There is a HUGE band in Portland Oregon called The March Forth Marching Band. There are about 25 people in the band all dressed in a variety of thrift store band uniforms - none of them matching. They also have stilt walkers and a variety of dancers. This day, March 4th, is of course their special day. If you ever get anywhere close to a place they are performing… GO!

Last night Maryland beat Duke at the Comcast Center in College Park MD. It is my birthright as a resident of the Washington DC area to hate Duke. They are so easy to dislike. Pampered, elitist, entitled. So the short story is that watching the Terps beat them makes for a very good day hereabouts. And no, Dear Ones, I am not alone in this matter.

In other news: Dave Clark/T-Rex film score going well. It is fun to write and a nice movie.

Chaise Lounge is preparing for the full on symphonic concert with the Capital City Symphony. Or maybe more like The Capital City Symphony is preparing for Chaise Lounge. Not sure who will be the more surprised at this concert. Probably the audience.

The new CL CD is nearly finished. Biggest surprise? Bali Ha’i. Who knew that would be so much fun to hear?

I have never before been so looking forward to Spring.

This week I went to Staunton VA. My old friend Lorie got the film "Coal Country" placed in a small film series at the Mockingbird Café/performing arts center. This is a film by Phylis Geller and Mari-Lynn Evans that I scored. Her daughters, Molly and Sally, had performed one of the songs that we used in the film. Also, and I had forgotten this, Lorie and I sang a song for the film. The event was simple: a screening of the film after it was introduced by several local "green" luminaries. And after the film Lorie, Molly, Sally, a fiddler named TJ, and I were to perform three songs. What an interesting screening. It was a thoughtful crowd. After all this is REALLY coal country. The film is largely about West Virginia - and the mountaintop removal sites that are in this film are less than 200 miles away. The music performance, however, was wildly well-received. Molly and Sally sang beautifully. I just played guitar and Lorie played bass. When we were done the audience roared for an encore. I had to push (not tooooo hard) Sally and Molly right back on stage. Then I went out to the audience to listen and had a rural/old-timey transcendent moment hearing them sing their next two songs. One was called "Working Girl." Stayed the night with Lorie and her family out on their farm. It was all very snowy and beautiful and a real break from my regular life.

Earlier in the week I had lunch with Karim Chrobog. He is the director from "War Child." I suspect he will be a very big success in the film biz someday.

Also had a terrific Chaise Lounge session with Pete and Tommy. We recorded rhythm tracks to Bali Ha'i and and a song called "I'm Going to Ruin Your Day." We are on the way to producing another very good Chaise Lounge CD.

Starting work on my first 3-D film. It is a film by Dave Clark for the Field Museum in Chicago. It is pretty cool and they want an orchestral score. All big fun for me.

Until next time.

Yeah yeah yeah. This time 2 1/2 months go by…

Happy New Year everyone!

I live in Washington DC and we are now under 3 feet of snow with more on the way. I thought that when everyone was talking about "climate change" they were talking about things getting WARMER! I would be pretty much be ok with that. But colder? I suffer in the cold. There is a very good reason I live in the South. ( albeit the northernmost part) This has been hard on us here. The county is out of money to plow the snow and I am out of hot chocolate.

Work has been interesting. There is a concert coming up that is taking an enormous amount of my attention. On Mar. 21st Chaise Lounge will be playing a concert with the Capital City Symphony. The first part of the concert is the world premier of an orchestral suite of mine called "The Tarot." The second half will be Chaise Lounge doing 12 songs with the full orchestra behind us. This is a HUGE production. Maybe if we get to do this a number of times it will get easier. But just writing the arrangements was a big task. And now trying to figure out how we will all fit on the stage is an issue. It is at the Atlas Performing Arts Center BTW. (13th and H NE Washington DC). For all the Chaise Lounge fans out there - this is a very cool concert to come to.

