Crazytown

SAYING GOODBYE THE GROWN-UP WAY

All things come to an end, and we get better at it.
By Sam Perwin

I'm writing this on a Sunday night having just finished the run of Life Could be a Dream at the Meadow Brook Theatre. Last night we had a little cast-party hosted by our local cast member, but as we had our last show the next day, the festivities, though fun, were relatively tame. After our matinee today, we got together for dinner and some drinks to celebrate the run. There are only 5 of us in the cast, so we got pretty tight; comeraderie abounded, but I'm back in my room by 10pm writing a blog post, i.e., no one was looking to party into the night. Tomorrow I'll get on a flight and come back to New York to search for my next job.

Is this the line for the Men's ECC for Les Mis?

My time at MBT has been nothing but a joy (really). But, now that I'm grown-up and Equity, I find myself looking back nostalgically on the days when Summer-Stock was more like theatre camp. Where every day was filled with drama and tears, drunken fights and drunken hook-ups, and the fact that any actual theatre happened was a minor miracle. From that chaos, I learned so much about how to make things work for myself as an actor. Amid the insanity of playing Harold Hill in The Music Man (at 19!) in an unairconditioned barn in Vermont in 100 degree heat, I learned how to pace myself. Amid switching from peforming Gilbert & Sullivan at night to rehearsing Cole Porter during the day in one-week stock, I learned how to play with different styles of singing. Who needs conservatory when you've got got summer-stock?

AN INTERVIEW WITH JILL GOLD, STAGE MANAGER [pt. 1]

A career stage manager discusses life, work, family, and bringing up the next generation of theatre tech professionals.
by Loren A. Roberts (guru of multi-hyphenate media)

Jill Gold calling the shots (on a prehistoric computer -- look at that thing!) for Les Miserables in the early 1990s. Fourth National Tour.

LR: I didn't doctor your latte at all.

JG: I didn't want it doctored! Thank you…

LR: I'm glad we got to talk…

JG: I'm glad too! I'm sorry it's taken so long; I'm in the middle of the hardest tech of my life…I'm exhausted! Ohmygosh, this latte is good, is this Europane?

LR: No, it's Coffee Gallery. [both local non-Starbucks coffee shops]

[We get interrupted by a phone call from her husband, who is performing with his quartet in Japan on a cruise ship…]

LR: You know, it's interesting that your husband called right now; you have a unique perspective as a theatre tech professional who also expertly manages a performing family…

JG: Some people might question the word "expertly"…[laughs]

LR: But I mean, that does become a consideration for many of us as we get older, marry, have families, and still participate in the industry. None of us have "9-to-5" jobs…

JG: Boring! But that's also what makes it work for me and my husband, because neither of us have 9-to-5 jobs; many times, if I'm working a 14-hour day on a show, he might not be, so one of us is still home. So it works out.

LR: I find that, because the economy has been so tight, I'm constantly accepting more work, and so the "downside" of not having that 9-to-5 is that I'm working all the time…

JG: …yeah, you can't turn anything down! This is my first Monday off in three and a half months, 'cuz I've been teaching in Redlands...

REQUIEM FOR “SMASH”

Or: More TV Shows About Live Theatre, Please.
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist)

Well folks, it has happened. The long expected announcement has come: Smash is no more.

I have long been vocal in my support of the show. But I guess it simply couldn’t recover from its troubled first season. And whatever you may have thought about the show, it was employing a lot of artists in my industry who would not otherwise be employed, and for that I’m truly sad.

 

It got so much better this second season. I enjoyed the Hit List tunes as standalone pop songs. And The “Opening Night” episode for Bombshell was truly a thrill. Had the whole series been like that episode, I think they would have had something more lasting. The fact that the episode focused on real workplace drama -- for example, the real issues that arise between two musical theatre writing collaborators while working on a piece of theatre -- rather than love triangles or adoptions and the like was amazing. I really feel there’s an episodic television show in the business that we call show that Smash attempted to deliver on in its better moments.

If Happy Endings isn't picked up by USA I'm gonna hurt someone. I can't have another one of my stories cancelled this season.

So farewell to my beloved Smash. It was a brave experiment. I hope that our little industry of sweet lady theatre garners the eye of television again, and sometime soon.

GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer. His musical Save The Date: A New Musical Wedding Comedy will premiere in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. www.gregjr.com
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SHADOW OF A DOUBT

There can be miracles, if you believe...in yourself
By Sam Perwin

My parents, undoubtedly my biggest fans and most ardent supporters, came to see my show last weekend. Like true groupies, they always fly to see me wherever the fickle finger of regional theatre takes me. They're savvy theatergoers, and always have smart criticisms about whatever show I'm in, yet they're always kind and encouraging about my performance no matter how I feel it went. This has always been the case, so why is it that their presence made me so nervous before last Saturday's show? It always feels like when I perform for my family, I have something to prove.

