http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html Tony Asaro: Updates/Blog Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:08:26 -0700 http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#10 http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#10 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#9
OUR COUNTRY will play at the Robert Moss Theatre as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. For those of you who live in the NYC metro area and have yet to get tickets, just go to the festivity website:

http://www.planetconnectionsfestivity.com/shows.html

Scroll down to OUR COUNTRY (look for the boots!) and choose your performance date:
Sunday, June 21 at 4:30
Wednesday, June 24 at 4:30
Friday, June 26 at 7:00
Saturday, June 27 at 8:00

Tickets are only $18. Seating is VERY limited, and tickets have already started to go fast! Get your tickets NOW!]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#9 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#11 http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Justin-Utley/15185031250?ref=ts

And be sure to download his album "Runaway" on iTunes!]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#11 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#12
Directed by Diana Basmajian, the evening boasts the talents of Natascia Diaz (Man of La Mancha; tick, tick...Boom!), Lucia Spina (Legally Blonde, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Caitlin Burke and Aurelia Williams (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...). Show time is 8 PM.]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#12 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#13
The show is on Monday, August 25th at 9:30 PM. Don't miss out on all the love killin' fun!]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#13 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#8
And I didn't forget words.

And the crowd (which was substantial--I don't think the bar's ever made that much money on a monday) cheered. They seemed to really enjoy themselves, and were very complimentary afterward. That said, audiences always are right after something. But I really think last night's cabaret actually DID go as well as I felt it did.

There were a few blunders. I had to restart a few songs. A few words were flubbed, a few notes were wrong, but all in all it couldn't have gone any better.

The playlist was:

1) Lord, Lord, Lord How the Mighty Fall
2) Double-Platinum Double Life
Part 1
3) Without One Word.
4) Hookers
5) Double-Platinum Double Life
Part 2
6) Sicka Singin' 'Bout Girls
7a) Pretty Kitty
7b) Heather
7c) Spit It Out
8) When Music Mattered
9) Sicka Singin' 'Bout Girls Reprise
10) Double-Platinum Double Life
Part 3
11) Turn it Around
12) Our Country
13) Ranch Hand

As you can see, it was a lot to put together. Despite the mere 4 hours of rehearsal, it all came together pretty well. That's what happens when you work with phenomenal musicians--their instincts compensate for lack of rehearsal time, and for lack of composer experience.

So now, Dan and I are going to regroup and really start molding this piece into a story. I'm so excited!

Thank you to everyone for all your love and support. Your attendance, your messages of love, your joy for my adventures in NY--that's what keeps me going.]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#8 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#7
Anyway, today, I had the first rehearsal with my band. I was nervous going into it. I have been scrambling these past few weeks to get the charts done. ("Charts" are what you call the individual sheet music you give to each band member--ie: the guitar charts, the drum charts.) I've never prepared charts before, and it felt like I was shooting in the dark. I had a tutorial one day from my friend Arvi, who is amazing with this stuff, and who is playing drums for the band. Also, my friend Ryan did a little hand-holding. But really, I had no idea if I was doing things correctly.

I was also worried about getting everything printed in time. I still haven't bought myself a printer for my apartment. Lame, I know... But, I haven't done it. So there I was, in James Lapine's office, (he let's me use the office for my needs as well), FREAKING OUT, because the crappy Gateway computer (Yes, a gateway. That's how old it is...) wouldn't print my files. I shut the computer down, and unplugged the printer, and it finally worked when I started everything back up.

Anyway, my friend Richard was there with me helping me print and collate. Thanks to his help, we got it all done in time to go to see a matinee of Young Frankenstein.

Then at 5:30, the rehearsal began!

I am working with 4 phenomenal musicians. They instantly picked up the feel and flavors of each song. We moved so fast, we not only got through everything, and had time to revisit a few of the more challenging numbers.

So the verdict is, the songs DO sound like what I hear in my head when played by a band. No. They sound better. In some cases, way better!!! And what's even more encouraging--the band members are excited about it. All of the band members are not just instrumentalists, they are members of my class at NYU--each an excellent composer in his own rite. To have them enjoying playing my music is so validating.

