|
After last week's reading of REB+VoDKa+ME, we headed back into the studio to add the new string arrangements to our demos for the show! (Again, thanks to the support of Opera America and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation!) I'm so excited to be able to incorporate this new layer into the score, and it's always a delight to spend a few hours at Mighty Toad Studios with recording engineer extraordinaire Chris Gilroy and the immense talents of Brian Sanders (cello) and Saki Uetsuhara (violin). I'll post the updated demos here as soo as they're mixed!  It was an absolute thrill to present this reading of REB+VoDKa+ME with such a stellar group of collaborators. In addition to working with a new director (all hail Annie Tippe!) and trying out a bunch of new rewrites, this was our first chance to hear the score with not only electronic beats but also live instruments (Brian Sanders on cello and Saki Uetsuhara on violin are champions among strings). I'm so grateful to Laura Lee Everett and Claire Gohorel at Opera America for the Discovery Grant that made this reading possible (generously supported by the Virginia B Toulmin foundation), and to the Civilians, who not only presented this reading but gave us the chance to begin the project in their R&D group back in 2016. REB+VoDKa+ME Monday, June 10, 3:00pm The National Opera Center 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor Presented by The Civilians Supported by a grant from Opera America, generously sponsored by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Directed by Annie Tippe Music Direction by Rich Silverstein Featuring Renée Albulario, Delaney Amatrudo, Matthew Berzon, Mackenzie Dade, Manoel Felciano, Sam Heldt, MinJi Kim, Lily Lester, David Merino, Elexis Morton, Jeanna Phillips, and Tatiana Wechsler   Gordon and I are so excited to be included in this year's volume of Musical Theater Today! The great Deb Poppel interviewed us, alongside a handful of other writing teams who have logged a fair amount of time together, about what we think makes for fruitful collaboration. The issue includes a whole host of smart people on interesting topics (about 450 pages worth!) so if you're in search of a nice hefty tomb on contemporary musical theatre, check it out!
Gordon and I traveled to Toronto last weekend to see The Edge Productions' awesome production of Pregnancy Pact. We continue to be so impressed by director Miriam Goldstein and music director Sam Poole, and were overjoyed to meet the sensational cast and band. This is the first full-length show Gordon and I wrote together, almost ten years ago, and it's so fun to get to see it live on (now as a "period piece", evoking those halcyon days of 2008...)  Excited to share that Diversionary Theatre received a Frank Young grant from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre to do a workshop of Something Blue! Gordon and I are thrilled to have a chance to travel back to San Diego to work with the wonderful Matt Morrow once again. You can check out the Broadway World announcement for all the deets and the other cool and impressive grant recipients.
Thanks to Brian Long for these lovely photos! Tickets are now on sale for The Edge Productions' Pregnancy Pact! You can get tickets for the Toronto run (5/2-5/11) here, and for the Windsor run (4/24-4/27) here.  I'm so excited to have a video of my super fun collaboration with the wonderful Michelle Thompson Ulerich! Check out her awesome choreography with music by yours truly (including some rad disembodied humming from Amy Linden Peters.) Is it, you may wonder, possible to put together a reading of a full-length three-character musical in under 13 hours of rehearsal? Conventional wisdom would say no, but when your cast includes Ally Bonino, Sam Heldt, and Casey Robinson (led by the amazing Colette Robert directing and Mila Henry music directing) the impossible becomes possible!  Gordon and I are sad that our year with the Interstate 73 writers group is drawing to a close, but very excited to be capping things off with a reading of our show Something Blue! Here's the info for the free reading: Something Blue Book & Lyrics by Gordon Leary Music by Julia Meinwald Directed by Colette Robert Music Direction by Mila Henry With Ally Bonino, Sam Heldt & Casey Robinson Wednesday, March 20 @ 4pm La MaMa Rehearsal Studios, 47 Great Jones Street Reserve your free ticket here Casey and Joelle fell in love when they moved back to their hometown as adults, and they’re getting married tomorrow. They’ve navigated the families, flowers, and fittings to have the simple, easy wedding they’ve always wanted. But when Casey’s ex-boyfriend Geoff shows up at the hotel, things can’t stay so simple. Geoff befriends Joelle and reconnects with Casey, and what has long stayed unspoken begins to surface. They must confront their expectations, hopes, and histories to find the limits and the possibilities of love and marriage.  |
Archives
February 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed