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":

Silly Wants: An Interview with Shoshana Greenberg

Shoshana Greenberg is a graduate of the NYU Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and a talented writer/lyricist/bookwriter. In addition to her own writing endeavors, she is also a fellow Thursday blogger for RSO's Crazytown blog, where she curates pieces for the weekly Rough and Ready, a regular feature that debuts a fresh new musical theatre piece created within the last 2 weeks. Shoshana took some time to answer questions about her experiences organizing Rough and Ready, the inspiration for her own work, and putting her projects out there.

("Purple House" with music by Julia Meinwald, lyrics by Kirsten Guenther and Shoshana Greenberg, sung by Manoel Felciano and Lauren Worsham)

Me: How did the idea for Rough and Ready come about?

Shoshana Greenberg: Ryan Scott Oliver, the visionary behind Crazytown, emailed me at the end of December and said he was expanding his blog and would I be interested in doing a weekly post featuring new work written in the last two weeks. Ryan and I were in the same class at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program, so he knew of my love for new work and writers. The idea of sharing the exciting work coming out of the musical theater writing community on the Blog was very intriguing. I immediately said yes.

Me: What is the process of curating these songs every week?

Shoshana: Sometimes people will submit work and sometimes I solicit people. It depends on what I have ready to go and what might be good for that week. I’m looking to partner with more places as I did with Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) last month and also to feature work that corresponds more with what’s going on in the theater community at the moment. For example, people who have just had a production announced or a concert or have one coming up.

Me: Have you found anything surprising about being able to feature work that is still relatively new to the world? Do you have any particular favorite featured songs since you started doing the column?

Shoshana: I think what I’ve found surprising, in a good way, is how willing people are to put themselves and their work out there. Everyone is so brave about it, especially with work that is so new. I guess we’re now living in an era with YouTube and our own websites where it’s not a big deal to put new work up all the time, but I’m still surprised and inspired by people’s courage to just put their work out there, to say, “I like my work. It’s good. Check it out.”

It’s really hard to pick a favorite song. I’ve really loved everything I’ve featured. Alex Beech and Karl Michael Johnson’s “Great New England Pumpkin Shoot” was cool because I read that lyric and was very taken with it, but when I heard the recording later, the music just made the lyric sing so beautifully. The songs from Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses’s show Nobody Loves You have been fun to feature as well -- I’m really excited that that piece is getting a production.

Me: You are also a writer/lyricist/bookwriter yourself! What projects are you currently working on, and will any of your work be featured on Rough and Ready in the future?

Shoshana: I just finished the first draft of my first play! I’d written musicals and wanted to expand into playwriting and I finally found the means and courage to do so by taking playwriting classes at Primary Stages ESPA. I’m going to rewrite that first draft in another ESPA class this summer. In the musical theater realm, I am getting ready to rewrite one of my thesis musicals from NYU with my collaborators. We are planning to do a reading at Primary Stages in the fall. Other than that, I have some musical projects in the very early stages with a couple collaborators. I hope something of mine can be featured on Rough and Ready soon!