Tag Archives: Opera

The TELL-TALE VEGAS / NYC / MOSCOW TRIFECTA that was – and then wasn’t

Posted on March 28, 2020 by

  Thanks for Nothing, COVID 19   I was supposed to watch “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” in a Moscow movie theater today, in fact precisely while I’m typing this, “sheltering in place” this Saturday morning New York time, … Continue reading →

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No First Grade Operas – for now

Posted on March 16, 2020 by

  Thanks for nothing, COVID19   On Friday I received the following email from one of the first grade teachers at the Brooklyn Children’s School:   Dear Danny, The first grade operas have to be postponed. The DOE and our … Continue reading →

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The Knight Marries the Prince

Posted on May 26, 2019 by

  A Kindergarten Original Blesses a Quaker Wedding   Friday morning I heard a wedding song I realized I would have to sing that night at an actual wedding.  Class K-1 at the Brooklyn Children’s School was the third kindergarten … Continue reading →

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THE DAY I MURDERED MY HUSBAND – Tell-Tale Shoot Diary #3

Posted on April 22, 2019 by

  Welcome back to the “Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre” film shoot diary, and the day I murdered my husband.  Repeatedly.  Take after take after take.     Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” centers on a “very very dreadfully … Continue reading →

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FIRST GRADE ALIENS RIDE PEOPLE’S HEADS!

Posted on April 10, 2019 by

  Another Year, Another Silly First Grade Opera! Actually, another three first grade operas at the Brooklyn Children’s School, created, written, composed and performed by first graders themselves, under the direction of their teachers and their teaching artist Mister Danny. … Continue reading →

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TELL-TALE REVEAL!

Posted on November 18, 2018 by

  So what is the big new deal with “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre“?     OK!  Aright!  I know you’ve been on tenterhooks!   The suspense has been killing you!     But only figuratively.   Not literally, … Continue reading →

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TROLL AFFECTION!

Posted on October 29, 2018 by

  How a genre and boundary bursting Swedish movie brought back to mind a certain LGBTQ friendly First Grade Opera Tune I just saw the movie “Border”, Sweden’s entry for this year’s Foreign Film Oscar, and let me say, right … Continue reading →

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Sensual Statues in the Streets of Paris

Posted on September 19, 2018 by

Nude statues are all over Paris. I don’t know if statistically there are more nude statues there than in other European cultural capitals, or if the nude statues of Paris are particularly more sensual than elsewhere, or if it is … Continue reading →

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TELL-TALE SIGN…

Posted on September 8, 2018 by

  Something’s coming…   Something murderous, mad, musical…   A pale blue eye…   Cellos signing;  moaning;  screaming…   His hideous heart…   It’s all returning…   But not the way it was…   It will take on a whole … Continue reading →

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Another Year, Another Trio of First Grade Operas.

Posted on March 29, 2018 by

Three first grade operas have performed in their classrooms in front of an audience of parents, grandparents and loved ones.  In three consecutive days 1-3’s “Diamond Kids”, 1-2’s “The Alicorns” and 1-1’s “Imagine” regaled audiences with stories, dialog, lyrics and … Continue reading →

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Notes on Myself

Posted on January 17, 2018 by

Sometimes I am asked, in applications for grants or music competitions for example, to write about myself.  It is a certain special torture to have to act as your own greatest champion in writing (or in person), but that is … Continue reading →

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KINDERGARTEN’S POWERBALLADS

Posted on June 6, 2017 by

The Unlikely Occurrence of Kindergartners Composing Two Soaring Love Songs (and Their Perfectly Rockin’ Antidote) Usually five year olds consider overt declarations of love yucky.  So when kindergartners create their own original fairy tales operas, these don’t tend to end … Continue reading →

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K-2 Presents: THE WIZARD’S REVENGE (featuring the Garbage-Throwing Machine)

Posted on June 1, 2017 by

The Kindergarten K-2 class of the Brooklyn’s Children’s School just presented their original fairy tale opera, for which the children created the story, the lyrics and the melodies: Once upon a time there was a king, a princess and a … Continue reading →

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NafC Classic: 5 X FUN with LUDWIG’S 5th

Posted on May 23, 2016 by

Let’s have some fun with Beethoven!   Specifically the 1st movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, easily the most famous piece of classical music in the world.  The indelible Duh Duh Duh DAH motif that opens and shapes the movement may … Continue reading →

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AXS INTERVIEW

Posted on February 2, 2016 by

The on-line magazine AXS has published an interview with yours truly.  The questions delve into the evolution of Speakeasy as well as musical influences in my childhood and advice to aspiring playwrights and composers. The article is excerpted below: Interview … Continue reading →

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FIRST GRADE OPERAS: New Similarities and Differences

Posted on November 5, 2015 by

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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