Composer on the Bay

Posted on August 20, 2008
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On the back deck outside our cottage in Strathmere, I set up the laptop and MIDI keyboard to see what musical inspiration I might find in the waters of the bay. Looks idyllic, I know, but the glare on the computer screen was pretty dreadful even when I moved back into the shade of the cottage. Still, I feel like I’m livin’ the dream here on vacation - beer before noon, a frisbee-catching dog, high-speed internet, novels by David Mitchell and John Irving to choose from… They’ll have to send a search party from Philly to retrieve me!

Precocious Poodle Tricks

Posted on August 20, 2008
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I feel like a proud papa posting this video - Basket caught his first frisbee today, on the beach at Strathmere. Of course, he still flees me when I try to get him on his leash, and wets himself with fear when I try to command him to sit, but this counts as progress nonetheless. At Strathmere, we’ve hit the beach twice a day - at 6:30 am and 5:30 pm, when the beach is all but deserted and the conditions are spectacularly beautiful.

Professor of Smirkology

Posted on August 7, 2008
Filed Under Professional, Personal, Musical Theater, Club Chazzy | 2 Comments

CG from City PaperThe current issue of the Philadelphia City Paper has a cover story in which I’m quoted rather extensively about the Merriam Theater. There’s also an anecdote about filming Jersey Girl at the Forrest Theater. The patented CG smirk (a wiseguy smile that appears on my mug whenever a camera appears) can be appreciated in color on the web, but appears in lowly black-and-white in the print edition. Suitable for framing!

Watch The Birdie

Posted on July 24, 2008
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You can read about the upcoming production of my musical Watch the Birdie on playbill.com or broadwayworld.com. If I haven’t mentioned it here yet, it’s because I’ve been too busy to blog since I started my new job as Interim Director of the School of Theater Arts at The University of the Arts, a position I took over on July 1. This month, I’m tackling these new duties in addition to teaching (as I have for many years) in the summer Pre-College program in Musical Theater at UArts, where we took our NY fieldtrip yesterday to see Patti Lupone and the magnificent Laura Benanti in Gypsy. There’s plenty to say about all of this, but alas, little time to spend saying it, so this executive summary will have to suffice for now.

Philly Music Theater Works Gets “Fresh”

Posted on June 20, 2008
Filed Under School, Professional, Musical Theater | Leave a Comment

This is a video clip from “Fresh,” a concert presented last week by Philly Music Theater Works. This was a great night in so many ways - the successful launch of a new organization headed by UArts musical theater alum Jeremiah Downes and featuring a slew of other talented UArts alums, including Sarah Bolt, Mat Burrow, Billy Bustamente and Fred Ross, as well as Stearns Matthews (who studied at UArts for a few years before moving on to finish his degree at Westminster). It was also a delight to hear my beloved Jillian Louis, a colleague who I enjoyed working with on Gemini the Musical (at the Prince) and The Dinosaur Musical (at the Arden). Then there were the songs, an exciting sampling of new tunes by up-and-coming writers including this one by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen. PMTW will be producing my show “Watch the Birdie” on August 8 and 9 at Walnut Street Theater’s Studio 5, so I have many reasons to rejoice at the success of this new venture!

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