Gymnastics journalist extraordinaire Dvora Meyers interviewed Julia and me after our July reading of The Magnificent Seven, and the interview was published today in her newsletter, Unorthodox Gymnastics. Give it a read to learn more about our collaboration, our approach to the material, and our horror at John Tesh, et al.
Thanks, Dvora!
As if 2020 weren’t already shaping up to be an exciting year between a return to San Diego with Something Blue and a return to Flint with The Magnificent Seven, we’re getting the chance to revisit the show that started our collaboration! Stay tuned for more information…
There’s nothing quite like returning to a home away from home away from home!
Julia and I were thrilled to be invited back for an artists retreat last week at the Weston Playhouse, one of our very favorite places in the world where Pregnancy Pact had its world premiere in 2012. Weston welcomed our friend Susanna Gellert as the new Executive Artistic Director in 2018, and we are so happy to continue to stay connected. We had a wonderful week getting some writing done on one of our newest projects, Choreomania, in between cheese samples at the Vermont Country Store.
Thanks to Susanna and the whole staff for welcoming us back again!
I am so thrilled to share that The Magnificent Seven will have it’s first full production in May 2020 at Flint Repertory Theatre! Julia and I had our first full reading of the show there in January in their New Works Festival, and we’re so excited to be back in the wonderful and supportive community.
Over the last three years of writing this show we’ve been anxious to get it up on it’s feet to figure out how our gymnastics-musical-without-any-real-gymnastics might move through space, and I’m thrilled to have the chance! And we’re working once again with the wonderful director Michael Lluberes to figure it out for the first time.
More announcements about this production (casting, tickets, etc.) and some other Magnificent developments will be coming very soon… Check back here for updates!
The final piece of Julia’s Discovery Grant from OPERA America for REB+VoDKa+ME was the funding to record both the newest material written for the show and to record Julia’s beautiful new string orchestrations. I’m so excited to share this updated demo, especially on the fifth anniversary of the crazy day that inspired our show.
Thanks to engineer Chris Gilroy, violinist Saki Uetsuhara, cellist Brian Sanders and the phenomenal singers we’ve worked with over the past 3 years: Delaney Amatrudo, Matthew Berzon, Ally Bonino, Jack Brinsmaid, Jackie Colquitt, Jessica Fisher, Holly Gould, Hanako Greensmith, Sam Heldt, Angelina Kelly, Kelsey Lake, Adam Lawrence, Lily Lester, Allison Lian, Evan Maltby, Lauren Marcus, Elexis Morton, Matthew Oster, Sam Paley, Angela Pardini-Gomez, Jeanna Phillips, Allison Posner, Katie Rodgers, Daniel Saulle, Libby Servais, Rich Silverstein, and Emily Walton.