As I'll reiterate, this is completely in my head. From the day I had enough courage to devote myself entirely to the business we call show, my parents have been nothing but overwhelmingly supportive. They're both lawyers, as is my sister, but I've never once had to deal with those awful "when are you going to get a real job?" conversations. I am not, sadly, Lauryn Hill in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. I know they believe in me and my talent; they come to see me in anything and everything I do; they've helped me out financially when I've needed it, and yet whenever they're in the audience I feel like I'm singing for my supper. What's that about?

Singing does not put food on the table...well, it does if you're Lauryn Hill...

Well, it's my own self-doubt, of course. My acting teacher, the amazing Karl Bury, likes to say that the two most loaded words any character can ever say are "mother" and "father." My parents have always had high expectations, and when I lived under their roof, I lived up to them. To a fault, I am a type-A, control-freak, overachiever because, I believe, my parents refused (in a good way!) to accept anything less than my best at anything I did. Clearly, I still feel that pressure every time I step on stage in front of them, and I worry that I'm not good enough to live to their and my own expectations.

GETTIN' FRINGE-Y WITH IT

Sorry, Smash. The real thing is in the summer.
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (Composer-Lyricist)

I’d like to begin by thanking Mr. Rob Shapiro for filling in for me last Friday while I was back home in Delaware doing sad family things. Rob is a pro and if you didn’t catch his post last week you should give it a read.

As for me, I’ve chosen to funnel all that sad energy into my upcoming show. That’s right folks, after developing the piece for longer than I’d like to admit, my musical Save The Date: a new musical wedding comedy has been accepted to the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival! We’re making our world premiere in August. Official dates and venues have not yet been assigned, but when they are, I’ll let you all know.

   

When I got the email saying we had been accepted, I was on a mini-vaycay sucking down wine with my parents and their friends in Sonoma wine country in California. The second I saw the email, I leapt from the sofa, ran out to the backyard patio where my mother and her friend Becky were enjoying a glass of sparkling, and shouted “YEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! I’M IN DA FRIIIIIIIINGE!!!”

The point of this post, however, is not to offer shameless self-promotion. My excitement at learning that Save The Date would be a part of this year’s Fringe festival runs much deeper than the mere fact that it is being produced. I felt immense pride that my musical, which in some ways is very in and of New York City, was going to be in a festival that is so much a part of the city of New York.

"That's How It Happened" from a reading of Save The Date at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program a few years ago. This is the only song from the first draft that still remains in tact.

The New York International Fringe Festival (hereinafter referred to as “FringeNYC” – sorry, I’ve just been reading through my participant agreement) is such an integral part of the New York theatre scene. Every year they select over 200 shows varying from full-scale musicals like mine, to solo works, dance pieces, multi-media theatre, and yes, the dreaded “performance art.” You’re probably aware that Urinetown got its start in FringeNYC. But for me the fun part about FringeNYC are those off-the-beaten-path performances that you’re only going to find in the New York Fringe. When I was an undergraduate student at Emerson College, I took a wacky course titled: “Living Art In Real Space,” which was basically Performance Art 101. Every class we studied a different artistic movement and were assigned to create a performance inspired by that movement for the next class. Some weird stuff went down in that class (people got naked, there was a food fight with raw meat) but it truly helped this little composer/lyricist who works in the most structured of art forms: musical theatre, to loosen up and appreciate a different perspective on live performance. Simply put, now I just love it. Bring on the performance art!

My group's final presentation in "Living Art In Real Space." That's me at the piano. Our group opted to do our final performance inside the Emerson cabaret theatre instead of pelting raw meat at each other on the Charles river or almost slipping and falling to our deaths off a paint-filled tarp on a Beacon Hill rooftop. (True story.)

ON YOUR TOES

Why a peak behind the curtain makes a better audience.
By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer) 

I had the pleasure to see the final dress rehearsal of On Your Toes at Encores! this week.  It’s the final show of their season, and it was a great way to end a wonderful year.

While I have an undying love for Rodgers and Hart, I was not very familiar with On Your Toes.  I knew nothing about the plot, and the only songs I knew from it were “Quiet Night” (which I knew from performing the TENOR part in concert in college) and “Glad To Be Unhappy” (which I knew from The Mamas & The Papas).

