Street Lights Podcasts!

Joe & I recently sat down for interviews on two theater podcast to discuss our upcoming production of Street Lights at NYMF.

• An Interview with NYTheatre.Com's Martin Denton. (MP3)
  
  
• An Interview with Michael Gilboe's Broadway Bullet, we start 40 minutes in.
  

Photo by Cassie Corrigan.

Street Lights @ NYMF Press Conference

On Tuesday NYMF had its annual press conference at New World Stages and Street Lights was there. Kevin Curtis performed the song Georgetown and got some buzz going.

Time Out NY critic Adam Feldman raved: "Thumbs Up - 'Georgetown' from Street Lights: A solid song about an aspiring young lawyer-to-be from the projects, with several smart, surprising rhymes ("impartial/Thurgood Marshall”) and a knockout delivery by star-to-be Kevin Curtis."

WNET's Theater Talk Tweeted that Kevin's performance was the highlight of the preview and to watch out for his name.

We don't have any video from the actual press conference yet, although NY1 & Broadway.TV both filmed it. But, you can see Kevin perform Georgetown at an earlier concert version of Street Lights.

Get your tickets for the NYC production here.

Photo by Michael Portantiere for Broadway Stars.

The Street Lights Set

We're performing Street Lights at the American Theatre of Actors (ATA) on 54th Street, a unique space where Urinetown and Bare premiered Off-Broadway. The stage has a U-shaped catwalk surrounding it, that's totally perfect for our urban setting.

Hilary Noxon's design smartly incorporates all the elements in the space. I love the focus on the windows. Above is the concept sketch from earlier in the process and below is the brand new 1/2" model. Our lighting designer, Brian Tovar, is putting these little lights in a handful of windows so they'll really pop. It should look awesome.

Tickets are on-sale and selling well, and you can get yours at our official website.

Please Support My New Show, Street Lights

I've been hard at work developing Street Lights, a new musical that I'm directing & co-producing at the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. It's a pretty big deal and I'm really excited about it. But, I won't be able to do it without your help.

Street Lights centers on a group of young people who come together to make their community better. It's themes were inspired by Barack Obama's historic Presidential Campaign. (Seriously, read about it on The Huffington Post.) In that spirit, we'd like to raise our production budget like Obama, small donations from many people.

This is a fully not-for-profit production, and we cannot bring it to life without the support of our friends & family. You can be a part of Street Light's history by making a tax deductible contribution today. No amount is too small (or too big!), $10 or $20 brings us that much closer to raising the curtain.

To donate with credit card (truly tax deducible), visit:

https://www.nymf.org/donatetostreetlights

Wanna send a check? E-mail me.

Tickets are now on-sale and we open on October 13th in New York. For more information, visit the Street Lights website.

In these difficult times, we need art that inspires and brings hope. A contribution from you can go a long way to making that happen. Thank you so much for all your support.

Photo by Cassie Corrigan, from Street Lights For Obama benefit at The Zipper Theater.

Street Lights - Casting At NYMF

We're casting Street Lights at the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival! All of the details below, hope to see some of you at the auditions.

STREET LIGHTS: A NEW HIP-HOP MUSICAL Auditions
New York Musical Theatre Festival 2009, AEA/non-AEA
NEW YORK, NY

Director: Ryan J. Davis
Music & Lyrics: Joe Drymala
Book: Joe Drymala & Akin Salawu
Musical Director: Sonny Paladino
Choreographer: Todd Underwood

Casting: Daryl Eisenberg, CSA
Auditions (by appt): Aug 18-19
Rehearses: Sept 13-Oct 13

Performs: 10/13 @ 8pm, 10/14 @ 8pm,
10/16 @ 7pm, 10/17 at 1&5pm,
10/18 @ 1pm

EPA: Tuesday Aug 18 - Sign In at 9 am - Ripley Grier – 520 8th Ave – Studio 10A. Please prepare 32 bars of R&B or Gospel music. Bring sheet music. An accompanist will be provided.

EMAIL: streetlights@decasting.com
(Subject: STREET LIGHTS Casting)

MAIL PIC/RES TO:
DARYL EISENBERG CASTING
180 WEST END AVE, SUITE 17G
NEW YORK, NY 10023
ATTN: STREET LIGHTS CASTING

SYNOPSIS: Monique is going to be the next Alicia Keys. Her brother is on track to be
bigger than Thurgood Marshall. But none of this matters when their world is filled with
violence, apathy, and broken promises. Can they keep faith when there’s no reason for
hope? From writer/composer Joe Drymala and director Ryan J. Davis, the creators of the
Broadway-bound 2006 NYMF hit White Noise, comes Street Lights, mixing pop, R&B
and hip-hop to crank up the volume on the voice of a new generation saying yes, we can.