In other concert news: the Bedford concert with the Washington Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Ulysses James was a big success. The actors were great. and the orchestra played really well. At the first show ( the world premier) the pianist did not show up for unknown reasons and I was conscripted into the orchestra for that performance. You would think that would have been easy for me. After all I wrote it…. You would be wrong, Sir! I was terrified. I am much more comfortable on the podium than in the orchestra.

Christmas came and went with the minimum of emotional ruination.

Chaise Lounge just played at the Kennedy Center! What a nice show! You can see it by going to the Chaise Lounge site and clicking on something there… it is easy.

In other Chaise Lounge news: we have a date at Iridium in NYC -- July 6th. I hope you all come.

I always used to read other musician’s blogs and wondered how they could write so LITTLE.? I remember seeing Neko Case’s blog on her website. It was delightful. And then she forgot to write anything for a YEAR.

Well I just let a month go by…… I can see how this happens.

In my film world Susan Koch’s film The Other City looks great and I have finished an hour’s worth of the score. Really enjoying it. I hope everyone gets a chance to see this. It is a really emotional film about the AIDS epidemic (yes, epidemic) in Washington DC.

Also I had a chance to write for Bono’s NGO called ONE, again. I’ve got a new doc coming up about the banana business in Camaroon.

My life in concert music has been great lately. An orchestra in Lexington VA is playing The Far Tortoogas. But the most interesting project has been a concert version of the score from Bedford: The Town They Left Behind. It is for orchestra and two actors. Joe Fab worte/assembled all the dialog from the WW2 letters from Ivylynn and John Schenk of Bedford VA. I’ve never done anything like this so I had my doubts as to how it would work. We had our second rehearsal with the actors yesterday and it really works well.

The concerts are this coming Saturday at The Church of the Ephiney in DC and Sunday at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria. – both at 3PM.

Chaise Lounge has been busy. We played a great show in Charleston WV. We have pictures of us at Billie’s Gas and Grub in Flintstone MD. Wondering if we should post them? Not one of us looks like they belong there. The Charleston gig was for the Charleston Jazz Series. It was wonderful.

Two days later we played our sold out shows at Blues Alley here in DC. Also good shows.

Marilyn is singing at a new emotional level that I can’t quite describe. I guess you will just have to hear it. Also we are continuing to work on the new CD. I think it sounds good. Still rough tho. Oh and there is some serious talk about releasing Second Hand Smoke on vinyl. If you have any thoughts on that (ie…would you buy it?) let me know.

That is all for now, other than telling you how great it was to see Drew Brees and the Saints walk all over the Pats and the scowling Tom Brady on Monday night Football.

A Sunday to recover from a very full week of music. Music is, all in all, a very satisfying way to make a living. But still it wears me out. Had a full week of writing for Susan Koch's film. The Other City. I am thru the first pass. Now to send the master editor Jeff Werner, my ruffs. We'll see how he likes what I have done...

On Wednesday, Tommy B., Pete O. and MO and I laid down rhythm tracks for the new Chaise Lounge CD. It was sooooo much fun. Some days it just flows. We got five - count 'em 5!!!! finished in a little over three hours. The engineer is, of course, Ken Schubert. Even he was enthusiastic about this. And Ken is the most placid guy I know. I think his resting pulse is about 30 bpm. Marilyn sang scratch vocals just to make it easy to play. She was sick and generally exhausted and still if I were to press the CD using those vocals I think people would love them. That girl just cannot sing out of tune or with any apparent stress in her voice. Just being around her lowers my blood pressure.

Met with Sonny Izon to look at his new film, Chocolate Soldiers. It is the story of all the African American troops that served in WW2. A million. That surprised me. Of all the pictures of "the greatest generation" you never see any - really any - African American troops. Yet there were a million. The story of the segregation that the Army brought to Europe is heartbreaking. This could be a really good film .

I got a flu shot.

The Redskins play Philly tomorrow night on national TV - Monday night football. I am predicting a horrific outcome.

