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Notes from a Composer
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Category Archives: Literary Lyricism
WIZARDS AT THE LYRIC
My birthday present – my quite extravagant birthday present to myself – was tickets to the two-part all day performance of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at the Lyric Theatre in New York. And since today is Harry Potter’s … Continue reading
Posted in Literary Lyricism, Live! On Stage
Tagged birthday, Broadway, cgi, Cursed Child, Fantasy, Frozen, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, illusion, J. K. Rowling, Keep the Secrets, Let It Go, Lyric Theatre, magic, Olivier Award, stagecraft, staircases, Time, Time Management, Tony Award
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STILLES ENTSETZEN – AWESTRUCK, AWFUL REGRET – One More Week of the Carl Orff Competition’s Public Voting
“Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes” evokes the lead-up to Orpheus’ fateful turn to glance at Eurydice, the awestruck, awful regret at that moment and its terrible aftermath. “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes” beginnt kurz vor den fatalen Rückblick Orpheus zur Eurydike, welches stilles … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, Literary Lyricism
Tagged Carl Orff, Competition, Eigentum, English, Eurydice, Eurydike, frozen moment, German, Orpheus, property, Rilke, translation
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GETTING KINKY WITH JAKE AND WAYNE
Ed and I originally saw “Kinky Boots” when it was still in previews. We had treated each other with reciprocal Broadway tickets for Xmas, because we had high hopes for a Harvey Fierstein / Cyndi Lauper musical collaboration. The performance … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Literary Lyricism, Live! On Stage, Melodies Linger On, Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged Al Hirschfeld, Armistead Maupin, Boys Keep Swinging, Broadway, Bye Bye Birdie, Chita Rivera, Cyndi Lauper, Dick van Dyke, drag queen, Gesamtkunstwerk, Harvey Fierstein, House of David, Jake Shears, Kinky Boots, Lea DeLaria, LGBTQ, musical, Wayne Brady, Whose Line is it Anyway
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HAIKU NEW YORK
The sky is paper Bleeding upward from the edge There are ink towers My brother will be There to meet me at the dock Has it been five years? Now there are seagulls Wheeling and diving … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, Literary Lyricism
Tagged a cappella, Angels in America, Anita Hollander, Ellen McLaughlin, haiku, harbor, Immigration, Jeannie Im, Lovette George, music theater, New Dramatists, New York, Nicky Paraiso, Patrick Mellen, seagulls, Statue of Liberty, through-composed
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CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, SAM, and then Play It Again
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
Posted in Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Literary Lyricism, Melodies Linger On
Tagged A Room with a View, André Aciman, Armie Hammer, bisexual, Burning, Call Me By Your Name, Community Bookstore, Gay, James Ivory, Lay Me Down, LGBTQ, Love Is A Losing Game, Luca Guadagnino, Lucy Honeychurch, Nirvana, Park Slope, Sam Smith, Say It First, Sundance, Timothée Chalomet
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The Young Lovers’ Path to Speak Easy
Two Fawns in the Wood Dance into the Light Maybe it’s just a dream. Maybe it’s real. Maybe it doesn’t matter either way. For the shame and the betrayal are felt just as acutely. In the musical Speakeasy, an … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Literary Lyricism, The Speakeasy Chronicles
Tagged 1920s, 1930s, adultery, Alice in Wonderland, Dance into the Light, Dream, Fawn, Fawn in the Wood, Gershwin, Jane Allison, John Allison, Lewis Carroll, magical realism, musical, Prohibition, Queer, same-sex, sexual identity, Speakeasy, Through the Looking Glass, Trial of the Tarts
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SPEAKEASY – The Irony of the Young Lovers’ Duets
Curious Colorful Night – It’s a Dream – Momentary Bliss Three lovers’ duets that are not what they seem to the ear Ah, young lovers’ duets. A hallmark of musicals, especially those of the 1920s and 1930s, and so of … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Literary Lyricism, The Speakeasy Chronicles
Tagged 1920s, 1930s, Curious Colorful Night, curiouser, drag ball, duet, ingenue, irony, It's a Dream, Jane Allison, John Allison, Lewis Carroll, lovers, magical realism, Momentary Bliss, musical, Queer, Roaring Twenties, Speakeasy, Subculture, Wonderland
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SPEAKEASY – Advice from a (Lesbian) Caterpillar
Two songs from “Speakeasy” explore two sides of a closeted 1920’s lesbian For many years I hoped to write a musical about the queer subculture of Roaring Twenties New York, but didn’t find my “in” until I came upon the … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Literary Lyricism, Notes in the News, The Speakeasy Chronicles
Tagged 1800s, 19th Century, Alice in Wonderland, Caroline Chrysalides, Caterpillar, Female Friendships, flappers, Jane Allison, Jazz Age, lesbian, Lewis Carroll, LGBTQ, magical realism, musical, My Passion, operetta, Roaring Twenties, sexual revolution, Speakeasy
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The Passing of The Oriole’s Song
The Last Question I do not remember what my father said when we last spoke. But my mother remembers … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Literary Lyricism
Tagged 1930, BJ Elder, bombing raid, china, Dave Elder, EastBridge, girlhood, Hunan, Kendal, Meeting, memoir, memorial, poetry, Quaker, The Oriole's Song, wartime, World War 2, Yuan River, Yuanling
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SPAMALOT infiltrates EMILY DICKINSON in A QUIET PASSION
Arthur: But I’m alone (Patsy: oh no you’re not!) So all alone (Patsy: I’m here you twat!) All by myself I’m all alone I’m All Alone (from “Spamalot”) – Tim Curry and Michael McGrath What do Monty Python and … Continue reading
CANNIBALISM IN THE CARS – a Musical Take on Mark Twain’s Succulent Satire of Congress
Congress … yuck! A distasteful subject! Quite literally even, according to Mark Twain. Every year Congress gives us more reasons to loathe it. This year perhaps more than ever. Thinking ill and making fun of Congress is a sport that … Continue reading
SONGS OF JOB’S DESPAIR – “I’m Alive” & “Divine Intervention”
“I’m Alive” and “Divine Intervention” are two songs that speak to humanity’s age-old despair, in the person of one man crying out against overwhelming unspeakable events outside of his fault and control. They were written for The Song of Job … Continue reading
Posted in Literary Lyricism, Musicabilia
Tagged 9/11, Book of Job, Divine Intervention, I'm Alive, Job, Old Testament, oratorio, song cycle, The Song of Job 9:11
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LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI – a mini musical adaptation
I recently created the TWAIN page, where you can read about stories and listen to musical excerpts from my Mark Twain musical comedy beTwixt, beTween & beTWAIN. Below I will reproduce a complete scene from the musical, the mini-adaptation … Continue reading
