NEWS FLASH!
March 17, 2006
As I'm gearing up to enter the depths of that thing called Raw Impressions Music Theatre #20, I thought I'd take some time to bring you all up to speed on what's been going on with me. Those of you who listen to the podcast have gotten drips and drabs, but when I'm hosting, I try to keep the focus on my special guest stars and the songs.
By the way, working on the podcast has been an amazing experience. First of all, it's a thrill to have these singers performing my songs at my piano. I've been overwhelmed by their generosity and grace and good humor in allowing themselves to be "interviewed" by me. (Incidentally, I have newfound respect for interviewers and talk show hosts. It's really challenging to stay present and listen and guide the conversation and sound reasonably intelligent. When I listen back to the podcasts, all I can hear is my stuttering, drifting, drooling, hesitating, gawking, etc. Die, vampire, die.) Secondly, the podcast has inspired people to write me the most beautiful emails, which I immediately put in the "Read when despressed" file. Thank you to all those who've written!
So, the podcast will continue until all the songs in the book have been recorded. And then, I will hang up my podcasting shingle, at least for the time being. As much as I love doing it, it's a lot of work wearing all the hats: booking, coordinating, hosting, engineering, music prep, accompanying, studio tech, mixing, uploading, copy-writing, etc.
The end of last year marked the end of my collaboration with Tina Howe on Hush. We looked for the story for a while, and for a way to tell it that worked for us both, but ultimately, it seemed to make more sense to cut our losses and part. Totally amicably, by the way. Tina is an amazing playwright and collaborator, and I know we both secretly believe we will work together on something else someday. Maybe just not another original idea.
Two concert highlights for me this year happened within days of each other. The first was Victoria Clark's American Songbook Series concert, How Can I Keep from Singing?, on February 10th in the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Vicki, as everyone now knows, is an extraordinary actor and singer, and she really exceeded expectations in her solo concert debut that night. Her choice of songs represented a wide range, everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Ricky Ian Gordon to Jane Kelly Williams. I was incredibly honored to be featured as a composer ("Love Is Not All," "Recuerdo"), composer/lyricist ("Victoria's Secret"), and arranger ("How Can I Keep from Singing?"). I was also thrilled to be able to sing "Recuerdo" with Vicki, backed by her amazing band and David Loud's beautiful orchestration. And that room! I think the Allen Room has to be the most magnificent performing space in NYC.
Then, three nights later, on the 13th, I presented The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook - Live at Birdland, with my amazing special guest stars Judy Blazer, Rebecca Luker, Ryan Perry, and Sally Wilfert. (Vicki was supposed to join us, but sadly, she fell ill at the last minute.) As always, it's a real treat for me to get to play and sing and hear my songs sung by such stellar talents, and to a sold-out house, no less! Thanks to everyone who came and to Jim Caruso for his wonderful support and hostmanship. (Is that a word?)
I snuck in a quick trip to London, where my songbook is now available at Dress Circle. (I've gone international!) Even managed to sneak in a dinner with Casey (Nicholaw), who was there for a Spamalot press event. Good thing I got to see him there, as he is going to be harder to pin down than ever, now that he will have two big Broadway shows running simultaneously! Can't wait for The Drowsy Chaperone to hit New York!
This week was a busy one! I worked a day on the new NBC TV show, Conviction, playing a witness in a courtroom scene with my Damn Yankees buddy Greg Jbara as the judge. (Greg as a judge? Oh my God, when did we all grow up?) That same scene also features testimony from another old friend/musical-theatre-type, Mark Lotito. It was just one big Broadway reunion over there at Kaufman-Astoria. The other thing I did this week was whip up a jingle medley for Megan Mullally to sing on the TV Land Awards, which she's hosting. Not sure how much of it will actually appear on the show, but if you happen to watch and she happens to sing a medley of classic TV jingles, I was partially responsible for that (i.e. for all the funny parts/parts you liked).
Next week is all about Raw Impressions, a Northwestern alumni concert, and a benefit concert for AWOL in New Jersey. Then in April, I'll be making quick trips to Virginia (to visit my best friend, Tracy Katz Paladini, in her new home in Chesapeake) and Chicago (for the WAA-MU 75th Anniversary show at Northwestern).
I have some things in the hopper for May and June, but they're not ready for prime time. Suffice to say, there will be some performing involved.
In the meantime, I want to brag about two friends. The first is Cholene Espinoza, who is impressive on so many levels, I'm not even sure how to write about her. She is a United Airlines pilot, she was the second woman to fly a U-2 spy plane, she was an embedded war journalist in Iraq, and she is now an author, having just written a book about her experience offering relief in post-Katrina Mississippi. She is a total inspiration to me as a person, and while I haven't read her book yet (it will be released April 1), I am sure it will inspire many. The book is called Through the Eye of the Storm, and if you check out the publisher's web page, you can see Cholene's author photo, which I shot. (It's the one where she's crossing her arms in a black turtleneck.)
The other friend I want to brag about is Adinah Alexander, who left the Broadway company of Wicked (where she kicked a## as the Mme. Morrible cover) to join the company of the new musical, The Wedding Singer. I can't wait to see the show, and I'm so proud of Adinah and her string of Broadway credits!
OK, that's all for now! I'm off to write a ten-minute musical in seven minutes. (Wait, is that even possible??)
