Category Archives: The Speakeasy Chronicles

Posts about my musical “Speakeasy – the Adventures of John and Jane Allison in the Wonderland”

THE NEARLY INVISIBLE BISEXUAL MALE

Posted on September 17, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The director of “Speakeasy”, Lissa Moira, and I were conducting another one of our weekly meetings pouring over the script and discussing staging and production issues, when I mused aloud that in many ways “Speakeasy” is an expression of my … Continue reading →

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SPEAKEASY CASTING NOTICE

Posted on September 14, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

My director Lissa Moira and I posted a casting notice for SPEAKEASY on Backstage.com.  You can find it here. “SPEAKEASY – the Adventures of John and Jane Allison in the Wonderland”  will perform February 18 – March 13, 2016 at … Continue reading →

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THE SPEAKEASY GLOSSARY – Queer Slang of the Prohibition Era

Posted on August 26, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Part of the fun of researching 1920’s and 1930’s Queer subculture in New York City was coming across a wide variety of specialized slang and coded terms that flourished among homosexual men and women of the time.  Some of these … 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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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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SPEAKEASY – Dream a little Dream of Dreams

Posted on June 14, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

When we first meet John and Jane Allison in the musical Speakeasy they are making love. We don’t see them actually.  The lights are out.  We just hear them, some faint sounds of intimacy followed by a post-coital conversation in … Continue reading →

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CHET CHESHIRE, the WONDERLAND M.C. and his feline and real-life inspirations

Posted on May 29, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The musical “Speakeasy” begins in darkness.  The overture has concluded, all lights have dimmed, we can’t see anything and all we hear is a chime like tone (on an octave of G). Then a tiny spotlight reveals a debonair smile.  … Continue reading →

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Last Night at the Festival

Posted on May 23, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

We performed “Two Songs from Speakeasy” at the LES (Lower East Side) Festival at the Theater for the New City last night (The festival continues through Sunday at the TNC).  Big crowd, big ovation, it was fun and sweet and … Continue reading →

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SPEAKEASY songs to be performed this Friday at the LES Festival

Posted on May 16, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Two songs from my musical “Speakeasy – the Adventures of John and Jane Allison” will be performed at the Lower East Side Festival at the Theater for the New City. Andrea Pinyan and Rachel Green will perform the songs “Wonderland” … Continue reading →

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SPEAKEASY and the “breaking into song with music out of nowhere” musical trope

Posted on April 30, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

                            Alice goes through the Looking Glass JANE (puts the Drink Me bottle back onto the little table): How much hooch will I have to down before I get to the Wonderland? (singing) WHAT ARE THESE DRINKS THAT I’M DRINKING … Continue reading →

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How Cabaret circumvented the “characters breaking into song” musical trope

Posted on April 27, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

When people who say they hate musicals explain why they hate musicals they usually fall back on this well-worn reason: it is unrealistic that characters just break into song and dance; this doesn’t happen in “real life”.  I find this … Continue reading →

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The Wonderland “Cha Cha” Oopsidaisy

Posted on April 20, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The other day the director Lissa Moira and I were conducting one of our regular weekly meetings, reading through the Speakeasy libretto and discussing production and staging possibilities. We got to the song “Wonderland” as sung by the Tweedle Sisters … Continue reading →

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The Walk in the Park that Conceived “Speakeasy”

Posted on April 16, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I came up with the idea for “Speakeasy” while strolling in Prospect Park with Ed six or seven years ago. But I had the ideas that would lead to the idea for Speakeasy many years, even decades before that moment. … Continue reading →

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THE SPEAKEASY INTRODUCTION – A fantastical musical of Prohibition era NYC Queer life.

Posted on April 12, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The following is the official introduction/synopsis for Speakeasy. While you read it, you may want to listen to the Wonderland’s Master of Ceremonies Chet Cheshire sing the Speakeasy opening number: (If you are “greedy” and want to listen to more … Continue reading →

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THE FIRST “NOTES FROM A COMPOSER“ BLOG POST … Or Why am I doing this, really, why?

Posted on April 11, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Why am I starting this blog? Did I really have this great need to share my views on the arts in general, music and theater in particular, and my own experience in creating music theater very particularly? Um, actually no, … Continue reading →

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