Crazytown

HOW I MET A TONY NOMINEE

With the release of the Original Cast Recording of DOGFIGHT this week, I'm reminded of when I first decided I wanted to write for Musical Theater...

by Alexander Sage Oyen (Composer/Lyricist)

I started writing songs when I was twelve. I wanted to be John Mayer (and, yeah, I still kind of want to be John Mayer… maybe more like Ben Folds now) and I wanted to write pop tunes.

Actually, when I was twelve I was on a reality television show on VH1 called In Search of the Partridge Family.  It was a show about casting a show based on the fun 70’s show, The Partridge Family, which starred David Cassidy and Danny Bonaducci.  I got 3^rd for the role of Danny.

(Also...Emma Stone was on the show and she’s the coolest ever.  I’d give you video content, but I will never let the video content be released). 

My parents both come from a theatre background and I remember, after I lost on Partridge Family, being in the car with my father and him saying, “Why don’t you audition for a show? That could be fun!” My reply was sassy and curt- “Why would I ever do theatre? That’s lame.”

Well… fast forward five years. I’m seventeen now, and I’m in my junior year of high school. For the past three years I’ve been in the theatre division of my high school’s performing arts magnet program. Oh, how the tables had turned. And I had just started writing musicals. I had gone from a chump who thought that theatre had no business in my life to a chump who thought he had something to say about theatre.

That’s when I found some bootlegged demos from a new musical that had just opened and closed on Broadway.  The show was called GLORY DAYS  (Also, this was in the days of Myspace music pages and that’s where I found the stuff. I actually miss Myspace music. Or like… not really). GLORY DAYS is a wonderful show written by James Gardiner and Nick Blaemire about four high school friends who come back to find that not everything is exactly how they left it.  The score is so wonderful and so damn catchy.  I decided that I had to contact Nick, the composer/lyricist, and make him hear my stuff...

DESIGNING ROME

Erin Shaw fills in for Bob Simpson this week, and interviews the writer and composer of "Right Together, Left Together."
By Erin Shaw (Writer)

As any Tony award-winning composer or writer will tell you, the experience of creating a successful musical is the epitome of the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Writer Pamela Q. Eberhardt and composer Will Collyer have been working on Right Together, Left Together for many years and the journey still continues. I interviewed these two wonderfully creative artists to talk a little bit about the latest incarnation of their piece, which will be going into its closing weekend on Thursday at the Grove Theatre Center in Burbank, CA.

 Right Together Left Together has been alive and kicking for many years in many incarnations, and has been touched by many wonderful actors both in New York and Los Angeles. This latest incarnation stars Jeni Incontro as Taylor, Tripp Pettigrew-Rolapp as Zac, Emily Clark-Simpson as Ashley, Bob Simpson as Paul, Lucas Alifano as Ryan, Katrina Rennells as Allison and Jeff Scot Carey as the wisecracking Dave.

 “It's been Pam's brainchild from the start. I originally came on to the project composing just a few songs, "Flirting" being the first, and only surviving tune from that early draft,” says Collyer.

“That’s true.” Says Eberhardt. “Ryan Scott Oliver and Christopher Kerrigan supplied us with original music for the early stages of the show's development.”

When asked what her favorite element of the show is, Eberhardt, who is hugely influenced by comedic giants like Nora Ephron, Bonnie Hunt, Stephen Colbert, and Judd Apatow, explains, “It reaches out to an audience who don't necessarily love going to theatre, and musical theatre especially. It's written like a modern sitcom and people seem to respond to that positively, making it different from existing shows.”

 The key to their continuing success might just be the ability to let go and change the material as the show evolves. Collyer explains, “We've made so many changes over the course of its development. There's literally no element of the show that has remained sacred and untouchable.”  

                                       Pam Eberhardt and Will Collyer

When asked if they could go back and change an element of the show, their answers couldn’t be more different. Will claims, “If we could go back, perhaps the nature in which it was conceived, as a story that linked existing show tunes, may have hurt more than helped in the long run, because it created a structure that was based on showcasing great songs rather than story. At the beginning, it was simply the contrivance conceived to connect those dots.  It has taken us years of readings and rewrites to instill a story core that people care about, and I'm sure we'll learn more from this production and dig deeper into the next draft yet again.”