Over the weekend I went to Atomic Music. What a slice of rock and roll life here in Washington DC. It is a steady stream of people walking in with amplifiers and guitars that smell like someone's basement. In a good way. It's that basement smell of bands getting their songs together. I love that aroma. There is a particular smell of an amp that hasn't been turned on in a while. I guess it is the dust burning off the tubes. I love that smell. Also the smell of a guitar case that locked in the air from the last gig it was on. If it is an older guitar and hasn't been played in a while - it will smell like cigarette smoke. Luis runs this place with the flair of a casino croupier, or a livestock auctioneer. It is amazing how quickly he knows how much an amp, a guitar, or a drum kit, is worth and how much he will be able to re-sell it for. I let a Fender Amp, an old Korg Keyboard and a PA amp go. In return (well.. I had to spend actual cash) I got a new (to me..) Takamine amplified acoustic guitar that is the color of a fake plastic banana. I can see why it didn't sell. It was just waiting for a guy like me to come along. I love this color. It will look so good with a blue suit.

On a more hi-toned note. The Washington Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra had their second performance of "The Far Tortoogas" at Bishop Ireton High School. A much better sounding space. I'm telling you, this orchestra is a jewel! It is a shame that concerts like this don't get reviewed.

Redskins are now officially a joke.

On Monday I went to Cue Recording Studios and recorded drum tracks with Juju. He brought his friend Marcus to play the congas. Juju is a legend. He is the most famous go-go drummer. But he plays everything. Mostly he is touring with Chaka Khan and Roberta Flack now. I was lucky enough to catch him at home and get him into the studio for an afternoon. Eventually these tracks will be played in "The Other City". Listening to him made me want to record a go-go style Cd of jazz standards. Hmmm what an odd thing to want to do? We'll see how long this idea keeps rattling around my head.

Yesterday I did an interview with On Tap magazine. The very nice Ashley Bryant listened to be blather on for an hour. I hope she can make sense of a very non-linear, eposodic style of conversation. I have never been able to work through a conversation in a logical, orderly way.

And for the Chaise Lounge part of this. Tommy , Pete and I will be leaping back into recording rhythm tracks for the new CL CD next week.

RIP Michael Blom. You are truly the wingman to the stars now. You will be missed.

Work is surrounding me. That is generally a very good thing. I function best when I am busy. Here are some things that are coming up.

1. Susan Koch’s new feature doc about AIDS in Washington DC

2. A series theme for a news (duh) show produced by the Newseum. Paul Sparrow is the producer. It is very slick.

3. A promotional video for Bono’s “One” foundation. Produced by Susan Koch and Neil Barret. But NOT shot by him. The footage came from students using flip cams. FYI - filmmaking is generally best left to filmmakers. Just because the technology exists for everyone... that doesn’t make everyone a filmmaker. This is not an elite sort of thing to feel. I am rightfully proud of the field I work in.

4. I am also looking forward to The Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic playing The Far Tortoogas on October 11th and 18th. I love their conductor, Ulysses James. What a cool guy. A man truly dedicated to the discovery of new good music. He should get a medal for the work he does.

But the really fun thing has been buying a CD called “Oliver Nelson: Fantabulous.” It was originally issued in 1964 on the ARGO label. Recorded in Chicago with some famous players, (Grady Tate is on Drums and Phil Woods is on Alto.) butt mostly players I don't know. It is an entirely cool and groovy large band - swinging so hard it makes me laugh out loud. I got this while buying a classic - Oliver Nelson’s “Blues and The Abstract Truth.” As always Amazon popped up a little ad that said “if you like this ... then you will like this too...” Man were they right! I love this record.

Only two things to report this morning:

1. It is beautiful outside. And I plan on staying indoors all day to write music. “Where is the justice,” I ask you?

2. I am busy arranging a mash-up of Sonny and Cher’s “The Beat Goes On” with Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder.” If I was ever looking for a solid ticket to eternal jazz damnation, this is it.

On Friday I got to hear a Washington DC original. Chuck Brown, The Godfather of Go-go. I have heard Chuck play pretty many times now, although not enough to keep up with all the call and response singing that goes on among the real hardcore fans. One thing that always surprises me is how deep his jazz roots go. Also how good a guitarist he is. He was playing a PRS rather than the Gibson 335 that I associate with him on Friday. The show was an outdoor show at the Ronald Reagan building. I know, I know... anyone who has ever been near that building can attest to what a soul-killing architectural nightmare it is. It is truly the worst of the bureaucratic DC cityscape. But Chuck's music is more powerful than any bland building vibe. He was great. He always is. And had the crowd dancing right away. His band was spot on. Brad Clemmens and Greg Boyer on Trumpet and trombone were wonderful. I don't know his drummer's name - or the conga player (indispensable to the go-go beat), but they were as solid as it gets.

Here is something I love about him: One of his standards is his special go-go version of "Moody's Mood." It is worth looking at the lineage of this song. "Moody's Mood" comes from a tenor sax solo the great James Moody took over the changes of "I'm In the Mood For Love" on a recording he made in the '50's. (That cut was still called "I'm in the Mood For Love") That solo was transcribed by one of the great jazz vocalists of all time, King Pleasure, who put words to it and sang it on his own record - calling it "Moody's Mood." That was probably in the early sixties???? Here - 50 years later Chuck Brown has the crowd dancing and singing along to "There I go, there I go, there I go again... Pretty Baby you are the soul that rocks my control." All of his regular fans, many of whom have been listening to him steadily for 40 years, know all those lyrics by heart. I'm not sure I have point here, other than Chuck Brown more than deserves his status as DC legend. And perhaps that I am comforted by how deep his roots go into the jazz heart of Washington DC.

Redskins just lost to Detroit.

The Dick Kaufmann concert at the Atlas theater was a huge success. Dick sang well and the audience LOVED it. Some thoughts on this:

1. The Atlas is foolish to let Scott Burgess go as their house sound guy. He is talented, knows their system and gear. If they start letting independent sound guys in without any supervision, that place will quickly go downhill.

2. The Atlas also in in need of a house production person. How ridiculous it was to be looking for an hour(!) to find someone with a key to the loading dock. Just infuriating.

That theater has the potential of becoming a wonderful performing venue - or being another DC organizational casualty. We will know soon enough.

3. I love playing with great players. Chaise Lounge was Dick's band with a few additional players - all of them great. (Tom Williams - trumpet, Bob Spates - violin, Dan Hovey - guitar) Life feels so good in such solid company. Playing music is like playing tennis for some people. When you are playing with great players, your own playing gets better. Oh and, BTW, I enjoyed being at the piano for this show.

4. The importance of hanging out after the gig is not to be underestimated. We all went to the bar next to the theater and had a few drinks after the show. The bar was the H Street Country Club. I had heard that they were going to put a 9 hole indoor putt-putt golf course in here - where is it? Such a great idea.

5. The importance of a well dressed band: Looking sharp has become a mission with Chaise Lounge.

Ever since our interview with Liane Hansen on NPR, our CD sales have skyrocketed. Well... FOR US... they have skyrocketed. Still, it is pretty cool to have CDbaby request literally hundreds of CDs. Of both CDs: The Early Years and Second Hand Smoke. The other thing that has happened is that a few people have requested the sheet music for our songs. I think that I am going to post lead-sheets for our songs on the CL site. I know that if I was digging around for the music for a song I liked I would LOVE to find an accurate lead-sheet in the right key. Every time I try and buy music online - it turns out to be so difficult I end up going to Dale music and buying a book.

Tonight, Chaise Lounge (plus a few fellow travelers) is backing up Dick Kaufmann at the Atlas Theater here in Washington DC. He will be doing three duets with Marilyn. I will be playing an entire evening at the piano. I am a much better pianist than a guitarist anyway. On board are Dan Hovey on guitar, Tom Williams on trumpet and flugel, Bob Spates on violin, and David Lonkevich on flute. There was a dress rehearsal on Sunday that lasted six hours. The show hits tonight at 8 PM. We are all looking forward to it.

Started work this week on two film projects. One is the theme for a show that the Newseum is producing. Paul Sparrow is in charge. Susan Brooks Kelly is editing. It is a short piece of music but has to be... just so...

Also a film for Susan Koch. More about that as I get into it. It is a terrific film.

I found a batch of used Manhasset music stands on Ebay and bought them today. At some point others will love me for putting all my junky wire stands in the car for emergencies and having a house full of sturdy workman-like music stands.

I almost forgot to listen to this this morning. Luckily I got to tune in to "Weekend Edition" in time to hear Marilyn be absolutely charming with Leane Hansen. Of course I knew this was going to air this morning. What I didn't know was how nicely they would edit out all our "ums" and "ahs," making us sound so comfortable and smooth. And Leane has a way of making one feel comfortable and smart, and yes, smooth. As Mo pointed out, the only thing missing was our best line. When Leane asked us if we thought we were on track for "fame and fortune," I answered that we were just hoping to become "known and solvent." It was a great experience. Take a listen on the NPR site.

Here it is Wednesday. Sept 16th: I am home.

We: the cast, crew and producers put on two readings of The Last Days of Cleopatra on Monday and Tuesday. I am so happy with everyone's performance. I cannot imagine that you could see this and not have some sense that it is a viable commercial and artistic piece of work. There were moments of absolute bliss. If you are reading this and you were not there, I can only say that you should never ever miss an opportunity like this again.

Even the after-party was wonderful. Dick Kaufmann treated us all to drinks across the street at Tredeci. I think the only one of our cast who wasn't able to come was Laura Marie Duncan who had to toddle off to play Nelly Forbush at Lincoln Center. So she had her own enchanted evening. The rest of us stayed to drink and hang on to the Cleo experience as long as possible.

While this was going on I was missing the DC premier of "Coal Country" , Phylis Geller and Mari-Lynn Evans' stunning documentary. I was truly sorry to miss this. Apparently the crowd was great and the response wonderful. This is the second film by these two talented women that I have scored. The New York premier is on October 20th at Town Hall!!!! whoa. The film will be shown along with a concert by Kathy Mattea, Justin Townes Earle, and others who were featured in the film's soundtrack. I won't miss this.

The premier airdate is Oct 24th on Discovery Green.

Last night I met Reggie Marshal at Sweet Rhythm. This old jazz club is in its last week of existence. Sonny Fortune is recording a live cd there for the next few nights. Knowing Reggie allowed me to hang with Sonny for an hour befor the show. What a trip he is! He played wit Elvin, Miles, Cannonball, you name it. And he has the stories. I could have listened to him talk all night. His set- the one I heard- was intense. And I'm pretty sure he was just warming up. His drummer Steve Johns is terrific. Steve has a 13 yr old son named Daryl who has played bass with Sonny. I didn't hear him. But everyone in the band had and agreed that the kid can really play.

This was the perfect break from the Broadway Bubble I've been in. A beautiful unreformed beatnick who sat with us told me she felt sorry for people so square they couldn't dig Sonny's sound.

New York is just grand some nights.

Paul Anthony Stewart as Montgomery Clift, Matt Bogart as Rock Hudson, and Van Hughes as James Dean. They play characters in Liz's mind. Quite an amazing leap that Joe has put into this book. We are rehearsing "I Can Do". The three "imaginary boys" have two songs together. The other is "That's the Kind of Friend". In both they have this very funny chemistry. They are ghosts, or figments of her imagination who don't quite realize they are imaginary. I know that it sounds odd for a musical, but Joe has somehow made this work.

Reggie Marshall is coming to New York tonight to see one of his other clients, Sonny Fortune. I am going to go to Sweet Rhythm (a jazz club here in NYC) to see him with Reggie. Sonny Fortune has been a well know sax player for nearly 50 years. I'm looking forward to this.

Saturday- tomorrow- we also rehearse.

I am watching Steven Skybell and Mark Lotito play Mank and Spyrous. What a hoot! They are like a vaudeville act. Their big number is an eleven O'clock number called “The Way They Should Be Run.“ I hope someday I get to hear this song with a soft-shoe included.

