Trip to London's West End..

Forgive me, it's been quite some time since I've posted.  Good.  That's out of the way...

A few days ago I did a quick trip to London for a long weekend.  While there, a top priority was to head to the West End to see a show!  I had been to shows in the past at some of the larger theaters such as the Royal Albert Hall to see Puccini's Madam Butterfly.  So, this time I wanted to try my hand at a more intimate place.  One day upon visiting the National Portrait Gallery (which is a post unto itself) I asked someone where a good, non-chain place was to get good tea and beer.  I was told to head across the street to St. Martin's Lane and find a spot called Notes.  I ordered some mint tea and my husband got himself a good english craft beer which he had never heard of.  That alone is quite a feat!  The place was a great little hidden gem and if you ever find yourself in London near Trafalgar Square you should definitely GO!  After we had warmed ourselves up, we set back out to explore the area.  We walked a little further up the lane and saw a beautiful little venue called The Duke of York's Theatre.  There was a play showing there called The Judas Kiss AND in the lead role was Rupert Everett.  Gawwww, I have always loved him ever since I saw My Best Friend's Wedding.  Side note: everyone around us in the theater was saying the same thing.  Perfect!  We purchased tickets thru http://www.lastminute.com (and saved a few pounds) for the following night's performance. 

The Duke of York was a great little theater and just what I had wanted it to be.  You could hear the sound of London's tube station rumbling underneath which gave it that authentic british feel!  Everett plays Oscar Wilde and as coincidence would have it, Everett was also in the Movie version of "The Importance of Being Ernest."  Which is ALSO the time period that "The Judas Kiss" takes place in.

To set the stage for you, the show begins in 1895 and The Importance of Being Ernest is a hugely popular play in London's West End.  Oscar Wilde is about to become incarcerated because of his open relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.  The arduous decision to be made by Oscar is to stay in
London and face being imprisoned for gross indecency (homosexuality) or to flee the country!  There are people in his life that have his best interest in mind while advising him whether or not to flee and others that do not.  Hence, that title of the play.  It was a fantastic play (written by David Hare) and Everett and his co-star Freddie Fox were superb.  

National Portrait Gallery (No Cameras Allowed! Don't tell)

Mint tea @ Notes

Beer! 

About to see The Judas Kiss

Duke of York's Theatre

Learning Broadway Part 1

I titled this first of a series of postings, "Learning Broadway" because I have come to believe, Broadway is its' own language, culture, world, place, entity and then some.  Broadway IS the theatre.  Broadway IS the dream and the hope.  For two years now FBP has been writing and rewriting for our concept musical called...(you all should know this by now) In My Body.  In this time, I have become fascinated about everything theatre---everything Broadway.  People who write musicals secretly, or not so secretly, hope they will land on Broadway or get as close as they can to Broadway.  That's what Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway are all about---feeling close to Broadway.  That is what I feel and I am pretty sure my fellow collaborators feel the same way I do.  (I cannot even begin to cover everything we have learned about Broadway in this post.)

Before I talk more about Broadway, I want to explain the difference between "theatre" and "theater."
According to grammarist.com There is no difference in meaning between theater and theatre. Neither has any special definitions. Theater is the preferred spelling in American English, and theatre is preferred virtually everywhere else.  Some American writers do make distinctions—for instance, that theater is a venue while theatre is an art form, or that theater is a movie theater while theatre is a drama venue—but these are preferences, not rules, and they are not consistently borne out in real-world usage.

Now Some Basic Broadway:

1.  Broadway is literally a street in New York City which starts at #1 Broadway in Manhattan where the International Mercantile Marine Company Building stands and then all the way to north to West 225 Street in the Bronx.  It is a one way southbound street which is about 15 miles in length. 

2.  Broadway is the premier theater district in the United States, if not the entire world.  Some argue London's West End is equal to Broadway.  I've been to London's West End.  I've seen many shows there.  I loved it but there is nothing like Broadway.  The most famous part of Broadway is considered the Theater District which is between 42nd and 53rd Streets (including Times Square).   If you have never been to Times Square, it is worth the trip just to see it.  I am pretty sure the lights from Broadway billboards can be seen from space.  When I first experienced it, I was in high school and I just stood in awe of the flashing lights, billboards, stores and people.  The smells and sounds alone were unlike anything I had ever experienced.   It was so futuristic and saturated with every color in the rainbow.  It is total sensory overload, to say the least.  In the theater district there are around 40 large theaters.  The largest is the Gershwin Theatre which seats up to 1,933.   The smallest is the Helen Hayes Theatre which seats up to 597.  The oldest is the Lyceum Theatre which opened in 1903. 

The Flying Bulldog Three visited one such theater together when we went to see a "staged reading"of Marry Harry at Foxwoods Theatre.  I will explain what a staged reading is in a later posting.  IMB's Lyricist, Michael Biello and Composer, Dan Martin wrote the music for Marry Harry.  So maybe we viewed it in Foxwoods rehearsal studio but it still counts as Broadway! Now playing there is Spiderman, Turn off the Dark.

3.  Did you know the Broadway theater district is nicknamed The Great White Way?  This is because in the 1920s most theaters changed from using colored bulbs to white bulbs which lined their marquees because they didn't burn out as fast and lit the streets up even brighter.  What is a marquee you may ask?  The Dictionary defines it as "A rooflike structure, often bearing a signboard, projecting over an entrance, as to a theater or hotel."

Stay tuned to this blog for Learning Broadway Part 2. I  will try to decipher some theatre terms we've picked up!   

Working Session Report

For the past two days, Team IMB gathered at Biello Martin Studio in Philadelphia to hold a working session for all the material that we have collectively written over the past year.  We invited four AMAYYYYYY-ZING actors/singers to perform our work.  The extraordinary Jeff McDonnell acted as our Musical Director/Pianist. 

It was quite exhilarating to witness our words come to life and be able to watch the actors learn, interpret then perform their parts while we sat, watched and took notes.  My favorite part was listening to our actors, Megan, Philip, Sarah and Charleigh blend their voices together on some of the (imo) best songs in the show!  I felt utter passion and excitement and was reminded that we are well ON OUR WAY TO SOMETHING BIG!  
Special thanks to Joanna Volpe for all your help!   

Musical Director Jeff McDonnell led the sessions

Kate Cipriano, writer/producer

(L-R) Lis Kalogris, writer/producer Michael Biello writer/lyricist

FAT is the new UGLY on the Playground or maybe it's not so new...

  I was recently reading an article about how the word "FAT" is the new "UGLY" on the playground and it got me to thinking about my childhood . 

This is a picture of me from 1986.  I was 7 years old. I LOVED that pink polka dotted jazz costume that I wore at my end of the summer dance recital. That summer I played soccer, danced, smiled, giggled and played with my sister and all my friends.  A week later  I started a new school year.  I will never forget it....A week later the school nurse sternly called me OBESE in front of the other kids in my class.  

At 33 years old I look back on this picture and this memory still stings me.   Adults must keep in mind at all times how they speak to children  and what they talk about among themselves when they are around children.  Comments and words from adults are soaked into kids brains as if their brains are like little sponges. One thing is for sure, I will remember it for the rest of my life.  These are the types of experiences that have inspired me when writing some of my characters for our In My Body Musical Theatre piece.