Author Archives: dannyashkenasi

About dannyashkenasi

I'm a composer with over 40 years experience creating music theater. I'm also an actor, writer, director, producer, teacher and general enthusiast for the arts.

Ian McKellen Performs Shakespeare’s Immigrant Speech on the Late Show

Posted on February 5, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

Ian McKellen appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, and the whole interview is delightful and engrossing – the full video is posted below – musing on Gandalf and Magneto, Christopher Lee and Elvish tattoos, and seeing … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Literary Lyricism, Live! On Stage, Notes in the News | Tagged Christopher Lee, Elvish, Gandalf, Ian McKellen, immigrant, Immigration, Late Show, Lord of the Rings, Magneto, mob, monolog, Peter Jackson, Peter pan, Shakespeare, Sir Ian, speech, Stephen Colbert, Tattoo, theater, theatre, Thomas More, Xenophobia | Leave a comment

Vermont Winter

Posted on February 4, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

Frozen Waterfalls at Dusk and Snowy Landscapes in the Snow So the ground hogs all saw their shadow and forecast six more weeks of winter. With all the persistent cold going on far and wide, that did not come as … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged barn, Bradford, Frozen, ground hog, hike, ice, New Year's, photography, Snow, trail, Vermont, Waits River, walk, Waterfall, Wells River, winter | Leave a comment

Song of Songs of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions

Posted on January 26, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

The only roles they offer us in Hollywood are city stompers and jeep chasers. Continuing the long running series and continuing to find installment titles in the Old Testament, one would think that, as a composer, I would have availed … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism, Notes in the News | Tagged astronaut, caption, cartoon, catering, Cinema, dinosaur, earthrise, evolution, lungfish, manual, New Yorker, Olaf, Old Testament, pizza, rat, snowman, waiters | Leave a comment

FIRE-SPINNING in the SNOW

Posted on January 17, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

Hoops and Swords and Whips, Oh My! While in Vermont for New Year’s Even, we were treated to a Fire-Spinning exhibition. The artist spinning the hoops, and later the whip (!) is Ethan (@vancliffe.802 on Instagram). The artist spinning the … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Live! On Stage, Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged Ethan, exhibition, fire, hoops, Michael Kander, Moogie, performance, Snow, Spinning, sword, VanCliffe, Vermont, whip, winter | Leave a comment

NO ICE! NO KINGS! NO WAR!

Posted on January 11, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

Photo/video diary of the protest gathering and march in NYC January 11, 2026

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism, Notes in the News | Tagged 5th Avenue, Epstein, fascism, Gestapo, ice, Immigrants, Jonathan Ross, MAGA, murder, Nazis, No Ice, No Kings, No War, Noem, NYC, Orwell, photography, Protest, Quakers, Renee Good, resistance, Trump, Trump Tower, Vance, video | Leave a comment

Joining the Wall of Emotion

Posted on January 8, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

Above is my contribution to WOE – Wall of Emotions, a project created by Eva Mueller as a response to the ’24 post-election reality. Yesterday Eva was at Maison 10 on 29th Street in Manhattan, taking photos of more subjects … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News | Tagged 2024, America, art, Berlin, broken, community hang, election, Emotion, Empire State Building, Eva Mueller, grief, Grim, Maison 10, Manhattan, photography, pop-up, portrait, rage, Resilience, resistance, Stefan Roloff, Wall of Emotion, WOE | Leave a comment

Texture and Color

Posted on January 3, 2026 by dannyashkenasi

I saw the room reflected in a window at night, and something about the light play made the mirroring wavey and doubled. It looked like a near abstract oil painting to me. I took a photo. And then flipped it. … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin' | Tagged abstract, ceiling fan, Color, landscape, night, oil painting, photography, reflection, stucco, texture, White, window | Leave a comment

Winter Lights at the Hotel Beacon

Posted on December 26, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

Looking up at Broadway and 74th Street.

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged Beacon, Broadway, Distress, flag, Hotel, lights, night, NYC, photography, signal, tree, United States, White, winter | Leave a comment

LIGHTSCAPE 2025

Posted on December 22, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

Our yearly return to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s winter lights and sounds spectacular, this time with much more video to show more lights in motion and share more accompanying music. Brought to you by Rodrigo, Anna, Ed and me.

