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    • The Song Is You! Concert Series
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  • Store
The Musical Theater Project
  • About
    • Mission
    • Leadership
    • For TMTP Members >
      • Celebrating You !
      • Curtain Call: Member Newsletter
      • Member Events
      • Tell Us Your Peter Pan Story
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Auditions
    • Volunteer
  • Concerts
    • The Song Is You! Concert Series
    • Rendezvous Cabarets
    • On-Site Cabarets
    • Lecture-Demonstrations
  • School Programs
    • Kids Love Musicals! >
      • Distance Learning >
        • Unit 1: Cinderella
        • Unit 2: Jungle Book
        • Unit 3: The Wizard of Oz
        • Unit 4: Peter Pan
        • Unit 5: Charlie Brown
      • KLM Resources
      • Teacher Preparation
    • Two-Day Residency
    • Extended Residency - Special Needs Classrooms
    • Intergenerational Workshop
    • Meet Our Teaching Artists
    • Sponsorship
  • Radio Programs
    • Footlight Parade >
      • For Program Directors
    • On the Aisle
  • Recordings
    • About Harbinger Records
    • Recent Releases
    • Harbinger Playlists
    • News & Reviews
    • Catalog by Title
    • Catalog by Artist
  • Donate
    • Become a Contributing Member
    • TMTP Annual Report
    • Legacy Giving >
      • Legacy Gift Options
      • TMTP Organizational Fund
  • Resources
    • Bill's Picks
    • Diversity and the American Musical
    • Links & Books
    • Overture Newsletter
  • TMTP Online
    • Movies At Home
    • TMTP Playlists
    • KLM's Mid-Week Musical Pick Me Up
    • TMTP's Blog
  • Store

TMTP's Blog

A New Dialogue

8/27/2020

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TMTP Teaching Artists Mariah Burks and Bridie Carroll in Cain Park's "Ragtime" (2019)
By Jodi Maile Kirk

​At The Musical Theater Project, we use the art of musical theater not only to step into a story or soak in the wonder of a song but to
examine and explore the human condition. Musicals offer a unique opportunity to look within. They invite us to unearth our greatest joys and sorrows, to honor both our triumphs and our challenges. 


Sadly, many of our most beloved musicals and favorite songs offer a limited world view seen primarily through a white lens. So many voices remain unheard, So many stories untold. We must continue to ask ourselves, “What stories are being erased? Eliminated? Reduced?” And most importantly, “Who is telling those stories?”

Currently, the story of our nation is one of a great divide. We continue to live in two Americas. It has been a summer of unrest and racial turbulence. Many of us continue to wrestle with hard truths as we bear witness to the horrific murder of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others. The fuels and flames of social injustice are raging throughout this land, and we seek to find a united voice. 

In searching for a musical that reflects this time of reckoning, I landed on the musical Ragtime. Although written by white artists, the piece authentically explores part of our American story that is either glossed over or ignored. Once again, I was moved by the power of the music and the intricate weaving of three separate narratives. I soaked in the lyrics to one of the show’s stand-out songs, “Make Them Hear You,” an anthem inviting us all to stand for justice no matter the cost. As I listened to it this time, however, its promise rang hollow. I found myself getting angrier and sadder as I questioned the ongoing cost for people of color—the cost of generations—that continues to be too high. 

I found myself haunted by the story of Mother and the journey of the song “Back to Before.”  Although the song in the musical reflects Mother’s ownership of her own agency, I realized that in order to move forward, White America needs to sever ties with the stories that we have told ourselves for too long. We all need to step out of our comfort zones so we honestly look at our nation’s history, as well as our personal history. We must honestly look at the promise of the Civil Rights movement versus the reality. We must rectify the systemic injustices that continue to plague who we are meant to be. Only then will we find a way to be a nation in which everyone--everyone, no matter the color of their skin or who they choose to love—is treated equally, fairly and with justice and respect. 

Black lives matter. 

In Ragtime, the story of Coalhouse Walker ends tragically. We must continue to fight and change the narrative. Thankfully, an amazing group of TMTP artists shared their gifts and their hearts as we worked together to blend songs from this powerful musical as well as images from our shared history to create this video and--hopefully--begin a new dialogue. This performance invites us all to come together and lean into hard questions, as we try to move forward. To change the story of who we are and who we can be.
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Celebrating Bernstein

8/23/2020

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Between multiple Broadway revivals, cabaret recordings, film versions, television clips and concert events, it's hard to identify the quintessential Leonard Bernstein. As we celebrate the late composer's birthday this week, TMTP's staff went down the YouTube rabbit hole to share a few beloved clips worth watching.

