Sunday, October 01, 2006
Steinhardt Triumph
...and a triumph it honestly was: probably the best show I have ever seen produced at NYU, at Tisch or anywhere else! URINETOWN, last night, at the Frederick Loewe Theater on West Fourth Street....really a terrific student production, directed by the obviously gifted John Simpkins, a fellow teacher of mine in the Steinhardt program! WOW, DID HE DO A GREAT JOB, as did his terrific choreographer Jennifer Werner....wonderful work !
And the cast was so exciting! Pretty much all of them threw themselves into the passionately physical style of the show and made it their own, and the resulting characters were real, engaging, funny, sly, and totally entertaining...also, the company sounded wonderful, under the musical direction of James Cunningham.....James plays for my Song Analysis class as well, but I had no idea he was capable of such intricate and strong orchestral work and conducting....impressive! I was really proud of two students of mine from last semester: Jenna Dallaco and Lars Vercelli....! YAY! Terrific character work...and they sounded terrific! Gorgeous!
Peter and I had a perfect time there, and i felt proud to be part of Steinhardt School...ut I felt that after working rehearsals for Bill Wesbrook's MERRY WIDOW as well, last semester...there is just really sound and good work that goes on at Steinhardt! And the kids are being well taught. From John Simpkins works alone, on this URINETOWN, I can teach effective classes for the rest of this semester, based on what was shown by the students in that work....and all my students, who are required to see every show will have seen and will understand what I talk about when I praise the physical work and committment of the URINETOWN cast. It all adds up when you see it on a stage.
This morning , I spoke with Judy Kuhn, not only a beautiful actress/singer but also a truly good teacher, and she agreed to do a Master Class with my Song Analysis kids this coming Thursday, since I have to miss class to go up to a peace retreat at Menla....I do hope it all works out, since the kids will get a great deal from working with her, and I trust her style and approach, to do with breath and language.
And I can tell that Judy really wants to teach more. So I do hope it all works out.
That way I will also fell less guilty about missing class. I do hate to do that. But this I must do....
LAUGHING MATTERS was even more powerful on Friday, and by the time we finished reducing that full house to tears, we were all bonded as a company, and I actually miss some of the nice people I met on that job....terrifc talents. And ,boy, did we decimate that group of 90 or so people!!! Tears flowed and laughter rocked the room!
A great piece of work, that LAUGHING MATTERS! Hope it goes somewhere farther...whether or not I am further involved with it...that is how much i truly love the piece. It tells an important story. I was very fortunate to be part of it.
And the cast was so exciting! Pretty much all of them threw themselves into the passionately physical style of the show and made it their own, and the resulting characters were real, engaging, funny, sly, and totally entertaining...also, the company sounded wonderful, under the musical direction of James Cunningham.....James plays for my Song Analysis class as well, but I had no idea he was capable of such intricate and strong orchestral work and conducting....impressive! I was really proud of two students of mine from last semester: Jenna Dallaco and Lars Vercelli....! YAY! Terrific character work...and they sounded terrific! Gorgeous!
Peter and I had a perfect time there, and i felt proud to be part of Steinhardt School...ut I felt that after working rehearsals for Bill Wesbrook's MERRY WIDOW as well, last semester...there is just really sound and good work that goes on at Steinhardt! And the kids are being well taught. From John Simpkins works alone, on this URINETOWN, I can teach effective classes for the rest of this semester, based on what was shown by the students in that work....and all my students, who are required to see every show will have seen and will understand what I talk about when I praise the physical work and committment of the URINETOWN cast. It all adds up when you see it on a stage.
This morning , I spoke with Judy Kuhn, not only a beautiful actress/singer but also a truly good teacher, and she agreed to do a Master Class with my Song Analysis kids this coming Thursday, since I have to miss class to go up to a peace retreat at Menla....I do hope it all works out, since the kids will get a great deal from working with her, and I trust her style and approach, to do with breath and language.
And I can tell that Judy really wants to teach more. So I do hope it all works out.
That way I will also fell less guilty about missing class. I do hate to do that. But this I must do....
LAUGHING MATTERS was even more powerful on Friday, and by the time we finished reducing that full house to tears, we were all bonded as a company, and I actually miss some of the nice people I met on that job....terrifc talents. And ,boy, did we decimate that group of 90 or so people!!! Tears flowed and laughter rocked the room!
A great piece of work, that LAUGHING MATTERS! Hope it goes somewhere farther...whether or not I am further involved with it...that is how much i truly love the piece. It tells an important story. I was very fortunate to be part of it.
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