Where does the time go, I ask you? Just blink, and months have passed!
Here's the big news: I'm working on a new musical with a really amazing
collaborator: playwright Tina Howe. She is the brilliant creator of
such plays as
Coastal Disturbances,
Prides Crossing, Painting Churches, Musuem, The Art of Dining,
and many more. We've just started the process, and she's a true delight
as a collaborator! The working title is
Hush, and it deals with a
relationship between a theatre composer and his deaf video-artist
boyfriend. (Fpr those of you who have heard my songs for
Fits and Starts: this show takes
the skeleton of what
Fits and Starts
was and expands on it. Most likely, those songs will not be in the new
show. But hey, my trunk just got bigger!)
In the meantime, I'm about to head off to Vegas to perform in the
State Farm Industrial! This is my
first experience in the realm of "Business Theatre" and I have to say,
I'm completely blown away. It's an enormous production: a 30 member
cast, a 27 piece orchestra, five whole weeks of rehearsal in New York,
and a complete, original score by
Jason
Robert Brown, played to a total of 33,000 audience members. The
dancing is ridiculously great, the singing is some of the best I've
heard anywhere, on Broadway, radio, you-name-it. I thought I would
probably go through this experience slightly embarrased about my
participation, but as it turns out, I'm incredibly proud to be
involved. It's top-notch entertainment, and it's been created very
lovingly to make a real difference for State Farm and their employees.
Plus, it's been a blast!
As for this past summer, highlights included attending the
Tony Awards as a
nominee! That was fun! Also, Lonny and I took a beautiful European
cruise, hitting some great ports like Venice, Santorini, Mykonos,
Rhodes, and above all, Dubrovnik. I did a backers' audition of a fun,
sweet, new musical called
Nicolette,
by David Friedman and Peter Kellogg. And I completed a year-long course
at
Landmark Education
called the Team Management Leadership Program. This is a course that,
among others things, trained me in taking on sizable projects and
completing them effectively--a very empowering education!
Oh, if you happen to read this soon and you live in NY, you might be
interested in a concert coming up that will feature my music. It's the
NEW VOICES FALL SONGFEST, presented by the New Voices Collective on
September 29, 2003, at 8 PM, featuring performances by Rebecca Luker,
Brian d'Arcy James, Judy Blazer, Kate Baldwin, and Michael Winther.
From the press release:
"The concert features new works in an acoustic setting and will be
presented in one of the city's most exciting new recital spaces,
Symphony Space's intimate 150-seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia. The
evening will be hosted by Danny Burstein, and the entire event is
directed by Annette Jolles.
The New Composers Collective is proud to present young composers
alongside more established songwriters branching out in exciting new
directions. FALL SONGFEST will feature the music of Jeff
Blumenkrantz, Peter Foley, and Joe Thalken, and we are pleased to
present the art songs as well as the premiere of several songs by one
of the theatre's most renown composers, John Kander. The songs
are in a wide range of styles, from new American art songs to cabaret
songs to songs from musicals currently in development, many of which
were written for this event.
Performed acoustically, without microphones, the concert will feature
three of New York's finest musicians - Grant Wenaus (piano), Clay Ruede
(cello), and Ed Matthew (clarinet).
Tickets can be purchased on the Internet at www.symphonyspace.org (just
type “new voices” into the search engine); by phone at (212) 864-5400;
or at the Symphony Space box office, located at 2537 Broadway, on the
corner of 95th Street. Tickets are $25 ($22 for Symphony Space
members -- you know who you are!).
It promises to be a truly spectacular evening - the Thalia is a
newly-renovated, 150-seat space, and you will get the chance to hear
these wonderful singers acoustically, without microphones, in a lovely,
intimate setting, performing some amazing new music. I hope to
see you there!"
Unfortunately, I won't be able to be there myself
because I'll be in Vegas with the State Farm show, but I'm confident
that my songs are in extremely capable hands. If you go, let me know
what you think. I was asked to write an original piece for the concert,
a setting of a Dorothy Parker poem called "A Very Short Song"--quite
apt. I guess you could call this its "premiere." Judy Blazer will be
singing it. (Anecdote: Judy's used to be the cantor at my hometown
synagogue. He helped train me for my bar mitzvah. :-) So we
go waaaaaaaay back.)
Well, I think that's it for now.
Happy Autumn!
XOXO
Jeff