Our next rehearsal is on Friday evening. I can't wait!!!]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#7 Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#6
It’s been five days since our final faculty critique, and I haven’t done an update. I think I’ve kept you in suspense long enough. I’m sure you’re all waiting on the edge of your seats”¦

Before I get to the faculty critique, I’ll tell you a little about the week after the thesis reading. My reading was on Tuesday, April 17th, and on Thursday, the 19th, I had to begin stage-managing one of my classmate’s readings. We all have stage-management duties. Stage-managing is a huge undertaking, and is almost as much work as being in your OWN rehearsal process. Plus, a lot of the work is mindless—keeping watch on the clock, photocopying replacement pages, taking notes on the cuts, etc.—so you disappear into your own head a lot.

The week after my thesis was tough. I had quite a case of postpartum depression. It’s very strange: you have one day that is the culmination of all of your efforts for an entire year, and there’s all but fanfare for your accomplishment. Then, the next day, it’s over. Your family’s gone. Your actors and director are gone. Your suit is back in the closet. Immediately, the musical theatre factory that is the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program begins spitting out three new ones.

Also, I made the mistake of asking for feedback from my peers way too soon. I approached three classmates whose opinion I respect very much to tell me what they thought. They had some wonderful constructive criticism to give. I wasn’t prepared to hear any of it. Instead, all I heard were the little monsters that live in the dark corners of my insecurity: “No one is interested in this story.” “No matter how you revise it, people just don’t care about the two main characters.” “What made you think you could write book?” "Why are you in New York?" “No one is commenting on the lyrics, because they don’t know how to tell you they weren’t good.” Have you ever see lionesses take down a zebra on the Discovery Channel? Well, in my head live lots of vicious lionesses. All the while, I was stage-managing and putting on my most supportive smiley face”¦ I couldn't let my friends know that I was crumbling inside. Luckily, last week I went out for dinner with my good friend Julianne whose thesis also was on April 17th. She was going through a similar transition, and was also feeling insecure. Apparently it’s common. That helped me to quell the demons and get them back in their cages.

I'm doing OK now. I've gotten my bearings and am standing upright again. The feedback from my friends was all really helpful in the end, once I had enough distance to digest it. When we went into the final faculty critique, we had some concrete things to say about how to make our show better.

The critique went well. The faculty had many constructive things to offer, but were very encouraging and supportive. They all felt like the reading was an accurate and enjoyable presentation of what we were trying to create. You can’t really ask for better then that. They liked our ideas. They felt unanimously about a number of things:

Ӣ The show should be longer than 90 minutes. We have a lot of room to expand the show. Maybe add some plot twists, and maybe even add some characters.
”¢ In the rewrite process at the end, we lost a lot of the humanity of the character of Anetta. They approved of the new direction we’re going with her, but they all felt that this “new” Anetta needs to be more developed.
”¢ They all felt that while individual consecutive moments were a pleasure to watch, the connections between the scenes—how one scene leads to another—were often questionable. One of the faculty members said that there were all these beautiful moments, but they felt strung next to one another on a clothesline, instead of following a clear narrative.
”¢ And lastly, and most surprisingly, they all felt that we’d actually written AN OPERA, not a musical! This was not a criticism. They were actually very excited about this discovery.

An OPERA?! How could I have written an opera? I HATE opera! Yes, it’s true that we wanted to borrow some elements from opera, especially with the sound and style of the music, but we set out to write a musical. Musicals and operas function very differently. And, I feel that opera is an inferior way to tell a story. But, when they presented the idea to us, the faculty had some great points. I realize that while opera may be an inferior way to tell A story, it might be the best way to tell THIS story. Their points are as follows:

”¢ In Broken, the gestures and emotions are all very grand and heightened. The musical numbers in the piece live in over-the-top emotional earnestness. They make sense that way. Despite the fact that the dialogue (which I’m very proud of) is well written, it is very nuanced and subtle. The scenes feel at odds with the musical numbers, and not in a pleasing way.
”¢ In our cast, we had one operatic baritone. On his voice, the music just soared. The other actors were all great, but it really sounded “right” on Dave’s voice.
”¢ In the opera world, we would be able to find two men in their late 60s who can sing the two main parts. In the musical theatre world, that’s probably not the case.
”¢ There is currently a movement towards a hybrid form—opera meets musical theatre. This new grey-area is championed by two of my teachers, Michael John LaChiusa and Ricky Ian Gordon (neither in the group that gave us our final critique). This new form is growing rapidly, and opera AND theatre companies are looking for new works in this vein.
Ӣ There is a built-in audience for Broken in the contemporary opera-going world. It is a small niche, but a loyal, educated market (with lots of money). These patrons would instantly know that our characters are based 2 composers that they know and love. Mel Marvin, a faculty member who has written 2 operas, thinks this community of opera-goers would eat Broken up.

