Crazytown

OPERA: WHO KNEW?

Hey musical theatre writers!  Wanna tell unique stories that have meaning?  Wanna innovate with the form?  Wanna get PAID?!  Try opera!
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist) 

It was a hassle getting out there–huge post-Sandy nor'easter and all–but on November 8th, I arrived in New York City in time to attend Opera America's New Works Forum.  I ended up on a red-eye on United despite the fact that I had a ticket booked for 16 hours earlier on American.  I guess they all tag team when flights start getting cancelled.  I arrived in Newark at 7:00am, and had just enough time to take NJ Transit to my hotel, get showered and shaved, press my suit, and get down to the newly opened National Opera Center for the opening remarks and introductions.

There were about 70 people in the room.  Some looked very put together, others completely disheveled.  All were there to talk about new opera and new opera development.  (NYC musical theatre peeps, think NAMT for opera.)  Most of the attendees were representatives from various opera companies in the US.  A few were publishers.  Some were performers.  And some of us, myself included, were writers.  I had been invited to attend the New Works Forum as a writer.

In 2010/11, I participated in American Lyric Theatre's Composer/Librettist Development Program as a librettist.  It was a year-long program in which the eight participants learn to write opera.  (NYC musical theatre peeps, think BMI Workshop for opera.)  At the end of the program, you present one-act operas.  (NYC musical theatre peeps, think NYU thesis projects.)

I worked on two different one-acts with two different composers.  One was about gay steroid abuse called "Cycle" with composer Clint Borzoni, and the other was a retelling of the Echo/Narcissus myth, called "All Wounds Bleed" with Chris Cerrone.

On Jan 6th, the founder of American Lyric Theatre, Larry Edelson, told Chris and I that he was submitting "All Wounds Bleed" for the New Works Festival.  A month later, we were informed that our piece was chosen out of over 40 submissions to be included in the festival!  It was quite an honor to be selected.

Things couldn't have gone better.  The presentation of "All Wounds Bleed" was amazing.  We had a fantastic cast and music director.  And people rushed up to us after.

 

Here is a video of the presentation.  My piece starts at minute 12:00, and is a half hour long.  In a quick summary: Echo and Hera are both tortured in their mutual unhealthy love of Zeus; throw in a stolen Cupid’s arrowhead, and a mortal who has sworn off love forever and things get a little crazy on Olympus.

The people in attendance really loved the piece.  They were effusive with comments about the craft and the subject matter.  They ran up to us with business cards after.  It was so gratifying.  And it got me thinking about musical theatre...

For seven years, I banged my head against walls trying to get anyone in the world of musical theatre to notice me.  I wrote funny pieces, dramatic pieces, personal pieces, complex, pieces, fun and silly pieces.  I submitted to this showcase, and that festival, and every award competition you could think of.  I had very little to show for it.  Few seemed to notice.

But without having done ANY legwork, here I am getting accolades and interest from the opera world.  Not to mention that they paid for my travel, my hotel (the Yotel on 42nd and 10th!), dinners, drinks, tickets to Vox...  It was like an alternate universe!  A universe where I felt appreciated.  I cannot conceive of a world in which musical theatre pays for a postage stamp, let alone all travel and accomodations.

So if you've been following the blog, you'll know that when it comes to musical theatre, I'm doing my own thing.  But now, I have this whole new field opening up to me: opera libretti.  There aren't that many people who want to write them, and I'd be happy to step in.  It worked for Michael Korie.  Here's to telling stories onstage with music, whatever the genre!

 

TONY ASARO is a composer/librettist currently working on various musical theatre and opera projects including the award winning Our Country.  He is also Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director of the new San Francisco based musical theatre company, The FOGG.  To learn more about Tony's writing, please visit unrelentingmonkey.com.  NEVER STOP SWINGING!

EMAIL HIM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER MONKEY BUSINESS POSTS

 

 

HOLY SH!T, I’M STARTING A THEATRE COMPANY!!! (PART II)

San Francisco couldn’t be more different from New York, so why are we consistently being force-fed New York’s version of musical theatre?  How are Broadway musicals relevant to our lives here?  And if they aren’t, where are the alternatives that ARE?  You know what, SF—I got your alternative right here!  (Continued from Part I.)
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist, and now Producing Artistic Director of the FOGG Theatre Company)

In San Francisco, musical theatre is not thought of with much reverence.  Most Bay Area theatre companies either shy away from them entirely, or only do them rarely.  Others trot out a tried and true musical once a year for the holiday season: a show with lots of adorable—read: “obnoxious”—kids in the cast that will bring in a lucrative family audience.  (By that, I mean Annie.)

 

Yup. Actually Running this Nov/Dec at the West Valley Light Opera right here in Saratoga.

 

There are the Broadway tours, of course.  Once a show has garnered some success on the Great White Way, a touring company will take the show on the road.  After a lengthy run in Los Angeles, the show will eventually stop by San Francisco’s Golden Gate or Curran Theatre and run for a month or two.  By that time, the show is usually two to three years old.  The audience is mainly suburban families.

For San Francisco, (and, I would argue, for most of the country) musical theatre is diversion.  It is nostalgia.  It is irrelevant.

HOLY SH!T, I'M STARTING A THEATRE COMPANY!!!

Hey San Francisco, are you ready for some new musical theatre?  Musical theatre that is going to be relevant to you and your life here the SF Bay?  Have I got just what you've been looking for.
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist, and now Producing Artistic Director of the FOGG Theatre Company) 

So here it is, monkeys: the big reveal.  Through my blog posts, you followed me across the country—watching me depart from the world of New York musical theatre.  I’ve written about my reasons for leaving.  Posts like SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND and THE NEW YORK LIE and even CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN' hinted at my dissatisfaction with my life there, a life ostensibly replete with the thing I love most: musical theatre.

It was strange: for 7 years, I had surrounded myself with the thing I am most passionate about.  I lived, breathed, worked, and talked about nothing but musicals.  And yet, about six years into that life, I looked around and saw that I was unhappy.  I was paying my bills.  I had the best community of friends and colleagues, and I was even making a little headway in the industry.  But even with all of that, I didn’t belong.  Looking around at the world of New York musical theatre, I saw that it didn’t match up with the things I wanted for my life.

YOUR MONTHLY VISITOR

The Monkey needs a break.  Weekly posts have become a bit too taxing.  But don't worry, Monkeys–I'm not abandoning you altogether  Summer term is over, and now, I'll be relegating my posts to once a month.  But take a look at what I'll be up to this fall.
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist)

It has been such a pleasure writing my weekly Monkey Business blog here on Crazytown, but I'll be honest: I'm finding it difficult to keep it interesting.  It's tougher than you might think to think of a weekly topic.  And I have created a format which is extremely time consuming: an in-depth, lengthy post, and a monkey picture.  All of this takes me between four to eight hours a week!

That's a lot of time, and starting this month, my schedule will no longer allow me to spend so many hours of my week on these posts.  I've got employment, (THANK GOD), and that has to take precedence.  Also, I've got some exciting artistic endeavors on the horizon.

By cutting back on the number of posts, I'll be able to bring you posts that are consistently better written and more interesting, monkey pictures that are even more amazing, and maybe I'll get to go to brunch on Sunday mornings instead of spending them in front of my computer.  SF doesn't have silly blue laws.  We can drink as soon as the restaurants open!

From coverage about the SF Brunch Mimosa Crawl

 

YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME

I’ve got a new friend.  He’s very thorough in his friendship.  A little too needy, though.  He’s a bit like that cat you feed once that keeps coming back.  He’s the president of the united states.
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist/Liberal) 

Two times in my life, I have given to the Obama campaign.  I first donated for the election in 2008.  I also donated during his Obamacare push.  Now mind you, when I say “donate” I don’t mean that I attended a fundraising dinner, $35,000/plate.  No.  I would never spend that much on a meal.  My first donation was for $15, and my 2^nd was for $25 (enough to get the T-shirt).

