Tag Archives: Berlin

TROUBLE BUBBLES – The Songs from Childhood that Loom Large All One’s Life

Posted on November 11, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I was three years old when Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was released and became the one of the most popular songs of its time.   One of my earliest memories is of me, small boy hardly taller than … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Melodies Linger On, The Teaching Artist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

BERLIN WALL MEMORIES #2 – You Might as Well Have Told Me the Earth was Flat.

Posted on October 21, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The night the Berlin Wall came down, Nov 9, 1989, I was living in New York.  I got a phone call around 6pm that night, less than an hour in real time after East German Border guards had received the … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Notes in the News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

BERLIN WALL MEMORIES #1 – Growing up 5 miles from the BRIDGE OF SPIES

Posted on October 16, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

The moment I read the announcement that Steven Spielberg was preparing his next movie called “Bridge of Spies”, I knew, without having any additional morsel of information, that Die Glienicker Brücke – the Glienicke Bridge of Berlin, also known as … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope, Notes in the News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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 →

Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Live! On Stage, Melodies Linger On, Notes in the News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Beginnings, Musicabilia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A SPREE FOREST MUSICAL EXCURSION Part 1

Posted on June 29, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Let’s take a musical trip to the one-of-a-kind Spreewald.  The Spreewald (AKA the Spree Forest) is a gorgeous region, a kind of rural Venice located an hour southeast of Berlin, Germany in the source of the Spree River (which flows … Continue reading →

Posted in Chamber Works, Two-fisted Touristing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

GETTIN’ WITCHY WITH IT

Posted on June 25, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Above is the first video I ever posted on YouTube, and easily the most visually fun of the ones I’ve posted so far: a demo recording of three songs from the musical “Witches” enhanced with 105 illustrations of witches past … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Musicabilia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Cinema Scope, Melodies Linger On, The Speakeasy Chronicles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Des Broadways liebstes Kind – Broadway’s Dearest Child

Posted on April 22, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I was introduced to American musicals through German television.  Although I saw much music theater on stage growing up in Germany, it was all opera productions my mother (the coloratura soprano Catherine Gayer) was performing in.  I performed musicals at … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How this young chum came to the Cabaret

Posted on April 14, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

This Christmas one of my “stocking stuffers” from Ed was the gift that thrilled me the most this holiday season: a (battery operated) votive candle with an actual screen cell of Liza Minnelli singing the title song from the movie … Continue reading →

Posted in Beginnings, Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Melodies Linger On | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments