Stories » Is Freaky Friday coming to TV? / LaughingPlace.com

Stories for August 04, 2020

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    Simply put, Max Richter is one of the most successful composers of our time / ABC - Australia
     
    Posted At : July 31, 2020 12:00 AM

    His music sinks deep into the question not only of who we are, but who we aspire to be. His works have been streamed over a billion times and, perhaps more importantly than that, he is the composer to whom we turn as we try to find truth in this world. His new album, Voices, is just out, and it is a work almost beyond categorisation. Voices started as a small idea ten years ago when Richter composed a short piece called "Mercy" in response to events around Guantanamo Prison. Richter's aim was to write a piece to think to, a piece which would provoke us, inspire us, beguile us, something within which we could let our minds go to the most important things in our world. And he has succeeded. The original piece "Mercy" is now at the end of the album, which combines Richter's new compositions with readings, in many different languages, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration was created after the horrors of the Second World War. "All human beings are born free and equal, in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience, and should act towards one another in a spirit of community." Ed Ayres interviews Max Richter  READ & LISTEN TO ABC - Australia

  • Maria Schneider sends a strong message about mass manipulation on 'Data Lords' / SOMETHING ELSE!
     
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Even a globally-renowned, multiple Grammy-winning orchestra such as Maria Schneider's is difficult to fund in the 21st century, and she has to rely on commissions and the crowdsourcing website ArtistShare to bring her projects to the public. Data Lords is Schneider's fifth album in a row she's made using ArtistShare and her first since 2015's autobiographical The Thompson Fields, an album that racked up a bunch of 5-star reviews. Schneider had a different theme in mind for her next album, one that expresses society's loss of control and identity due to the massive, aggressive and stealthy collection of personal data from tech giants such as Google and Facebook, and how much harder it is to retreat to the natural world, that part of our being still unaffected by the ugly side effects of technology. There's a message in all music; how successful is the music depends a lot on how effective it is in carrying out its message. Maria Schneider wanted to send a strong message about the threat of a mass manipulation of humanity with Data Lords. Through her high standard for meticulous composing and arranging, delivered by some of jazz's best musicians, she gets the message across in perhaps the grandest way possible. READ THE FULL SOMETHING ELSE! REVIEW

  • Voguing meets classical in new Chad Lawson video / 98.7WFMT
     
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Music and motion come together beautifully in a new video featuring the work of pianist and composer Chad Lawson. Explaining the link between the images and his music, Lawson quotes painter Edgar Degas: "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." The video for Prelude in D Major, directed by Agostina Gálvez, features the dancers Jason Rodriguez and José Lapaz Rodriguez. Jason has become the new face of the art form of voguing, bringing his distinctive moves to the television series Pose, set in the ballroom scene of the 1980s. In the video, the two dancers perform a series of controlled falls, elaborate turns, and fluid movements as they vogue to Lawson's Prelude in D Major against the backdrop of New York City, merging modern classical music with contemporary dance.  From 98.7WFMT: Chicago - WATCH THE VIDEO

  • Daniel Barenboim - Elgar 'Sea Pictures,' 'Falstaff' is the WFMT: Featured New Release
     
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Daniel Barenboim and Decca Classics continue their acclaimed Elgar series, recording Sea Pictures again after four decades and paired with the symphonic poem Falstaff. Recorded live in the winter of 2019, the album features the Berlin Staatskapelle and mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča in her first recording of Sea Pictures. For July 30 2020, Daniel Barenboim Elgar -Sea Pictures, Falstaff is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'

  • Max Richter's 'Voices' takes its theme from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights / iNews
     
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    There are enough records in the world already, thinks the ­composer Max Richter. So when he writes music, there has to be a "good reason". So far, those have included the Kosovo War, which he tackled on his debut album Memoryhouse in 2002, the Iraq War, the subject of 2004's The Blue Notebooks, and the 7/7 bombings, on 2010's Infra. 2015's eight-and-a-half-hour concept album Sleep was intended as a break from the pressures of the digital age and became a classical phenomenon, streamed more than 450 million times. His latest, Voices, began with the contemplative violin and piano-led "Mercy", which takes its inspiration from the "Torture Memos", which revealed how prisoners were treated at Guantánamo Bay, that had left him "dumbstruck". "It felt like the world had gone wrong in a new way, and I wrote ‘Mercy' as a way to figure that out. A bigger piece of protest music was set in motion right then." The resulting album takes its theme from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, which set the aspirational blueprint for better times after the Second World War. Music has always been a rebellion for Richter. He was born in Germany, and his family moved to Bedford when he was four. He took piano lessons, but dropped out of school at 16 because he hated it. READ THE FULL iNews ARTICLE

  • Sharon Isbin releases a pair of albums, one with her in the lead and the other in a unique quartet setting / Jazz Weekly
     