Pam explains she would have sat out the last incarnation of the show playing Taylor and just observed the piece as a writer.

When asked how their own lives have shaped and influenced the piece, Eberhardt jokes “My family loves to get married, often more than once,” and Collyer explains, “Ryan is just like me, he writes songs, he’s gay, he lives in LA.”

Where will Right Together Left Together be in five years? Collyer hopes “Well, hopefully, alive and well and being licensed and performed by strangers.” And as for Ms. Pamela? “I see a TV pilot developed from it ala Smash or Glee... but better.”

We’ll be there watching as this charming little piece gets discovered. For tickets, visit their website.

Erin Shaw is a writer from Los Angeles and active VIP member of the Unknown Artists' Play Club West.

ODE TO THE "HYPHENATES" (PART 1)

Some collegiate artists have too much passion to fit inside a single box. 
by Amanda Louise Miller, grad student 

One of the hardest things for me about completing these blog posts every week is deciding what to put as a "job title" after my name.  “Grad student” is accurate, but boring (and, to be honest, a bit misleading, since I've been working as a professional in education since 2003).  But “writer-composer-performer-educator-faculty developer” sounds silly and pretentious.  Often, I try to err on the side of unpretentious and/or funny, with varying degrees of success.

Fact is, I’m a “hyphenate.”  I play in many different creative sandboxes, and they’re all extremely important to me.  We’re a rare breed, we hyphenates -- we’re generally too busy to let you in on everything we’re doing, we’re probably running on caffeine and deadlines, but we’re out there.

A few fun and famous examples of “my people” include Barbra Streisand, Carla (from Top Chef), and I have to mention Nathalie Stutzmann (the extremely badass conductor-vocalist of early music I recently researched for a grad class in a project that inspired this blog post).

I thought the most interesting way to explore this idea, though, would be to focus on the famous-to-be.  So today (and in some future posts down the road), I’m sharing profiles of some of the coolest collegiate hyphenates I know, sharing - in their own words - their plans, talents, and opinions on what it means to be so fabulously multifaceted.

This week, we'll get to meet an "actor-poet-visual-artist," a "theatrical-dance-opera lighting designer/modern dancer/stage production technician," an "actor-director-choreographer," all persuing undergraduate or graduate degrees at various colleges in the Midwest.

THE SWEET SOUND OF FREEDOM

By Laure Porché

So, I was going to write a whole post about how sometimes you have to stop doing things you love because they're bad for you, but I feel that you're all better off without my musings. And once again, I am writing this with time holding a knife at my neck, so it's not really the best position to go in depth into any subject. Instead, I've got a discovery for you!

My dad and brother being here from France to see that I settle easily, we tend to spend a lot of time wandering the city aimlessly, looking around and doing touristy stuff. On Wednesday night, after a stroll in Bleecker street, we entered the Cornelia Street cafe, curious to hear whoever was playing that night. 

We had a pleasant enough time during the first set. From the corner of my eyes I saw the second set singer come in and thought to myself, "If she sings as great as she looks, we're in for a treat". And boy, was I right. 

If you love jazz, the Sarah E. Charles Quartet is a must see. Not only are the musicians insanely good and completely attuned to each other, but Sarah herself is an amazing vocalist. She often made me think of Rachelle Ferrell's best work, even though comparison is not a good way to do justice to her talent. The whole thing was completely inspired, not only that but the music was interesting and fresh, and none of the artists on stage were ever showing off. They were just making music. Perfectly.  

So if you're in New York and not doing anything on September 4th, you can go and listen to them at Dizzy's Club, as they are part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center series. In the meantime, here's a fashion week video where she upstages both the models and the dancers... 

 

LAURE PORCHÉ is a former dancer, now a translator for the Children/YA branch of Hachette Publishing. In addition, she wrote the texts for the dance-theater solo "My house is nothing like my mother's". In September she will fulfill her lifelong dream of studying acting in New York by entering the Musical Theater program at Circle in the Square Theater School. www.laurelei.com
EMAIL HER |  BLOG | REVIEWS |  FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR

FRESH FRENCH ART - PART 4

By Laure Porché

For the last installment of my French Art series, let me talk to you about a friend of mine. I had the chance to work with several photographers over the last few years: never have one captured so well the images I had in mind that my friend, Gilles Alonso. He's got an extraordinary eye for location, and his portraits of women always have a special feel to them, reflecting the person he's photographing. Find some of my favorite pictures of his below (click on the images to view them bigger). For more, visit his website.

THIS SHOULD TAKE SOME TIME...

By Laure Porché

Soooooooooooooo.... here I am, on Friday, with no blog post in sight. I have some excuse, as the past week has mainly been occupied by moving from freakin' France to overwhelming NYC. I toyed with the idea of falling back on my already planned French Art 4th installment, but it would upset the symmetry of things. So, in an effort to entertain you anyway, here are 15 of my favorite theater related videos! Enjoy! 

 

 

 

FRESH FRENCH ART - PART 3

By Laure Porche

So, alternating between photography and illustration, here's the third installment of my French Art series. This time I would like to introduce you to the work of Anne Romby. Anne illustrates classic fairy tales by using an unusual technique that mixes paint and leaf skeletons...  You can find her books on Amazon, either in Spanish or in French (you most likely already know these stories anyway). In the meantime, here are some of my favs from her. 

WELCOME TO FAHRBOT TOWN

   There is only one show in which you can find liberated females, puppets having sex, and aliens farting helium. 
By Laure Porché (Translator/Actress/Geek in chief) 

As I was reading Leah's great post the other day, it occurred to me that her point was not complete without mentioning one of the most feminists sci-fi shows I've ever seen: Farscape. I know I've spoken of my love for it in a previous post, but let's dive deeper, shall we? 

I myself waited 30 years to watch this show, having vowed that I NEVER would after a glimpse of make up and puppets on the French sci-fi channel that had me deem it "kitsch". But thank God, Tumblr happened, and at last I could resist no longer. So, without further ado, here are some reasons to watch Farscape. 

FRESH FRENCH ART - PART 2

 So, my French Art series continues, this time with some shameless family promotion. 

My brother Leonard, 22, discovered photography when he was 13 and has been developing his style ever since. His work is set mostly in urban settings (Paris!) at night. I personally think he has a lot going on for him, but I may be biased... So, I will let you be the judge. Below are some of his latests, some of which were in the exhibit that happened a couple months ago in Paris (some of those are better viewed big, so click click). 

His Blog :: His Flickr :: His Facebook

ALL THE COOL KIDS HAVE REGRETS

 Who hasn't heard the expression "no regrets"? But the truth is, we'd better buckle up for some if we want to actually have lived... 
By Laure Porché (Performer/Translator) 

I don't know about you, but I tend to regret more the things I did than the things I didn't do. Because of this, I spent many years doing nothing, living in fear of having to one day regret my choices. Let's face it, the overwhelming message of any well-meaning friend or self-help book is "Live to the fullest, you don't want to have regrets". 

Ah, yes. But here's the catch: if you truly live to the fullest, you are going to have regrets. For sure. It's non-negotiable. From the moment you make a choice, you are giving up the alternative and taking the responsibility of whatever future feelings will come with that choice. 

I'm not saying we are bound to regret our choices. But some regrets are unavoidable, no matter how right the choice was for you. For instance, I know that I will one day have to live with the fact that I won't have spent precious time with my 95 year old grandma, because I'm choosing now to follow my dream of moving to NYC. I'm hoping I will not regret that choice, but I know that, at some point in my life, I will regret not having had that time with her. 

And, in a more practical way, how many of us performers have had to give up a great job because we'd already said "yes" to something else? And how many of us were unable to let go of this quickly and not wallow, loosing precious time and energy? 

So, instead of pretending there is such a state as "having no regrets", shouldn't we learn (and teach our children) to handle the consequences of our choices, whatever they may be? Risk taking comes with potential mistakes, and any real life choice means that you are giving up something in the process. Better to be prepared to accept that than strive for an elusive state of "no regrets". 

And with that, I leave you with the epitome of regretful songs, by God. 

 

LAURE PORCHÉ is a former dancer, now a translator for the Children/YA branch of Hachette Publishing. In addition, she wrote the texts for the dance-theater solo "My house is nothing like my mother's". In September she will fulfill her lifelong dream of studying acting in New York by entering the Musical Theater program at Circle in the Square Theater School. www.laurelei.com
EMAIL HER |  BLOG | REVIEWS |  FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR