BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop Announces SPRING SMOKER Showcase 4/30
By: Gabrielle Sierra Apr. 27, 2009
The Tony® Honored BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop announces its Spring Smoker, a semi-annual showcase for new songs from Workshop writers. The event will be held in the Media Room of BMI's New York office at 320 West 57th Street on Thursday, April 30 5:30PM and is open to members of the entertainment industry as well as Workshop members. Reservations: Ssantana@bmi.com or 212 830-8360.
The Smoker, now in its eleventh season, is modeled after informal social gatherings at Cambridge University where the Workshop's two time Tony® Award winning writer Maury Yeston performed his songs during his undergraduate days. Previous smoker participants include Best Musical Tony® Award winners Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (Avenue Q), Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer (I'm Getting My Act Together...), Eric Rockwell and Joann Bogart (The Musical of Musicals, The Musical) Amanda Green and Tom Kitt (High Fidelity) and Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal.)
Recent productions of musicals developed in the Workshop include Next to Normal by Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey, currently at the Booth Theatre, Wanda's World by Beth Falcone & Eric H Weinberger at AMAS, The Story of My Life by Neil Bartram & Brian Hill which moved from Goodspeed to Broadway earlier this season, See Rock City (Jerry Bock Award and Richard Rodgers Award) by Brad Alexander & Adam Mathais at Barrington Stage and Calvin Berger (Richard Rodgers Award and Jerry Bock Award) by Barry Wyner, seen at Barrington Stage and scheduled for an industry reading to be directed by Kathleen Marshall.
Twelve new musicals and twenty-two BMI Workshop writers are included in the 70 minute presentation.
Raymond Bokhour & Simon Gray are adapting the 1928 Soviet play The Suicide by Nikokai Erdman. Their hero, an unemployed grouch, believes a suicide may be his only chance for greatness. Bokhour, who currently appears on Broadway as Amos in Chicago, performs with his wife, Christine Bokhour, who had played every role except Roxie in the current Broadway production of Chicago
The Thing About Joe, music by Randy Klein, book and lyrics by Matthew Hardy, tells the story of Joe Christiansen from Preston, Idaho, who rebels against his pill pushing psychiatrist mother and journeys to New York City to pursue his dream of becoming a great Maitre d'. Klein is a multi-Emmy® and Concert artist. Hardy is a performer-writer hyphenate who toured in Fosse, received a BackStage West "2007 Performance to Remember Award." Ashley Fox Linton, who toured nationally in Les Miserables and Wicked performs the song "New Jersey," the finale to Klein and Hardy's original musical.
"My Van" comes from The Dirty Hippie Jam Band Project, an original musical about a gaggle of modern-day neo-hippies who follow a Phish-style band around the country. The composer is Dan Israel, lyricist is Phoebe Kreutz and bookwriting is shared by Adam Mathias (See Rock City) and Ms. Kruetz, who is a singer/songwriter (Disney's Johnny and the Sprites.) Performers include Sandie Rosa (Wanda of Wanda's World,) Brandon Ellis (Company), Amy Zelcer, Bret Carr, Ben Fusco-Gessick, Evan Siegel and David Soson.
"With Enemies Like You," is a duet from The Masked Zinfandel by Peter Yarin and Justin Warner, which will be performed by Bradley Dean, the current El Gallo in The Fantasticks, now celebrating its 50th anniversary at the Snapple Theater Center and by Raymond Bokhour, Workshop Member and Chicago cast member. Yarin and Warner have been selected
to present ...Zinfandel at the upcoming BMI Workshop Master Class with Master Tom Jones (Fantasticks, I Do, I Do, 110 in the Shade).
The Suicide, Thing about Joe, Dirty Hippie... and ...Zinfandel have all been seen in the Musical Mondays series at the Snapple Theatre Center.
"This Should Be Easy" is from Greenbrier Ghost with music and lyrics by Clay Zambo and book by Susan Murray. Greenbrier Ghost is based on the true story of an 1897 murder case, the only time in history when testimony from a ghost was admitted at trial. Zambo and Murray's new musical is winner of Academy for New Musical Theatre's 2009 Search for New Musicals and will be presented next season at the Colony Theatre in Burbank CA. The duet between
dueling trial attorneys is performed by Carl Danielsen, recently Off-Broadway in the York's Enter Laughing and The Big Voice: God or Merman and Will Trice, named one of the Top 10 Cabaret Performers of 2007 by John Hoglund/theatrescene. Greenbriar Ghost has also been chosen for the upcoming Tom Jones BMI Workshop Master Class.Craig Baldwin and Kathy Lombardi's are adapting Strindberg's The Stronger.
Baldwin has been both a Broadway performer (La Cage Aux Folles, The Producers) and conductor (Fame Becomes Me). Lombardi is a veteran songwriter with a string of Top 10 hits and is the recipient of the Nashville International Award for excellence in songwriting. "I Have a Secret" will be performed by Workshop member Tracy Sallows (Angels in America) and Shira Lissek, soloist with the Gulf Coast Symphony.
Phillip Chernyak, a songwriter and filmmaker whose musical short films have been seen everywhere from Los Angeles to Stockholm is represented with two songs. "What a Great Day," his solo creation, is from The Driller Killer which centers around a struggling artist who caves under the pressures of everyday life and embarks on a drill-happy killing spree. "Tiny Sting," with music by Chrenyak and book and lyrics by Blake Hackler is from The Wasp Woman, based on the 60's cult film which tells the story of Janice Young, aging CEO and spokesmodel for YoungThing cosmetics and her dangerous and destructive search for the fountain of youth. Lyricist and Librettist Hackler's writing credits include The Boss in the Satin Kimono ( 2008 NY Fringe Fest) and Mother Courage of Westchester-(NYTE). The song is performed by Kimberly Stern (A Doll's Life, Bar Mitzvah Boy).
Other songs include "I Can See Things," from the songwriting duo of David Gaines and Kellen Blair and "When It's Right" from the team of Ilene Weiss and Michael Kooman.
The event is co-produced by Kleban Award Winner Patrick Cook, Artistic Coordinator of the Workshop and Frank Evans, Special Events Coordinator. Cook garnered an Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for Captain's Courageous, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. Evans, whose musicals have been seen from Alaska to London is a Jerry Bock Award winning lyricist. He has been named on Best of The Year Lists in The Palm Beach Post, The Norwich Bulletin and TheatreWeek and is producing director of Musical Mondays Theatre Lab.
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