Act II is feeling good. Certainly not enough time in this 29 hour reading to address everything that is screaming for attention. But the cast is so good - top to bottom- that they are able to pull it off.

We are moving on to the last song of Act I “Everything I Want” It sounds huge. Really amazing to hear the amount of volume a roomful of good singers can put out! Gia Mora is sailing out over the chorus just like she should. her chemistry with Clarke is great.

It is appropriately grey and rainy here today. This is the eighth anniversary of 9/11. Down at the site of the former World Trade Center there is the dedication of the new 9/11 memorial. I watched for a while on TV as all of the names of the victims were being read.

Yesterday at 1PM we read through the first Act. For having only two days of rehearsal, it went pretty well. The thing that makes me happiest about this is that I think it holds together as a piece of theater. Having a new cast, we now know that these words and these songs are not dependent on any one performer. The show works on its own. There are, of course, innumerable things to fix in this show that works. Meg Guroff asked me yesterday when it would be done. I abandoned that question in theater a long time ago. There is no “done.” I heard yesterday from Mel Morgan that they are still making adjustments to Phantom of the Opera. That show has been running for 20 years. That notion is contrary to most of my work-a-day psyche. I am at heart a completionist. I make lists and take great joy in crossing off the items that I have completed.

After rehearsal I came back to the Leo House to work on the show for a few hours. Then went to see “Spottiswoode and his Enemies.” They were at the Living Room on Ludlow St in the Village. Nice listening room. He played all new material - really none of his fallback killer songs. And it was all good. He is a really good lyricist and an incredibly theatrical performer. I can see why his band has been willing to work with him for so many years. Like many of his fans, I don't understand why he is not more of a national figure. I know a few of his band members. John Young on bass. Candace DiBartolo on sax, Kevin Cordt on trumpet. And Wiley McMahon on guitar. Wiley is one of the most artistic, interesting guitarists around. Their performance at times bordered on the psychedelic. Something called Purple River, Yellow Moon??? The band bus trip to the Center of the Earth?? Whoa! I love the fact that the whole band can get into it with total conviction. I invited Johnathon to the Cleo reading on Monday.

Today we are continuing the read-thru. Starting with Act II. There are changes in the song “Toast.” Hell there are changes in everything. When this is all over I will need to see a compiled score to get a handle on all the changes. I have just been writing, sending pdfs to Mel, and then wondering what version we are currently singing.....

Just started with Laura Marie Duncan. She is playing Sybil Burton. She is currently in South Pacific at Lincoln Center. She plays one of the nurses, and understudies for Nelly Forbush. She is completely confident of her ability to learn new material quickly. Her featured song is called “I Know Him.” It is a song that could steal the show. She is singing to Eddie Fisher (Fred Berman).

Today we will have our first read-thru at 1PM. It should be instructive. Although everyone here is a very quick study, they are still reading the notes. Something like this doesn't really take shape until the actors are off-book ( ie. having memorized their part) . I am hoping that the songs will start to find their natural balances- between chorus and soloist; and that the songs themselves will start to seep into their psyches a little.

Yesterday Clarke learned "That's a Laugh" That was the song where he had to make some determination of how British "laugh" was. Was it "lof", "laaf" or about 20 other places I can't even hear. I'll be looking forward to how that solidified overnight.

At the end of the day yesterday, we decided that "Toast", the opening number to Act II needed work. So last night I re-wrote the end of the song. We'll see today how that came out. Luckily, I am allowed to use the piano at the hotel I am staying at. Otherwise, I would have been working only on this laptop, and that is a drag. In my heart of hearts I am a paper and pencil guy. But I am not crazy. My life changed for the better once I got the Sibelius notation software. And now I can't imagine how I got by with just my paper and pencils.