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Melodies Linger On, Two-fisted Touristing, Uncategorized | Tagged botanic garden, brooklyn, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Cathedral, colors, conductor, Edward Scissorhands, fireflies, Fountain, Lake, lights, Lightscape, music, nature, Orchestra, photography, sculpture, Sleigh Ride, soundtrack, spectacle, trees, video, winter | Leave a comment

On Set as Bernhardt, a Fairy Tale Grandfather

Posted on December 20, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

That’s me in costume as Bernhardt, the grandfather, on set of the short film “Mouse”, which was shot in Bushwick last weekend. “Mouse” is a fairy tale with adult themes. Bernhardt, the grandfather, is a woodsman who lives in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup | Tagged accent, adult theme, Ashley Pignataro, Bella Thorpe-Woods, Beth Parisi, Bushwick, Christmas, Christopher Gambino, Ed Elder, fairy tale, German, grandfather, Jode Sparks, Mouse, Nazis, Peanuts, Queer, sexual abuse, short film, Tiroler hat, transgender, War, Wolf | Leave a comment

Lamentations of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions

Posted on December 13, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

Give me an E! Give me a Go! What’s that Spell? The 20th installment of the long running series. Find the other 19 here. The Old Testament continues to inspire the current run of installment titles. Whether the current title … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism | Tagged ark, Atlantic, cheerleader, Cornucopia, death, dogs, Dorothy, ice berg, library, Noah, Pacific, polar bears, restaurant, school, self-help, therapy, Wizard of OZ | Leave a comment

Seasons Greetings

Posted on December 7, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

We dressed our tree. Our windows have lights. Even our trellis is dressed. I prefer to call it a Solstice Tree. And since this is a very Queer home, our tree angel is a vintage Billy doll. He’s very anatomically … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Beginnings, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Musicabilia | Tagged angel, art, balls, Billy Boy, Brazil, Christmas, Cow, creche, disco, disco balls, dragon, frog, Gay Blade, Holiday, Hope, lights, mirror, ornament, Paul Cadmus, peace, peacock, photography, planets, Prince, Queer, Reindeer, Solstice, swan, tree, trellis, Vine, Xmas | Leave a comment

Autumn Colors

Posted on November 29, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

November backyard photo safaris Part 1: The trees on a rainy day

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged Autumn, backyard, brooklyn, colors, december, foliage, Garden, green, ground coverage, Japanese maple, leaves, November, Pacific, paw paw, pink, rain, RED, Rhododendron, tree, yellow | Leave a comment

Looking Up in NYC

Posted on November 22, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

There’s an old New York City adage that the only people who look up while walking around in Manhattan are the tourists. Well, I’ve been living here for almost 40 years, and I still look up. And sometimes I whip … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged 34th street, 8th avenue, Columbus Circle, Empire State Building, flag, Fulton Street Station, landmark, Manhattan, New York City, Oculus, photography, skyscraper, tourist, World Trade Center | Leave a comment

New Musicabre at the Vietnam Memorial

Posted on November 15, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

This Monday I was in Washington DC and took some photos at the Vietnam Memorial which I will share below. The picture above however is not one of the photos I took but a screenshot of footage I was shooting … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Cinema Scope, Poe Musicabres, Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged adaptation, Autumn, DC, Edgar Allan Poe, memorial, musicabre, musical, photography, reflection, Roses, screenshot, shadow, short film, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, Vietnam, Washington | Leave a comment

Ecclesiastes of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions

Posted on November 8, 2025 by dannyashkenasi

You do you, but I ain’t callin’ no king’s horses or men or 911 this time! After exhausting movie sequel options in general and the Planet of the Apes movies in particular, the Old Testament continues to be a deep … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism | Tagged 911, application pool, autopilot, baseball, Bears, caption, carboretor, cartoon, clown, cockpit, crew, Humpty Dumpty, New Yorker, Octopus, Old Testament, peanut butter, receptionist, skeleton, squirrel, strike, umpire | 1 Comment

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