29/06/17
If one word summed up the Dracula experience it would be 'epic'. Had a great time working on a wordy and thoughtful script by Liz Lochead, based on the book. Director Eda Holmes did a beautiful job and kept me busy. Wrote a song, some 'Bulgarianish' vocal music, lots and lots of music and the book for wireless mics for the run. I spent quite a bit of time in rehearsal with an electric guitar, making up music as the show was blocked, then took that home and orchestrated it for a low string quartet as well. Ended up recording 40 cues in one session with the string quartet, with a stack of charts about an inch thick.
Here's the big song, Tom O'Bedlam from the show, with me singing.
and another bit from the show here with Brenna MacCrimmon on vox, Anna Redekop on viola, Sarah Fraser Raff on violin, Amber Ghent on cello, Fil Stasiak on bass and me on guitar.
26/05/17
Kate Hennig's great adaptation of Oscar Wilde's children tales was a fun lunchtime show for the Shaw Festival. With director Christine Brubaker we put together a 55 minute show with a couple of hundred cues, a few songs and room for interaction with a group of kid audience members who went through a pre show workshop. We kept the music light and bubbly sounding, though the individual stories all were quite dark for a kids show, though it really was for adults just as much as kids. Here's the Nightingale song, as sung by the lovely actor Emily Lukasik.
18/05/17
The Shaw Festival production was a lovely piece and let me dig into some Celtic music. Finding a subtle way to help tell the story through the use of the malfunctioning prop radio on stage was quite fun. Director Krista Jackson did a lovely job on this one.
24/04/17
Sean Dixon's new work was a total pleasure to work on, a mysterious two hander directed by Vikki Anderson for DVxT Theatre. Spent time in rehearsal building the sound and music with the actors as we went through the play.
05/04/17
The first phase of a new piece for Laurence Lemieux on Vimy Ridge involved writing a 10 minute piece that was to be performed on Vimy Ridge for the 100th anniversary and the opening of a new trench museum on the ridge. Originally we had hoped to get a Canadian Cadet band to play the music live, but scheduling made it impossible. But the first phase was created and written for military brass band.
The second phase is a full length version that will open in November 2017.
The trip to Vimy, where we were billeted with a farmer in Givenchy, was a beautiful event, marked by friendly people, many trips to cemeteries and monuments and a chance to watch the 100th celebration.