Vol. 9, No. 33 Summer, 2009

Tom Kitt

Brian Yorkey

Bring Home Tonys for

Best Score!

The Do-It-Yourself Songbook Primer

by Jeff Blumenkrantz - Page 3

Next to Normal, with music byTom Kitt and book and lyrics byBrian Yorkey, was nominated foreleven Tony Awards: Best Musi-cal; Best Book of a Musical; BestLeading Actor in a Musical; BestLeading Actress in a Musical;Best Score; Best Featured Actressin a Musical; Best Scenic Designof a Musical; Best LightingDesign of a Musical; Best SoundDesign of a Musical; Best Direc-tion of a Musical; and BestOrchestrations.

Tony Awards were won by: Kittand Yorkey for Best Score; Kitt andMichael Starobin for Best Orches-trations; Alice Ripley for BestLeading Actress.

The cast recording is availableon Ghostlight Records.

Brian Yorkey & Tom Kitt

WorksIn Production . . . . . . . . . . . . .4In Staged Readings . . . . . .12In Concert & Cabaret . . . . .13

Shelf Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15And the Winner Is... . . . . . . .16Non-Writing Gigs . . . . . . . . .19Spring Smoker . . . . . . . . . . . .22Master Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Richard’s Almanac . . . . . . . .30

Richard Engquist

Table of Contents

Making It Real

About six or seven years ago, I raninto my college buddy and fellowWorkshop alum, lyricist MarcyHeisler, who generously bestowedon me a copy of her beautiful, newsongbook. “Thank you so much!” Iexclaimed, while thinking tomyself, Oh, those poor dears… Yousee, while Marcy and her collabo-rator, composer Zina Goldrich, areterrific songwriters and alreadyhad a cabaret hit with “Taylor, theLatte Boy,” they had yet to have amusical produced in New York. Ilooked at that 320-page songbookand thought: Who is ever going tobuy that?

As it turns out, many, many peo-ple!

The first printing sold out within

a year, and they’re currently intheir fifth printing!

Like Marcy and Zina, I had writ-ten a song (“I Won’t Mind” – lyricsby Annie Kessler and LibbySaines) that was getting someattention, thanks to Audra McDon-ald’s recording of it. And likeMarcy and Zina, I had no full-length musical produced in NewYork.

Singers had been asking me formy music for years, but I was loathto circulate it for a number of rea-sons: (1) I was constantly “improv-ing” my songs, a.k.a. futzing with

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The Do-It-Yourself Songbook Primer

by Jeff Blumenkrantz

Continued on page 25

23 KNIVESThe Resonance Ensemble pro-

duced Chris Boal’s play for six-teen performances in January-Feb-ruary.

“In 44 B.C., the fate of theRoman Republic hangs in the bal-ance. The most powerful man inthe world, Julius Caesar, lies deadin the Theatre of Pompey, as politi-cians and military men ambitious-ly move to fill the void of power.Marcus Antonius summons thephysician Antistius to uncover thetruth about the assassinationthrough a Greek technique called‘autopsy.’ But as Antistius discov-ers more about the crime, the realtruth becomes harder to find.Inspired by history’s only mentionof Antistius in Seutonius’s TheTwelve Caesars, 23 Knives utilizescontemporary language to weavea darkly comic mystery about poli-tics, patriotism, and the nature oftruth.”

4@15 The York Theatre Company pre-

sented four new 15-minute musi-cals Jan. 25. Two involved BMIWorkshop members.

High School Sucks: A CinderellaStory

Book, music and lyrics by RickHip-Flores

“High School Sucks: A CinderellaStory turns the classic fairy taleupside-down, as students fromtwo Upper East Side high schoolsgear up for the their annualSpringtime Formal. Eddy, a geekwho writes songs, gets a little helpfrom his fairy godmotheringdrama teacher to get to the ball.But how will he win the heart ofthe most popular girl?”

The Wake: A Modern Gospel-Country-Folk Melodrama-Opera

Book by Russell M. Kaplan andSara Wordsworth

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Chris Boal

Works

In Production

Sara Wordsworth

Music by Russell M. Kaplan,lyrics by Sara Wordsworth

“A tragic death. A bitter widow.A Southern wake. Five mysteriouswomen in dark glasses. Fifteenminutes. Hijinks ensue.”

BAITa play by David Sisco, will be

performed by the author and TomGualtieri on the Atlantis EventsBaltic Cruise, July 22-August 1.David and Tom are also co-authors of the award- and grant-winning musical Falling to Earth.

BATTLECRYA new musical with book and

lyrics by Granville Wythe Burgess(alumnus) and music by PaulBogaev will play the Riegel Audi-torium in Gettysburg, Pennsylva-nia, from June 26 through July 26.“In the early morning dawn ofNovember 19, 1863, six figuresappear at the site of the nationalcemetery in Gettysburg for theday’s dedication ceremony. Onlytwo were soldiers in the monu-mental fighting that took placethere four months earlier, but allbear the scars of battle.

“Amelia Christianson, young,pretty, and affianced to FrankSmoker, a Union soldier. Frank ismarching to Gettysburg. QuentinJohnson, a rebel, tells his friendJoe that he hopes to get some newboots for his bare feet. And whilethese characters are heading fortown, two freed blacks, IsaacHampton and his wife, Sarah, arefleeing Gettysburg. Four soldiersand four citizens whose lives will

intersect at the crossroads of thelittle town that saw the biggestbattle of the Civil War.”

BEGGARS RAINA one-man folk musical, written

and performed by Robert Firpo-Cappiello at the 13th Street Reper-tory Company on March 26, April30, May 28, and June 25.

“In this whiskey-fueled, guitar-driven odyssey across Depression-era America, a hobo known onlyas Dooley hops trains across theblasted landscape of the U.S. in the1930s and finds the hero in himselfwhen he saves the life of a myste-rious runaway.”

BUDDY’S TAVERNThe Spirit of Broadway Theater

in Norwich, Connecticut, pre-miered Buddy’s Tavern, a musicalversion of the 2000 independentfilm Two Family House, May 13-June 14. The Staten Island-setshow about an unusual relation-ship and outer-borough dreamshas a libretto by the original moviescreenwriter-director Raymond DeFelitta and songs by composer KimOler and lyricist Alison Hubbard.

“I fell in love [with it] when I

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Robert Firpo-Capiello

first saw the movie,” Oler said inproduction notes. “Alison and Ikept talking about wanting tomake this into a musical. Alisonand I were very passionate aboutconnecting with Raymond andexploring the future of this movieas a musical for the stage. Thestory is so deeply touching andmoving.”

Buddy’s Tavern was chosen forthe 2004 ASCAP/Disney Work-shop in New York. The songwrit-ers previously worked with Spiritof Broadway artistic director BrettA. Bernardini on two of their otherworks, Little Women and TheEnchanted Cottage. Bernardinidirected Buddy’s Tavern.

