The 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival has come and gone, and I have no complaints. Both Hersteria and Illuminati II: The Second One were very well received by audiences and critics alike (from the Winnipeg Free Press, read the 4-star Hersteria review and the 4 1/2-star Illuminati II review). Apparently, there were also reports that Cheers star George Wendt attended a performance of Hersteria and enjoyed it thoroughly. Cannibal: The Musical also did very well, packing in MTC Warehouse and scoring Best of Fest for that venue. So overall, a fruitful Fringe. Thanks to the casts and crews of all three shows for all of their hard work. Amazing runs all around.
What’s next? Some voice acting work, a music project, and more writing on the horizon (which includes work on Illuminati III). Stay tuned…
The title says it all. The Kiss The Giraffe remount of my 2005 Fringe show Illuminati: The Musical played to fantastic audiences April 26-28 at the Forrest Nickerson Theatre. Fun show, fun cast, fun crowds–the whole experience was, in a word, fun. Not to mention profitable, which was the whole point. Thanks to everyone involved, our planned 2011 Fringe presentation of Illuminati II: The Second One can go into production with that much less financial stress. Ahhh…
So what’s next? In addition to Illuminati II, which is fully cast and rarin’ to go, I also have Hersteria on the Fringe horizon, with a book written by Sharon Bajer and produced by Winnipeg Studio Theatre. I’m also arranging music for a Fringe production of Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical. It’s going to be a very musical Fringe this summer.
Happy New Year! Here’s what’s up:
The December workshop and reading of Winnipeg Studio Theatre’s new musical Hersteria was a success! It was an absolute joy to work with such a marvelous group of people, and a lot of really useful stuff came out of both the week-long workshop and the reading to launch into the next draft with. It was also quite a kick to hear my music played by a great four-piece band. Stay tuned for news of a possible full production later this year.
Kiss The Giraffe Productions is presenting Illuminati II at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival! The sequel to 2005’s perplexingly successful Illuminati: The Musical will feature brand new characters, some returning old friends, several new songs, and more conspiracy theories than you can shake your tinfoil hat at. Leith Clark returns to direct what will most likely be one of the strangest shows you’ll ever see. Ever.
And lastly… I’m gonna be a cartoon! Winnipeg’s Da Capo Productions is currently recording the English version of Tayo, a Korean children’s animated series all about talking motor vehicles. It’s my first foray into the wonderful world of ADR. I’m voicing, among other characters, a green dump truck named Max. It’s adorable. My teeth hurt just thinking about it. And my mother told me funny voices will get me nowhere in life…
Some news bits…
Work on Sharon Bajer’s Hersteria is coming along nicely. A workshop and reading are planned for this December.
Sharon has also commissioned me to set to music the prologue of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist, an excerpt of which she is directing for The Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. So… hey, my music’s playing at Stratford!
The cast of Bloodless is gearing up to (finally) record a cast album. Everyone’s game and excited, and I’m busily preparing brand new orchestral arrangements, a couple of which you can preview on the Compositions page. Basically I’m fantasizing out loud how my music would sound played by a 70-piece orchestra. It’s going to be fun.
The 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival has come and gone, and I have no complaints. Both Hersteria and Illuminati II: The Second One were very well received by audiences and critics alike (from the Winnipeg Free Press, read the 4-star Hersteria review and the 4 1/2-star Illuminati II review). Apparently, there were also reports that Cheers star George Wendt attended a performance of Hersteria and enjoyed it thoroughly. Cannibal: The Musical also did very well, packing in MTC Warehouse and scoring Best of Fest for that venue. So overall, a fruitful Fringe. Thanks to the casts and crews of all three shows for all of their hard work. Amazing runs all around.