Music to our ears

Sorry for the comparative radio silence, although I've been happily twittering away, so if you miss me lots you can follow me on Twitter.

I'd like to talk about a recent project, but first I want to alert folks to a couple of notable Sweetie Tanya musical releases.

First, Rachel Efron (who penned "Terrible Thing to Dream", "Not as Old as You", and "Mouse Becomes the Cat") just released her second CD, and it is a thing of loveliness.

Second, The Endless (who composed "I Never Wanted This") just released a video for "Hunt for the Heart", off their latest album. The album and the video are both filled with the strange beauty that characterize Adriana and Dave, so go check it out.

Also, I did some singing lately. I cannot claim it was lovely or filled with strange beauty, but people seemed to find it very funny.

Suraya Keating (Vagina Dentata) asked me to fill in for a lost actor on her project Zen Boyfriends. It was only a couple of days of rehearsal and one show, so I happily agreed, despite the fact that I was up for a role (which I also got) in Custom Made Theatre's "Heidi Chronicles". It was a lot of fun and we did our performance at the California Institute for Integral Studies last night.
Zen Boyfriends is essentially a cabaret piece about a woman reflecting on her struggles with men who use their "enlightenment" to dominate others and avoid emotional intimacy and personal responsibility. It was written and co-directed by someone who graduated from CIIS, and the particular form of spirituality and social consciousness being satirized is fervently endorsed by the institution. So depending on your point of view, we were either in the belly of the beast or inviting the larger family to be in on the joke.

I think it was a little from column A and a little from column B.

What I found most interesting about the project was that most of the cast are not semi-professional performers and I was repeatedly "checked in" with by them to be sure that I was enjoying myself and that I was glad to be involved with the program. There was a kind of nervousness that I might find the project unworthy or something. Truth was, the show is a lark, required minimal time, and is clearly enjoyed by the targeted audience (who turns out in droves).

For the most part, the performers have a hard time singing in the same key (myself included), and while the music is quite catchy nobody would buy a CD of *us* singing the songs. The script is perfect for a cabaret style performance with broad, satirical characterizations, but is ultimately 2 dimensional and cartoony. The entire show has a very "let's do a show in the barn" feel to it, and will probably never play in an actual theatre. But there's nothing wrong with any of that. It's a specific piece written for a specific audience and it runs on cleverness, good will, and high energy. People who come to see it have a good time (even if they end up feeling a bit chagrined by the end). It's what Peter Brook would call "Rough Theatre", and in many ways is more special to the audience for happening outside even the rough and tumble world of independent theatre.

We are probably doing it again next month, which will result in me doing Zen Boyfriends on a Sunday afternoon, and then doing Heidi Chronicles that evening. It should be interesting, to say the least.

Of, and for the fearful, I only sing as part of a chorus.