Manhattan here I am!

Yet another long span in between posts. I feel like I have an excuse, but an excuse is just an excuse. So here’s to another big catch-up entry...

I am an official Manhattanite! A little over a week ago I moved in with my good friends Jayson and Ed to 150th street and Adam Clayton Powell. It’s a lovely little apartment with the perfect size room (probably a third of the size I had in Jersey), nice size kitchen, comfy living room, and chic black and white NYC bathroom. Sure, it’s small compared to Jersey, but this is all that I need and I couldn’t be happier. 

Each day I keep seeing how much more of a Manhattan guy I am than a Jersey one. Now, I have nothing against Jersey. I was very happy to have been there during my “transition phase” into the city and I know Jersey works for a lot of actors and people who are looking to save. But Jersey didn’t work for me; the transportation aspect - having an hour and a half in between the one and only bus I could take in and out of the city - was just not my thing. The ability to just jump on a train at any time and be home in 20 minutes here in the city is just so amazing for me now. You live and learn, right? 

Living in Manhattan is wonderful, especially the area that I am in. I’m across the street from an express train-line that brings me right into “Audition World” as well as transferring me anywhere else. I have groceries within a two minute walk of me, Target within a 15 minute walk across the bridge, and a Domino’s down the street - the perfect destination when this energy-filled city drains me of any desire to cook. AND I’m living with two amazing guys. What more can I ask for! 

My workshop has only two more classes left and I’m wondering how it went all so fast??? It has been so helpful in demystifying many business aspects of non-profit work and how to acquire the financial basis upon which I can create and produce my cabaret. During the time of my move, I definitely fell behind a bit in my assignments for this class due to the actual move, catering, and now another new job, lifeguarding! Yup, I’m lifeguarding outside on a roof-top pool on the Upper East Side just like my Aunt Maggie did when she was in New York at Juilliard. It’s really a perfect weekend job as there are usually no auditions then and rarely conflicts with my normal night-time catering gigs. 

However, now that my schedule is starting to solidify a bit more, I am able to take my cabaret work more seriously and make sure I am making the time to get this produced. There’s a lot of work to get done, and it is up to me as the producer to get all of that under control. Luckily, the tools and resources have been provided through this workshop and I feel equipped to move forward confidently. 

As far as the script and song selection goes, I have decided to start from scratch and not try to “re-vamp” or “update” my script from my previous cabaret, “Another Staged Experience”. So much has changed since those performances, and the stories I told feel dated in accordance with my current experiences. Sure, I’m almost positive I will still be referencing parts of my college experiences, but my goal with this new script is to allow more opportunities to bring in my “post-graduation year’s” teachings and trials in response to what I actually learned at Middlebury. I have a feeling the tone is going to 

be different than before, and I am really excited about that. There is definitely still going to be that conversational aspect to it all, but in a more succinct way. Now it’s just time to get cracking on it all. I’ve done a free write to get me going, and already so many ideas have come up!

In the midst of the move from Jersey, I went home for a few days in between to perform for the Stratford Public Library Benefit Event, “Broadway Comes to Stratford”. I was referred to them by the James Blackstone Memorial Library (where I had done “Another Staged Experience” for the first time) after the Stratford’s talent had backed out. I was so honored to have been asked. And even better, I was going to be paid! I was going to be paid to do my art! Life couldn’t get better.

I was asked to put together a 30-minute set of show-tunes, similar to my cabaret, that I would perform twice for two different audiences, with an encore to tie up the entire evening. I used the general format of my cabaret in a shortened and condensed version with some of the same songs as well as some brand new ones. It was this very factor that I believe tripped me up a bit here and there when it came to the stories in between. I was having a hard time finding that correct balance of not telling too much but also telling enough when it came to my stories. In turn, I felt I fumbled at times and didn’t achieve the highest standard of cohesion in tying the whole story of my set together. As far as the music goes, I felt really great with all of the songs. I’m finally finding that ability to really allow the emotion to shine through, and to not be focusing solely on staying in rhythm and on pitch. More and more I see that when I let the emotion reign, the actual musicality pings perfectly in that sweet spot of the air. Truly magical. 

It really was a great evening all around. Everyone at the library was so lovely, helpful, and professional when it came to making me feel at home for my performances. Thank you to everyone who helped me with this: Tom Holehan from the library, Mom and Dad for bringing food back to me in my dressing room, and the amazingly talented John DeNicola for joining me again on the piano.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to sing in a benefit concert for a friend’s play that is going  for the Edinburgh Festival coming up. Christy (the playwright and actress in the show) and her husband Matt (who stars opposite of her) are both so talented. I met them catering and since then they have been so helpful and willing to introduce me to other wonderful and gifted people of the business. Most recently I was invited to a reading of a new musical TRAILS (which won many awards at the New York Music Theatre Festival last year, check out their website: http://www.trailsthemusical.com) starring Matt in the leading role as well as the book written by Christy. It was fabulous. I haven’t been to a musical in a long time where I would get chills from the words, lyrics, and music every other second. 

Back to the benefit concert for their own show, YOURS ISABEL, a story based on actual letters between husband and wife during World War II. (Check out their website too: www.yoursisabel.com) Seeing that their show is based in the 1940’s, they had asked their friends to come in a sing some songs from the era/in that style. I chose to sing “Old Devil Moon” from FINIAN’S RAINBOW. I was super excited to be singing this wonderful song that I use a bunch for auditions, and thus only get to sing 16-32 bars of. This was also my Duplex debut! The Duplex is a well know cabaret theatre here in the city where many wonderful cabaret artists and concerts have taken place. I was sharing a stage from where many had launched from into successful artistic careers. Exhilarating. 

Be sure to check out the video!

At the concert, I was introduced to Jay Alan Zimmerman, who has been titled “Musical Theatre’s Beethoven”. Around 10 years ago, Jay began going deaf, but that has not stopped him from writing absolutely beautiful and moving songs. A few of his songs were performed at the Duplex and I was absolutely blown away. After the show, Jay and I got to talking about how he has a new show that he’s written and how there might be a couple of roles that I would fit well.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was ecstatic! Obviously this doesn’t mean that I was cast, and I knew that. But this amazing composer saw something in my performance; he saw something in me. Since then we have gotten together once and sung through some of his music, as well as some songs from my audition book, into a special microphone so that he could hear and watch my sound waves on a special computer system to understand how my voice works. He was saying how warm my lower register is, and that I may actually be more of a baritone than a tenor. At first (in my head) I was like, “NO WAY! I can belt A’s easily!” But since then I have been feeling and seeing what he means. So maybe I’m a closet baritone with a solid A? It’s something I’m excited about working on...

Jay is so great. We had a long chat about the business and what I actually want to be doing. He’s seen from my resume and blog that I have a varied taste, and wondered where exactly do I want to be going.

“I really have no idea...”

As of right now, I do still love performing, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving being in front of an audience. But where do I want to be performing, in what venue? Is it in a revival? A new show? Cabaret? And what about choreography and directing? It’s all still up in the air, and I'm not about to go grabbing any one down yet, however balance them up there just a bit longer.

Well, that’s enough for now. There is more to come, but I have to get ready for catering now. Be sure to check back soon for more of an update! Happy Spring!