July 16, 2005

Wow...

So much to tell. It's been a busy last few months, and clearly there has been no new Newsflash since January, so obviously things have been happening!

The spring is somewhat of a blur, but there were definitely some standout memories:

First of all, there was the thrill of hearing my songs sung by some of my favorite singers at the Lincoln Center American Songbook Series concerts: Audra McDonald ("Departure" music by me/poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and my arrangement of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today"), Rebecca Luker ("Love Is Not All" music by me/poem by Edna St. V. M., and "Moving Right Along" music and lyrics by me) and Megan Mullally ("Lament" another Edna and Jeff collaboration, as well as numerous other arrangements).

Also, I wrote a piece ("Vouloir," for cello/piano) for Peter Sachon's Cello Project, which was a beautiful program.

And who could forget The Audience, the Transport Group's surprise hit, nominated for three Drama Desk Awards? The show turned the tables on the theatre experience and put an audience of roughly 40 people on stage, whom we watched watching the closing performance of a Broadway musical. The show was directed by the very creative Jack Cummings and had a score and book by many, many people, too many to name. I had the good fortune of being paired with bookwriter and friend, Jim Hindman (Pete and Keely) and singer, Rita Gardner (The Fantasticks). I wrote a song for Rita's character called "I Think," sung to her husband's ashes, which she carried in an urn in her lap. It was a very sweet moment, and Rita performed it beautifully.

I also spent much of the spring preparing my music for publication. I didn't want to upload another newsflash until I could report that the songbook was done, but alas, these things often take longer than expected. It seems that no matter how many times I (and my proofers) examine the music, there are still little things to be found and corrected. I guess I'm going to have to reconcile myself to the fact that it will not and could never be completely perfect, and that's going to have to be OK. (Aaaargh.)

With my free ticket to anywhere on American Airlines about to expire, I squeezed in a quick trip to Brussels and Amsterdam and poked around there by myself for a week. It was great, except the part where my passport was stolen on a train. (They are very crafty, those European thieves. I'm super-careful, and even I was robbed.) Happily, the process of replacing a passport abroad is much less traumatic than I expected.

The next thing I remember was participating in RIPFest 6. RIPFest is part of Raw Impressions, a wonderful organization that brings creative people together to tackle a very ambitious project very quickly. In this case, it was a short movie musical. Seven teams in NY and LA met on Day One, were assigned collaborators, locations, actors, and a theme, and then proceeded to complete ten-minute short movie musicals in 16 days.  Yes, 16 days. That included conceiving it, writing it, recording the songs, rehearsing it, shooting it, mixing it, editing it, and getting it to LA. (All the films were screened in both cities.) It was an incredible experience. I've never worked harder on anything in my life, but it was fully rewarding. We had an amazing team: David Simpatico (Screenplay), Lonny Price (Director), Becca Ayers, Joe Cassidy, Jessica Grové, and David Perlman (Actors), Jeff Cirbes (Dir. of Photography), Jessica Hendricks (Choreographer), Justin Quagliata (Editor), and last but not least, Jane Abramson and Laura Penney (Producers). Everyone's contribution was exceptional, and we all had a GREAT time! Our movie was called Freefall,  and it was about the process of writing a movie for RIPFest (yes, totally "meta").  I got to write a 70's disco tune, a rap song, an Indian chant, and a power ballad. (In two days, no less.) I had a crazy great band, including two of Jason Robert Brown's Caucasian Rhythm Kings, Gary Sieger (guitar) and Randy Landau (Bass), and the aforementioned Peter Sachon (Cello) as well as the official RIPFest drummer, Jeff Greenwald. Here's the power ballad, called "Joe's Freefall," for your listening pleasure.

After all that intense work, I really needed a full on vacation, and I got one! I spent a week in Italy with some great friends to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

Once I got home, it was time to start preparing for the Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook concert at the Zipper Theater. This was part of the Unzipped Concert Series, an eclectic two-week program of performances at the groovy Off-Broadway Theater. For my concert, I had some major talent on hand to sing my songs: Rebecca Luker, Audra McDonald, Jennifer Simard and Sally Wilfert. I have to say that that evening will definitely be one of the most memorable nights of my life. Those women were so spectacular, and the audience was so generous, and I got to sit there at the piano all night and enjoy it. I was smiling so much, my face hurt. There's nothing better than knowing that my songs are in such capable hands and then being shared with such a loving crowd.

Somewhere in there, I had the opportunity to lead a couple of musical theatre audition workshops as part of the Springboard program, offered by the American Theater Wing. Springboard is geared toward soon-to-be or recent college graduates who are looking for a taste of the experience of being an actor in NYC. I have to say, I love doing this work. I had a great time with the Springboard "kids" and I hope to be able to lead more workshops/master classes in the future.

Next, and most recently, I flew off to LA to be the Musical Director for the test pilot of the prospective Megan Mullally talk show.  Megan is an old friend, and as everyone knows, a huge talent. There's basically nothing she can't do, and this was no exception. Megan was a wonderful host: funny, quick, warm, ever-charming and genuinely interested. What a treat! As for me, I got to hang out with an old friend AND lead a band! And what a band I had. Not knowing any LA musicians, I just went right for the cream of the crop. I hired four incredible session players, and after 2 minutes of playing with each other, we sounded like we had been playing together for ten years. (Curt Bisquera-Drums, Tim May-Guitar, John Leftwich-Bass, Fred Selden-Reeds.) The whole crew was a dream, and it was a fun challenge for me to learn the ins and outs of leading a band for a talk show, dealing with the musicians on stage and the director's team in the control room. It remains to be seen what will happen with the show and whether I will be involved. And unfortunately, the pilot we shot will never air. But I have to say, in my humble estimation, Megan and the show are both ready for daytime TV. She has great ideas, and she executes them brilliantly.

Now that I'm back in NY, it's all about getting the Songbook on shelves and continuing to work on Hush. One exciting piece of information: I'm happy to report that Lonny Price has just come on board as the director of Hush, and Tina and I are having a great time working with our new collaborator.

One more thing: I have to acknowledge the amazing achievements of my dear friends on Broadway this season. First of all, if you haven't seen The Light in the Piazza already, it is absolutely required viewing. Not only is the music the most ravishing music ever written, but the production is exquisite, and the performances are perfection. You may know that Vicki Clark is a dear friend and longtime collaborator, so you can only imagine how proud I am of her performance and her many awards and achievements. This performance literally raises the bar for musical theatre acting from now on.

Also, another best friend, Casey Nicholaw, provided the incredibly witty choreography for Spamalot. His career has literally exploded, and he is now directing and choreographing the wonderful new show, The Drowsy Chaperone.

It's so much fun to watch close friends and colleagues do excellent work and be acknowledged for it....

I should mention, my teeny tiny scene was cut from the film Building Girl. I just saw a screening of it, and I don't know if the film has distribution, but if you happened to remember reading about the film in my previous Newsflash, I wanted you to know that I'm no longer in it. However, if you are a musical theatre lover, you will appreciate the wonderful performances of musical theatre regulars Brad Oscar, Ron Orbach and Sal Mistretta.

Coming up: I've been commissioned to write a piece for the Guggenheim Works and Process program. They are honoring the poet Paul Muldoon in October, and they've asked four theatre composers to each set a Muldoon poem. I am honored to be joined on the bill by the wonderful composers Michael John LaChiusa, Kirsten Childs, and Stephen Flaherty. Darius deHaas will be singing all four songs that night!

OK, I think that's all for now! Thanks for checking in. Happy Summer! Don't forget to join the mailing list to find out about all things Jeff. Any questions? Post them on the message board!

XOXO

Jeff