CLICK CLACK MOOTheatreworks USA’s 2009 FreeSummer Theatre production is anew musical based on the book byDoreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.Music by Brad Alexander, lyricsby Kevin Del Aguila and book byBilly Aronson. Directed by JohnRando. Choreographed by WendySeyb. July 21-August 28 at theLucille Lortel Theatre.

“All day long Farmer Brown hears‘click clack moo, clickety clacketymoo...’ The cows are typing andprotesting their working condi-tions! Recommended for childrenages four and up.”

THE FROG & THE WITCHThis eco-musical with book andlyrics by Sammy Buck and musicby Daniel S. Acquisto ran at theVital Theatre 14 March-26 April.Such was the demand that perfor-mances had to be added.

“Pyx the singing frog is thebiggest rock star in Wishwell Vil-lage until the unthinkable hap-pens: He croaks. Determined toget his voice back, Pyx follows aplume of thick black smoke to theoutskirts of town where a power-ful witch brews potions that helpmake the Wishwellers’ lives ‘easi-er.’ Pyx might just be able to gethis voice back but only if he canget the witch—and the addictedWishwellers—to clean up theiract.”

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Alison Hubbard & Kim Oler

GREY GARDENS: FROM EASTHAMPTON TO BROADWAY

This documentary by AlbertMaysles about the making of themusical by Doug Wright, ScottFrankel and Michael Korie pre-miered on WNET Channel 13 onDecember 23. For further informa-tion, including clips of interviewswith the authors:http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/greygardens

HANGIN’ OUTFrank Evans (committee), Ben

Schaechter (alumnus), AdeleAhronheim (participating collabo-rator) and Dan Kael (alumnus)had material in this new revuefrom the producer and director ofNaked Boys Singing. Hangin’ Outopened at the Macha Theatre/FilmCenter in West Hollywood on Jan9 for a six week run. The cast con-tained three men and three womenin various stages of undress.

IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PAN-CAKE & OTHER STORYBOOKS

Seven delightful stories come tolife in Theatreworks USA’s musi-cal revue, which had two nationaltours in the fall of 2008. On April21, it played Town Hall. The sto-ries represent various issues,themes and ideas relevant to abroad and diverse audience ofchildren. Books featured in theshow include:• Diary of a Worm: It’s great to bea worm, but a wormy life also hasits difficulties (like wiggling acrossa playground as human kids jump

rope). Follow a worm’s adventuresas he writes about them all in hisdiary. (Adapted by Robert Lopez& Kristen Anderson-Lopez, basedon the book by Doreen Cronin andHarry Bliss)• Fluffy the Classroom Guinea Pig:When Fluffy enters a Best PetsContest, a pesky flea threatens toderail the entire competition.(Adapted by Steven Lutvak &Robert L. Freedman, based on thebook Fluffy’s Silly Summer by KateMcMullan.)• Horace & Morris But MostlyDolores: Three mice promise to bebest friends forever. But whenHorace and Morris join the Mega-Mice club (for boys only!), andDolores becomes a Cheese Puff(for girls only!), what will happento their friendship? (Adapted byBenj Pasek (Second Year) & JustinPaul, based on the book by JamesHowe, Illustrated by Amy Wal-rod.)• How I Became a Pirate: YoungJeremy Jacob would love to sailaway and be a pirate no vegeta-bles, no manners, no bedtime, andno rules at all! But he soon discov-ers that there’s really no place like

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Bobby, Katie, & Kristin

8

home. (Adapted by Laurence O’Keefe& Nell Benjamin, based on the bookby Melinda Long, illustrations byDavid Shannon.)• If You Give a Pig a Pancake: A bossylittle pig’s demands frazzle a little girlin this hilarious lesson about cause-and-effect. (Adapted by AnthonyKing & Scott Brown, based on thebook by Laura Numeroff, illustrationsby Felicia Bond.)

• Lilly’s Big Day: Lilly’s teacher isgetting married, and she just knowsshe’ll be a great flower girl, despitethe fact that Mr. Slinger has alreadyasked his niece to be the flower girl.When she suffers a bout of stagefright, it’s up to Lilly to save the day!(Adapted by Kevin Del Aguila & BradAlexander, based on the book byKevin Henkes.)• The Paper Bag Princess: When aferocious dragon smashes PrincessElizabeth’s castle, burns all her fancyclothes, and kidnaps her belovedprince, she dons a paper bag andcomes to the rescue. (Adapted byDavid Kirshenbaum, based on thebook by Robert Munsch.)

If You Give a Pig a Pancake & OtherStory Books was directed by Kevin DelAguila, with choreography by

Devanand Janki. This 60-minutemusical is recommended for ages 4and up.

IN FULL: BLOOMA new song cycle by Charles Bloom

was premiered by the Way Off Broad-way Theatre Company of Ottumwa,Iowa, January 15-25. It is the only pro-fessional company in the state.

Charles writes, “Randy West, theartistic director, and his musical direc-tor, Justin Hill, pored over 100 songsfrom my catalogue. I wrote some newthings, revised some things and thethree of us have collaborated to createthis new song cycle which involvesboth hearing the songs as-written, butalso in a trio of intricate, theme-weav-ing medleys created by Justin…Asyou can imagine, it feels wonderful tohave my work so passionatelyembraced.”

THE KIDThe New Group has announced its

upcoming 2009-2010 Off-Broadwayseason, which will conclude with TheKid, a musical based on Dan Savage’sbook The Kid: What Happened After MyBoyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Preg-

Jack Lechner

Brad Alexander

nant, with book by Michael Zam,music by Andy Monroe and lyricsby Jack Lechner. New GroupArtistic Director Scott Elliottdirects this world premiere.

The authors were honored withthe 2009 BMI Foundation JerryBock Award for Best New Musi-cal. This marks The New Group’sreturn to musical theatre after pro-ducing Avenue Q, another BMI-fueled project, which received theTony Award for Best New Musicalin 2004.

LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE MUSI-CALSThe La Jolla Playhouse in Califor-nia has announced programmingfor its 2009-10 season. Every one ofthe musicals has at least one writerwith BMI connections.

The Hudsucker Proxy,A Page to Stage Workshop Produc-tion

Book and lyrics by Glenn Slater,music by Stephen A. Weiner

July/August 2009, MandellWeiss Theatre

“When the CEO of HudsuckerIndustries makes an abrupt andfatal exit from the company, theboard of directors hatches a plot todrive their stock price down inorder to buy up all the sharesthemselves. Enter Norville Barnes,a naive mailroom employee with aloopy new invention destined tofail, and a new Hudsucker CEO isborn.” Based on the Coen Brothers’1994 film.

