Tag Archives: 1920s

SPEAKEASY Campaign Video Update

Posted on November 3, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Stolis Hadjicharalambous has completed the final edit of the Speakeasy fundraiser campaign video.  The Kickstarter fundraising campaign will launch in about two weeks. Meanwhile, here are stills of some the images and tracks of some of the music that will … Continue reading →

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Speakeasy Gay Slang – FLOWERS & FLORISTS & MAE WEST, Oh my!

Posted on October 12, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

After Alice goes through the mirror in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” she wanders through a mirror image fantastical version of the house she left, then discovers a garden with flowers who not only can talk but will also … Continue reading →

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DRY OUT THE NATION – SPEAKEASY, PROHIBITION and a very DRY SPEECH

Posted on September 24, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

By the time Jane Allison, in the musical “Speakeasy”, has walked through one door into a speakeasy foyer and through another door into an automat, she realizes that the regular rules and expectations of time and space may not apply … 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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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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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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