Some Song Things

Hey all! Just wanted to give a little round-up of some of the things I've been loving in the emerging musical theatre world as of late.

First of all, as a little plug, I'm going to be blogging with Ryan Scott Oliver's Crazytown for another two months, so keep tuning in on Thursdays for posts from me, Ryan Bogner (who is co-producing new Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis musical Yeast Nation playing as part of The Fringe in August), the hilarious Leah Bonnema, and Shoshana Greenberg (who provides your weekly new music fix with Rough and Ready).

Also, songwriting team Kooman and Dimond released their new album Out of Our Heads -- which, let me tell you now, is awesome. There are great voices on the recording (Heidi Blickenstaff, Kerry Butler, Natalie Weiss, Patina Miller, Anderson Davis, Matt Doyle, Phoebe Strole, Kyle Dean Massey, Chris Mann... look for an especially delightful track with Christopher Sieber), and all of the songs are beautifully recorded. There's a lot of love, pathos, and comedy in these songs, and I'm not only sure you'll be listening to them constantly but you'll want to be singing them too. You can purchase the CD from their website here and be on the lookout for their release concert at The Birdland on 7/18.

In speaking of cast recordings, if you want to help another album yet-to-be-made, support songwriting team Miller and Tysen's Kickstarter campaign to record their song cycle Fugitive Songs. Every song I've heard from this show is fantastic -- heartfelt and evocative, living up to the idea of being a fugitive in the way they just move musically. Even better? If you donate $150 or more, you get a recording of Burnt Part Boys, which is pretty good incentive, if you ask me.

Lastly, I just wanted to end with a couple of videos from recent concerts, the first being Nick Blaemire singing "Trouble" at his recent gig with band The Hustle as a part of Ars Nova's 54/10:

Then, from Good Clean Music: Another Michael R. Jackson Song Thing at The Beechman, Jeremy Morse singing "Girlfriend":

And, also from Good Clean Music, Molly Hager singing "Fairweather Friend":

Straight from the Silver Screen

There is one day left in the contest to win a copy of the cast recording for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, so see the post below to get on that! It's easy to enter and there have already been a lot of great ideas circulating in the comments section. I'm hoping to also post the musical ideas along with the winners on Thursday so spread the word and get your entries in!

It's no secret that musical adaptations of movies have exploded in popularity over the past years. In fact, the translation between the screen and stage can be so incestuous, a book can begat a movie that can begat a musical which can begat a movie musical...and so on and so forth. And while the success of a stage musical capturing what we love most about the movie it's based on ranges wildly from show to show, I have to admit that one of the shows that will be doing a presentation at the upcoming NAMT festival that most caught my eye was an adaptation of the movie Heartbreakers. In case you missed out on this gem from 2001 starring Sigourney Weaver, Ray Liotta, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, Heartbreakers tells the story of a mother-daughter con team that runs into trouble when the daughter begins to fall for what she thinks is her wealthy mark.

My interest in this show is partly nostalgic-- I remember being on a school overnight where we all went to the movies. We had a choice between Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Heartbreakers, and, surprise surprise, almost every hormonal teen went for the romantic comedy and Jennifer Love Hewitt playing a seductress. But I'm also interested in seeing what the show's talented creative team does with this material that really contains a solid, rather traditional plot set-up. With collaborators Robert Cary, Benjamin Feldman, and David Gursky, who are NAMT alum with their show Palm Beach, all the writers have impressive resumes spanning from West End adaptations to film and television credits.

Another recent musical adaptation of a film to come to light was the concert presentations of Heathers (by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe) at Joe's Pub last night and tonight. Sold out for all performances, I'm interested in hearing more about this project as it continues development. Obviously the source material is full of campy musical potential.

To further illustrate the potential of musical adaptations, even at their most outlandish, I leave you with a few of my favorite videos from "Hey, You Know What Movie Would Make a Good Musical?" which was performed at the Zipper Factory. With music, lyrics, and books by Hey You Know What Productions, this show featured songs and scenes from potential musical adaptations of films, from Twister to Scream.