Tag Archives: musical

SPEAKEASY CAMPAIGN VIDEO PREVIEW – plus Audition and Facebook News!

Posted on November 8, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Speakeasy Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign Video: Above is a sneak peek at the video we created for our upcoming Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Speakeasy.  Look forward to the fundraiser being launched in a little over a week.  Meanwhile you can now … Continue reading →

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FIRST GRADE OPERAS: New Similarities and Differences

Posted on November 5, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

When all three first grade classes chose “Magic” as the theme for their original operas I worried that the three pieces would all end up being too similar.  However, the three “Theme Sentences” (for 1-1: “Magic can control people’s minds”; … Continue reading →

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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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A Halloween Treat: THE TELL-TALE HEART – A MUSICABRE and the roommate from hell who planted its seed

Posted on October 28, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Just in time for Halloween the Tell-Tale Heart page goes live today, showcasing the audio of a live performance of my musical adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”. The Tell-Tale Heart is the ultimate bad roommate story, as … Continue reading →

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SPEAKEASY – Attack of the 30 foot Incidental Music!

Posted on October 25, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

So many notes… so little time… The other day I had a meeting with Speakeasy‘s music director Jonathan Fox Powers.  One of those sessions where you make sure composer and music director are on the same page as it concerns … Continue reading →

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FIRST GRADE OPERAS: It’s MAGIC time, times three!

Posted on October 23, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

It’s a whole new season of First Grade Operas at the Brooklyn Children’s School.  The three first grade classes have all begun the process of creating their own original opera, or musical, with performances set for the end of March.  … 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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4th Grade POWER OF PROGRESS – The Immigrants

Posted on October 5, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Last spring the full 4th grade of the Brooklyn Children’s School presented “The Power of Progress 1840 – 1920”, a multi-media, multi-disciplinary event where different groups of children created presentations and performances on such topics as Suffragettes, Newsies, Tenement Buildings, … 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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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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ANTHONY TOMMASINI RATTLES ME – On the Importance of Music in a Musical

Posted on August 30, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Today the New York Times published an excellent dialog between its classical music critic and avowed musical theater enthusiast Anthony Tommasini and its pop music critic Joe Caramanica about the musical Hamilton. The exchange included this from Tommasini, which has … 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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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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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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