Other Fringe shows I'm seeing

Other than Oblivion, here are five other Capital Fringe Festival shows I plan to see. Anyone want to join me?

Thursday, 7/22 @ 8pm

The Tea Party Project

Could be entertaining. I'm taking a chance on this one; it's Fringe season, after all.

Fort Fringe - Redrum, 612 L Street NW

Friday, 7/23 @ 8pm

iSchool Musical

Musical theater improv + great reviews = go to it.

Source Theatre, 1835 14th Street NW

Saturday, 7/24 @ 6pm

Padrevia

Contemporary opera in English. Great singers. Fantastic reviews. Enough said.

Studio Theatre - Mead Theatre, 1501 14th Street NW

Saturday, 7/24 @ 10pm

7 Lessons on a Suicide

I expect nothing less than disturbingly dark yet moving hilarity.

Goethe Institut - Gallery, 812 7th Street NW

Sunday, 7/25 @ 7pm

Red Hood: Once Upon a Wartime

Also has great reviews. Puppets used in a drama. Yes and yes.

Fort Fringe - The Shop, 607 New York Ave NW

As a side note, I'd also like to see all of these, but had to draw the line somewhere:

* The Horrors of Online Dating (sold out!!)

* Super Claudio Bros., The New Video Game Musical (also see it at Warehouse the week after Fringe!)

* Carrie Potter at the New Moon Prom (almost went to it, wish the website listed the cast)

* Chlamydia dell'Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque (brilliant name!)

* Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue - Finn McCool (as the only DC Fringer who's never seen them, I should make a point to do so... probably next year!)

* Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots (part of a national Fringe tour, sounds hilarious... didn't notice it until too late!)

* Horus (I wanted to see this, but times didn't work out.)

* Genesis (just looks interesting, which in Fringe language could mean either brilliant or self-indulgently "artsy"

* GS-14 (knowing folks in government jobs, I almost saw it last year. I think I'll almost see it again this year.)

* Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending (sounds interesting and cute... but iSchool Musical fulfills my improv needs for this festival)

How to Work with Composers: An e-Guide for Theater Productions

I know, it's been a while since my latest opera update. That's because I've been too busy writing it to write on here.

While you're waiting for my glorious pronouncement of "finished!", check out this great article by my colleague and good friend Candace Bilyk:

http://www.minnesotaplaylist.com/magazine/article/2010/05/23/how-work-composer

A fellow grad of Catholic University, Candace is also involved in that niche world of composing for live theater productions. The article advises directors and writers on the ins and outs of collaborating with composers. Check it out!

Seven Deadly Sins Cabaret: A Preview

As a preview of things to come in the upcoming production of Doctor Faustus (Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening in the Callan), here are a few of the sound cues I've written.

Seven Deadly Sins Cabaret samples
(click to hear audio - without accompanying monologues, of course)
Sin 2: Covetousness (an acrobatic gymnastics routine)
Sin 4: Envy (ballet, quasi pas de deux)
Sin 6: Sloth (12-tone canon, sprechstimme voice not included)
Sin 7: Letchery (sultry night club act)

And there's more where that came from! See you Friday or Saturday.

Romeo and Juliet at Synetic

Go see this show if you can find a way. Online tickets are no longer available, and the final two performances are this Friday and Saturday, so call the box office now!

Their wordless adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is powerful, fierce, touching, and all-around impressive. This is one of the best shows I have ever seen. $20 for students. That is all for now.


Information is below...

Tickets: $35 for Friday and Saturday, $30 for Thursday and Sunday, $5 off for seniors (65+) and $20 for students for Friday and Saturday, $15 for students for Thursday and Sunday. $40 for performance and reception on February 14th, Valentine's Day.

For tickets, order online or call the box-office at 703-824-8060.

The Rosslyn Spectrum is located at 1611 N. Kent Street, Arlington VA, 22209. (4 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro.)

Review: Our Town (play by Wilder) at CUA

Two (belated) reviews at the same time? Lucky you!

Last week marked the 2008 President's Festival of the Arts at The Catholic University of America. This week-long series featured film screenings, lectures, and musical performances, culminating in productions of both Thornton Wilder's classic play Our Town and the DC premiere of the opera Our Town by Ned Rorem.

The two productions - the play and the opera - had much in common. They shared essentially the same set, scenes, and script (though necessarily abridged and revised for the opera). Yet the purely dramatic and emotional impact of the two versions did not match up so neatly. (See next post, coming soon.)

The play, directed by Mary Hall Surface, was one very fine production among many others worldwide this year. If it seemed a bit more campy than most (or, as campy as Wilder can be), this is likely because it was presented by CUA's musical theater department rather than the drama department.

Sarah Beth Pfeifer was engaging and believable as the stage manager, who carries a large share of the lines. Emily Woodhouse and Matthew Wojtal made an endearing and lovable couple as Emily and George Gibbs, even if their deliveries were a tad too conscious of the play's "old-time" feel.

Editor Webb, played by Peter Camp, gave a strong supporting performance. Colleen Connor nearly stole the wedding scene as a sobbing, vociferous Mrs. Soames. This choice brought a powerful contrast to the more subdued character of the third act, but it could have detracted from a less colorful production.

This staging of Our Town provides yet more evidence that the musical theater department at Catholic this year is active and robust as always. The production also served as an excellent introduction/refresher for (and comparison with) its operatic counterpart. (see next post, above)

No Mozart Am I

This thought has been with me for years, but it just tapped me on the shoulder a few days ago, so I thought I'd share it with you.

While there certainly are similarities, the majority of the composing I do is categorically different from the composing of tonal-era Classical composers - Mozart, for example. Nearly all of my creations are tailored to a specific genre of project, be it live theater, film, or music theater.

The nature of the current project deeply influences not only the mood but even the very method of constructing each piece of music. My works, therefore, seem quite varied and eclectic. A good number of tonal-era works, in contrast, seem to be playing the same game and following the same set of rules.

Of course, this is a simplistic observation - not least because I constantly struggle to come out of the shell that is my simplistic, triadic, tonal foundation - but it is an observation that rings true for me nonetheless. I certainly do not mean by this to disparage the work done by earlier composers. I simply feel that what I do in practice rooms in front of a piano is largely a different process from that of many established composers of old.

But perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps I give my uniqueness too much credit. What do you think? If you are a composer, do you feel like your work is essentially the same work as Bach or Beethoven?