So now, Kevin and I are taking this idea very seriously. It will mean a LOT of work. Much of the show will need to be restructured. Much of the dialogue will have to be pared down and turned into recitative. (Recitative—aka. “recit”—is basically sung dialogue. It’s how scenes are “acted” in opera.) I’m not a fan of recit. It feels very artificial to me. So my challenge will be to create a language of recit that feels natural, while maintaining the integrity of the dialogue that it is replacing. Also, there are formal considerations. For instance, currently the show begins with a grand opening number called “The Piano”. The character of Vic sees his old piano and is flooded with memories. He sings a trio with the ghosts of himself and Enzo. The music is huge and sublime. When the number ends, a short comic scene between Vic and Anetta gives us some exposition. In dramatic musical theatre, the standard is to begin with a big opening number. In chamber opera, however, the standard is to begin (usually) with an overture. Then, an expository bit of recit usually follows the overture, and THEN you have your big number. So, to make this happen, we would probably want to add an overture, then switch the places of the scene and the song.

The trick to opera is that the music does the acting, not the performers. The music is what tells the audience what the characters are feeling and what the situation is. However, in this new grey-area that is emerging, all this is changing. Opera singers are getting acting training. Musical theatre actors are training their voice classically. Still though, the expectation in the world of opera is that the music carries the drama.

Anyway, I've got lots to think about and lots to do, but I’m back on track. The insecurities are mostly gone, and I’m looking forward to how this piece will grow over the summer. Then, at the end of the summer, we’ll be applying for awards and festivals.

In other news, I’ve launched my website!!! Take a second and check it out:

http://www.unrelentingmonkey.com

I haven’t uploaded any sound files yet, but they’re coming. Soon, I hope to get these updates in a list serve, so your emails aren’t flooded with my nonsense, and then only those who care to look will have to read my ramblings.

Much love,
Tone]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#6 Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#5 on Tuesday afternoon. I would have written sooner,
but I’ve been busy with the family.

And the verdict: I couldn’t have asked for it to have
gone any better!!! It was AMAZING! I don’t even know
what to say about it, except that my show works! It
has a beginning, a middle, and a satisfying end (which
is a much bigger accomplishment than it sounds). It
has characters you care about. The songs are not just
beautiful, but also function dramatically to tell the
story. My lyrics don't call attention to themselves.
The funny parts are VERY funny. People were moved.
Many cried.

Of course, the entire time I was watching, I was
mouthing the lines along with the actors. I'm
ridiculous that way. It's just that I get so excited.
I also get analytical. Half of me was swooning with
the delight of seeing my work being performed so well.
The other half of me was taking mental notes on
transitions that weren't smooth, or places to revise
the dialogue, or places where there should be
underscore. But that's par for the course. When
you're a writer, you can't ever turn it off.

The actress that played Anetta, the nurse, sent Kevin
and I an email today that said:

Hey Tony and Kevin,
It's been a few days and I'm still humming and
thinking about your beautiful musical. I was happy to
be a part of it. And thank you for writting Anetta
with such substance. I loved that she was proud of her
work and still had just enough sass to be "real".
ALWAYS made me cry. it was so amazing. I'm gonna cut
the R&B version.
Continued success to both of you.

Sheryl McCallum

[ALWAYS is a song in the show that is basically the
main theme. It gets reprised a few times.]

So anyway, Kevin and I will be getting our final
evaluation/critique from the faculty on Wednesday.
Until then, I’m stage managing one of next week’s
readings. AND, I’m catching up on sleep.

I’ll let you know what the faculty has to say!

Tony]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#5 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#4 even know where to begin... Last I checked in, I had
just made my revisions based on the table
read-through. I gave the script to our director, and
then for 6 days, I did NOTHING. We handed her the
script on Tuesday the 3rd, and weren't meeting with
her until the 9th. And I didn't want to make any
changes until we talked with her. I started reworking
an old idea for a musical, I started writing a new
choral piece, I went back to the gym, I designed a
graphic for my website (soon to come)... The website
will be unrelentingmonkey.com. I've attached the
graphic. The website won't be live for a month or so,
though.