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Guitarist Sharon Isbin first caught my eye when I saw her in a trio setting where she held her own with Stanley Jordan and Romero Lubambo at a concert at CSUN. Here, she releases a pair of albums, one with her in the lead and the other in a unique quartet setting. The first, Affinity, has her in solo, duet and concert settings all to rich rewards. The feature piece is Chris Brubeck's "Affinity: Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra" which includes intricate and romantic fingerwork with modern Iberian tones and sweeping strings. Leo Brouwer's "El Decameron Negro" is darker and filled with shadows, while her duet with guitarist Colin Davin on "Waltz No. 3 Natalia" is a joyful conversation. On her own, she displays a strong touch, crisp and affirmative on  ""Balada de laDoncella Enamorada" and with mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard gets folksy and minstrel'd for "Listen…" and "This Night of Love…". A wide stringed palate. Quite eclectic is the four piece team of Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Bangash, Ayaan Ali Bangash and Iben for a handful of premiers for guitar and sarod, which is essentially a mini-sitar. Kavthekar plays tablas on all tracks with isben, while the three sarod players take turns teaming up. Kavthekar guides the team on the concise "Love Avalanche" with mysterious strings in abundance, while rapid fingers race and dance to a rich climax to "By The Moon". The strings bend to almost exhaustion on "Sacred Evening" and while they gallup to the finish lne on the bluesy "Romancing Earth". Southern Asia tones and harmonies meld with Western musings like a rich sauce. SEE THE Jazz Weekly PAGE

  • Jimmy Heath approaches the eight tracks on 'Love Letter' with keen sensitivity / THE REHEARSAL STUDIO
     
    Posted At : July 30, 2020 12:00 AM

    Jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath died this past January 19 at the age of 93. That means that he lived through just about every genre of twentieth-century jazz. His personal involvement in making jazz can be traced back to performances with both Howard McGhee and Dizzy Gillespie. A little over a week ago Verve released his final album entitled Love Letter. There are only eight tracks, all of which are ballad classics, including songs written by Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, and Gordon Parks (who is probably better known for his work in photography and film). Heath's rhythm section includes Kenny Barron on piano, David Wong on bass, and Lewis Nash on drums. For some tracks the combo is augmented by Russell Malone on guitar and/or Monte Croft on vibraphone. The album also features three "special guests." Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis joins Heath for a duo account of Dorham's "La Mesha." In addition two of the leading vocalists of the current century join the group. Both of them sing songs by Parks, "Left Alone" presented by Cécile McLorin Salvant and Gregory Porter delivering "Don't Misunderstand." The focus of listening deserves to be centered on Heath himself. While there is no question that Heath approaches these eight tracks with keen sensitivity to the tunes themselves, there is nothing intellectual about the foundational rhetoric. READ THE FULL REHEARSAL STUDIO REVIEW

Top 10 for Aug

Is Freaky Friday coming to TV? / LaughingPlace.com

Posted: May 4, 2017 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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Disney's Freaky Friday musical is apparently looking to leap from the stage to the small screen. Playbill reports that casting notice indicated that the show is being adapted for television and will shoot this fall. The book for the musical, which debuted in Arlington, Virginia last year, was written by Bridget Carpenter and the score was penned by Tom Kitt and Kevin Yorkey. Freaky Friday is currently playing the Cleveland Playhouse through May 20th and is slated to run at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas from June 2nd to July 2nd.

The cast recording on Walt Disney Records, features the book by Bridget Carpenter (TV's "Friday Night Lights" and "Parenthood") and the score by the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning team of Tom Kitt (music) and Brian Yorkey (lyrics), creators of the celebrated Broadway musicals Next to Normal and If/Then, Freaky Friday had its world premiere at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA in fall 2016. The production was directed by two-time Tony nominee (Rocky Horror Show and Memphis) and artistic director of the world-renowned La Jolla Playhouse Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys; On Your Feet!). 

SEE THE LaughingPlace.com PAGE

Crossover Media Projects with Cast Albums

  • Cast Albums

    Oklahoma

    In 1943, Decca Broadway released the first-ever cast album of all time. The musical was Rodgers and Hammerstein's groundbreaking Oklahoma!. Fast forward 76 years, the newly-relaunched Decca Broadway, part of Verve Label Group, announces the release of the new cast recording for the revival of Oklahoma! 

    The 2019 revival of Oklahoma! is making history as the first time the Rodgers and Hammerstein estate has allowed new arrangements of the original score. The New York Times said of these new versions, "The well-known melodies have been reimagined – by the brilliant orchestrator and arranger Daniel Kluger – with the vernacular throb and straightforwardness of country and western ballads." Daniel Fish's reimagined revival of Oklahoma! officially opened April 7 at Circle in the Square Theatre. The cast is led by Rebecca Naomi Jones as Laurey and Damon Daunno as Curly and the cast album will be produced by Dean Sharenow and Daniel Kluger.   

  • Cast Albums

    Tootsie

    In 1943, Decca Broadway released the first-ever cast album of all time. The musical was Rodgers and Hammerstein's groundbreaking Oklahoma!. Fast forward 76 years, the newly-relaunched Decca Broadway, part of Verve Label Group, announces the release of the new cast recording of the hit musical Tootsie. 

