Will Reynolds' POEMS & MOON SONGS

I've had the pleasure of hearing Will Reynolds' music a few times now, with songs seeming to pop up at every up-and-coming musical theatre concert in town as of late. Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a full evening of his songs, which came in the form of Poems & Moon Songs, a "song constellation" presented by Libra Theater Company at The Underground Lounge. With incredible singers Sara Jean Ford, Marissa, McGowan, Jeremy Morse, and Zachary Prince, the evening of original songs about seasons and time really soared along with some gorgeous tunes written to accompany poems by famous writers like Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

(Rehearsal of "Heart, We Will Forget Him," sung by Sara Jean Ford and Marissa McGowan)

Many of the songs arranged for the poems (which served as lyrics) were quite stunning pieces. I especially enjoyed the Emily Dickinson pieces which featured very lovely harmonies for two of her most famous pieces, "Heart, We Will Forget Him" and "Hope." I loved the idea of setting famous poems to music-- it's fascinating the way punctuation and structural choices are reflected in the music. I can only imagine how awesome it would be to hear an e.e. cummings or John Donne poem put in a song someday.

The original songs were just as memorable and elegant, with many songs feeling like a part of a starry-eyed American songbook collection. There were many wistful tunes that allowed for some beautiful performances, and lord knows I'm a sucker for some well-placed string parts and the cello and violin didn't disappoint.

Standouts included the irreverent "Spring," sung below at a Dreamlight Theatre Company concert:

And "Si Vous Me Souivez" sung below by Will Reynolds himself (and which was sung winkingly by Jeremy Morse in the Libra production):

The Libra Theater Company has 1 more performance of this lovely piece tonight at 7:30 pm. All proceeds from ticket sales go to Hurricane Sandy relief, so you can see a great show and support a great cause. Get your tickets here.

Cutting Edge Composers III for your viewing pleasure

A little over a month ago, I reported back from Cutting Edge Composers III, which had a couple performances as a part of NYMF. There were a ton of great songs, and most of them are up on Cutting Edge Composers' Youtube channel. Still, for some highlights, I thought I would post some of the performances I had mentioned in my earlier write-up:

Blake Daniel singing Will Reynold's "I Knew a Boy"

Matt Bailey, AJ Shively, and Joe Cassidy singing

Drew Gasparini's "The Whistler"

Emma Hunton singing Anna Dagmar's "We Were Children"

Emma Hunton singing Zack Zadek's "Just Me"

Also...

Lilli Cooper singing Zoe Sarnak's "Easy"

Check out all the great performances and songs at Cutting Edge Composers' Youtube channel here.

Songs You Should Know from People You Should Also Know

First of all, have you seen a show lately? If you're in New York and love musical theatre, there is a ton of exciting stuff going on right now/coming up, from Carrie (yes, Carrie the musical) to Ryan Scott Oliver and Matthew Murphy's 35 MM, from The Total Bent to the next show at the D-Lounge. If you're looking for a straight play recommendation, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Leslye Headland's Assistance at Playwrights Horizons and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive at Second Stages. Of course, musicals have also been a huge part of my February, and while I know it's been a little while since I last posted on here, I promise there's a lot of exciting stuff to come (and more posts about some of the things I've seen this month).

So to go back in time for a bit, I wanted to revisit an awesome night of songs by new writers that I saw about two weeks ago. Entitled "Songs You Should Know," Libra Theatre Company presented a night of new and rarely sung tunes by amazing composers: Brad Alexander, Sam Carner and Derek Gregor, Joshua H. Cohen and Lavell Blackwell, Bobby Cronin, Adam Gwon, Caleb Hoyer, Joe Iconis, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth, Pete Mills, and Will Reynolds. The evening was hosted by the wonderful Jennifer Ashley Tepper and Jeremy Morse, and there was a lot of great banter throughout the evening between each of the amazing musical performances. Here are some highlights:

When asked who he would like to star in a show with someday, Jeremy Jordan shared that he wants to be in a musical where Mandy Patinkin sings him a lullaby. (Above, he sings "If the World Looked Like You" by Will Reynolds.)

J. Austin Eyer sang Will Reynold's beautiful "Like That For You" that left my jaw on the floor.

Blair Goldberg told the audience about how she got a massage alongside Dick Latessa before taking the mic to sing a great Adam Gwon song ("So Over").

Not only did Melanie Field kill this song ("Lullaby" by Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth), but Russ Kaplan also floored everyone when he revealed the song is from a new musical based on a woman who assumes her daughter's identity.

You can check out more clips at Libra's Youtube channel, and even then there are a lot of other songs that didn't make it up there (including a song by Joe Iconis about a Naked Korean Girl... sad you missed out now, aren't you?). What the night cemented for me, at least, was the sense of community among new artists, both writers and performers, and it was really sort of magical to be a part of that. The audience really enjoyed every minute, and I can't agree more that all of these songs, people, and shows should be known by everyone.