SEEKING:

[ MONIQUE WILLIS ] 17 y.o. female, African American, high school senior, singer
and piano player.

[ ROCKY WILLIS ] 18 y.o. male, high school senior, African American. Monique’s
bookish brother. Tenor. CAST.

[ DAMON CRUZ ] Early 20s male, Puerto Rican. Handsome & Confident. A little bit
dangerous. Tenor/Reggaeton singer.

[ TANK ] Late 20s-early 30s male. Long time dealer, DAMON’s right hand man.
Intimidating African-American or Latino.

[ X.RAY (RAYMOND) HOBBES ] 18 y.o. male, high school senior African American.
Raps, sings backup. Charismatic. A dynamic and political DJ and performance artist.
Rocky’s best friend. Must be comfortable with rap/spoken word performance.

[ REGINA CRUZ ] 15 y.o. female, high school freshman, Puerto Rican. Raps, sings
alto. Damon’s younger sister.

[ MRS. WILLIS ] Late 50s female, African American. Alto. Old school soul singer
sound. Grandmother to Monique and Rocky, and a pillar of the community.

[ CAROL ARMSTRONG ] Elderly woman, African American. MONIQUE’s long-
time piano teacher.

[ENSEMBLE] 20s-40s African American or Latino male and female. Must have a
background in hip hop, pop, and contemporary dance styles. Strong singers. PLEASE
SUBMIT NON-EQUITY.

For more information, visit
www.streetlightsmusical.com

Summer of Theatre '09

July has been a very busy month for me! I've been lax on blogging, but I'm always updating my Twitter feed.

Over the weekend of July 17th, I had a great run at the 10th Annual Midtown International Theater Festival with my friend writer/actor Michael Hirstreet's short-solo play My Broken Brain. He got a great audience response and is looking into other venues to continue developing the script.

The show I created in 2006, White Noise, received it's first regional production in New Orleans this month. It was a huge production, with a $2.2 million dollar budget, and was well-received by the local critics. Their main paper, The Times-Picayune, called it "Powerful." The production closed yesterday and they'd still like to open it on Broadway.

Most of the drama in New Orleans was off-stage. As reported by Michael Riedel in the New York Post, White Noise's "co-director" and producer has issues.

Mitchell Maxwell, another flop king, is causing such strife that he's been banned from his own show, the Broadway-bound musical "White Noise." The volatile producer verbally abused his creative team, frightened his actors and threw such a temper tantrum in the lobby of the Omni Hotel that terrified guests called the police, several production sources told The Post. "I have never experienced anything this crazy in my life," one member of the creative team says. "He is not a stable man."

Don't miss any of the details, it's crazy. The stuff they couldn't print will probably make it into a screenplay of mine someday.

I've been in rehearsals for the musical comedy Vote! at FringeNYC. It's going REALLY well. As I've mentioned before, we have an incredible cast.

I took this picture yesterday on my iPhone at a music brush-up.

Tickets just went on-sale. They are just $15. That's the best deal in New York. Buy yours now, we open on August 14th and they are selling fast.

We're in pre-production for Street Lights, which was invited to the New York Musical Theatre Festival this year. White Noise got it's start at NYMF and we're excited to return to the festival. We open on October 14th, more details soon.

I'll try to keep up with the blog more. Hope to see you all at Vote!

Street Lights Reading Pictures

The Street Lights reading last weekend was a huge success! We had a great turnout on both days and got lots of great, positive feedback. We'll go into the rewrite process soon learning lots from this reading.

Cassie Corrigan took some great pictures that are available in two albums, from rehearsals and performance, on Facebook. Broadway World also posted a few of their favorites.

Thanks to the wonderful cast & creative staff who helped make the reading such a success! We'll looking forward to a full production of the show in the fall, keep watching the site for more details.

Oh, and become a fan of Street Lights on Facebook! Hear the music at MySpace.

Street Lights Rehearsals & Party!

Chad & Kevin
This has been a busy week, putting together the industry Street Lights reading, that performs today and tomorrow. Here are some pictures from our run-through yesterday at Chelsea Studios.

If you'd like to support the show and are free on Saturday night, we're hosting a fundraiser for our fall production at Hurley's Restaurant & Bar at 282 West 48th Street in Manhattan. It starts at 6PM and there is a $10.00 admission, with cheap drink specials and ticket raffles all night. More details on Facebook. Hope to see some of you there!