    The new comedy musical Tootsie, adapted from the 1982 film, began previews on Broadway March 29, following an acclaimed out-of-town tryout in Chicago last fall. Variety called Tony-winner David Yazbek's score "strikingly over-the-top: You know something's right when the music itself feels witty." Meanwhile, The Chicago Tribune commented, "The sound has a movie-score quality… many of his tempos are arrestingly up – so much so…that they keep amping the pleasures of the piece." Tootsie officially opens at the Marquis Theatre April 23. Tony nominee Santino Fontana leads the cast as Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime – as the star of a new Broadway musical.

    TOOTSIE features an original score by Tony Award-winner DAVID YAZBEK (The Band's Visit, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), a book by ROBERT HORN (13; Dame Edna, Back with a Vengeance), choreography by Tony Award nominee DENIS JONES (Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas), and musical direction by ANDREA GRODY (The Band's Visit). TOOTSIE will be directed by eight-time Tony Award nominee and Olivier Award winner SCOTT ELLIS (She Loves Me, On the Twentieth Century). 

  • Cast Albums

    RENT - Live FOXTV Event

    Sony Masterworks Broadway announces today's release of RENT – ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK OF THE FOX TELEVISION EVENT, featuring music from the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT, as performed by the star-studded cast of FOX's television event, the soundtrack is produced by Stephen Oremus, executive-produced by Marc Platt and co-produced by Derik Lee.

    The soundtrack features performances by actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens (Maureen Johnson), singer/songwriter Jordan Fisher (Mark Cohen), recording artist Tinashe (Mimi Marquez), actress Kiersey Clemons (Joanne Jefferson), newcomer and singer/songwriter Brennin Hunt (Roger Davis), R&B/Pop superstar Mario (Benjamin Coffin III), performer Valentina (Angel Dumont Schunard) and Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Brandon Victor Dixon (Tom Collins).  Additionally, Keala Settleperforms the iconic solo from "Seasons of Love."

  • Cast Albums

    The Prom

    THE PROM – ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING is available on from Sony Masterworks Broadway.  Produced by Scott M. Riesett and Tony Award Nominee Matthew Sklar, with music by Sklar and lyrics by four-time Tony Award Nominee Chad Beguelin, the album is also available to stream and download everywhere now.  The Prom cast celebrated the release with two CD signing events – at the annual BroadwayCon fan convention and at Theatre Circle.

  • Cast Albums

    Head Over Heels

    The producers of Head Over Heels, the new musical comedy featuring the iconic songs of The Go-Go's – the most successful female rock band of all time, and Sony Masterworks Broadway today release The Original Broadway Cast Recording.  Included in the 20-track cast album is a true bonus from The Go-Go's themselves: an exclusive new recording of one of the band's most popular songs, "This Town," which marks their first studio recording in more than 17 years since their album God Bless The Go-Go's (2000). The track, produced by Scott Sigman, was recorded exclusively for the Broadway collection by members Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine and Jane Wiedlin.  The album is produced by Scott M. Riesett and Tom Kitt with co-producers Louise Gund and Christine Russell, engineered by Isaiah Abolin and Lawrence Manchester, and was recorded at the DiMenna Center in New York City on August 26-28.

  • Cast Albums

    Desperate Measures

    The Original Cast Recording from the hit musical comedy Desperate Measures is now available digitallyfrom Masterworks Broadway, with the CD set for release August 10.  With music by David Friedman (Listen to My Heart) and lyrics by Peter Kellogg (Anna Karenina), the album is produced by 7 time Grammy and Tony NomineeRobert Sher (Patti LuPone's Gypsy, Daniel Radcliffe's How To Succeed…) with liner notes by Peter Filichia.  The album is Executive Produced by Mary Cossette (The Will Rogers Follies; Woody Sez; Carol Welsman'sWhat'Cha Got Cookin'?) and Willette Klausner (The Band's Visit; Smokey Joe's Café; Latin History For Morons). Described by the Huffington Post as "a good old-fashioned musical comedy… a happy surprise of a show filled with enjoyable songs," Desperate Measures is currently playing at New World Stages in New York City and tickets are on sale at: www.DesperateMeasuresMusical.com

  • Cast Albums

    SpongeBob SquarePants - Original Cast Recording

    The Original Cast Recording of SpongeBob SquarePants – The New Musical - album features a score of original songs unlike anything Broadway has ever heard and is produced by Scott Riesett and Tom Kitt, with executive producers Scott Farthing, Doug Cohn and Susan Vargo. A special two-LP vinyl version of the recording will be released November 3, in anticipation of the show's Broadway performances which begin November 6 at the Palace Theater in New York City.

    20 TOTAL
    SYND:     NPR/First Listen
    Direct: SiriusXM
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Hartford CT, AL(Statewide)
    INTER: UK
    Online: Stage Buddy, Affinity, The Reviews Hub, Britishtheatre.com