Author Archives: dannyashkenasi

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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.

NIGHT and SNOW in CENTRAL PARK

Posted on December 16, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

  Secret Snow Song #1 (Can’t guess the song titles and artists?  They can be found alphabetically tagged at the bottom of post, which should help.)        Secret Night Song #1       Secret Night Song #2 … Continue reading →

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Composing “Divertissement in the Snow”

Posted on December 10, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

“You should compose a piece for the family to play at Christmas”, my husband Ed said to me a few weeks ago (actually it was November 10, I have documented evidence, I’ll get to that later, not that it really … Continue reading →

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“HOT MESS” MALE BISEXUALS “TORCHED” OFF BROADWAY

Posted on December 4, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Hot Mess – Torch Song – Call Me By Your Name – Cabaret – Speakeasy By a quirk of timing I wound up seeing two days in a row the two stage plays currently playing in New York (Off Broadway) … Continue reading →

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LGBT is Thrown Around All the Time, But Where is the “B”?

Posted on November 20, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Notes from the “BiView: Bisexual Representation in Media Panel” at NewFest2017 October 21st I attended the panel discussion on Bisexuality in the Media, the first of its kind at a NewFest/Outfest film festival.  Moderated by bisexual activist and journalist Eliel … Continue reading →

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ILLUMINATING LGBTQ LIVES – Documentaries at NewFest 2017

Posted on November 13, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Features: 100 Men – My Wonderful West Berlin – A Womb of Their Own Shorts: Bayard and Me – Umbrella – DES!RE – The Son I Never Had – Resist – House of JXN   “We have gay people.  Hey, … Continue reading →

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CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, SAM, and then Play It Again

Posted on November 7, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

I took a Swoon Dive this weekend.  I read André Aciman’s “Call Me By Your Name” while playing Sam Smith on endless shuffle.  It was almost irresponsibly intoxicating. Say It First – Sam Smith I first heard about the Gay … Continue reading →

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QUEER NARRATIVES at the MOVIES

Posted on November 2, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

NewFest 2017 Feature Length Dramas: After Louie – God’s Own Country – Against the Law –  My Son is Gay – Discreet – The City of the Future – Professor Marston and the Wonder Women Last year I saw only … Continue reading →

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QUEER SHORTS – The Fab and the Furious

Posted on October 28, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Highlights from “Boys Shorts”, “Beyond the Binary”, “Drawn This Way – Animated” & “Faith and Fury” film shorts programs at Newfest – New York’s LGBT Film Festival   It probably plays to the stereotype of the typical NewFest attendee that … Continue reading →

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QUEER SHORTS – The Young and the Resistance

Posted on October 23, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Highlights from “Young, Queer and Woke” and “The Queer Resistance” film shorts programs at Newfest – New York’s LGBT Film Festival Another fall in New York City.  Another NewFest festival of LGBTQ films.  Last year I stuffed a dozen festival films … Continue reading →

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INVISIBLE BISEXUAL PRIVILEGE

Posted on October 14, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

  I reposted links to my blog piece on “The Nearly Invisible Bisexual Male” on Facebook (and Twitter) for National Coming Out Day.  Which led to the following exchange in the Facebook comment section which I think may serve as … Continue reading →

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NAZI LEGACY ALIVE AND WELL IN AN AUSTRIAN CEMETERY

Posted on October 6, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

I came upon a plaque on the church wall in the cemetery at the edge of the Austrian ski resort town of Kitzbühel that profoundly disturbed me.  The chiseled marble commemorates a soldier who died in World War II.  There … Continue reading →

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MONARCH BUTTERFLIES’ BROOKLYN STOPOVER

Posted on October 4, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

In which Ed and I become Monarch Butterfly Paparazzi Ed and I returned from the gym to find a flock of Monarch butterflies flapping about outside our window.  It appears that a particular vine wrapped around our garden fence was … Continue reading →

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Seeing BATTLE OF THE SEXES with the Next Generation

Posted on September 26, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Ed’s and my thorough enjoyment of the movie “Battle of the Sexes” was both enhanced and tempered by the group of preteen girls the theater’s reserved seating placed to my right.  Tempered because of the above average distractions I have … Continue reading →

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THE COW BELL CANTATA – and a Splatterrific Intermezzo

Posted on September 13, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Wild Emperors, Coxcombs and Horny Mountains in Tirol Plus Heidi-centric Encores!   COW BELL CANTATA – CANTATA DA CAMPANA MUCCA registrato da maestro Daniello Ashkenasi 1. Movimento – Allegro con Forte Subito   Encountered some musical cows on the slopes … Continue reading →

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AIDS Memorial, Greenwich Village, NYC

Posted on September 7, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

  Breaths – The Flirtations       Jesus to a Child – George Michael     Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat       Boy Blue – Cyndi Lauper  

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SECRET GARDEN SONGS or The View From My Lawn Chair

Posted on August 31, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Secret Garden Song #1 The other day I was lying in my lawn chair under the Japanese maple tree in my little back yard in Brooklyn and I got intrigued by the variety of colors and shapes and shades catching … Continue reading →

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