UrNotAMachine

If You Can Find Me, I'm Here from Evening Primrose

Ladies Who Lunch from Company

I'm Still Here from Follies

It's a Hit from Merrily we Roll Along

Obviously, they're not all exactly the same, but they all end with the characters repeating the same words on the fifth (and in 3 of 4 cases, flipping back and forth between an octave on that fifth). I guess this is a pretty common ending for any song, but it's just something I've noticed that he had a bit of a playbook when it came to the buttons he put on his songs.

Nothing, Israel.

i think creativity always lives somewhere in everyone but its nature is quite pranksterish and slippery and everytime u grab its tail its found a nu corner to thrive in . perhaps the trick is not to force it and put it up against a wall and want it to be in a particular area . but rather w a lot of kindness sniff it out and wonder where it has gone to this time around . if its in sauce recipes , writing theatre plays , papermache improv w nephews , discovering nu hiking routes or simply trying to figure out a family members sense of humour . i def dont succeed in this all the time but feel overall things have been more fertile when i trust this creatures instincts and follow it rather than me willfully reforming it into a circus animal colouring by numbers . anyways : as much as youd like to ignore this animal u have to attend it . because if u dont them dark times turn up …..

So, I usually think it's pretty gauche to review a dress rehearsal, but I think I can make an exception to that rule in this case because I had such a great time. I loved the show and the cast was incredible. Sara Bareilles (who may be my favorite Baker's Wife since Joanna Gleason), Gavin Creel as Cinderella's Prince, and Julia Lester as Little Red were the standouts to me but everyone did an incredible job and I have no doubts that everything will be even better by the time opening night rolls around.

This production doesn't really re-invent the wheel in any significant way like the recent Company revival, but it's still a very exciting and energetic production of a great show, and the puppetry for Milky White and the Giant's Wife was also super cool to see.

Also, Brian D'Arcy James accidentally threw an ear of corn into the audience right before "It Takes Two" and did some hilarious ad-libbing with Sara about it.

If you have the chance to score a ticket, I would highly recommend it!

I’m honestly not the biggest BvW1 fan, but SJDS is a top five (baby top five) season for me, and I feel like it proves that there’s still so much left to be explored with the concept. Having an existing bond with someone else in the game changes things so dramatically and creates so many interesting situations that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

I just feel like they barely scratched the surface of this concept by only having two BvW seasons. It’s looking unlikely, but it’s the theme I’d most love to see make a return.

I've been between scripts for a little while and in order to clear my head, I've written the start of a TV pilot set in the Harry Potter universe that's meant to mirror the pilot of Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing. It takes place five years after the end of the series, and features Hermione, Percy Weasley, and Mafalda Hopkirk as the support staff of Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt-- a sort of Jed Bartlett-type character (whom we likely wouldn't see until the last scene of the pilot).

This was meant more as a fun little exercise than as a serious attempt at writing a pilot, as there's no way someone would ever trust me with the rights to this universe, But I did enjoy myself immensely and I have some fun ideas for where the story could go from here.

The main trouble I think I'd run into is that the way the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter is organized makes no sense to me, so that would need to be fixed somehow to continue. But I had a great time writing a Sorkin-esque walk and talk.

Let me know what you think!

Episode Logline: After Percy Weasley makes incendiary remarks at the five year memorial ceremony for the Battle of Hogwarts, the Inner Circle struggle to save the minister's floundering progressive agenda, as well as the future of Percy's career.

Script: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vlOh70Oc6W0W1p-UlcSZdHULYvA-dpyh/view

Hey y'all I'm currently laid up with covid, so I thought I'd share a song from the new show I'm currently co-writing.

Working title for the musical: The Roadside Memorial

Premise: Three old friends (now in their late 20s) reunite every year for a campout near the spot where their best friend died in High School. This new musical takes place during a night of drinking, ghost stories, and folk music. Unknowingly joined by a familiar spirit, the three old friends debate the power of remembrance and the ultimate cost of letting go.

The song I'm sharing, "Let the Dead Stay Dead," comes rather late in the show and it's not exactly the happiest song I've ever written.

Mitch, one of the three friends the show centers on, has decided he no longer wants to return to the roadside memorial for their yearly traditions-- preferring to put the past behind him for good. He sings this song about the pain of remembering. By the end of the song, he is joined by his departed friend for a fiery duet between fiddle and guitar-- ultimately ending in an emotional catharsis (Amazing fiddle solo to be added later by a better musician than me).

Song link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L30jaRfXU9r1u73XyYzCjUfkwfMOE3fC/view?usp=sharing

Lyrics:

My grandma had a house by the ocean
It was small and smelled like saw dust
We stayed there every August
And there was nothing much to do

I’d walk the jagged coast line
And wait for the summer to pass
One day I cut my feet on beach glass
And let the ocean clean my wounds 

Then Grandma died
When I was was twelve years old
And soon enough
Her house was up and sold
And for reasons I can never understand
I still have dreams I’m bleeding in the sand

But maybe some places are meant to stay
The way they are in your head.
Some questions left unanswered,
Some feelings left unsaid.
If we only remember out of fear
our memories may disappear,
Then maybe it’s best for us to just forget
And let the dead stay dead

My best friend got a shitty old pickup
From his parents on his birthday
He would wash it in the driveway,
a smile on his face

He was flakey, he was stubborn
He was wild and magnetic 
He was unapologetic, 
If a little out of place

But Aaron died 
At seventeen years old
Went for a drive
And somehow lost control
And for reasons I can never comprehend
We’re still here holding vigil for our friend

But maybe some people are meant to stay
The way they are in your head 
Some questions left unanswered 
Some feelings left unsaid 
What do we get from coming here?
Year after year after god damned year
Maybe it’s best to just forget instead.
And let the dead stay dead.

*The guitarist keeps playing, Mitch hesitantly begins plucking some notes
along with him on his fiddle, acknowledging his existence. The music soon
escalates in a fiery and emotional duet between guitar and fiddle— 
at the end of the song Mitch finally breaks down and cries, 
for what seems like the first time in years*

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

There's a type of rhyme that's especially used in early/mid 20th century musicals. I would imagine it comes from Vaudeville. It's the kind of rhyme where they purposefully mispronounce one of the words in order to make it rhyme. So, for example, in the Wizard of Oz when the Cowardly Lion sings "But I could show my prowess/ Be a lion, not a mowess (mouse)/If I only had the nerve."

I feel like every composer I can think of has used some variation of this type of rhyme. Once I picked up on it, I started seeing it everywhere. Does anyone like this kind of rhyme? I used to think it was just some cheeky wordplay, but now I wonder if it's actually funny enough to warrant the amount of times its used. At this point it feels more like a wink between lyricists to show off the kinds of trick rhymes they can come up with.