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.

H A M I L T ON – Friday, August 21, 8pm, Rear Mezzanine, A 109

Posted on August 22, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I cried twice during the second act Tears steaming down my face, shoulders quaking   First, when tragedy strikes Alexander and Eliza Hamilton Their marriage already strained by scandal, estranged And now the death by duel of their eldest son … Continue reading →

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WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY when he makes his Kindergarten debut? – The Fairy Tale Opera 3

Posted on August 19, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I’ve discussed how certain characters are most likely to make the cut when the Kindergartners vote on their three chosen Fairy Tale Opera protagonists/antagonists.  Dragons are extremely popular, being regularly featured, and populating two of the three Fairy Tale Operas … Continue reading →

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Speak Low, Phoenix, Speak Low…

Posted on August 16, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I attended a matinee screening of the German movie “Phoenix”.  As the movie began and the screen was still black, I heard a lone upright bass picking out two notes a major sixth apart, followed by four more notes bounding … Continue reading →

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DANNY and KELLY go see ALICE at THE MORGAN

Posted on August 12, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Yesterday my Speakeasy co-producer Kelly Aliano and I went to The Morgan museum to take in their Alice – 150 Years of Wonderland exhibit, and tour the ground floor of the magnate’s palatial home and library too.  As Lewis Carroll’s … Continue reading →

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SPEAKEASY – The WHITE RABBIT goes slumming in HARLEM

Posted on August 9, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Harlem HARLEM IT’S SO BECOMING LET’S ALL GO SLUMMING IN THE WILD UPTOWN “Going slumming in Harlem”.  This is what rich and middle class swells and flappers, socialites and the elite, white folks from downtown Manhattan, called going uptown to … Continue reading →

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MERYL STREEP SINGS! and sings again! and again!

Posted on August 5, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

That Meryl Streep is one of the great actors of our time is common knowledge.  But what should now be considered obvious is how she is also the great movie musical performer of the modern age.  That statement may be … Continue reading →

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Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears sings “Streets of Berlin” in Bent

Posted on August 1, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Martin Sherman’s classic play “Bent”, about homosexual persecution in Nazi Germany concentration camps, has received a highly acclaimed major revival directed by Moises Kaufman at the Mark Taper Forum in LA. “Bent” is credited with bringing the barely discussed subject … Continue reading →

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An ORPHAN MELODY is remembered in POMPEII

Posted on July 30, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Mark Twain.  Pompeii.  An orphan melody.  What connects these three disparate things? Wait, what do I mean by an orphan melody? A week ago Ed plunked the latest Smithsonian magazine next to my breakfast dishes and pointed to its front … Continue reading →

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THE SUMMER OF FROG – How a grand musical for 35 performers became a better musical for 6.

Posted on July 27, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The summer of ’84 I stayed home alone in Berlin while my parents left on vacation.  It was my choice to spend the six week break between my junior and senior high school year spending 8-14 hours every day working … Continue reading →

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An appreciation of E. L. DOCTOROW and RAGTIME, the book and the musical

Posted on July 22, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

E. L. Doctorow, one of the giants of contemporary literature has passed.  I have read nine of his twelve books, a ratio and record I have equaled in passion and loyalty with only two other contemporary authors, John Irving and … Continue reading →

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The Music of Ian McKellen reciting Shakespeare (hear! hear! right here!)

Posted on July 20, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Ian McKellen just quoted Shakespeare to make a strong point about Immigration. Marc Maron interviewed Ian McKellen on the WTF podcast.  Maron confessed he had trouble understanding Shakespeare, and McKellen suggested Moran may have not yet heard Shakespeare spoken by … Continue reading →

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THE ENDURING POPULARITY OF DRAGONS IN KINDERGARTEN – The Fairy Tale Opera 2

Posted on July 18, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Every year when I start the Fairy Tale Opera project in Kindergarten (at the Brooklyn Children’s School), I ask the class to make a long list of characters that appear in fairy tales.  Then the kindergartners choose three characters around … Continue reading →

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SEE JANE RUN. RUN JANE RUN! DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE! ——— SEE JOHN SLIDE. SLIDE JOHN SLIDE! THRU THE LOOKING GLASS!

Posted on July 15, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Jane Allison goes down the rabbit hole.  John Allison slips through the looking glass.  Or rather a Prohibition era version of rabbit hole and looking glass, as employed in the musical “Speakeasy”, a roaring twenties riff on Lewis Carroll’s Alice … Continue reading →

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EVOCATION I – Happy Birthday, Ed, Now Pull Out Your Viola!

Posted on July 12, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Today is my husband Edward Elder’s birthday.  He is the mustachioed fellow in the picture above.  One of my birthday gifts for him is a new viola/piano duet.  He plays the viola, I play the piano.  It has become a … Continue reading →

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A SPREE FOREST MUSICAL EXCURSION Part 4 (It’s been epic, wouldn’t you say…?)

Posted on July 9, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

And we are back for the final installment of our musical and photographic excursion into the Spreewald(lieder) – Spree Forest (Suite). (Head here and here and here for the first three parts.) The Duo Elysée performed Spreewaldlieder in concert on … Continue reading →

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A SPREE FOREST MUSICAL EXCURSION Part 3

Posted on July 6, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

And we’re back for Part 3 of the Spree Forest day trip and the Spreewaldlieder song cycle for flute and harp.  (Head back here for Part 1 and Part 2) My favorite compliment I have received for the Spreewaldlieder song … Continue reading →

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