Adam Szymkowicz’s hilarious play, for which I wrote music and additional lyrics, premieres under the auspices of the Pipeline Theatre Company and the direction of Andrew Neisler. New York Theatre Review calls the songs “gorgeous and strange” …
Aron Accurso and I head to the esteemed Goodspeed Theater in CT to take part in the inaugural year of their Johnny Mercer Writers Colony! Along with many other fantastic writers, we will spend our week hunkered around a piano coming up with new musicals. Update: Aron and I wrote two new songs, one for our musical-in-progress GALWAY BAY (a three-person chamber musical about three different love triangles in three different decades on one of the beautiful Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland); and one for our oratorio-in-progress HANSEL AND GRETEL, based on — well, you can guess.
MY LIFE IS A MUSICAL gets an industry reading at the Soho Playhouse at 7:00pm, under the auspices of Theatre Resources Unlimited! Direction by Marlo Hunter (Associate Choreographer of B’way’s Picnic) and music direction by Christopher D. Littlefield (Addams Family, 9 to 5 tours). The incredible cast of Broadway veterans includes: Howie Michael Smith (Ave Q), Anika Larsen (Xanadu, Ave Q), Justin Matthew Sargent (Rock of Ages), Natalie Charle Ellis (Forbidden B’way), Jason Michael Snow (Book of Mormon), Matt Wolfe (Scandalous), and E.J. Zimmerman (Ave Q). Presented by Cate Cammarata and Molly Morris, the reading will be followed by a reception and a discussion led by a panel of producers. Reserve tickets at www.truonline.org!
I’ll spend two weeks as a resident writer in a studio at CAP21 (Collaborative Artists Project), where I will work on my show MY LIFE IS A MUSICAL. Update: my agent Sarah Douglas wisely told me about this show that we needed to see a moment with the main character, Parker, where “his guts are on the floor.” In other words, an eleven o’clock number. So during the course of these two weeks, I wrote the song “Not Gonna Sing,” which duly went into the eleven o’clock numbers lot of Act 2, and was performed in the presentation at the SoHo Playhouse in February …
The long-awaited release of the CD No More Revivals, which contains songs selected from the BMI Workshop (including”My Sky” by me!), is celebrated at this release concert at the Snapple Theatre on 50th Street! FORBIDDEN BROADWAY star Natalie Charle Ellis sings “My Sky” (performed on the CD by Stephanie J. Block, with orchestration by Tony-winner Bruce Coughlin) … while I sing “Leaving St. Urbain Street” by Alan Menken & David Spencer, and “Women Leave” by Sara Wordsworth and Linda Dowdell.