I'm staying at the Leo House on 23rd st. It is an odd place to stay. It is sort of a Catholic boarding house/hotel. There is a dining hall ( could that be the Refectory?) on the second floor and they serve breakfast everyday - the buffet is $9. Today I played piano for the breakfast crowd to thank Sister Cathlene, who allowed me to use the piano. It was like a cocktail gig. I've played a million of them.... "thank you very much, we'll be here all week, Try the veal." It has always been a weird comfort to me to know that if you can play the Cole Porter songbook etc, you can always make a living.

I talked to Cristen Paige yesterday. She is playing Edie Sedgwick in a piece at Yale next month. And man, has she done her research! Edie was one of the stars of Andy Warhol's Factory, and a casualty those times. She also has done her homework on Liz Taylor.

In these 29 hour readings, there is barely enough time for the cast to learn the songs. It seems that the actual play gets pretty short shrift. Today at least , Joe got a chance to work on a few scenes with the actors. I love watching him work with actors. His book is very cool and I can hardly wait for the time when he can really dig into the staging. the actual performance of the lines.

At 2 Pm Clarke Thorell and Gia Mora went over the scene that leads up to and includes " Let It Rain". They both sing the hell out of that song. What was more interesting to me was listening to Joe direct the scene. Beyond his calm ability to get the performance out of the actors- he has an encyclopedic knowledge of Liz, Dick, the filming of Cleopatra, and the entire culture of 1962. Watching Joe and Clarke adjust the degrees or Britishness ( really Welshness) in his accent is a study in the control that actors have over their delivery.

Here is our cast:
Gia Mora- Elizabeth Taylor
John Bolton - Vic
Clarke Thorell- Richard Burton
Laura Marie Duncan- Sybil
Paul Anthony Stewart - Montgomery Clift
Matt Bogart - Rock Hudson
Van Hughes - James Dean
Mark Lotito- Spyrous
Steven Skybell- Joe Mankiewicz
Nick Spangler- Timmy
Jill Abramovitz- Ensemble
Fred Berman- Ensemble
Ben Crawford- Ensemble
Marya Grandy- Ensemble
Cristen Paige- Ensemble
Craig Waletzko- Ensemble

An addendum to my story yesterday about all the actresses lined up for Beauty and the Beast. They got to sing 8 bars. Let me repeat that ..." They only got to sing eight bars" !!!! I have never heard of that. 16 maybe. What on earth can you tell about a person, or a voice in 8 bars? This is no business for the faint of heart.

Last night I got called to write a commercial back in DC. If they can wait for me to get back I will probably do it. This is only worth mentioning because it seemed like such a jolt, shaking me out of my Broadway cocoon. I realized that I haven't read a paper since I've been here. Really it has only been two days. But I NEVER go without reading the paper!

Here is a picture of what it looks like before the actors arrive: 14 chairs with 14 music stands. There are pencils, hi-liters and Ricola cough drops. The stage managers, Mel and Tiffany arrive at 9 AM to set up computers and printers. Chris Littlefield arrives around 9:30. He is always early and prepared. The Actors will show up about 9:55AM for their 10 AM hit. They are never late. Like musicians, they learn that lesson early on.

When I first started working with Chris Littlefield on this show ( Around the beginning of the year. ) I tried to rhyme "dream" with "scene" . He looked at me , shook his head, and said " That is a false rhyme." To me, at the time, that seemed incredibly fussy. But during the next six months of working with him I learned that he is exactly right. There is a right way to write this music and these lyrics. He has been adamant in his refusal to accept weak work.. When I was first agonizing over these seemingly small things I said something like, " These are just tiny details" . He stopped and looked at me and said, " The details aren't the details" . THIS is quotable. Or maybe the title of his first book. Suffice to say, he is bringing this same attention to detail to his work with the singers. And it shows in their performance.

Ben "Shrek" Crawford just showed up. Everyone is so happy for him. I think he starts as the lead in Shrek on Nov 9th.

We are back in the studio. I am listening to John Bolton play "Vic". He is spectacular. And Chris Littlefield is doing an wonderful job. I just sit here in amazement as little Mel Morgan moves actors around like chess pieces. Actors arrive, actors leave, they sit in different configurations for each song. It just flows right along--- so far without many hiccups.

