Category: Musicals
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Chess
Today, I’m thinking about the musical Chess. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to perform in a local production of Chess in 2006. Here is John Moore’s review of our Next Stage production. It’s not that Chess is a great musical. It aspires to be great! It has a lot of great songs. More importantly,…
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Returning to Abandoned Projects
Some projects are not meant to be completed. Some projects are not meant to be completed at the time they are conceived. James Cameron gives us an example of this. The technology did not exist to achieve the level of detail he wanted for his movie, Avatar. However, without creating Avatar when he did, I’m…
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Blue Moon
Blue Moon, directed by Richard Linklater, is one of the best movies shown at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival. It tells the story of Lorenz Hart after the opening of the musical “Oklahoma!”. We see his love of the craft of writing, his struggles with alcoholism, and his thwarted drive to reach higher levels of…
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Maybe This Time
Here’s my attempt to sing and play this classic song from the musical Cabaret. I stumbled upon the music while searching for an Elton John song. And I had to get it. Enjoy!
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Unfinished Projects
Each year, I work on several projects that I don’t “finish”. I see this as a good thing. Not every project needs to be completed. There is value in having unfinished projects. In fact, we can learn a lot from the patterns we notice associated with unfinished projects. Here are a few examples. One thing…
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Elton John
I’m unsure why I’ve waited so long to write about Elton John, another of my heroes. He is an outstanding piano player, composer, musician, singer, and performer! If I could only ever listen to one person’s music for the rest of my life, I would choose to listen to Elton John’s music. I love the…
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Complete Albums
It’s been a while since I’ve listened to an entire music album. Especially with minimal distractions. I’ve missed the experience! This morning, I bought The Captain and the Kid on iTunes. Then, I listened to each song in order. I focused on the meaning of the lyrics. I got a sense of the whole collection.…
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Could We Start Again Please?
It’s been a while since I’ve recorded a song. This is mostly because I’ve chosen songs that are too difficult to learn quickly. I can record those after I get more practice time in. In the meantime, I remembered this song, from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s one of my favorites. Enjoy!
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Creative Work
It’s not a question of talent. It’s a question of timing. Some stories resonate more or less at different times. I wasn’t there for the Catcher in the Rye craze. But somehow, J.D. Salinger was there in the right place at the right time. He nailed it. Lots of people could relate to Holden Caulfield…
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Love on the Rocks
When I was a kid, I watched a movie called The Jazz Singer. It featured the unlikely combination of Laurence Olivier and Neil Diamond. I remember the struggle of a Jewish son trying to break free of the religious traditions of his strict father. But I also remember the creative struggle depicted. Some fool tried…