Four Weeks in a List

Leaving Florida this time around feels a little different. It feels as welcoming as it does uninviting (at least by the end of this vacation). I flew into Florida on December 21st and I head back to New York tomorrow on January 22nd. That's four friggin' weeks! I spent more time in Florida during this break than I did last summer (due to summer session in New York and Musical Directing in Ohio and Sweden). I really love how the catholic school boy in me still considers this break to be "Christmas Vacation" and then I end up seeing Valentines decorations all over Florida before I leave. All in all, it was a very busy vacation with many wonderful experiences. And even though I won't be able to call Florida my home in a few months, I learned that there are parts of Florida that will always be with me (how many coming-of-age movies say that line?) And it's heartwarming to know that. In elementary school, we were often asked to write about what we did during the summer or winter vacations. And this senior year in college is no exception. Here's just the bullet points of how the past four weeks went down:

1. I spent a lot of time with some friends whom I never get to see, and that all happened primarily because of the Lovewell Songbook concert.

2. The Lovewell Songbook Concert! It was a maddening three days of rehearsals and jamming out with almost 80 Lovewell students, staff, alumni, parents, and friends. I got the chance to propose to Tyler onstage, wail out a blues song written in Ohio, and act like a zombie with Tobi, Jamie, and Carrie (just to name a few). These are people I care about immensely and because I work in Ohio over the summer, I never get to see the Fort Lauderdale crew. They're endlessly inspiring people.

3. Rocking out to the rough draft of the "Reporting Live" original cast recording! I ended up getting sick of my own music. But I did a lot of driving over the course of the past four weeks, which led to many listening sessions.

4. I drove about 2000 miles. This is not a joke.

5. Over a dozen movies in theaters. These films include, but are not limited to: The Chronicles of Narnia,  The Fighter, Black Swan, True Grit, I Love You Phillip Morris, The Kings Speech, How Do You Know, Hubble 3D, Burlesque, Season of the Witch, Tron, and Blue Valentine. Some of these movies were horrendous (yet hilarious to watch regardless). And many of these were just awesome. The King's Speech, Blue Valentine, and Hubble 3D were all amazing movie going experiences.

6. Pegasus! I played the hell out of my baby grand piano. Thank god he is not staying in Florida.

7. New television shows. I started watching Dexter and flew through the first couple seasons (season 3 is still downloading...). I did a lot of catching up on Modern Family (a show that makes me laugh out loud, constantly). And then yesterday I finished watching the entire first season of Skins from BBC. It only took me two days.

8. Tela conditioning. I hope she's proud of me when we start up class again. I really tried...

9. Christmas. This included my family watching the Sondheim concert on DVD, eating way too much food, playing a racist edition of Scategories (in which I beat my dad for the first time in my life... by three points), and of course gifts that included some awesome new sheet music and biographies.

10. I saw Rock of Ages. It was okay.

11. Partying it up in South Beach! I had one hell of a night in Miami with Henry Mackalacka.

12. I made a Twitter account?

13. Pixar Documentary. It might have been the best night I had during this break. On a night that wasn't going especially well, I came home at around 1 a.m. to turn on the t.v. to see that a documentary about the creation of Pixar was starting. I watched it from start to finish, and it's an incredible story. Watching footage of Tim Allen and Tom Hanks recording dialogue for the first Toy Story was amazing. And to know how long it took those guys to get to where they are today, it created a nice ray of hope for someone who's graduating in May with little to no plans. And it's wonderful to see genuinely nice people work hard and think big in order to meet their goals. Why doesn't the rest of the world work like Pixar?

14. More bonding time with my dog!

15. Bombed at bowling.

16. Droid.

17. I got a brand new pair of glasses for the first time in god knows how long. It's been so long that I actually get dizzy when I wear them. But hopefully in time I'll adjust. And I really like the way they look.

18. This one might be overly sentimental, but it's important nonetheless. While I was in Florida I spent a lot of time reconnecting with people whom I had lost touch with over the course of the past couple years (and even the past couple months). As lovely as that is, I also learned something else that proved to be just as valuable. It made me appreciate the friends that I've made in New York. I called people in New York constantly and missed them quite a bit. It's just a nice reminder.

Last semester of college... and... GO!

Get Ready For It...

