Kleban Prize Ceremony Performances

Recent Kleban Prize recipients, Adam Gwon (for lyricist) and Michelle Elliot (for librettist), were honored at a private ceremony last month. See performances of songs from Gwon's Ordinary Days and Elliot's Cloaked (written with Danny Larsen) from the reception in the below video courtesy of Broadwayworld.com:

Penny Dreadfuls and other things most dark

The month of August was full of Joe Iconis love at the Laurie Beechman where Joe and his crew performed almost every Monday night at 9:30 with a few special guests in between. I was lucky enough to get a good seat for his last show in the series where Annie Golden and Lisa Brescia were the guests of honor.

It's been a while since I've enjoyed a Rock and Roll Jamboree, and I know I gush about Iconis often, but this really is one of the best ways to view his work. It's one of the few theater events that even my non-theater going friends get excited for, which makes my heart really swell for a few reasons. First of all, it's nice to have something I can share with them, and the universality of the experience is wholly thanks to Joe's great music and the explosive passion of all the people that join him onstage. Watching the show and listening to some amazing new songs, I rediscovered what a great voice Joe is for our generation, capturing youthful energy and frustration, longing and confusion, and always humor that is never without consequence.

Here are some highlight from the August Jamborees (and if you haven't watched Heidi Blickenstaff kill the song "Ammonia," you better check that out too):

Jason Tam singing "Son of a Gun":

Jeremy Morse singing "Albuquerque Anyway":

Anthony Rapp singing "Lonely Woman":

Annie Golden getting it with "Joey Is A Punk Rocker":

And the beautiful "Starting to Forget," sung by Lisa Brescia (this was followed by a touching story from Joe about how it was written for his grandfather...which was then followed by him scolding the cast for talking through his touching story about kazoos in the background):

You Should Know I Am On Your Side

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:

We met, of all places, in front of Gristedes...

One of the most pleasantly surprising theatre-going experiences of the past year undoubtedly was Roundabout intern-turned-produced-composer/writer Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days. A musical exploration of four New Yorkers as their lives intersect in moments of connection and chaos in their everyday lives, Ordinary Days was a feverish jumble of neurotic ramblings, witty one-liners, and carefully guarded secrets for fear of vulnerability. There were a lot of times where the show felt strangely disconnected, but there were several moments, tiny glimpses, where everything came together in a moment of truth that would close up just as quickly as it revealed itself. This made the show a very true and admirable representation of a day in the life of a New Yorker—one part chance, one part anarchy, one part pure human need and love.

Gwon has a lot of projects under his belt, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of his work in the near future. His adaptations, in particular, are exciting to me (but that’s also because I love Edith Wharton—who I consider to be the most canonized trashy romance novelist of her time—and his musical adaptation of Ethan Frome makes my heart swell nerdily). But the reason I bring him up and highlight Ordinary Days in particular is because I recently found this video:



Performed my Lisa Brescia, who played the character Claire at the Roundabout production, this video is of the song “I’ll Be Here,” a heartbreakingly gorgeous song that comes near the end of the show. Lisa’s clear, emotionally open delivery paired with the brilliantly crafted lyrics and music recreates the moment I had in the theater… and yes, I will admit I teared up like a baby and had to discreetly wipe my eyes without the old guy sitting next to me noticing.