I’ve noticed that these blogs have all been very male-heavy. Though it’s true that many of my favorite composers happen to be men (and with some of their senses of humors, boys even), I thought I would help even the score a little bit by mentioning one of the strongest female voices (both in performance and as a composer): Katie Thompson. Fearless, gorgeous, and with talent to boot, I’ve had the privilege of seeing both Katie’s musical work and acting skills. She whipped Eric William Morris’ character into shape in the NAMT presentation of Ripped, a Jack the Ripper musical. She rearranged Ryan Scott Oliver’s “To Do” in a way that only helped the song reach greater heights. She also brings down the house in this video, a song by another rising musical theatre writer, Jonathan Reid Gealt, “No Reason At All”:
But along with her personal performance abilities, she also writes songs with lyrics that are often careful, confidently feminine but bare and declarative. They bring out the inner diva in all the actresses that perform her songs, like Shoshana Bean singing "I Know" at Katie's Birdland concert last year:
There's also another beautiful performance by Lisa Brescia singing "Your Side":
I’m sad I missed R.R.R.E.D. at NYMF this past year, but I’m sure it’s not the last we’ll see of her work. In the meantime, I think I’ll get by being able to hear her sing the shit out of songs, new and old:
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