Reporting Live (Original Cast Recording) - Rough Draft Samples

I wrote a musical. It's called Reporting Live (not Recording Live, despite recent confusion). Here are some samples of about 9 songs from the recording. The recording is still being edited and will be completed by the end of January. The samples include "The Last Woman on Earth", "As Long As It Makes Her Happy", "Grab 'Em By the Balls", "Fly Away", "The March of the Vultures", "Swim Forever", "I Can't Stay Here", "An Element of Magic", and "Hold Me Closer". To listen to the music, just click on the title of this blog post. I'm kinda proud of this.

Favorite Theatre of 2010

I wish I had seen more theatre this year. And I said the same thing in 2009... and 2008... But I'm not going to dwell too much on it. Because even though I saw about a couple dozen shows this year (including festivals, collegiate, commercial, downtown, etc...) there was still a handful of shows that moved me, made me laugh, think, be emotional, and have a good time. And there was a group that inspired me. Here are just a few of the shows I saw in 2010 that definitely had a big impact on me in one way or another. This list is in no particular order.

1. Trails (by Christy Hall, Jeff Thomson, and Jordan Mann) I didn't see many shows this year at the New York Music Theatre Festival, but this one was a standout nonetheless. Pushing three hours in length, the musical about two long lost best friends pioneering across the Appalachian Trail was a beautifully moving folk/pop musical that let cheesy music and sentimental text prove how some emotional cliches can work, extremely well.

2. Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play (by... Sarah Ruhl) This was epic in every sense of the word. Again, another 3 hour production, Passion Play had an extremely complicated conversation with the audience about religion in relation to politics and human nature. Hefty stuff. Beautifully designed in an enormous church in Brooklyn with a stellar cast that played multiple characters over the course of three hours. It's easy to question religion based on the facts. But when you attach that to the emotional burden of Ruhl's characters, it's an unforgettable experience.

3. This Must Be the Place (by Gemma Kaneko) The lovely Miss Kaneko created a piece that talked about Americana and the joy and euphoria of exploration through gorgeous folk music and poetic language. I'm a sucker for stories of pioneering towards the westward expansion, but I think it's hard for anyone to resist how charming this show was (and ending the show with the song "Home is Wherever I'm With You" was just pitch perfect in every way).

4. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (By Alex Timbres and Michael Friedman) While I didn't get to see the show after it moved uptown, I saw this bad-ass punk rock musical while it was at the Public and was completely blown away. I love nonfiction musical theatre. And this was the most distorted nonfiction musical theatre can get. Not only was it absurdly hilarious, outrageously designed (in the best way possible; the moment you stepped into the theatre, you knew you were in for a wild ride), and politically fascinating, but it was one fuck of a good time.

5. American Idiot (By Green Day and Michael Mayer) While on this train of rock shows, I had to mention the explosive rock opera that is taking place right now at the St. James theater. With visuals and music that overwhelm the senses, the imagination is expanded and soars as you watch three young men battle with suburbia, not to mention hookers, heroine, and homelessness that ultimately leads them to the realization of their own self-righteousness. There's a reason why the show opens with the line, "I jerked off to oblivion last night." It's not just meant for laughs, as funny as it may be. With numerous television sets, a suspended car, aerial acrobatics, architecture that transforms in an instant, and a cellist playing in a moving ladder, it's unlike anything you've ever seen. Or anything I've ever seen.

6. Brief Encounter (By Noel Coward) Is it safe to say that the most romantic play I've seen in a long time is also one of the most devastating, and ultimately uplifting? Brief Encounter shows Laura and Alec, two already married individuals, who meet under unexpected circumstances. The story of Laura and Alec is seductive, heartbreaking, and surprisingly inspirational. Almost as if it was saying, "Look at us. Look at what we could have had. Look at what you could have." Thus the wondrous experience that exists in Brief Encounter. If you thought waving goodbye from the train station and passionately kissing in the ocean were romantic, I hope you took a trip to Studio 54 this past fall.

7. Anyone Can Whistle (By Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents) I need to stop writing about this show. Three incredible performances from Sutton Foster, Raul Esparza, and Donna Murphy. Encores! City Center pulled off a magical production/concert reading of this absurd, and experimental, musical. Watching the actors make sense of a deliberately nonsensical score was thrilling (not to mention the massive symphony playing behind them). A crooked mayoress, a fake miracle, an asylum of nutjobs gone loose, a nurse in disguise, multiple mistaken identities all added up to the idea of living in each moment as yourself, and that is the only person you should ever try to be.