Krystal, Kevin, Chad, & Joy



The Company



Krystal Brown



Our Music Director Sonny


Photos by Cassie Corrigan

Be Good to Mama!

Sunday is Mother's Day and if you have as great a mom as I do, and I have a pretty great mom, you have to do something special for her!



My friend Martin Giannini, who is also one half of the Street Lights producing team, is presenting a Mother's Day concert that benefits the LGBT Center. Lots of great performers, including Jenn Colella and Malcolm Gets. Details below, from the Playbill article. I'll be there!

Kerry Butler, Malcolm Gets, Jenn Colella and Alan Campbell will perform as part of When You're Good to Mama at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center on May 10.

Glen Roven created the 7:30 PM concert, which will honor the special bonds between LGBT individuals and their mothers. Adam Kensinger directs the fundraiser evening that is produced by Martin Giannini.

Currently announced to perform are Kerry Butler (Xanadu), Alan Campbell (Sunset Boulevard), Allison Case (Hair), Jenn Colella (High Fidelity), Malcolm Gets (A New Brain), Greg Jbara (Billy Elliot), Mark Kudish (9 to 5), Andrew Samonsky (South Pacific), Paige Davis ("Trading Spaces"), Mathew Schecter (Waiting For Godot), Glenn Seven Allen (The Light in the Piazza), Taylor Sternberg (Jersey Boys), Rachel Cobb (La Boheme), Ansel Elgort, Noah Galvin, Matthew Garrett, Benjamin Perry and the male ensemble of South Pacific.

For tickets, priced $25, visit GayCenter. The Center is located at 208 West 13th Street in Manhattan.

Upcoming Street Lights Reading!

From Broadway World:

Street Lights, a new hip-hop/R&B musical by Joe Drymala, will receive an industry-only reading on May 15th at 6PM and May 16th at 12PM, at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios. Ryan J. Davis directs and Martin Giannini & Brett Levenson produce. More info on the reading, please e-mail streetlightsmusical@gmail.com.

Street Lights is a story about inner city teenagers who dare to fight City Hall. With their high school music program hanging in the balance, they fight social injustice, bureaucratic apathy and the scourge of drugs and violence in their neighborhood. A new generation finds it's voice, learning how powerful they can be when coming together in common purpose. With a truly contemporary pop and hip-hop score, Street Lights is a new kind of musical about hope, ambition, anger, injustice, love, and the promise of a new generation.

The cast includes Broadway vets Wilson Mendieta (Bombay Dreams, Man of La Mancha), Heath Calvert (Good Vibrations), Todd Pettiford (RENT, The Lion King), Joy Lynn Matthews (The Music Man), who join Lacretta Ross, James Alexander, Desiree Rodriquez, Chad Carstarphen, Kevin Curtis, and Krystal Brown.

The public is invited to Street Light's launch party on Saturday, May 16th, 6PM at Hurley's Restaurant (232 W. 48th St). Live entertainment and a raffle that includes tickets to The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The York Theater's Musicals in Mufti Series, and more to be announced at the event.

Street Lights is the second major collaboration for Davis & Drymala. Their first, White Noise, was recently announced by Sibling Entertainment to open on Broadway in Fall 2009. White Noise, which Davis conceived & directed and Drymala wrote, premiered three years ago in a sold-out run at The New York Musical Theatre Festival, received strong reviews and was featured on Good Morning America & ABC Primetime Live.

Creative credits: Book, Music, & Lyrics by Joe Drymala, Directed by Ryan J. Davis, Produced by Martin Giannini and Brett Levenson, Music Director Sonny Paladino, & Casting by Daryl Eisenberg.

Odds & Ends

It's been a really busy week. We cast the upcoming reading of Street Lights and are gearing up for rehearsals, which start on May 11th. Here are a few odds & ends for a rainy Friday evening.

If you're looking for a show this weekend, check out the closing weekend of Prospect Theater Company's Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge, by Peter Mills. It's a new country/bluegrass musical that tells the story of The Playboy of the Western World. Prospect's productions are top-notch and this was no exception. We saw it earlier this month and really enjoyed it.

I'm on The Board of Directors of The Deconstructive Theatre Project, a company founded by my good friend & roommate Adam J. Thompson. Last year we co-directed a trendy benefit performance of the French-Canadian play Lilies for the company and we're planning another fundraiser this year.

Adam is developing a new project about the "changing American scientific and cultural landscape during the development of the atomic bomb." Should be pretty cool. Check out their April Newsletter for all the latest and join them on Facebook.