I am realizing that what I really like is only writing this stuff. I don't need to have much to do with the rehearsing of it. Probably, that means that I am not so much of a theater person. Maybe just a theater music composer. My job here: I am really here as some sort of quality control agent. I try and stay on top of the times when we all feel it needs to be transposed, fix little note mistakes etc, But largely I just sit and enjoy it all. And now blog.

Note: there is no shortage of tenors in New York. The baritones are a more precious commodity. And basses? I've never heard one. The girls seem to be able to sing anything.

Oh. This was frightening: When we got in this morning they were auditioning for Beauty and the Beast. (They still are). The entire sixth floor was FILLED with actresses. Miles of beautiful, and probably talented, 21 year old girls. Oh my, what a daunting thing for each of them. How on earth do you keep your ego from crumbling to psychic dust in the face of a hundred other people who can do almost exactly what you do?

Note to self: The score and the script HAVE to have the same lyrics! When there is a discrepancy you can just watch the next 10 minutes of your rehearsal dribble away.

Our Liz, Gia Mora, just got here. She doesn't play the diva at all. I'm so glad that she has this part. We had a chance to go over the music back in Washington. Her ability to learn a LOT of music quickly is just amazing to me. But this room is filled with people who make their livings by being able to do just that. Fred Berman is able to hear any part and remember it. Matt Bogart, same.

There are a few new faces that I have not met yet. Steven Skybell is playing Mank. I've not met him yet. Looking forward to that. In our last reading we had Brad Oscar play that role. He was pretty damn amazing. Looking forward to Steven's take on that character.

We started rehearsal today at Chelsea Studios for our 29 hour reading of The Last Days of Cleopatra. This rehearsal studio at 151 West 26th street has to have been here since the Gershwins were rehearsing “Lady Be Good”. The wooden floors have ruts a half inch deep from so many years of pushing upright pianos around. And I dont think that much has changed over the past 80 years of Broadway. Maybe on stage, but not in this part of the process. There are still a few lines of folding chairs in front of a piano. The actors have music and music director, Christopher Littlefield in our case, sits and painstakingly teaches the music to the actors. There is no quicker way to get this done. There are computers involved now and we print parts out instead of having them hand copied. And everyone- really everyone- is constantly checking their cell phone. After all , actors make their living by answering the phone. But at it's essential core, this process is the same process that has gone on ever since musical theater existed on Broadway. I'm really happy about that. It makes me feel like I am in some sort of tradition or continuum. There is comfort in that. I feel that part of the anxiety of putting up a show like this can be softened by believing in “the process”.

The actors are great. Some are stars, some should be, some will be. Ben Crawford, who is just singing in the chorus on this show, just got the role of Shrek in ... Shrek duh.. John Bolton as Vic is soooo good. Fred Berman is an amazing talent. I'll try and remember everyone's names over the course of the week.

I spend most of my time sitting at a table with Joe Calarco, my artistic partner in this. He wrote the book and is the director. He is impressive. He keeps the entire arc of the show in his head at all times. And the book is such finely tuned , tight theatrical vehicle. He also happens to be a really good guy.

The other people on the periphery of this rooom are Laurie Issmembert, one of the producers. and two stage managers, Melanie and Tiffany. I have learned that you cannot do this without a competent stage manager. They can take this process from a messy chaos to a smoothly chugging rehearsal machine.

Chris Littlefield is our music director. I am astonished at much control of this project I am happy to cede to him. He is fussy and sometimes drives me crazy, but I have learned a huge amount from him about how to write for the theater. And he has a great rapport with the actors. It is nice to watch him run these numbers with the chorus. We are now in the process of figuring out the first song of the show “Lucky Liz” . There is actually very little music in it. It's mostly dialog with little bits of music interspersed. 2 years ago I would not have been able to be comfortable with a “construction” like this. But I guess I totally trust Joe and his theatrical instincts.

I know this is music. But it is a world away from my normal world of concert music, or film music or Chaise Lounge. And I will be living in this world for the next week.

More later -C