8. The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden (By Thornton Wilder) It's a seemingly simple story. The Kirby family is taking a road trip to visit the oldest daughter. That's all we know, and that the daughter experienced a recent problem. However, by the end of the play, an emotional catharsis erupted in the theatre that celebrated the joys of family, connections, relationships, and emotional support for the people you love. The production left many audience members in tears, and left myself spending much time reflecting how grateful I am for my own family. Will Detlefsen's direction utilized the White Box theater in a way I've never seen before, using experimental staging, design, and media that aesthetically made an enormously impactful theatrical experience. Even with some heartache and struggle, it truly was a happy journey. A beautiful one.

9. A Little Night Music (By Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler) Again, this was discussed in my last blog post, but it was one of the best things I saw last year. I saw two theater legends giving perfect performances in a celebrated masterpiece of musical theater, (and when I saw it, I knew nothing about the show). Bernadette Peters is, to me, the greatest musical theatre actor living or dead. With a career like none other, she has an acting and vocal range that is incomparable and yet always adds who she is as a person into the role. This being her first broadway show since the passing of her husband was a big deal, and I am eternally grateful to have been a part of it, even if it was just by being one of the hundreds of people in the audience for one night.



And in case you were wondering (which I know you were), I tried to make a list of my least favorite theatre in 2010. But instead I'm just going to list the following:

1. The Addam's Family (by Andrew Lippa, Rick Elice, and Marshall Brickman) Thank you Jerry Zaks for two and a half laugh-free hours. Watching the cast desperately try to get a laugh from the audience was depressing. It got to the point where the actors were laughing throughout the show, even at jokes that weren't funny to begin with. Nathan Lane even said to one of his co-stars who was laughing uncontrolably, "Do you want to sit out there? I'm the one who needs help!" And Andrew Lippa's score couldn't have sounded more... well... like a wave of predictable chords that washes into one ear and out the other.

And I'll just leave it at that. I've realized that I saw a lot of good theatre in 2010, now that I've finished writing this blog post. And there's a lot of really exciting stuff happening in the upcoming year. Some of the shows that I'm definitely looking forward to include "The Book of Mormon", "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark", "Arcadia", "War Hourse", and many others.

  

I mean... just LOOK at the poster for "The Book of Mormon". How could I not be excited?

From Kanye to Sondheim

The past few months have been rather disenchanting when it comes to the field of endeavor that I'm pursuing at college. So I've been trying to rediscover what it was that made me want to study theatre, drama, acting, musical theatre, music composition, directing, and the crazy compilation of all the above. Before I explain these attempts at rediscovery, let me go a little further in detail as to why I've slowly become more and more frustrated with theatre arts and, sadly enough, the people involved.

I've met a lot of amazing people while at Tisch, Steinhardt, NYU, and New York in general. The extraordinary amount of talent that exists in these people is indescribable and I truly am grateful to know them. Some of the writers, directors, singers, designers, and actors that I've met really do have so many things to offer to the world. I guess my issues really involved some of the people I know who actively engage in the world of musical theatre, specifically.

The words "musical theatre" often imply the images of jazz hands, flaming homosexuals, and dancing cats. And yes, those things do in fact exist in musical theatre sometimes. But it can also function in ways that can lift a person up. Looking at musicals such as "Adding Machine", "Show Boat", and "Shuffling Along" demonstrate how musical theatre can truly marry the ideologies of entertainment and mental stimulation towards an ethically desired goal. And there were courageous actors and writers involved who made those productions possible. But why did they do it? Why do certain actors pursue musical theatre?

I don't know about back then, but nowadays it seems to be a near depressing conversation. I've sat in on hundreds of people auditioning for various musicals. Whenever I'm casting a show, or involved with casting a show, I get the past the fact that the person can sing a high note. But I want to know what kind of a person they are, and how they would be to work with. And I do this because I find more and more musical theatre actors wanting to be in musicals for mere self-gratification. And that self-gratification derives from the desire to belt the highest note and perform the fiercest dance combination. Don't get me wrong. Applause is great. We all love it, and everybody should be given the chance to receive applause when deserved (who knows when that is). But if applause is all that a person is aiming for, then is there any selfless aspect to that desire? 

I guess narcissism is the idea I'm shooting for. The goal to show off versus contribute proves to be extremely frustrating. I'm not an entirely innocent party. There are times when I'm playing a song and I add an unnecessary ostinato pattern to prove what my hands can do on a piano. But I'll ride the high horse and say I don't do that too often. At least I try not to. There is a community of musical theatre artists in Manhattan. And many of them are lovely beautiful people. And the majority of them seem to want to prove themselves as worthy of performing. 