From my friend Mark:

Salon Ziba is proud to announce a very special event on Thursday, May 7th to support support the Polo Ralph Lauren Corporate Team for Team In Training. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program is the nation's largest and most successful endurance training program, preparing athletes of every level to run or walk a 26.2 mile marathon or 13.1 mile half-marathon; cycle a 100 mile century bike ride; or participate in a triathlon, while raising funds for blood cancer research. The night of the event will include exclusive hair and spa treatments will be available at a discounted rate and 100% of the proceeds will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

See their flyer for details.

Casting: Steet Lights - A New Musical

We're producing a reading of Joe Drymala's new musical Street Lights at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios, on May 15th. I'm directing and we're currently casting! Details below. Please submit or e-mail the notice to friends who may be interested!

(Picture is from the 2008 Street Lights concert fundraiser for Barack Obama at The Zipper. Photo by Cassie Corrigan.)

Street Lights, a new Hip-Hop Musical
Venue: Manhattan Theatre Club Studios
AEA Approved 29HR Reading (guidelines pending)
AEA/non-AEA
$100 Travel Stipend

Producer: Martin Giannini & Brett Hunter Levenson
Director: Ryan J. Davis
Book: Joe Drymala
Music & Lyrics: Joe Drymala
Musical Director: Sonny Paladino
Casting: Daryl Eisenberg Casting
Auditions (by appointment): 4/29 & 4/30
Rehearsal: 5/10/09-5/15/09
Performances: 5/15-5/17

More Info At: www.streetlightsmusical.com

To make an Appointment:
SUBMIT BY E-Mail At: streetlights@decasting.com
OR
SUBMIT HARDCOPY TO:
Daryl Eisenberg Casting
180 West End Ave, Suite 17G
New York, NY 10023
Attn: Street Lights

SEEKING:
[ MONIQUE WILLIS ]
17 y.o. female, African American, high school senior, singer and piano player. Alto/high belt.

[ ROCKY WILLIS ]
18 y.o. male, high school senior, African American. Monique’s bookish brother. Tenor. CAST - DO NOT SUBMIT.

[ DAMON CRUZ ]
Early 20s male, Puerto Rican. Handsome & Confident. A little bit dangerous. Tenor/Reggaeton singer.

[ X.RAY (RAYMOND) HOBBES ]
18 y.o. male, high school senior African American. Raps, sings backup. Charismatic. A dynamic and political DJ and performance artist. Rocky’s best friend. Must be comfortable with rap/spoken word performance.

[ REGINA CRUZ ]
15 y.o. female, high school freshman, Puerto Rican. Raps, sings alto. Damon’s younger sister.

[ MRS. WILLIS ]
Late 50s female, African American. Alto. Old school soul singer sound. Grandmother to Monique and Rocky, and a pillar of the community.

[ MR. KINNEY ]
Mid-20s male, Caucasian. A young high school choir director.

[ CAROL ARMSTRONG ]
Elderly woman, African American. Nonsinging.

[ SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS ]
35-60 y.o. male. Tenors, comfortable with R&B/pop music.

Barack Obama: The Musical

A video from CBS, who interviewed the "creative team" behind the Barack Obama musical opening in London. It looks pretty awful. Oh, Obama's Campaign Manager was a man, not a women with marital problems.

There will be many interesting dramatic versions of Obama's life & campaign. But, this musical in London doesn't look like one of them.

I'm all about Obama inspired art, Joe and I loosely based our upcoming musical Street Lights on the themes of Obama's campaign. We even produced an Obama remix of one of the songs, Miracle, and made a music video.

Blueyed Son

One of my best friends in the world, Joe Drymala, has started a band, Blueyed Sun, and is putting out his first rock album. He's blogging the entire process, including releasing new tracks as he finishes them. He's recording the entire album, BEXAR COUNTY, in his apartment.

The first two songs, Long Way Off and Cocaine Cocaine, are very different and very cool. One is Bruce Springsteen, the other Johnny Cash.

For some background: Joe and I met on the Howard Dean's 2004 Presidential Campaign. He was a speechwriter. We worked together on our first show, White Noise, which was a big hit at the 2006 New York Musical Theater Festival. Joe has written the book, music, and lyrics to Street Lights - a new musical we're aiming to put up in the fall. He produced an amazing demo for that, you can listen to here.

I'll keep you updated on the album and any live performances. Until then, check out Joe's blog.

Street Lights Reading...

Friday afternoon we sat down to hear the new draft of Joe Drymala's Street Lights at Chelsea Studios. It's an exciting evolution of the show and we're really excited to give the public a chance to see it. We're looking at a NYC concert in April or May.

Until then, become a fan of the show on Facebook.