It’s no secret that Romney is running fundraising circles around Obama right now.  Um, of course he is.  He’s a kajillionaire.  He has kajillionaire friends.  His policies would benefit kajillionaires.  The also would benefit corporations.  Romney makes one phone call, and another $10 million is dropped into his campaign’s account.

Wall Street doesn’t like Obama.  The banks don’t like Obama.  Rich people in general don’t like him.  And many middle-class people of the white persuasion still don’t like him.  Add it all up, and his campaign isn’t raising as much as Romney.  So what’s an incumbent president seeking re-election to do?  Email me, apparently.

GET A JOB!

Two and a half months have passed since the monkey relocated to San Francisco.  The search for employment continues.  The intention was to change my means of employment—to stop relying on theatre for my income.  It seems the universe has other ideas.
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist) 

Ask anyone looking for work right now: it’s rough.  If you have a job, I suggest you keep it.  I had a job.  Actually, I had many.  All at once.  In New York, I was a freelance artist and arts educator.  I cobbled together a decent living from teaching kids voice lessons, teaching grad students and elementary school students lyric writing, singing in a church, conducting a community chorus, assisting a famous playwright/director in his office, assisting a famous composer/librettist in rehearsal.  My resume is eclectic.

While these jobs were never lucrative, I did always manage to put food on my table.  Well, almost always.  Paychecks were inconsistent, both in terms of frequency, and in terms of amount.  When you’re a freelancer, inconsistent pay is part of the game.

There were definitely benefits to the freelance life: my schedule was my own, and it changed every day.  I liked the variety.  Also, I often worked after school or at night, so my days were free to run errands, or go to yoga, or watch episodes of 30 Rock online.  Oh, and write.

I was in NYC to write, and while these little arts jobs didn’t provide me with wealth, they did provided me with ample time to write.  It was a great set up...or so I thought.  While this was ostensibly true, I couldn’t deny the experience of my friends who were holding down 9-5 jobs AND still finding time to write award-winning shows.  Each time I would ask them about their dual existence, I expected stories of exhaustion and apathy for their day job.  Instead, I usually found them to be content with their situations.  They were somehow able to make it work, AND had a regular pay check and health benefits.

SNAP, CRACKLE, AND POP!

Musical theatre hasn't been relevant in popular music for about as long as I've been alive.  And as a devotee of musical theatre music, that means I haven't been relevant either.  So what does a monkey do when he finds himself teaching a revue full of pop music?  ANALYZE!
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist)

 

After last week's lefty political tirade which followed on the heels of my disturbing medical post, I figured this week's Monkey Business should be lighter fare.  So this week, we're going to talk about infectious pop music.

The past 2 weeks I worked at GLEE Camp.  No, it's not affiliated with the show.  This was a joint venture of a local theatre company and a local community center.  In 8 days, the 37 kids who signed up (mostly 3rd through 6th grade) learned vocals and choreography for 12 songs and performed a 45 minute performance twice for their friends and family.

I co-taught vocals, and there were 3 choreographers, a director, an assistant director, an assistant choreographer, and two community center counselors.  It's a lot of energy and effort for pop songs.  GLEE Camp ain't no joke.

A SITE FOR SORE BIGOTS

Facebook is allowing the existence of a group aimed at spreading homophobia through thinly-veiled hate speech.  All attempts at getting Facebook to remove this group has failed.  Activist monkey attempts a crusade against the tyrant.
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (composer/librettist/facebook user)

It's always so shocking to me when people refuse to use Facebook.  In today's world, being anti-social networking amounts to being anti-social.  However, something is going on right now on Facebook that makes me question how much longer I will be a member.  I'm hoping it doesn't come to it, but I may have to take <DUN DUN DUN> a political stance!

I'm not new to digging in my political heels.  Back about 10 years ago, a local television station starting airing the 700 Club with Pat Robertson.  I wrote them a letter saying that that kind of Religious Right programming had no place on a local network, and that I would boycott their channel if they refused to remove it.  They did nothing.  I boycotted.  No one was affected except for me: I no longer could watch Charmed.