Anyway, it was nice to have some time away from
Broken. I was hoping to come back to it with fresh
eyes. It was a good plan. We met with Lori (the
director) at her apartment on the Upper West Side.
She had some really great insights about the piece.
She mentioned the things that she thought were
working, and then the things that she was confused
about. I of course, got to work THAT night doing
rewrites. We had to turn in our official integrated
score on Wednesday morning, the 11th. An integrated
score what the actors read from in a reading—it has
the script merged with the sheet music so everything’s
in the right order. It takes a long time to prepare a
good integrated score. Kevin and I began working on
ours on Tuesday afternoon. At 11 o’clock pm, school
closes, and Kevin and I went back to his apartment in
Jersey City to finish. I was up until about 4:45 am.
I slept 2 and 1/2 hours on his couch, and then went to
school to turn in the files. The full integrated
score was 249 pages.

THEN on Thursday, the rehearsals began! Finally,
after a year of having this piece living only in our
heads and our computers, this story and these
characters were being inhabited by real human
beings!!! There is nothing more exciting! The voices
we’re working with are incredible, and they’re all
very skilled musicians. The cast seemed very excited
about the piece. They are working very hard to learn
the material. Thursday morning, we started with a
table-read (no music), and then immediately, the Music
Director began teaching the songs. While they were
doing that, Lori, Sybille, and I had a meeting about
the script, and we began finding places for revision.
I went back to the rehearsal, and listened to these
amazing singers singing our songs! I made some lyric
revisions on the fly—(hearing actual people singing
your words is very inspiring.) Kevin and I were
constantly interjecting things like, “Can we cut that
last part?” or “Change the word ”˜future’ to ”˜present’
in measure 48.” That night, I made many, many
corrections to the script, which I brought in on
Friday morning. I put a paper clip on each page where
there was a correction. There were lots of paper
clips. Lori was impressed at the amount of work I was
able to do in one night. So much so that she had no
qualms about giving me HUGE feedback after Friday’s
rehearsal”¦ But more about that later.

Friday was another great day of rehearsal. They spent
the morning learning the rest of the music. Then in
the afternoon, we had a “rough-through”. It’s a
read/sing through but with the understanding that it’s
still very rough. Well, it may have been rough, but
it was phenomenal. They were really starting to get
into their characters. The actors had clearly
reviewed their material on Thursday night. I was in
tears at one point. I wrote the thing!!! I know what
happens in the story! It shouldn’t be moving to ME!!!
But they brought new life to it, and nuance that I
had never imagined. Anyway, I was completely euphoric
from the rough-through. Then the creative team all
had a meeting in which Lori and Sybille told us that
there were major structural problems with Act I.
WHAT?!?!? COULD THEY NOT SEE THE BRILLIANT PIECE OF
THEATER THAT HAD JUST BEEN PRESENTED TO THEM?!?!?
WERE THEY BLIND?! My process for getting major
constructive criticism on my writing usually goes
something like this:

1. cross my arms and pout
2. completely, viscerally, and physically reject the
new ideas
3. steam about it for a night
4. completely take all of the suggestions and write
something that works so much better than what I had
before.

I was true to form in that meeting. But, the hard
questions lead to the good stuff. I'm learning this
concept slowly but surely.

After the meeting, I was dazed and a little huffy. My
sister had arrived in town (yay!) and she and I went
out for dinner, where I had a glass of sangria in an
effor to cool down. Kevin and I met up at 8:30 to
discuss a plan of attack for the weekend. I got home,
and I was still frustrated, so I decided to go right
to sleep. I woke up at 7:00 am on Saturday, and in 2
hours, had a completely new draft of Act I that
incorporated ALL of the suggestions that Lori and
Sybille had made. The songs now come in a different
order, and this new version solves some other problems
we were having as well. I met with Kevin at 2:30 to
put it all together, and then he and I went out with
my sister. We took the night off and saw Altar Boyz.
(Well, part of the night. We both went home and
worked after the show.) Anyway, I woke up this
morning at 8:30, and rewrote three scenes in Act II,
did some lyric revisions, went through the whole
script and made more cuts, and got all the files ready
for photocopying for tomorrow.

At tomorrow’s rehearsal, the cast will arrive having
studied their parts over the weekend, and Lori will
begin working with them on character stuff. I can’t
wait. OK. I’m off to bed now. It’s 11, and I’ve got
to get to school by 8:30. With my sister here, we’ll
need to get up extra early to coordinate showers and
stuff.

Much love to you all. Oh, and thanks to all of you
who've sent messages of encouragement and
congratulations. I am so lucky to have so many people
in my corner!

Tony]]> http://unrelentingmonkey.com/news.html#4 Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 Unrelenting Monkey - Tony Asaro - Updates/Blog