HerringboneBook by Tom Cone, music by Skip

Kennon, lyrics by Ellen FitzhughAugust/September 2009, Sheilaand Hughes Potiker Theatre

“Set in 1929, this darkly comicsolo play with music centers onyoung musical prodigy, George,who is pushed into the limelight toearn money for his poor family.Taken under the wing of Mosely,an old vaudeville performer,George soon finds himself pos-sessed by the demented, murder-ous spirit of Mosely’s late partner,Lou. As George’s success grows, sodoes Lou’s influence over George’smind and body, leading to a cli-mactic showdown in Hollywood.”

The Big TimeA world premiere musical

Book by Douglas Carter Beane,music and lyrics by Douglas J.Cohen

November/December 2009,Mandell Weiss Theatre

“Two down-on-their-luck loungesingers perform on a U.N. cruiseship that is held hostage by a ter-rorist intent on destroying theworld.” The show was previouslyseen in a bare-bones NYMF stag-ing and in a commercial work-shop.

LOVE, INCORPORATEDAfter winning “Outstanding

Production of a Musical” at lastyear’s Midtown International The-atre Festival, this musical by alum-nus Marc Castle was optioned byPower Productions/Stan Raiff andpresented for a three week run thispast February at the T.C.C. RoperCenter in Norfolk, VA as a tryoutfor an off-Broadway run this com-

98

ing season. Directed by IgorGoldin and with Musical Directionby Jeffrey Lodin, it starred PauloMontalban (of TV’s Cinderella) andHeather Parcells (A Chorus Line).

THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS(THE MUSICAL!)

Eric Rockwell and Joanne Boga-rt’s acclaimed Off-Broadway hit,returns to New York July 8 for aone-night-only performance tobenefit the York Theatre Compa-ny. The 7:30 PM performance willbe presented at The York TheatreCompany in Saint Peter’s Churchand will feature actors who haveperformed the show in New Yorkand around the country: JoanneBogart, Matt Castle, Brent Schin-dele and Kristin Maloney.Melanie Herman, the show’s NewYork producer, has also reunitedthe show’s original artistic team:director Pamela Hunt; set designerJim Morgan; costume designerJohn Carver Sullivan; and lightingdesigner Mary Jo Dondlinger.Musical of Musicals has music byRockwell, lyrics by Bogart andbook by both. The show, accordingto press notes, “is a musicalabout…musicals! In a comic satireof musical theatre genres, onestory becomes five musicals, eachin the distinctive style of a differ-ent master of the form, fromRodgers and Hammerstein toStephen Sondheim.

NO WAY TO TREAT A LADYDouglas J. Cohen’s musical

received its Los Angeles premiereat the Colony Theatre in Burbank,California, April 18-May 17. Vari-

ety wrote, “The entertaining newL.A. premiere production at theColony Theater capitalizes on thetuner’s virtues with a strong castand smart direction.” KevinSymons, Jack Noseworthy,Heather Lee and Erica Piccininnistarred, with direction by WestHyler and Shelley Butler.

NOR’MAL: A FAMILY MUSICALLibrettist Yvonne Adrian partici-

pated in a talkback following aperformance of her Jonathan Lar-son Award-winning musical dur-ing its April 3-25 run at Stage 1Theatre Company in Richmond,Virginia. (Music by Tom Kochan,lyrics by Cheryl Stern.) Yvonnesays this is a great theatre for inno-vative work—edgy and unique,with great possibilities for BMIsongwriters and librettists. ArtisticDirector is the young and talentedChase Kniffen: www.stage1va.org

PUCELANDIA, WHERE THEONLY COLOR IS PUCEby Fran Handman (music by Shel-don Gartner) was produced as aholiday show last December for a

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Doug Cohen

run of 13 performances by TurtleShell Productions. Originally enti-tled Yucky Puce while it was beingdeveloped in the Librettists Work-shop, the musical was a finalist inthe Jackie White National Chil-dren’s Playwrighting Competitionunder the title, If All the Colors Dis-appeared. That version received anHonorable Mention from TRU lastyear in their TRU voices MusicalSeries competition.

Since March 2008, six of Hand-man’s short pieces, including aten-minute musical, have and arebeing produced in the Turtle ShellProductions’ 5th and 6th 8-MinuteMadness Festivals; Summer Short-ies, 2008; and Turtle Tales, 2008,the latter performed by profession-al teen actors.

A TALE OF TWO CITIESA concert performance of the

musical, seen on Broadway thispast season, will be filmed thissummer at Theater RoyalBrighton, England, for PBS.WGBH-Boston will be the present-ing station for the event, which iscurrently scheduled for broadcastin December 2009. A DVD and stu-dio cast recording of the concertproduction will be available in late2009, and the program will be dis-tributed internationally in 2010.Book, music and lyrics are by JillSantoriello.

VANITIESOff-Broadway’s Second Stage

Theatre in association with NAMTmembers Junkyard Dog Produc-tions, Bartner/Jenkins Entertain-ment and Demos Bizar Entertain-ment produced the New York pre-

miere of Vanities (NAMT Fest2006), which had a limited run thissummer.

Vanities, the musical, “spans theturbulent ‘60s through the late ‘80sand explores how importantfriends are as one faces life’s defin-ing moments: growing up, gettingolder and getting over it,” accord-ing to Second Stage.

ALL FALL DOWNA musical by Selda Sahin (book

and lyrics) and Greg Turner(music) was accepted into the NextLink series of the New York Musi-cals Festival (NYMF).BETH BLATT…

is currently working on Oneida,a commission from the VillageTheatre in Issaquah, Washington;the theatre is a National Alliancefor Musical Theatre member. Themusical is based on the Bible-com-munist, free-love Utopian commu-nity that flourished in upstate

10 11

In Development

Selda Sahin

12

New York for forty years in themid-1800’s—until they began arevolutionary evolution experi-ment.

She’s also working on Hashiwith collaborator Jeff Blu-menkrantz (they were recentlyartists-in-resident at Goodspeed).Hashi deals with a New Yorkwoman of a certain age, set in herways, stuck and shutdown—untilthe nephew she never knew shehad comes to live with her. It’sabout what happens when the anti-Auntie Mame is confronted with aten-year-old old soul.

In addition to Oneida and Hashi,Blatt is developing a Latin Ameri-can pop album around the storiesof people whose lives have beentransformed by microloans and isexploring a collaboration withParis-based Russian composerSergei Dreznin.

WINTER OF THE FALLA workshop performance of this

musical, with music and lyrics byLawrence Rush, book by Rush andLee Wind, took place at IllinoisWesleyan University in Blooming-ton, Illinois, on April 25. The musi-cal, set in Roumania, follows ayoung couple through the last daysin which tyrannical Communistrulers Nicolai and Elena Ceauces-cu’s reigned. A talkback with Rushwas held the next day.

In January, the School of TheatreArts performed a concert of songswritten by Rush to kick offrehearsals for Winter of the Fall,which was a 1997 Richard RodgersAward finalist.

Lawrence writes, “It was an

amazing experience and, with thecollaboration of the director ScottSusong, the students and myself,the show has gotten to level I neverthought possible. I had kept it in abox the last ten years, believing theshow to be too problem-ridden tobe fixed, but with the help of thesewonderful, talented people, manyof the problems have been fixed,and I’m excited to continue work-ing on it. Below is a link to an on-line interview the school did withme about the show and theprocess. Some misquotes and mis-takes aside, it is a nice interview, Ibelieve.”http://www.iwu.edu/CurrentNews/newsreleases09/spk_LawrenceRush_00409.shtml

Rush has also set up a websitefor another of his shows, Pride &Prejudice: The Musical, at:http://www.prideandprejudice-themusical.com

DREAMLANDThe new musical by Eric Rock-

well (music), Joanne Bogart(lyrics) and William J. Brooke(book) received a reading on April21 at the York Theatre Company’sDevelopmental Reading Series.

Based on Irwin Shaw’s play TheGentle People, the musical isdescribed thus: “It’s Brooklyn inthe summer of 1939. AmiableJonah Goodman is confronted by a

In StagedReadings

13

smooth-talking crook, and the situ-ation goes from bad to worse whenthe gangster starts dating hisdaughter. Jonah is forced to cometo an extreme decision with life-or-death stakes. How far do we go toprotect ourselves and those welove?”

SENSE & SENSIBILITYThe Berkshire Musical Theater

Workshop presented two stagedreadings of this new musical onMay 9 at Shakespeare & Compa-ny’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theater inLenox, MA. Based on the classicJane Austen novel, Sense & Sensibil-ity features music by Neal Hamp-ton and book and lyrics by JeffreyHaddow.

ANOTHER MIRACLE TIME:TIMOTHY MATHIS’ GULFCOAST BENEFIT CONCERT

Timothy writes, “My Spring con-cert [May 16] is a benefit for theWest End Collegiate Church’s GulfCoast Relief Fund. 100% of thecover charge will go to the fundthat sends the church’s kids toNew Orleans and Mississippi tohelp rebuild. I was shocked lastsummer at the vast and dauntingamount of work still to be done inthis devastated region. In Augustapproximately twenty youths andadults will travel to the gulf for ten

days and do whatever is asked ofus. I will presumably not be askedagain to man a power saw, which Imanaged last year to breakirreparably.

“So, it’s an afternoon benefit atDon’t Tell Mama. I’ll be doing myexpanding songbook and, eventhough I am doing some newthings, there will still be Kafka andWaterloo and Twenty in my Pocket. Ipromise. I will be joined this timeby Matt Drago, Jeremy Neal,Johary Ramos-Seguinot, AbigailTaylor and Tanesha Warren.”

THE DEVIL’S MUSICAt Manhattan Theatre Club’s

Annual Spring Gala on May 18 atCipriani 42nd Street, featuredamong the numbers from the hitBroadway musicals Billy Elliot, 9 to5: The Musical, Shrek The Musical,Hair, and West Side Story was the“St. Louis Blues” number fromLibrettist Angelo Parra‘s TheDevil’s Music: The Life and Bluesof Bessie Smith. The scene wasperformed by Miche Braden, thecritically acclaimed show’s long-time Bessie, and directed by JoeBrancato, Artistic Director of Pen-guin Repertory Theatre Company.“We were the only non-Broadwayshow included,” says Angelo. “Itwas pretty exalted company to bein, and Miche knocked ‘em dead asshe always does.” The Devil’s Musichas appeared at such prestigiousregionals as The Hartford Stage,Florida Stage, Cape (Cod) Play-house, and Theatre Memphis.Plans are in the works to tour theshow nationally in 2010.

In Cabaret& Concert

RUTH CARLINdebuted her new cabaret show

at the Duplex on March 13, withfurther shows on the 19th and38th—director, Scott Barnes, musi-cal director, Paul Greenwood.

DOUG COHEN AND JANESMULYAN

provided some of the lyrics forthe February 23 edition of theSongbook series dedicated to themusic of David Evans. The concertalso featured the vocal talents ofJill Abramovitz.

Now in its 18th season, theSongbook series is held at the NewYork Public Library for the Per-forming Arts’ Bruno Walter Audi-torium.

GOING THROUGH A STAGE:THE SONGS OF CHARLESBLOOM

Jenn Colella, Cody Green, AaronLazar and Ashley Fox Linton per-formed the songs of CharlesBloom in “a musical journeyexploring the quirks, longings andjoys we face while going throughthe stages of our lives” at the TriadTheatre May 18 and 25. DonaldBrenner directed.

RANDY KLEINappeared in an evening of solo

jazz piano improvisation at theDave Frank School of Jazz on Janu-ary 28. His improvisational abili-ties may also be heard on his mostrecent Jazzheads CD, The Flowing.

MONDAY NIGHTS, NEW VOICESAdam Overett was the featured

composer-lyricist in the April 27edition of this series at the Duplex.Adam wrote, “I’ve been on tourwith Dirty Dancing for severalmonths, but we have a break thismonth, and I’m excited to be backin NYC presenting my work in aconcert series that’s become well-known for introducing great newtalent to New York City. Five per-formers will sing five of my songs,and I’ll be performing a sixth onemyself.”

PFLAG-OLYMPIA MOTHER’SDAY CONCERT

This Washington State event fea-tured Steve Schalchlin in anevening of songs by him and AmyLynn Shapiro, some of which willbe included in a cabaret that willhit New York sometime next fall.

THE PRIMORDIAL JAZZ FUNKTET

Dan Furman’s group celebratedthe release of its first CD, We AreHere, with a performance atCachaça on January 15.

Primordial Jazz Funktet began in

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Adam Overett

15

Atlanta, GA and brought its blendof jazz, R&B and hiphop beats toNew York in 2003. PJF plays funkysoulful tunes that tell stories. Thesextet features originals by Fur-man as well as new takes on mod-ern classics from Gershwin to Ste-vie Wonder, and more. “It’sexpressive music with intensesolos,” says Furman. “It’s jazz, butwe’ve broken out of ‘swing’ and‘bebop’ grooves and are going fora different sound.” The CD isavailable from iTunes.com.

THROW IT TO THE WIND: THESONGS OF MALTBY & SHIRE

Andrew Gerle (ParticipatingCollaborator) as arranger/accom-panist, Christa Justus as vocalist,along with their UncommonlyGood Band have played this new

revue in numerous venues, mostrecently the Laurie Beechman The-atre during February.

ABIE’S ISLAND ROSEThe original Off-Broadway cast

recording of the musical comedy,created by Ron Sproat (book),Richard Engquist and FrankEvans (co-lyricists) and Doug Kat-saros (music), and produced byJewish Repertory in 2000, wasreleased Dec. 16 on the OriginalCast Recordings label.

THE BLACK MONKwhich was seen Off-Broadway in

late 2008, recorded the WendyKesselman score on May 25. Musi-cal director for the recording wasChris Berg. The album will be pro-duced/engineered by GrammyAward winner John Kilgore. Therecording will be released online inthe fall on iTunes; a record deal ispending.

THE GIGThis 1996 musical by Douglas J.

Cohen (based on the motion pic-ture by Frank D. Gilroy) wasrecorded by Jay Records in a ver-sion based on the York Theatre’sconcert of 2006, but restoringMichael Gibson’s full jazz orches-tration.

Andrew Gerle & Christa Justus

Dan Furman

Shelf Life

THE STORY OF MY LIFEthe cast album CD, recently

released on the PS Classics label,had a “launch” event: a perfor-mance and CD signing, Tuesday,June 2 at the Lincoln TriangleBarnes & Noble. The event fea-tured performances by the Broasd-way production’s two-person cast,Will Chase and Malcolm Gets withspecial guests Neil Bartram (musicand lyrics) and Brian Hill (book).

A TALE OF TWO CITIESUpcoming PBS broadast and

CD. See this listing under “Works:In Production.”

WE ARE HEREA new CD. See the listing for The

Primordial Jazz Funket under“Works: In Cabaret and Concert”,above.

THE DOGS OF PRIPYATThe Weston (Vermont) Play-

house Theatre Company celebrat-ed its third annual New MusicalAward with a free concert of selec-tions from its 2009 award winneron February 21. The Dogs of Pripyat,a modern fable about the triumphof the spirit, with music by AronAccurso and lyrics by JillAbramovitz, was introduced by itscreators and performed by a five-person cast as the latest offering inthe WPTC’s expanding programsto develop new plays and musicalsin Vermont. After the Weston con-cert, the cast and musicians record-ed a demo CD in New York underthe supervision of Kurt Deutsch ofSh-K-Boom and GhostlightRecords. For more informationabout the non-profit Weston Play-house Theatre Company and itsNew Works programs, visithttp://www.westonplayhouse.org

DRAMA DESK AWARDSNominees for the 54th annual

Drama Desk Awards, presented onMay 17, included:

• The Story of My LifeOutstanding Musical, OutstandingMusic (Neil Bartram), Outstand-ing Lyrics (Neil Bartram)

• Dear EdwinaOutstanding Music (Zina

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Hill & Bartram

And theWinner Is...

Goldrich), Outstanding Lyrics(Marcy Heisler)

• My Vaudeville Man!Book by Jeff Hochhauser, musicby Bob Johnston with lyrics byJohnston and Hochhauser

Outstanding Actress in a Musi-cal (Karen Murphy), OutstandingChoreography (Shonn Wiley)

Next to Normal was consideredlast season in its Off-Broadwaypremiere.

TOM GUALTIERI & DAVIDSISCO

received a 2009 Anna SosenkoAssist Trust grant in support of aforthcoming reading of their show,Falling To Earth.

HELEN HAYES AWARDSNext to Normal, with music by

Tom Kitt and book and lyrics byBrian Yorkey, made a big impres-sion on the voters in the Washing-ton, DC, area, winning three of thefour awards for which it was nom-inated, including OutstandingNon-Resident Production; Out-standing Lead Actress, Non-Resi-dent Production (Alice Ripley);and Outstanding Supporting Per-former, Non-Resident Production(Aaron Tveit).

Rooms: A Rock Romance, withmusic and lyrics by Paul ScottGoodman (alumnus) and book byGoodman and his wife, MiriamGoodman, was nominated for fiveHayes awards, winning in the cat-egory of Outstanding Lead Actress

in a Resident Musical (NatasciaDiaz).

FRAN HANDMANfor her Adding Machine: The

Musical (music by Sheldon Gart-ner) won the Musical Theatreaward at the 2008 MoondanceInternational Film Festival andwas a finalist for the 2008 JerryKaufman award.

JEFF HUGHES & SCOTT ETHIER

won the Richard RodgersAward for Musical Theater fortheir biographical musical RosaParks. The award provides finan-cial support for the further devel-opment of the work. Rosa Parks,featuring book and lyrics byHughes and music by Ethier, “tellsthe tale of one of the Civil RightsMovement’s most storied heroinesin the months leading up to herfateful bus ride in Montgomery,Alabama. Uncovering forgottenheroes and rediscovering celebrat-ed ones, Rosa Parks depicts how aseemingly ordinary womanbecame renowned for one extraor-dinary act of bravery.” The RichardRodgers Awards were endowed bythe famed composer and areadministered by the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters.

ANDY KARLwas chosen as one of The 37

Hottest Guys in Theater in a Janu-ary 27 feature on the websiteafterelton.com

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KLEBAN AWARDSBeth Falcone and Kait Kerrigan

have picked up the 19th annualKleban Awards, handed out everyyear to up-and-coming musicaltheatre lyricists and librettists.Each award comes with a $100,000cash prize, to be paid out over twoyears. Falcone, composer/lyricistof Wanda’s World, nabbed the lau-rel for most promising lyricist,while Kerrigan (Henry and Mudge)picked up the honor for librettist.The Kleban Foundation, whichhands out the awards, was estab-lished under the will of thelate  Edward Kleban, the lyricist of A Chorus Line.(http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/590154/Edward%20Kleban.html?dataSet=1)

MAC AWARDSCarol Hall, Mark Janas and

Peter Napolitano were among thewinners of the 23rd annual MACAwards (Manhattan Association ofCabarets & Clubs), presented May18 at BB King Blues Club. Hallwon the MAC for Special Materialfor “This Is My Birthday.” Shewas also nominated in the Songcategory for “Change in Me” andin the Recording category for“Hallways: The Songs of CarolHall.”

Janas and Napolitano receivedthe Song MAC for “Come Home.”Their Algonquin Salon was alsonominated for Open Mic.

Nicholas Levin received a nomi-nation for his Special Material,“The Olives of Regret.”

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Beth Falcone Kate Kerrigan

OUTER CRITICS CIRCLEAWARDS“Rooms” A Rock Romance, withmusic and lyrics by Paul ScottGoodman (alumnus) and book byGoodman and his wife, MiriamGoodman, was nominated forthree Outer Critics Circle Awards:Outstanding New Off-BroadwayMusical, Outstanding New Scoreand Outstanding Actress in aMusical (Leslie Kritzer).

Next to Normal was consideredlast year and won the OCC Awardfor Outstanding Score.

BARBARA ANSELMImusical directed the York The-

atre Company developmentalreading of Sweet William, withbook by Bill Solly and DonaldWard and music and lyrics by BillSolly, which concerns “the youngWill Shakespeare [who] goes onthe road with the Stratford Playersand meets a girl called William.Along the way he also has to copewith a vicious boy-player, severaltheatrical crises, unexpectedromance and a bear.”

JILL ABRAMOVITZstarred as Fanny Brice in the

Westchester Broadway Theatreproduction of Funny Girl, March26 through June 14. On December

16 and 17, she also appeared as anensemble member in the industryreading of the new musical versionof the classic holiday film, AChristmas Story.

CARLA ROSE ARNONEmarried Thomas J. Fisher Jr. on

Sunday, June 14, in a small ceremo-ny in Erie, PA. Carla wrote in anemail to the editor: “So much haschanged since I moved out toWestchester! Thomas proposedwhile we were in Hawaii for hisbrother’s wedding. We were snor-keling and he proposed right therein the ocean, ring and all!” Shecontinues to work as a freelanceeditor. (“Know people who reallycouldn’t have said it better them-selves? Tell them to check out mywriting and editing services atwww.saidandsung.com.”)

NANCY GOLLADAY was a member of the panel

focusing on The Art of the Synop-sis, a workshop on the packagingand promotion of new work spon-

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Non-Writing

Gigs

Carla & Thomas

sored by the Dramatists Guild onApril 28. Video of the panel isavailable at: http://www.drama-tistsguild.com/members/ml_media_video.aspx

ANNIE LEBEAUXis currently musical director for

Danny and Sylvia: The DannyKaye Musical, book and lyrics byRobert McElwaine, music by BobBain, directed by Pamela Hall,starring Brian Childers as Kayeand Kimberly Faye Greenberg asSylvia Fine. The production isplaying at St. Luke’s Theatre, 308West 46th Street, where it alter-nates with the one actor bio-dramaLansky, starring Mike Burstyn.

BOBBY LOPEZparticipated in the Readings on

the 4th Floor series at PS 107 onFebruary 25. This panel discussion,Broadway Unbound, featuredLopez. the co-creator of Avenue Q;the show’s director, Jeff Whitty;and Vineyard Theater artisticdirector Doug Aibel in a discus-sion moderated by Framji Minwal-la, visiting professor of drama atFordham University. Avenue Qplayed the Vineyard prior to itsBroadway run.

TED SODdirected Blood Type: Ragu, a

one-man show, written and per-formed by Frank Ingrasciotta,which opened March 5 at theActors’ Playhouse. The piece isabout a family that emigrates backand forth from Sicily to America.

BRIAN YORKEYNext to Normal’s Tony-winning

co-author will direct two produc-tions as part of the 2009-2010 sea-son at the Village Theatre inWashington State. Yorkey willstage one of six new works includ-ed in the 9th Annual Festival ofNew Musicals as well as the NeilSimon comedy Lost in Yonkers,which runs Jan. 21-Feb. 28, 2010, inIssaquah, WA, prior to arriving inEverett, WA, March 5-28, 2010.“Next to Normal started at VillageTheatre (as Feeling Electric) and Istarted at Village Theatre, and thisjust seems like a great night to cel-ebrate Village’s commitment tonew musicals,” Yorkey said in astatement regarding the 2009 TonyAwards. “I was so glad to have[Village Theatre executive produc-er Robb Hunt] there to cheer us on,and celebrate, and I’m proud tosay that Village Theatre is a bigpart of the Next to Normal story.”

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21

BMI-Lehman EngelMusical Theatre Workshop

320 West 57th StreetNew York, NY 10019

212-830-2508theatreworkshop@bmi.com

Jean Banks – Senior DirectorSteering Committee

Patrick CookRichard Engquist

Frank EvansFrederick FreyerNancy Golladay

Jane SmulyanDavid SpencerMaury Yeston

The BMI-Lehman Engel MusicalTheatre Workshop held its SpringSmoker, a semi-annual showcasefor new songs from Workshop writ-ers in the Media Room of BMI’sNew York office at 320 West 57thStreet on Thursday, April 30,5:30PM; as usual, the event wasopen to members of the entertain-ment industry as well as Workshopmembers.

The Smokers, celebrating theireleventh season, were modeledafter informal social gatherings atCambridge University where theWorkshop’s two time Tony-Awardwinning writer and ex-officioAdvanced Moderator MauryYeston performed his songs duringhis undergraduate days.

Twelve new musicals and twen-ty-two BMI Workshop writers wereincluded in the 70 minute presenta-tion.

Raymond Bokhour & SimonGray are adapting the 1928 Sovietplay The Suicide by Nikokai Erd-man. Their hero, an unemployedgrouch, believes a suicide may behis only chance for greatness.

The Thing About Joe, music byRandy Klein, book and lyrics byMatthew Hardy, tells the story of

Joe Christiansen from Preston,Idaho, who rebels against his pillpushing psychiatrist mother andjourneys to New York City to pur-sue his dream of becoming a greatMaitre d’.

“My Van” represented The DirtyHippie Jam Band Project, an origi-nal musical about a gaggle of mod-ern-day neo-hippies who followa  Phish-style band around thecountry. The composer is DanIsrael, lyricist is Phoebe Kreutzand bookwriting is shared byAdam Mathias (See Rock City) andMs. Kruetz.

In “With Enemies Like You,” aduet from The Masked Zinfandelby Peter Yarin (music) and JustinWarner (book and lyrics) two vil-lains who have the countrysideboth terrified and bamboozled cele-brate their symbiotic partnership.

“This Should Be Easy”, a duetbetween opposing trial attorneys,was the entry from GreenbrierGhost with music and lyrics byClay Zambo and book by SusanMurray. Greenbrier Ghost is basedon the true story of an 1897 murdercase, the only time in history whentestimony from a ghost was admit-ted at trial.

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Spring Smoker 2009

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Composer Craig Baldwin andlyricist Kathy Lombardi, adaptingStrindberg’s The Stronger, wererepresented by “I Have a Secret”,performed by Workshop memberTracy Sallows (a Broadway veteranwhose credirs include Angels inAmerica).

Phillip Chernyak was represent-ed by two songs, both from pro-jects based on horror films: “Whata Great Day” for which he wrotemusic and lyrics, from The DrillerKiller which centers around astruggling artist who caves underthe pressures of everyday life andembarks on a drill-happy killingspree; and, as composer in collabo-ration with librettist-lyricist BlakeHackler, “Tiny Sting”, with fromThe Wasp Woman, based on the60’s

cult film which tells the story ofJanice Young, aging CEO andspokesmodel for YoungThing cos-metics and her dangerous anddestructive search for the fountainof youth.

Other songs included “I Can SeeThings”, from the songwriting duoof David Gaines and Kellen Blair;“When They Take You Away”,from Prophet$ by Ken McCarthy;and “When It’s Right”, from theteam of Ilene Weiss and MichaelKooman.

The event, as usual, was co-pro-duced by Patrick Cook, ArtisticCoordinator of the Workshopand Frank Evans, Special EventsCoordinator.

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Master Class #14:Tom Jones

Peter Yarin, Susan Murray, David Spencer, Tom Jones, Clay Zambo, Justin Warner

On Thursday, May 28, The BMI-Lehman Engel Musical TheatreWorkshop offered its fourteenthMaster Class (the second and lastof the season) in the third floorMedia Room. Tom Jones,renowned lyricist and lyricist-librettist (The Fantasticks, 110 in theShade, I Do! I Do!, Celebration, Col-lette Collage, Road Show, Grover’sCorners, Philemon, Mirette andHarold & Maude) was the panelist

invited to comment on the work oftwo selected Advance class writingunits. As usual, committee mem-ber David Spencer served as pro-ducer and moderator of the event.

The two shows represented by25 minute excerpts were TheMasked Zinfandel, music by PeterYarin, book and lyrics by JustinWarner; and Greenbriar Ghost,music and lyrics by Clay Zambo,music by Susan Murray.

them. If I started putting my musicout there and then wanted to do arewrite, there‘d be multiple ver-sions floating around. How wouldpeople know which was the defini-tive version? (2) If a singer askedme for the music for one of mysongs, was I supposed to just giveit to them? Or sell it to them? If so,how much should I charge? (3) Iwanted to control who had accessto what.

Publishing my own songbooksolved all three of these issues. (1)Once the songs are published, theyare officially done. No morerewriting. This is scary at first, butultimately, it’s a big relief. (2) Nomore pussyfooting around the“give or sell” issue. You want mymusic? Here’s where you can buyit. (3) My music would be com-pletely accessible to anyone whocould pay for it. Hey, control is justan illusion, anyway.

So off I went into the world ofmusic self-publishing. I tookMarcy to lunch to pick her brainabout the self-publishing experi-ence. I checked out loads of song-books from the library to comparestyles. (There are so many choicesto make! Everything from pickingfonts to setting margins to decid-ing whether or not to include a bio,a title page, photos, chords, quotes,acknowledgments, etc.) Iresearched such publishing issuesas registering for an InternationalStandard Book Number (ISBN),

copyrighting, paying contributingwriters’ royalties, etc. (FYI, forevery question that arose, theanswer was always a quick Googlesearch away.) I got estimates fromprint houses and graphic design-ers. (The designer I ultimatelypicked had done a friend’s CDliner and came highly recommend-ed; the print house had printed thesheet music for “I Won’t Mind”several years earlier, and I wasvery satisfied with their work.Both of their quotes fell squarely inthe middle of the range of esti-mates I’d fielded.) Most important-ly, I began preparing my songs forpublication.

Because I’m facile with Finale(music publishing software), I wasable to keep my expenses very lowby editing the music for the bookmyself. Since all the music pageswere generated as PDFs of Finalefiles, there was no need for techni-cal assistance. And while it tookcountless hours to polish the lookof the pages (and rewrite the songsa few more times) and to makeeach file consistent with the rest,this part of the process ended upbeing essentially cost-free. In theend, the only things I paid for werethe ISBN number/bar code, theservices of a music proofer and agraphic designer, and the printingand delivery of the books them-selves.

The people at the printing housewere very patient with my lack ofexperience and walked methrough the process. Some of therandom things that I learned alongthe way:

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“The Do-It-Yourself Songbook Primer”

(Continued from page 1)

• Books are printed in multiplesof eight (or is it sixteen?) pages,hence it’s ideal for your total pagenumber to be divisible by eight (orsixteen). If you want a differenttotal number of pages, say 126,your book will still be printed on128 pages, and you will have topay more to have those two extrapages removed. (Better to leavethem in, blank, or find a use forthem.)

• There’s a mysterious phraseincluded in the price quote issuedby the print house. It reads “Max.Billable Overs 10%.” Translated,this means that should you order1,000 books, they are going to printmore than that, to insure thatthey’re covered in case some of thebooks are damaged or unusable. Ifall the books printed are in perfectcondition, you are responsible forbuying 10% of the overage, i.e.,you ordered 1,000 books, butyou’re probably going to have topurchase 1,100.

• The print house is in centralPennsylvania, and instead of visit-ing, I opted to choose the finish forthe cover by phone without seeinga sample, which was a mistake.What I chose was “flood gloss var-nish,” and what I should have cho-sen was “film lamination.” Whilethe former looks entirely profes-sional and is less expensive, itlacks the glossy, protective cover-ing of the latter and thereforedoesn’t stand up as well to use andabuse.

• Shipping 70 cases of books isexpensive! And they will ask youfor details about your drop-off

location with shipping lingo that Istill don’t understand: blah blahblah loading dock blah blah blahpalette….

It was somewhat terrifying tosign off on the final proofs, butafter all the time I spent laboringover those files, it was a relief tothink that I wouldn’t ever have tosift through them again.

Amazingly, scarcely a week afterreturning the proofs, there it was!My book! An actual, 9x12, perfect-bound, professional-looking song-book! Filled with my music!

Getting it Out There

You might think the story’s over,but here’s where the real heavywork began. For a self-publisher,promoting the book takes at leastas much effort as getting the bookprinted.

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I had to figure out a way to getrecordings of my songs out there,because other than “I Won’tMind,” my music was completelyunknown. And I didn’t want tospend the kind money it wouldtake to produce (and promote!) astudio CD. I wanted to find a wayto distribute recordings of mysongs without any expense formyself or my prospective listeners.

Podcasting turned out to be theperfect solution. It’s a casual for-mat, so I could record the songs inmy home studio without worryingabout achieving perfect soundquality. Again, with Google as myguide, I learned the ins and outs ofsetting up a website, of creating ablog and a feed, I found placesonline where I could store mylarge audio files for free and reg-istries where I could list my pod-cast. I called in favors from mywonderful singer friends, whogenerously sang my songs for nopay. I assumed the roles of host,performer, writer, musical director,accompanist, engineer, editor,stage manager, and talent booker.Thanks to iTunes, Blogger, Feed-burner, and archive.org, I was ableto make the recordings available

for free on the internet. With eachsuccessive episode, that viral phe-nomenon kicked in, and beforelong, I had a fairly large subscriberbase. And while I invested manyhours in this pursuit, it cost mezero dollars. (Well, that’s onlyslightly true. To maintain my web-site, I pay a monthly webhostingfee. But I think you might be ableto find even that for free now.)

The podcast has turned out to bea truly effective (and affordable!)marketing tool, and with the addi-tional help of concerts and the oddinterview, article, or messageboard posting, my book continuesto sell nicely, especially consider-ing I have never spent any moneyon advertising.

Today, my songbook is availableat my online “music store”(www.jeffblumenkrantz.com/musicstore.html), as well as ColonyMusic (here in NYC), Dress Circle(in London), and Amazon.com. Inthree and a half years, I’ve soldabout half of the books I originallyprinted, having recouped myexpenses somewhere in the middleof year two. Also, I’m now selling

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sheet music for additional songs,some because they were releasedon CDs by Victoria Clark and Sut-ton Foster, and others because theywere featured on special episodesof my podcast.