At that point, Rose McGowan had already replaced Shannen Doherty, so it wasn't really a huge loss.

And then, there's the Midnight Sun bar in SF which I refuse to patronize because their cocktail tables come up to my nose.  Clearly, they do not want short customers.  I am happy to oblige.

But this scenario...  It's a little more severe.

On Thursday morning, a friend alerted me to a Facebook group page called "Heterosexual Awareness Month".

I didn't realize the world wasn't aware of heterosexuals.  Thank God this FB group is there to spread the word.

IN MINT (PRE-EXISTING) CONDITION

When Obamacare was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, many of us without health insurance were ecstatic.  No, it's not exactly the comprehensive national health care we'd hoped for, but it's a start.  The projected date of implementation of the program is just months away in 2014!  (So why shit gotta go wrong NOW?!)
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist) 

In late december of 1993, when I was just about to turn 17, my doctor decided it was time to remove the large raised mole I had on my right buttock.  The mole was dark brown and kidney bean-shaped.  It was just about 2 inches long.  Yes, it looked like what you think it looked like.  When I was a baby, my Aunt Louise changed my diaper, and not knowing about the mole, tried to scrub it off with a soapy washcloth.

The removal of the mole was a preemptive strike against future cancer.  I was in full support of what I then called "my butt surgery".  I was getting rid of this awful shit stain-looking glob, AND I'd be less likely to get cancer.  Win Win.  Plus, I'd have a really fun attention-getting story.

An inch and a half wedge of flesh was removed from my right butt cheek, and the sides were then stitched together with dissolving stitches.  The scar was about three inches long, and my newly reduced butt cheek was hard like a rock.  I dubbed it "Bun of Steel".  Over time, with the movement of my glutes, the scar would stretch out and shorten until it was a 2 inch long snowman shape.

 

Sorta like this.

 

The scar tissue has no nerve endings in it, and it was completely hairless.  I took advantage of these factors eight years later, and got a treble clef tattooed on the snowman.  This tattoo marked my moving to NYC in 2005.  My Unrelenting Monkey logo–the very first monkey picture I ever made–is a graphic representation of what my butt looks like post-surgery:

Through this whole process, I never thought once about health insurance.  I was covered under my parents insurance, so to me, it was free universal health care.

For a long time, I was eager to show people my scar, and subsequently my tattoo.  I had no problem "dropping trou" for new friends, and even the occasional stranger when under the influence of alcohol.  I would tell of the scar beneath the tattoo, and I would tell lies about how I got the scar.  Gays would get "Gang fight" as the explanation.  Straights invariably get "Sex injury" (which they ALWAYS believe, btw.)  My butt surgery became Tony Asaro folklore.

In recent years, I'm less eager to share my butt surgery with everyone around.  Most people I care about have already seen it, and the exhibitionism of it has lost its appeal.  Still, I love that the scar and the tattoo are there.

WHAT'S COOKIN'

Taking a cooking class was one of the most fun things I've ever done.  It made me feel like an adult.  It enabled me to tap into my Italian roots.  Most importantly, I got to eat delicious risotto.
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist/Amateur Sous Chef)

For our Christmas gifts last year, Nico and I bought each other gifts centering around food.  I got him/us a KitchenAid standing mixer–I got an AMAZING deal on Bestbuy.com–and he got me a gift certificate for a cooking school class in San Francisco at Chef Joe's Culinary Salon.

At the time, I was still living in NYC, and the gift was in anticipation of my impending move.  For our first anniversary (June 28th), we signed up for a class together.

Monkeys, let this inspire faith in love for your own lives: I MANAGED TO HANG ONTO A MAN FOR A YEAR!  If I can do it, you can do it.

Luckily for us, the class that fell closest to our actual anniversary was the one we were most interested in taking: RISOTTO CLASS!!!

 

Pictured here is the risotto Nico and I made during the class: risotto with fennel, spinach, and gorgonzola. (The other types we made were a traditional Milanese, and a Tomato with Prawns.)