Tomorrow the official workshop of my musical "Turning Thirty" begins. It has been a lot of work and exciting news pulling this all together, so let me just dive in and blab on about all the fun:
The Showcase Performance
Monday, June 10, 2013 from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM (EDT)
Michael Fauss - piano, conductor
Adam Coletta - guitar
Stan Joseph - drums
Phil Buonpastore - bass
Luke Weathington - woodwinds
Press
There was a wonderful article about me and Turning
Thirty, The Musical in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this Sunday.
Here's a link to the online version (subscription required):
I know it has been six months since my last update about my musical workshop that was successfully funded last summer through Kickstarter thanks to so many wonderful, generous people. Unfortunately,
scheduling conflicts kept getting in the way of making the workshop a
reality. So this year, I rebooted and started all over.
I didn't want to
report anything until I had things locked in, and I'm now happy to report
that we are locked in! I have contracted with a two very talented people, Director Scott Warren and Music Director Michael Fauss, and we are scheduled to do the workshop from June 4th to June 10th. The showcase performance will be on Monday night, June 10th, at the Theatrical Outfit's Balzer Theater in downtown Atlanta.
In addition to Artistic Directors and potential investors, several Kickstarter backers will have VIP seating at the showcase. However, I'd like to announce that it will be open to the public, at no cost, on a first-come first-serve basis. I would love to see you there and would welcome your feedback on the show.
I am busy taking the first pass at scoring all the music, discussing and tweaking the script, and we're working on getting actors and musicians. I'm very excited, and want to thank all of the people who have supported this project. I hope to make the show the best it can be!
Director: Scott Warren
Scott Warren has kept himself busy onstage throughout the Atlanta area for 13 years. He has performed with Theatrical Outfit (Confederacy of Dunces, To Kill a Mockingbird, Keeping Watch, The Foreigner), Theatre in the Square (The 39 Steps, Sherlock Holmes the Final Adventure), Georgia Ensemble (Season's Greetings, The Foreigner), Actor's Express (Beautiful Thing), Aurora Theatre Company (Bob, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Gray Area, Bob), Georgia Shakespeare (The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, Noises Off!) and the Alliance Theatre Company (Class of 3000, Aladdin, Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales) among others.
In addition to performance, Scott has directed 12 new works at Dad's Garage Theatre Company, including Drove (2007) which made Creative Loafing's Top 50 of the Decade. He recently directed the world premiere of Two Drink Minimum at Theatrical Outfit, and will soon be directing the Southeastern Premiere of All Childish Things at the Aurora Theatre.
Scott served as the Interim Artistic Director twice for Dad's Garage Theatre Company, where he was also an ensemble improviser and writer. He is currently writing the Grimm Lives of Tweenagers for the Alliance Theatre Company.
Music Director: Michael Fauss
Michael Fauss has enjoyed a long career as a musical director, pianist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator and composer. Based in Atlanta for many years, he has been able to work for theaters in other states and countries as well as most theaters here at home. His Broadway credits include “Quilters,” “Peter Pan” and “Heartstrings.” He has a Masters Degree in Composition and has composed music for stage, chamber ensemble and solo voice. For his work as a musical director he has received an Independent Reviewers of New England award in Massachusetts and a Suzi Bass Award here in Atlanta. Since 2006 he has been fortunate enough to work in Key West every winter and has just returned from a wildly successful run of “The Drowsy Chaperone” there at the Waterfront Playhouse.
Alliance Theatre: Jacques Brel (Suzi Bass award for best musical direction 2008), A Christmas Carol, Tick, Tick . . . Boom!, Pacific Overtures, Leap, Chess, The Grapes of Wrath, Little Me, The Robber Bridegroom, Oliver, Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, Brigadoon, Cotton Patch Gospel, Falsettos, A Little Night Music, Candide, Peter Pan, Annie Get Your Gun, Forever Plaid, Once On This Island, Woodie Guthrie: An American Song, The Boys From Syracuse, Hot Mikado, Up on the Roof, Carnival, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Cabaret, A History of the American Film, I Do! I Do!, She Loves Me, Three Penny Opera
Lyric Theatre: The Music Man, A Funny Thing Happened . . . Forum, Smokey Joe’s Café, Jerry Herman’s Girls, Man of La Mancha, Secret Garden, Jeckyll and Hyde, Evita, Summer Cabaret Series
Regional: Pacific Overtures (Independent Reviewers of New England award for best musical direction 2004), Little Me, Cotton Patch Gospel, Oh, Coward!, Sweet ‘n’ Hot in Harlem, Quilters, Trumpets and Drums, Falsettos, Reefer Madness, Urinetown, Naked Boys Singing, Musical of Musicals, The Full Monty, Little Shop of Horrors, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Promises Promises, Heartstrings, Peter Pan, Grease, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Drowsy Chaperone
Broadway: Quilters, Peter Pan, Heartstrings
Europe: Casper, Spiderman, The Mask, The Dream Machine (4 original musicals in England), Die Schone und das Biest (Germany, Austria & Switzerland), concert tour of Italy with Capitol City Opera Company
On Friday the 18th, a friend at work (who shares my love of the musical Les Miserables) popped up on my screen in an instant message. "Will you be skipping out at lunch to audition for The Voice?" to which I honestly replied, "I didn't know about the auditions." He kindly finished with "I'd vote for you no matter what."
So I asked Google about it, and sure enough, Google informed me that NBC was indeed holding auditions for The Voice in Atlanta that weekend. I researched what you needed to do to sign up, then debated with myself about whether or not to audition. I talked it over with my family who all encouraged me to go.
My decision was greatly influenced by a conversation I had with my son. "What are the chances that you'll get on the show?" he asked. I answered, "I don't know, but I suspect it's very slim." After a few seconds of silence, I continued, "I do know one thing, though. My chance of getting on the show is zero if I don't audition." He smiled. I had my answer. I ended up signing up for the fourth and final time slot, Sunday at 2 PM.
Audition Time
As instructed, I had chosen and practiced two a cappella songs - a first and second choice - and what portions of each I would sing. I chose an outfit that I thought was appropriate and comfortable for "performer Tom," and at 1:30 PM on Sunday, I hopped into my car to drive downtown. As I turned off of my street, my car stalled. I rolled back to the curb and popped the hood (hoping to find a big on/off switch that had tripped, but no such luck). I checked my oil using some dry leaves - I'm high tech - and found it low, as was the gas. I turned the key and gratefully it started, so I headed for the neighborhood gas station. It stalled again on the way but luckily started again. Not what I'd call a good start to the audition.
I made it to the gas station, added oil and gas to the car, and hoped for the best. Car troubles subsided, and I made it all the way to my parking spot downtown. (Three days and $450 later, my car regained its reliability, but that's a different story.) I walked to the Convention Center where the auditions were held only to see a line wrapped around the building. As I walked to the end, I noticed it also wound into the covered area, where the line wrapped back and forth several more times.
Just me and a few close friends lined up to audition
It took about an hour before I made it to the door, where I showed my audition pass and driver's license, and went inside...
...where bags were checked, security guards used portable scanners to make sure none of us were there to make the nightly news instead of The Voice, and we were on our way...
...to the next line.
This was the line to check in, which took about a half hour. During that time, something inspiring happened that changed the whole experience into something entirely new and fun for me. You see, after you check in, they send you over to a seating area of about 1200 chairs. I know, because I had several hours to count the rows, the chairs in each row, and the sections. This seating area was filled once, then filled about halfway again, making that roughly 1800 people auditioning, to the best of my estimating abilities (and remember, this was the fourth session of the weekend). But what was fun was that while we all waited roughly three hours in those chairs, they kept us from going stir crazy by inviting us to sing.
Many people went up and sang one of their prepared songs through the bullhorn. And sometimes they asked us to sing songs as a group, which brings me to the truly inspiring part. On several occasions, I found myself singing a song with an extremely talented group of several hundred people. Sometimes in unison, sometimes call and response, sometimes in glorious four part harmonies. These weren't no-talent hacks trying to get on a TV show, these were singers. Damn good ones. The video below really doesn't do it justice - it doesn't capture the raw power of personally hearing hundreds of talented singers all belting out the national anthem in unison. But I would book this group to open the Super Bowl. Call it the "talent of the crowd," or the WikiChoir.
In addition to hearing many solo performances, giant choir gospel songs, and even The Brady Bunch Theme, I also met some truly nice people. There was Sara, my closest confidant and self-described middle-aged mother of three there to Cry Me A River; Robert, the fellow fedora wearing crooner auditioning for the first time since performing in "Hair" three decades ago; and Nicholas, the 18 year old baritone with ear buds always dangling from his ears. After three hours had passed, my group of thirty people were ushered into the next room...
...which, while smaller, still had close to two hundred chairs - I was too disappointed to accurately count them. Fortunately, the wait there was much shorter, and before I knew it, ten of us were brought to stand outside of one of the ten auditioning rooms.
The Audition
Finally, the ten of us went inside a large room, where there were two sets of five chairs facing each other, a small piece of blue tape on the floor, and a woman at a table with a computer. We sat down, and she informed us that she would call us one by one, we'd step up to the blue tape, she'd ask a couple of questions, and then we'd sing. Sara was the third to go, I was the sixth, and Nicholas went last. (Robert went with a different group of 10 and we wished each other good luck outside before I came in.) At my turn, I went up, exchanged pleasantries, answered my questions, then proceeded to belt out, a cappella, the last bridge and chorus of Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles, with all the heart and soul I could muster.
After everyone was finished, the nice woman thanked us, informed us that none of us were chosen, and suddenly, five hours after I got in line, it was all over. We said our goodbyes and left.
Parting Thoughts
I went into the audition with no expectations other than the hope for an experience to remember, an adventure. I had no idea what they were precisely looking for, nor frankly did I care. I was there to sing the best I could and just be myself. If I happened to be what they were looking for, then a new adventure would begin. If not, I'd have the experience of taking a shot, and putting myself out there. I got my adventure, and I met some lovely and talented people along the way. Every single person who worked there on behalf of the show was kind and good at what they did. And I had a belief reaffirmed; that there are so many talented people out there, everywhere you go, and what a joy it is to experience.
Some things I failed to do:
Make the workshop happen in 2012
Write and record a new song every month
Blog and post consistently
Achieve perfect balance of international stardom and complete anonymity
Become financially set for life
Quit day job and retire to secluded beach house
Actual house where I got the idea
for the last three goals
Interestingly
enough, at the start of 2012, only one of the things I accomplished was
a goal I set out to do when the year started (the rest developed over
the course of the year). Nearly all of what I failed were goals of mine for 2012...
So
what's the difference? Well, some of the goals I didn't achieve were behavioral changes. I ended up choosing not to do them
because I ultimately didn't see the value in them. And clearly some were too large and fuzzy.
So this year, I will set some new goals, make sure they are measurable, have value to me, and can be
broken down into achievable tasks. I want to continuously improve, and make real progress toward my dreams. But perhaps more importantly, I will continue to dream.
Before
the holidays, my family and I delivered a bunch of gifts for two other
families through "Families First." When I was there, I saw this
quote painted on one of their walls:
Benjamin Mays: "The tragedy of life doesn't
lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to
reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a
calamity not to dream. It is not disgrace to reach the stars, but it is a
disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim, is a
sin."
For 2013, I resolve to set some real goals, to dream, and to reach for the stars.
Since I've been working on my musical workshop, and recording a few new songs that aren't yet complete, I thought I'd invite you into my home for a little live Christmas music. This isn't exactly high tech; it's recorded using an iPhone held to a microphone stand using a rubber band. The recording is purely from the iPhone; the performance was one take. I hope you enjoy it.
If you'd like to download your own copy of my version of The Christmas Song, you can get it here:
