In 2011 I was fortunate to be able to lend my talents to four theatrical productions. At UCC last Spring Karen Robu and I produced Violet (I music directed) and the show was very well-received by our audiences. This is a bittersweet memory as it would prove to be the last show Karen and I would produce at UCC. We had been doing an annual Spring production since 2005 and the church eliminated Karen's position shortly after we closed Violet.
In June I was cast in the Barbershop Quartet in Music Theater of Wichita's first production of their 40th anniversary season -- The Music Man. It was great fun to spend two intense weeks with this amazing theater company. It seems every year the bar gets set a bit higher and I was proud to return to that stage once again.
Almost immediately after The Music Man closed, I began working with Conrad Jestmore and Kathy Page-Hauptman on a new musical version of A Christmas Carol. We spent most of the summer writing and re-writing scenes, songs and story for a December premiere at the new Forum Center for the Performing Arts. Once we got the bulk of this completed, I then set about working as the Musical Director on the Forum Theater's inaugural production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. We had a blast preparing this hysterical romp for our Wichita audiences and opened in October to wonderful reviews and terrific audience response.
Almost immediately after we closed A Funny Thing..., we began rehearsing our new A Christmas Carol. Kathy and I had tried for weeks to recruit the right actor to play Scrooge, but in the end I assumed the role for this first production. I had so much fun and our little musical was greatly received by the Wichita community. I will write another post soon about this experience, but for now let me suffice to say that it was one of the most rewarding artistic periods of my life.
2012 sees me with a few projects on the horizon--Conrad, Kathy and I are working on our next project with plans to workshop it this summer and premiere it in the fall. Also, we will tweak A Christmas Carol and present it again during this year's holiday season in December. We already have some great ideas to make it even better!
I am planning on auditioning for MTWichita and we'll see what happens there!
It should be an exciting year!
PAX
Paul
Monday, January 09, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
A Christmas Carol
We closed my new musical, A Christmas Carol, last Sunday after 11 performances and terrific audience response. It was a wonderful experience with an talented cast and I am just about as thrilled as I could be that we did it!.
At the cast party on Sunday night, Kathy Page-Hauptman, our director and catalyst for the show, looked at me a bit stunned and said: "We didn't even workshop it! We went right into production! What were we thinking?"
Indeed! What were we thinking?
My favorite reaction to the show, of which just about everyone has, is...it was so much better than I expected. HA! Love that....
Pax,
Paul
At the cast party on Sunday night, Kathy Page-Hauptman, our director and catalyst for the show, looked at me a bit stunned and said: "We didn't even workshop it! We went right into production! What were we thinking?"
Indeed! What were we thinking?
My favorite reaction to the show, of which just about everyone has, is...it was so much better than I expected. HA! Love that....
Pax,
Paul
Monday, November 14, 2011
A Christmas Carol
We have had our first week of rehearsals for our new musical version of A Christmas Carol and I could not be more pleased. The acting company is top-notch and the artist they brought in to arrange my music and orchestrate the show is brilliant!
Perhaps now would be a good time to fill you in on the fact that even though we tried to find the perfect Scrooge, every one we really wanted was either booked or otherwise unavailable. So, the director asked me to step into the role. I am looking forward to looking at this show from a different angle.
So I am very excited about this production--my work in it just got increased quite a bit!
Pax,
Paul
Perhaps now would be a good time to fill you in on the fact that even though we tried to find the perfect Scrooge, every one we really wanted was either booked or otherwise unavailable. So, the director asked me to step into the role. I am looking forward to looking at this show from a different angle.
So I am very excited about this production--my work in it just got increased quite a bit!
Pax,
Paul
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Doctor of Education
I am deep in my doctoral studies at Harrison Middleton University. I had taken a leave of absence to move to OKC and then back to Wichita and have been re-enrolled for about 6 months now. The work is tough--my reading list is quite expansive for the current course I am in--and the collaboration and writing work is daunting. However, I continue to make steady progress and hope to be taking my first set of comprehensive exams in the next 12-14 months. The program is not unlike a survey of Western Civilization and Education through the ages--except on steroids! I am proud of my work with HMU and look forward to my continued studies.
