Tag Archives: musical

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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An ORPHAN MELODY is remembered in POMPEII

Posted on July 30, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Mark Twain.  Pompeii.  An orphan melody.  What connects these three disparate things? Wait, what do I mean by an orphan melody? A week ago Ed plunked the latest Smithsonian magazine next to my breakfast dishes and pointed to its front … Continue reading →

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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 →

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An appreciation of E. L. DOCTOROW and RAGTIME, the book and the musical

Posted on July 22, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

E. L. Doctorow, one of the giants of contemporary literature has passed.  I have read nine of his twelve books, a ratio and record I have equaled in passion and loyalty with only two other contemporary authors, John Irving and … Continue reading →

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THE ENDURING POPULARITY OF DRAGONS IN KINDERGARTEN – The Fairy Tale Opera 2

Posted on July 18, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Every year when I start the Fairy Tale Opera project in Kindergarten (at the Brooklyn Children’s School), I ask the class to make a long list of characters that appear in fairy tales.  Then the kindergartners choose three characters around … 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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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 →

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MERMAIDS AND WIZARDS AND DRAGONS: The Kindergarten Fairy Tale Opera Project

Posted on June 20, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I have already written about how First Grade Operas are created by the students at the Brooklyn Children’s School, and posted one, two, three examples.  If the First Grade Opera Project is the creating original music theater equivalent of riding … 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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Lisa Kron’s acceptance speech must be heard and shared!

Posted on June 8, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Lisa Kron won a Tony for writing the book of the musical Fun Home. She gave a wonderful speech with a fantastic extended metaphor that just needs to be heard and shared. No one saw this on CBS.  They aired … Continue reading →

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THE DAY I BECAME A COMPOSER

Posted on June 4, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

It was Friday, April 23, 1982.  I was fourteen, one month shy of my fifteenth birthday.  I remember the day and the events that sealed my fate very clearly (although admittedly I had to dig up the old journal I’d … 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 SOUND OF MUSIC: Embracing the “Sugarcoated Lie”

Posted on May 6, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Ed and I were in Berlin* a couple years ago visiting my folks when we stumbled upon a German movie from the 1950s being shown on TV.   We missed the first seconds of the credit sequence and so didn’t catch … Continue reading →

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