I went to a new musical theatre writers workshop a couple months ago and there was a reception afterwards with cocktails and wine specials and whatnot. There also was an open mic stage with an accompanist ready to play any song from any musical, if you had your sheet music with you. While I was trying to talk to other writers and catch up with old friends, there were singers on stage wailing out songs that nobody was paying attention to. Ironically enough, the people who weren't paying attention to the folks on stage would later get onstage themselves and belt out their own tunes with the reciprocated disinterested response. 

Musical theatre writers are not totally off the hook either. Many up and coming writers I know are on a similar construct of writing to show off how witty and catchy they can be. However, what this produces is a lot of new works all sounding relatively similar. Instead of sounding like themselves, they are sounding like each other. And these are brilliant people! So why should they be writing material that isn't indicative of who they are as individuals? That's why my heroes are the composers who write like nobody else, because they're writing from the heart, not the insecurity.

Let me emphasize a very important point: this is a pure generalization that is NOT true for many, many writers and actors. All of this speculation is derived from certain people that I've been surrounded by in recent months. I have many wonderful collaborators as directors, actors, writers, designers, composers, etc... who do not possess these qualities. However, they seem to be rare finds. And THAT is what is so disheartening. If this is my chosen field of profession, I don't want to be surrounded by people that motivate me to deliberately avoid their praise. 

Theatre shouldn't be so selfish to the point where a spotlight and a standing ovation are the only sought after goals. It should be giving and welcoming to everyone and anyone who is willing to listen, watch, and experience. 

   

(music store in Stockholm with Nippe)

So... let's get to that other point. How have I been cheering myself up about this? Quite a few things actually. 

1. My piano. I've been writing a lot since I've come home. I love my baby grand piano so much. I love it when we have alone time (dirty, right?) I'm working on another show now, and the sounds we are producing together are incredible. And so much fun. Therapeutic. Clears the mind, and easily enough, the soul. 

2. Recent experiences with Stephen Sondheim. I've always known the man could write a good show. I know he's highly respected by, well, everyone involved with musical theater. But it wasn't until last April when I EXPERIENCED the value this man possesses. When I saw the production of "Anyone Can Whistle" at the City Center, my eyes were opened to a whole new concept of who this man is. Stephen Sondheim is smart, and people will call him courageous without any weight to the word. But my god, "Whistle" taught me what it meant to be a courageous writer. True courage means writing something that you fully believe in with all of your heart, putting it out there for the whole world to see, and risk the endless ridicule by those who disagree. And holy hell, that show received ridicule. But I saw what he was saying. During the song "Everybody Says Don't", emotion swelled within me and it proved to me that I can do miracles just by saying "Do" (my experience with this song would take a whole other blog post, so I'll just leave it alone for now). Another very recent experience was seeing "A Little Night Music". And I had a TRUE Sondheim experience. I knew nothing of the show before I saw it, everyone told me the show is brilliant (like most of his shows). But I didn't think that immediately when the show ended. It starred the most inspirational actor alive (at least for me) and by the end of the show, I felt slightly confused. It caught me off-guard. I didn't think right away about how perfect the show was, but rather thinking more along the lines of what the show was about. And it resonated within me for days. I couldn't get the damn production out of my mind with so many questions about life, love, romance, and the cost of falling in love. And only THEN did I say to myself, "Fuck, that's a great show!" And THAT sums up Stephen Sondheim's brilliance. Intelligence, heart, and courage. Lots of courage. He who dares to do something different and specific to him.

   

3. Surrounding myself with people who DON'T carry the above mentioned attitudes! They exist. And they're awesome. I can't wait to work with some of them next semester. I can't wait to work with some of them after graduation. They also make amazing friends. 

4. Lots of good books, tv, and movies! Just this week alone I've seen The Fighter, I Love You Phillip Morris, Black Swan, The Chronicles of Narnia (not great, but beautiful to watch), and tomorrow I'm seeing Tron in IMAX and The King's Speech. Movies can be so inspiring. 

5. Drives to the beach. They make anyone feel better. 

6. Overall, remembering that there are writers and actors who truly dare to do something different. Entertainment is great. Thought-provoking is delectable. Emotions are a wonder. And experience is irreplaceable. Melding them all together make for something perfect in its own extraordinary way. And there are so many people who want to make that happen. 

I know this blog post looks incredibly judgmental, and let's face it, it kind of is. But I don't mean to scorn people who want praise and recognition for their work. I mean, I definitely want praise and recognition for the work that I do. Fame and glory can be wonderful things. But they're also dangerous, because they can make us forget the other aspects that prove to be more pertinent. Every profession in the world has its community of narcissism. I'm learning that now. And more importantly, I'm learning how to avoid it and still do what I have set out to do since the beginning. It's more than possible. 

As I type this, my iTunes shuffle switched from Kanye to Sondheim. I'm going to take that as a good omen. 

Hello blog. It's been a while.

The past month has been an absolute whirlwind. From opening and closing a few shows, getting the flu, food poisoning, finals, papers, visiting the nieces in Maryland, and of course the finalizing of the "Reporting Live" album at Dubway Studios, it's hard to even know where to begin. But now I'm in sunny South Florida. 75 degree weather. A palm tree Christmas, and considering my parents are selling the house in a few months, I couldn't be more content to be in Florida. And the best part is that it ACTUALLY gets kind of cold at night! And I'm talking about weather in the low 50's, maybe even 40's! And for Florida, that's amazing.

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After a very strange semester, I'm able to pop in the CD for "Reporting Live" into my car, blast it as loud as possible while driving down the beach. It's not COMPLETELY finished, but it's 99% there. And 23 musicians and 16 singers have never sounded so awesome. I know it's all I've been blogging about (granted I've blogged about 3 times in the past 4 months), but it's literally been a project I've been focusing on since August. And it's finally done. Well, close enough for me to say it's done. When you're working in theatre, you seldom get a final product that you can hold onto after the show's over. This album is the first time I can hold onto a final product and never let it go, and that's just pretty cool.

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I just realized how many TV shows are on Netflix Instant View! I'm trying to decide between Dexter or Weeds. But I'm going to start one of them. Hopefully I'll get hooked, and with Michael C. Hall and Mary Louise Parker involved, that shouldn't be too hard.

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After seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, I became inspired to finish the books. I stopped towards the beginning of Book 5. But because it's been so long since I've read the first four I decided to start from scratch. So this afternoon I picked up the Sorcerer's Stone. Already halfway done. I forgot how damn good these books are. Not to mention the theme park at Universal is a religious experience for all.

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So many random things in this blog post! It's because I never blog...
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Notice how they're all separated by random dotted lines?
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I've missed my baby grand piano! All I've been doing since I came home to Florida is playing Pegasus all day and night. I forgot how good he sounds. For those of you who don't know, I tend to name all the pianos/keyboards I come in contact with (or at least develop a serious relationship with, and this one is very serious). My keyboard in New York is Icarus. My baby grand is Pegasus. The terrible piano I had to play in the Shop theater was named Al. You get the idea. But Pegasus is my one and only. The house my parents are building in Maryland is amazing, and do you know why? Because Pegasus might be getting his own room... So much damage to be done.
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So many movies to see over the course of the next few weeks. True Grit, The King's Speech, I Love You Phillip Morris, Tron, Narnia, Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole, The Fighter, The Tempest, Casino Jack, Somewhere, Another Year, Biutiful, etc... The list goes on. I just saw Black Swan yesterday. Completely took my breath away. As absurd it was, it still got my heart racing and Natalie Portman gave a performance that I feel like I've never seen before from any actor. Let this be the beginning of a good run of new movies. (PS - I still plan on seeing Burlesque without paying for the ticket.)

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A lot of goals to meet over the next few weeks in Florida. I encourage all to come down for a visit. Who knows? Maybe a trip to Miami or Orlando could happen. God knows I'll be heading to both at some point.

Merry Christmas everybody! There's so much to be happy about in this crazy world we live in. So let's be happy.

Don't Ask Don't Tell

As I type this, I am watching the hearings regarding "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and it truly is fascinating to watch how these court hearings are handled and conducted.

In most controversial topics I find a sympathy and understanding for both sides, however for this particular issue I simply cannot wrap my brain around the reasonings for keeping the legislation intact.

If you're at all interested, here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40470615#40470615

This truly feels like one of the most backward laws in our nations federal legislate. And it's endlessly intriguing to see how an issue (which is not entirely black and white, but one of the most 'black-and-white' cases I've ever seen) is presented in a politically correct manner.

Just too interesting.