XOXO
Jeff
As I'm gearing up to enter the depths of that thing called Raw Impressions Music Theatre #20, I thought I'd take some time to bring you all up to speed on what's been going on with me. Those of you who listen to the podcast have gotten drips and drabs, but when I'm hosting, I try to keep the focus on my special guest stars and the songs.
By the way, working on the podcast has been an amazing experience. First of all, it's a thrill to have these singers performing my songs at my piano. I've been overwhelmed by their generosity and grace and good humor in allowing themselves to be "interviewed" by me. (Incidentally, I have newfound respect for interviewers and talk show hosts. It's really challenging to stay present and listen and guide the conversation and sound reasonably intelligent. When I listen back to the podcasts, all I can hear is my stuttering, drifting, drooling, hesitating, gawking, etc. Die, vampire, die.) Secondly, the podcast has inspired people to write me the most beautiful emails, which I immediately put in the "Read when despressed" file. Thank you to all those who've written!
So, the podcast will continue until all the songs in the book have been recorded. And then, I will hang up my podcasting shingle, at least for the time being. As much as I love doing it, it's a lot of work wearing all the hats: booking, coordinating, hosting, engineering, music prep, accompanying, studio tech, mixing, uploading, copy-writing, etc.
The end of last year marked the end of my collaboration with Tina Howe on Hush. We looked for the story for a while, and for a way to tell it that worked for us both, but ultimately, it seemed to make more sense to cut our losses and part. Totally amicably, by the way. Tina is an amazing playwright and collaborator, and I know we both secretly believe we will work together on something else someday. Maybe just not another original idea.
Two concert highlights for me this year happened within days of each other. The first was Victoria Clark's American Songbook Series concert, How Can I Keep from Singing?, on February 10th in the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Vicki, as everyone now knows, is an extraordinary actor and singer, and she really exceeded expectations in her solo concert debut that night. Her choice of songs represented a wide range, everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Ricky Ian Gordon to Jane Kelly Williams. I was incredibly honored to be featured as a composer ("Love Is Not All," "Recuerdo"), composer/lyricist ("Victoria's Secret"), and arranger ("How Can I Keep from Singing?"). I was also thrilled to be able to sing "Recuerdo" with Vicki, backed by her amazing band and David Loud's beautiful orchestration. And that room! I think the Allen Room has to be the most magnificent performing space in NYC.
Then, three nights later, on the 13th, I presented The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook - Live at Birdland, with my amazing special guest stars Judy Blazer, Rebecca Luker, Ryan Perry, and Sally Wilfert. (Vicki was supposed to join us, but sadly, she fell ill at the last minute.) As always, it's a real treat for me to get to play and sing and hear my songs sung by such stellar talents, and to a sold-out house, no less! Thanks to everyone who came and to Jim Caruso for his wonderful support and hostmanship. (Is that a word?)
I snuck in a quick trip to London, where my songbook is now available at Dress Circle. (I've gone international!) Even managed to sneak in a dinner with Casey (Nicholaw), who was there for a Spamalot press event. Good thing I got to see him there, as he is going to be harder to pin down than ever, now that he will have two big Broadway shows running simultaneously! Can't wait for The Drowsy Chaperone to hit New York!
This week was a busy one! I worked a day on the new NBC TV show, Conviction, playing a witness in a courtroom scene with my Damn Yankees buddy Greg Jbara as the judge. (Greg as a judge? Oh my God, when did we all grow up?) That same scene also features testimony from another old friend/musical-theatre-type, Mark Lotito. It was just one big Broadway reunion over there at Kaufman-Astoria. The other thing I did this week was whip up a jingle medley for Megan Mullally to sing on the TV Land Awards, which she's hosting. Not sure how much of it will actually appear on the show, but if you happen to watch and she happens to sing a medley of classic TV jingles, I was partially responsible for that (i.e. for all the funny parts/parts you liked).
Next week is all about Raw Impressions, a Northwestern alumni concert, and a benefit concert for AWOL in New Jersey. Then in April, I'll be making quick trips to Virginia (to visit my best friend, Tracy Katz Paladini, in her new home in Chesapeake) and Chicago (for the WAA-MU 75th Anniversary show at Northwestern).
I have some things in the hopper for May and June, but they're not ready for prime time. Suffice to say, there will be some performing involved.
In the meantime, I want to brag about two friends. The first is Cholene Espinoza, who is impressive on so many levels, I'm not even sure how to write about her. She is a United Airlines pilot, she was the second woman to fly a U-2 spy plane, she was an embedded war journalist in Iraq, and she is now an author, having just written a book about her experience offering relief in post-Katrina Mississippi. She is a total inspiration to me as a person, and while I haven't read her book yet (it will be released April 1), I am sure it will inspire many. The book is called Through the Eye of the Storm, and if you check out the publisher's web page, you can see Cholene's author photo, which I shot. (It's the one where she's crossing her arms in a black turtleneck.)
The other friend I want to brag about is Adinah Alexander, who left the Broadway company of Wicked (where she kicked a## as the Mme. Morrible cover) to join the company of the new musical, The Wedding Singer. I can't wait to see the show, and I'm so proud of Adinah and her string of Broadway credits!
OK, that's all for now! I'm off to write a ten-minute musical in seven minutes. (Wait, is that even possible??)
XOXO
Jeff