.
While I was sitting in the chair, though, I usually have flashbacks to the way dentists have been portrayed in the movies. One of the first things that springs to my mind is Marathon Man - "Is it safe?" Laurence Olivier may have been aged but he was damn scary and Dusting Hoffman may have required some Method work to portray terrified, but that scene is very scary to me and has colored how I see the profession.
Of course, I wish I could be more like Jack Nicholson in Little Shop of Horrors or to a lesser extent Bill Murray in the musical remake. In the latter, the dentist is played by Steve Martin and that wasn't to be his last take on the profession. He later showed up as tooth doctor suspected of murder in Novocaine. Then there was the dentist who was a murder victim in Compromising Positions. Do you see a pattern here?
Who is Brent Barrett you may be asking? Well if you don't know, shame on you, as he is one of the American theater's best musical performers. Back when soap opera mattered, he appeared on "All My Children" as the stumbling block between Kim Delaney's Jenny and Laurence Lau's Greg. But he's better known for his stage appearances in Closer Than Ever, Grand Hotel, and Chicago. He's got a terrific, rich tenor voice and the selection of songs includes standard fare ("White Christmas", "Winter Wonderland"), some lesser known gems (the title track), a few Broadway numbers ("A Place Called Home" in a medly with "I'll Be Home for Christmas", and "Lovers on Christmas Eve"), plus one that he has a sonwriting credit on ("A Star To Guide Me"). It's a charming, enjoyable selection that actually succeeded in putting me (who could give the Grinch lessons) into a holiday frame of mind. You can order it from Kritzerland or at Barrett's website.
Hopefully, I'll get back into the movie review mode tomorrow but my mouth is throbbing, there's a pill with my name on it and a strong need for some sleep. Till anon.
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