Street Lights @ Broadway For Barack

From the new musical STREET LIGHTS, an R&B/hip hop musical about inner city teenagers, inspired in part by the campaign of Barack Obama. This was recorded at the Broadway For Barack benefit concert on 2/11/08. For more about STREET LIGHTS, and to download this song and other songs, go to myspace.com/streetlightsmusical




Not Enough

Miracle

Someday

Georgetown

The Next Two Weeks

I've got quite a bit going on over the next two weeks and wanted to let everyone know what's happening.

Broadway For Barack

I'm Executive Producing a benefit for Senator Obama's Presidential Campaign on Monday, February 11th.

Playbill Says:

Jenn Colella, Kate Rockwell and Manoel Felciano are among the performers to appear at Broadway for Barack: The Voices of Hope, a benefit concert at Off Broadway's Zipper Theatre.
Ryan J. Davis and Adam Wagner produce the one-night-only event scheduled to play the New York City venue Feb. 11 at 9:30 PM.
...
Performers currently scheduled include Aaron J. Albano (Bombay Dreams, Spelling Bee), Jenn Colella (High Fidelity, Urban Cowboy), Manoel Felciano (Sweeney Todd, Brooklyn), Adam Halpin, Kate Rockwell ("Grease! You're the One That I Want"), Caesar Samayoa (Hot Feet, Carmen) and Marty Thomas (Xanadu, Wicked).
They will sing tunes by Nick Blaemire (Glory Days), Joe Drymala (White Noise), Felciano, Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk (Henry and Mudge), Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Edges), Eric Svejcar (Caligula), Jeffrey Thomson and Jordan Mann as well as Zachary Dietz and Adam Wagner.

Broadway World covers the premier of Joe Drymala's new musical Street Lights as well:

Street Lights, a new R&B/Hip-Hop musical by Joe Drymala will receive its first public preview during the evening. "Barack Obama's been talking about the same things that inspired me to write Street Lights -- community organizing, fixing public education, bringing the promise of the American Dream to every American, and healing the divisions between us," author Joe Drymala said. "Watching his campaign catch fire all over the country has been the most extraordinary political event of my lifetime." Street Lights will feature performances by Timothy Anderson, Andrew Arrington, Krystal Brown, Kevin Curtis, Domonique Porter, Alessia Thompson, Dwayne Washington, & Natalie Weiss.

My Life On The Craigslist

Jeffery's hilarious one man show about finding love (or sex) on Craigslist returns to NYC for three performances only.



Broadway World covers it:

After a sold-out performance at Off-Broadway's New World Stages, My Life On The Craigslist returns to New York for three performances only! My Life On The Craigslist, a solo show written and performed by Jeffery Self (Mr. Broadway, Big Tent) and directed and developed by Ryan J. Davis (White Noise, Breaking In), will be performed Off-Broadway at The 45th Street Theater (354 W. 45th Street) for three Fridays: February 15, 22 & 29 at 11PM. Lights by Solomon Weisbard & Co-Presented by Chris Ryan.
"Jeffery Self plays Jeff Miller, who is sexually frustrated, terribly self-conscious and willing to do anything to spice up his life. After finding the "Men 4 Men" section, his sordid dreams become reality and he begins to live life 'On The Craigslist.' Dirty, sleazy, and funny - this is a one night stand you don't wanna miss," explain press notes.

Tickets are only $10, come check it out!

Tammy Faye Sings

The Tammy Faye Musical, Big Tent, that I directed a big reading of in May is returning for a night at New York's The Metropolitan Room.

Playbill has the details:

Tammy Faye Sings is the title of a Feb. 18 concert at the Metropolitan Room, which will feature songs from the musical Big Tent, which is tagged "The Tammy Faye Bakker Musical."

The 9:30 PM concert at the Manhattan nightspot will feature the talents of Wicked's Stephanie J. Block and Jersey Boys' Sebastian Arcelus as well as Leah Hocking, Jim Stanek, DB Bonds, Kate Rockwell, Jenny Hill, Natalie Douglas, Quiana Parler, Linda Balgord, Jodie Langel, Eric Briarley, Casey Clark, Ryan Driscoll and Hedi Weyhmueller. Jeffery Self, who penned the book for the Tammy Faye musical, will host the evening.

The band will feature Big Tent composers Ben Cohn and Sean McDaniel on, respectively, piano and drums as well as Ric Molina on guitar and Dave Kuhn on bass.

That's all the theater for the next couple of weeks.

Off topic - I've also become a political pundit for The Hill, a widely read political D.C. daily paper. Check out my post here.