 

What’s really phenomenal about On Your Toes is the sheer amount of dancing in it.  It opens with a vaudeville tap routine and there are TWO full on ballets in it.  In fact, I’m pretty sure this was the first point where Richard Rodgers began composing ballet pieces for his musicals (see Oklahoma and Carousel in case you have no idea what I mean).  And I’m talking PROPER ballet, people.  George Balanchine choreographed “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” and they were actually able to get the original choreography for this production!

 
This isn't Balanchine's choreography. It's Gene Kelly's choreography. And it's Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly dancing in Words & Music.  So... you're welcome.

The best part about seeing the final dress rehearsal is that it’s just that... a rehearsal.  And between creation, rehearsing, and final presentation, rehearsal is definitely the most fun part.  Most of the time when you are invited to a final dress rehearsal, it is a performance.  It’s a chance for the creative team to perform the show for an audience, take notes, and tweak anything that needs to be tweaked before the paying customers begin attending.  Before the show begins, the director, producer, or someone of similar prestige comes out to welcome everyone and remind them that this is, in fact, a rehearsal.  And because it is a rehearsal, there is a possibility that they may have to stop.  But usually that’s just a formality and show goes on.  Possibly there are a few hiccups, but nothing that will stop the show.

That didn’t happen here.  I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but they had to stop the show just as the dance break for the titular song was getting into full swing.  It is a dance off between the hoofers at the University and the corps de ballet at the Russian Ballet.  And when they paused and swept up the stage and we heard “We’ll take it from the dance break”, the dancers reset, the music began, and the audience erupted into applause.  Once they finished the number, the applause went on so long that the next scene had to hold a full minute to let the applause die down. 

HATERS GONNA HATE

In defense of new musical theatre composers.
By Michael Kras (Actor/Playwright/Director)

 

I am a huge supporter and advocate of new musical theatre. It is my firm belief that the future is in more than good hands, as long as said future has the support and back-up it needs. How do I support these new composers? I buy their albums, I pimp their work on my Facebook and Twitter to encourage people to check it all out, and I'm always looking for the latest and greatest. It's a win-win... I get to hear great new music, and I make a small but important contribution to said composers for them to continue doing their thing.

That said, I hate reading reviews on these new works by young up-and-comers. Why? Because, in so many cases, I find them just plain unfair.

So many old, jaded critics out there seem to love preying on fresh meat. They're so set in the golden age of musicals and they seem to approach new works with negative prejudice. Of course, I'm generalizing, but it's something I see enough that I think it's worth discussing. A lot of these critics tend to complain about the same basic things. I'll list a few of them, and then explain why each one is total bullshit.

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...

BROADWAY ALL STARS

By Rob Shapiro (musical theatre writer)

 With awards season in full swing, I’ve been thinking how Broadway is represented on the national level. Musicals have been getting more attention in the past few years in television (Glee and Smash) and film (Les Miserables, and the upcoming Into the Woods and The Last Five Years) and Hollywood continues to make adaptations of plays (Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Rabbit Hole and God of Carnage). However, Broadway stage productions only have the Tony Awards - one 3-hour block of time on the major networks in which to cram in a season's worth of entertainment, highlights and honors. 

I love the Tony Awards.  But the Tony Awards only captures a small segment of the Broadway season (not to mention off-Broadway). There are many events throughout the year that celebrates Broadway - Broadway on Broadway, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Easter Bonnet Competition and other Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids events.  Here's a great example of what Broadway can do: 

How awesome was that?!  Why can't we have more of that?

VIDEO HOS

By Sam Perwin

As an actor, you know you're on a roll when you have your next job booked before your current one ends. This is the case for a few of my more fortunate castmates, but alas, as Gershwin wrote, not for me. It was a long, hard, busy audition season in NYC, and while I came out with some callbacks and this gig, as of right now, I don't have a summer-stock job. This means, especially now that the show is open, I plan to spend my downtime trolling the Equity Website for audition postings and making a lot of audition videos to see what's still available for the summer.

 
Hey, it worked for the Biebs....

While not too much has changed about the audition process since the dawn of theatre (when I walk in the room, there's a table of men, always men, usually gay...), the ubiquity of smartphones and digital cameras has made submitting an audition video easy and extremely common. When I submitted my headshot and resume for this gig at the Meadow Brook, I was asked to send a video. Once, I ran into a friend at a bar who was working for a casting director. She realized I'd be perfect for one of their projects, called her boss in the bar and told her to check out my website. She watched the videos I had there, and I was told to come in at 10am tomorrow (obviously I went home and went to bed). This week, I got a phone call asking me to come in for a callback from an audition a few weeks ago, and since I'm out of town, I offered to send a video. They said that'd be great, e-mailed me sides, and asked me for a pop song. I downloaded a karaoke track, and asked one of my cast mates to read the sides with me. Boom, I had an audition.