Pax,
Paul
Pax,
Paul
Friday, September 16, 2011
A Christmas Carol
Gentle reader--my music and lyrics for A Christmas Carol have turned out much better than I anticipated. Reception at last week's read/sing through was very positive and many useful comments have been incorporated into the work. Tomorrow I am auditioning some local talent to see what happens. I'm very excited about this production!
More to come, soon.
PAX
PAUL
More to come, soon.
PAX
PAUL
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Theater Work Fall 2011
So, gentle reader, my Fall is shaping up quite nicely as I have committed to some terrific theater projects. First--I am the music director for the upcoming production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum--one of my favorite shows (I played Psuedolus in a fast, fun production in Lawrence years ago and it is still one of my favorite theater memories). This production will be at the new Forum Theater opening soon. Forum opens on October 14 and runs for 3 weeks.
The bigger news is that the producers at the Forum Theater approached me early in the summer about composing the music (and writing the lyrics) for a new version of A Christmas Carol. I am pleased with how the score is turning out and am excited to present the entire show for a read-through audience this weekend. The book has been written by local author Conrad Jestmore and it has been an absolute joy working with him and Kathy Page-Hauptman as we prepare this piece for a November opening and run.
Now that I've got this blog under my "real" Gmail account, I promise to post more often!
Pax,
Paul
The bigger news is that the producers at the Forum Theater approached me early in the summer about composing the music (and writing the lyrics) for a new version of A Christmas Carol. I am pleased with how the score is turning out and am excited to present the entire show for a read-through audience this weekend. The book has been written by local author Conrad Jestmore and it has been an absolute joy working with him and Kathy Page-Hauptman as we prepare this piece for a November opening and run.
Now that I've got this blog under my "real" Gmail account, I promise to post more often!
Pax,
Paul
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Summer 2011
I haven't posted in quite a while--which is a good thing considering that my life is really going excellent these days. I just finished playing Jacey Squires in The Music Man at Music Theatre of Wichita. Jacey is one of the barbershop quartet men and I had so much fun working on this show and presenting it to our fabulous audiences.
In February I was the music director for Violet at UCC. Every spring for the past 7 years Karen Robu and I have produced a musical for our church--of course, that ended about a week after we closed Violet as our church council decided (rather quickly and under very suspicious circumstances) to "reorganize" and let Karen go. This development has broken my heart--as I love UCC....and I love Karen and the work we had been doing. Needless-to-say, my own future at UCC, with a congregation I have served for over 16 years, is in serious jeopardy. I really don't want to be associated with an organization (especially my church) that treats other people in such a sneaky, underhanded way. The whole episode reeks of a handful of people wanting to control congregational policy...something in which our entire Congregational tradition abhors. Early on I sort of understood, maybe, what they were trying to do, but as more information was made known about how secretive the process had been, my faith in UCC started to unravel. And it continues to unravel to this day. So...we'll see what happens. It is just such a shame that UCC lost an amazing leader and the potential of Karen's ministry on the advice of a few misdirected folks.
Anyway, enough of that!
I have a number of future theatrical projects in the works--but I can't talk about them just yet. I'll post once they firm up!
Pax,
Paul
In February I was the music director for Violet at UCC. Every spring for the past 7 years Karen Robu and I have produced a musical for our church--of course, that ended about a week after we closed Violet as our church council decided (rather quickly and under very suspicious circumstances) to "reorganize" and let Karen go. This development has broken my heart--as I love UCC....and I love Karen and the work we had been doing. Needless-to-say, my own future at UCC, with a congregation I have served for over 16 years, is in serious jeopardy. I really don't want to be associated with an organization (especially my church) that treats other people in such a sneaky, underhanded way. The whole episode reeks of a handful of people wanting to control congregational policy...something in which our entire Congregational tradition abhors. Early on I sort of understood, maybe, what they were trying to do, but as more information was made known about how secretive the process had been, my faith in UCC started to unravel. And it continues to unravel to this day. So...we'll see what happens. It is just such a shame that UCC lost an amazing leader and the potential of Karen's ministry on the advice of a few misdirected folks.
Anyway, enough of that!
I have a number of future theatrical projects in the works--but I can't talk about them just yet. I'll post once they firm up!
Pax,
Paul
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