Admittedly, the income fromselling my music is marginal, andthat’s to be expected. It would befoolish to think that a musical the-atre songbook, especially one by avirtually unknown composer,would make anyone rich. Thepoint was to make my music avail-able to performers, and that’sexactly what’s happening. The factthat I’ve been able to make it hap-pen without LOSING money is avictory to me. Everything else isgravy.

And Where to Go From Here…?

Overall, the process has been verygratifying and empowering, but

there is definitely a flipside. I’mdoing order fulfillment myself,which involves constant shipping,book-keeping, and purchasing ofoffice supplies. And then there’sthe issue of storage: Where doesone keep 70 cases of books? Lucki-ly for me, mine live in a warehousein NJ, which my brother maintainsfor his medical supply business.(Hopefully, I’ll have sold all mybooks before he retires!)

Having produced my own song-book and podcast, it’s occurred tome that there must be other waysto take advantage of that experi-ence.

I thought about setting up ashingle and publishing other peo-ple’s music. (e.g. Why are there novocal selections for the wonderfulmusical Violet?) But that would getoverly complicated with contractsand writers’ royalties and ware-housing and shipping and orderfulfillment, etc.

I thought about publishinganother songbook of my music.But that would mean another zil-lion hours of music editing andmore promoting and podcastingand 70 more cases of books. Whatif my brother evicts me and mytowers of books from his ware-house?

In the end, I decided the bestapplication of my experiencewould be to bring thesongbook/podcast format to TheBMI Workshop and to make someof the wonderful songs written byWorkshop members and alumniavailable to singers, who are sodesperate for fresh material.Hence, The BMI Workshop Songbook

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and Podcast, newly available atwww.bmiworkshopsongbook.com.

I recently spoke to Marcy, andshe believes that the success of hersongbook hinged on the populari-ty of “Taylor the Latte Boy,” andthat by subtracting that factor, self-publishing might not make sense.However, I’m not convinced. Withall the newfangled ways of devel-oping an audience, like YouTubeand Facebook and who knowswhatever else is around the corner,I say the sky’s the limit.

(Note: Some writers, includingMarcy and Zina, use Hal Leonardas a distributor, which gives themaccess to markets not open tosomeone like me. There are musicstores out there that have contractswith Hal Leonard to sell onlybooks from their catalogue. Theupside of partnering with HalLeonard is more copies sold, andnone of the bother of order fulfill-ment, bookkeeping, etc. The down-side is a greatly reduced profit persale.)

So in conclusion: If you have astack of songs that you’re clear areready to be performed, and you’reresourceful enough to get themprinted and to promote the hellout of them, then self-publishingmight be for you.

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Newsletter Staff

Editor: David Spencer

Listings Editor: Jerry James

Design and Patrick CookLayout:

Contributing Editors:Richard Engquist

Frank Evans

The term liberal education has a par-ticular resonance for me becausemy college years (1950-54) werespent at a midwestern oasisof  open-mindedness in a vastdesert or reaction, conformity andfear. The dignified general in theWhite House was no idelogue, butit was a time of cold war, black-lists, and deep anxiety about any-thing alien—and he did not inspiredaring or adventure, as JackKennedy did a few years later.

I came to Hamline University,then quite a small school, as a fresh-man in the fall of 1950, havingalready spent two years there,one day a week, studying violin andchamber music and playing in theschool orchestra. Our young con-ductor, Tom Nee, favored contem-porary music—as he continued todo in a sixty-year career in variousvenues—and I was often confound-ed by atonal stuff I’d no idea how tohear. My musical background wasconventional, 18th and 19th century,tonal, melodic. Not  till Bartókbecame popular in the 1940’s did Ihear anything that would not havesounded okay in a Victorian salon.Bartók was indeed a breath of freshair, and accessible; many peoplereferred to him as the fourth B,

along with Bach, Beethoven andBrahms. But Tom Nee took us stu-dents way beyond Bartók.

The marvelous college choir washeard mostly in a medievaland 20th century repertoire; apure, ethereal, genderless sound.The head of the music departmentcomposed weird little miniatureexercises for spinet and the like,that bore no relation to tunes. But,hey, it was different!

In the art department you’d behard pressed to findanything  remotely representation-al. The reigning idol of the literaryset was Dylan Thomas—but hewas at least, thank goodness, com-prehensible. There was moderndance, and that was it for anythingTerpsichorean.

Hamline was a church school,preparing young men forthe Methodist seminaries, but theprofessors and staff leaned heavilytoward that branch of the denomi-nation sometimes called pinkMethodism—socially conscious,often pacifistic, international inoutlook and humane  in tempera-ment. The Bible was taken serious-ly but not literally. Among ourpolitical heroes: William O. Dou-glas and Hubert Humphrey, and

by Richard Engquist

30 31

the occasional moderate Republi-can like Earl Warren. 

Nowhere was the liberal in liber-al arts more obvious than inthe  theatre. Our theatre directorJim Carlson introduced us to amindbending menu or dramaticworks: Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsenand Wilder, to be sure, then off thebeaten path to Garcia Lorca,Tagore, Gorki, Yeats; and strangeworks from Russia, Japan, Swedenand France by writers we’dnever heard of—even a Soviet pro-paganda piece (ludicrous), and lotsand lots of Brecht. Jim producedand directed the American pre-miere of The Good Woman of Set-zuan, as well as The Caucasian ChalkCircle, He Who Says Yes/No, The Pri-vate Life of the Master Race, and onand on—yes, in the heyday of Sen-ator Joe McCarthy!

US playwrights? Of course; notonly the expected, but wildcards like Barrie Stavis (world pre-miere of The Man Who Never Died,labor martyr Joe Hill), Eric Bentleyand Francis Fergusson. Quite atheatrical  feast. If Jim produced afilm festival, it was sure to includethe avant garde (Cocteau, MayaDeren) and a splendid piece ofpropaganda—The Oxbow Incident,The Grapes of Wrath. When Helen

Gahagen Douglas (Nixon’s victim)made a swing through the mid-west to warn of the right wing, itwas our little theatre she spoke in

Though Jim Carlson never didanything conventional or boring,he nevertheless unstintingly sup-ported those students whose writ-ing was strictly traditional—like mewith my musical comedies! Andsome of the songs I wrote duringthose years I later recycled, withnew lyrics, in such productionsas—but you don’t want to know!

So when you see me now, squareand stodgy, relentlessly(and  tediously) playing the elderstatesman, know that I in fact hada heady, eclectic, adventurous andoften off-the-wall education. If Ihappen to be sitting in the modera-tor’s chair and you’re in the moodto present something absolutelynew, fresh, wacky and bizarre, doit. Please. Take me back to theglory days of Hamline U. and my

introduction to the wide, wideworld.

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Carlson & Engquist

Jim Carlson