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It was such a thrill to be back in the world of in-person music making last week at Don't Tell Mama! Check out this (back of the room phone) video of a brand new song for Amanda Borden that we premiered that night, sung by the incomparable Ellen Condon Macy:  We're BACK, baaaaabyyyy! Gordon and I are dipping our toes back into the world of live performance with a concert of songs from The Magnificent Seven coming up at Don't Tell Mama (343 West 46th Street) this Friday, July 23rd on 9:30pm. In addition to the beginning of this year's Olympics, the date also marks the 25th anniversary of the Team USA Women's Olympic Gymnastics gold back in 1996. Reserve your $7 ticket here or check out the video via livestream on the night or after the fact!
The luminous Tatiana Wechsler, Ally Bonino, and Hana Slevin were kind enough to help Gordon and I record a new song from our latest show, These Familiar Spirits. Mixed by the man, the myth, the legend Andy Zinsmeister.
 Gordon and I had a blast being interviewed as part of A Little New Music's Spotlight series! You can check out the episode here.
 I was so honored to receive a commission for a wind-band piece to be premiered at Hastings High School, funded by a Cultural Arts Grant. My dear friend, the insanely multi-talented Eric Day, conducts the group, and it was a pleasure writing a piece for his ensemble and making improvements to the piece thanks to their input. Then on May 21 I got to hear it performed in a lovely outdoor concert!
 The radio show In Between the Lines "introduces listeners to great contemporary musical theatre songs and writers who wrote them". I was excited to be featured on an episode comprised entirely of musical settings of Edna St Vincent Millay poems (NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program application, anyone?) You can hear the episode here!
Back in April, Gordon and I started scheming about how we could go about our business of making musical theatre while staying safely separate. We chose to focus on our show REB+VoDKa+ME, a piece inspired by a real-life community seeking connection on the internet. We wanted to make something that felt collaborative, un-constrained, and true to the spirit of the show. Six months later, I'm so excited to share these three videos, conceived, rehearsed, recorded, mixed, edited, and now viewed entirely remotely: https://www.rebvodka.me/ Big thanks to the Dramatist Guild Foundation and Iris Dart, Janis Purins of the Thom Thomas Award Committee, whose support made this project possible, and to the inspiring humans we worked with, who make the difficult look easy: director annie tippe video editor ryan mazer audio engineer andrew zinsmeister violin saki uetsuhara cello brian sanders performers ally bonino, sam heldt, minji kim, adam lawrence, david merino, elexis morton, jeanna phillips, emily walton, tatiana wechsler  Gordon and I recently posted an interview on 10glo in which we talk about writing unlikeable characters, the inspiration behind some of our work, and collaborating during a pandemic. You can also find some of our favorite videos on our 10glo artists page!
 In this brave new world of remote collaboration, Gordon and I are thrilled that the intrepid musical theatre students at Penn State are workshop-ing REB+VoDKa+ME as part of their fall curriculum, under the fearless leadership of director John Simpkins and music director Jennifer Peacock. You haven't really lived until you've watched a cast rehearse 7-part harmony in 3 distinct locations.
I was going a bit stir crazy, so I put together some remote demo recordings for Elevator Heart!
Putting everything together one remote piece at a time was challenging, but luckily the preternaturally insightful Andy Zinsmeister made everything sounds as if it Wasn't recorded in 11 different closets using 11 different microphones. Audio Mixer, and Guitar, and Bass on two songs, and general genius: Andy Zinsmeister Piano: Katya Stanislavskaya Bass (on the other 4 songs): Eric Day Drum Arrangements: Jeremy Yaddaw Cello: Brian Sanders |
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