"America" from West Side Story
"This scene and song is all about perspective. It is interesting how two different groups can see the same thing so differently. Aside from its very relevant message, this song is one that just seems like it would be so much fun to perform. Every time I see it, whether as a stand-alone or in the show, all of the dancers and singers just appear to be having the best time. The energy is completely infectious." - Heidi Lang
"Come Up to My Place" from On The Town
"Such a treat! A VERY early TV clip of the great comic and singer Nancy Walker. What I find so wonderful about Nancy, who I'm proud to say was a friend, is that she was really a proto-feminist who knew exactly what she wanted and always got it in her riotously deadpan style. And before she revs up the song, notice the splendid ballet music by Bernstein in the background." - Bill Rudman
"I Can Cook, Too" from On The Town
"Openly gay comedian and Jazz vocalist Lea DeLaria (an original cast member of the 1998 Broadway revival of On the Town) gave this quintessentially sexy song some new and wonderful twists in the PBS classic 'My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies.' If you're unfamiliar with the concert, the entire live event from Carnegie Hall is available on YouTube and should not be missed!" - Heather Meeker
"Make Our Garden Grow" from Candide
"Perhaps it's because my husband and I are expecting our first child in the next few weeks, but this song feel very sentimental right now. The lyrics are so important at the beginning, simple but significant, and then when the entire company sings together its some of the most beautiful choral arrangements I have ever heard. The lines leading into the song are, 'We can only promise to do our best,' and that is all I wish for our country right now. You plant seeds wherever you go, and it's so important to remember that and the impact we have on other people. " - Bridie Srsen
"Tonight" from West Side Story
​Anything from West Side Story could have made this list for me because I believe it's one of the true masterpieces when it comes to musical theater. But the fact that a recording even exists of Audra and Mandy  singing this music together feels like an extra special gift to the world. Their voices showcase what Bernstein's music can sound like at its finest. Check out the entire video and/or album of Leonard Bernstein's New York for more all star performances. " - Joanna May Cullinan
"The Greatest Five Minutes in Music Education"
​"This is from a Bernstein lecture in his “The Unanswered Question” series at Harvard University in 1973. He takes us through the entire development of western music in 5 minutes at the piano in a way only Bernstein can. It's really illuminating!" - Nancy Maier
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What's Bill Up To?

8/7/2020

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Bill is up to what all of us at The Musical Theater Project are up to—and this goes for most arts
organizations in Cleveland as well. We’re creating online programming as a means of serving
our participants during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the case of TMTP, that includes our new
weekly series, “Let’s Go to the Movies…at Home!,” an adaptation of our acclaimed school
program, “Kids Love Musicals!,” and specially selected song playlists that can be streamed on
Spotify. (And of course our two long-running radio programs on public stations and Sirius
continue, unaffected by the virus.)

But you probably know that a big part of our work is producing live concerts and cabarets, and I want to tell you about preparing our very first online show because it will help me make an
important point about TMTP.

The show, which you’ll be able to stream in October, is titled “Sing Me a Story”—and my
colleague Nancy Maier and I know it’ll be lots of fun because the songs we’ve chosen are so
much fun. As the title suggests, they’re all songs that tell stories, and they range from
Hollywood’s “The Ugly Duckling” (Hans Christian Andersen) to Broadway’s “Nothing”
(A Chorus Line).

We were doing just fine assembling the music for our two vocalists, Ursula Cataan and Eric
Fancher, when all of a sudden we hit a roadblock. I was determined to include “Cheerleader,” a
little-known story-song by the great John Kander and Fred Ebb that’s both funny and touching.
In 1979 I saw it performed in New York by the late Phyliss Newman in her one-woman show,
The Madwoman of Central Park West.

But the song wasn’t in the Kander & Ebb songbook, nor was it published…period. Well, that never stops us. We go to a friend of mine in New York who has tons of unpublished material in the performance editions used in the theater. He scoured his files; nope.

So…on to composer John Kander (a friend of TMTP) and his assistant. They spent two months
searching for that elusive cheerleader to no avail. I suppose a lot of people would have given up by now; after all, Nancy and I have 20 other songs in the show!

But heck, this is TMTP, so we pressed on. We asked our friend in New York to recommend
someone there who could transcribe the piano-vocal from Newman’s cast album. We found a
terrific arranger named Balint Varga, and a week later, voila! I just sent “Cheerleader” to Nancy
and Ursula. As Balint noted, “Just think: We saved a little gem from oblivion.”
I share this with you because it’s typical of TMTP; we are all perfectionists and we never give
up. That’s a big reason I’ve been here for 22 years…

Don’t miss “Sing Me a Story” in October, OK?

P.S. Naturally I sent “Cheerleader” to John Kander. His response: “Wow! Thanks—it is great to
have this!”

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Binge-Worthy TV Shows to Get Your Musical Fix

8/6/2020

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The 72nd Annual Emmy Award nominations just came out and as usual, Broadway is well represented. We thought this would be the perfect time to look back at our favorite musical TV shows. Everyone at TMTP was tasked with selecting a gem from the small screen that would satisfy our hunger for musical theater while we're stuck home on the couch.

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"My hands down favorite was The Carol Burnett show. I adored the sketches, the repeat characters and the true sense of ensemble. I especially loved when Carol and Harvey would break character when Tim Conway took a comic bit to the extreme. I loved seeing who the guests were each week and was obsessed with the fact that she was good friends with both Julie Andrews and Lucille Ball. Her closing song, “I’m so Glad This Time Together”  as well as the sentimental tug of her earlobe honoring her mom are definitely echoed in the work we do in the classroom. Honoring the time we spend together, celebrating the songs, stories and people who shape us as we share a laugh and sing a song are part of the hallmarks of all our programming at TMTP." - Jodi Maile Kirk
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"It’s TRULY crazy, but I got a huge kick out of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The musical talent on that show was amazing. Creator and star Rachel Bloom is super creative and multi-talented. She creates songs in all genres and performs them really well, as singer, actress, and comedian. The songs bring everyday situations to life in a magical/fantasy-like way. She surrounds herself with excellent Broadway performers, so all the singing and dancing is first rate!" - Nancy Maier
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"The new show Encore! hosted by Kristin Bell on Disney+ is both entertaining and inspiring. It's a reality show that reunites former drama kids as adults to recreate their high school musical in one week! With the help of Broadway professionals, these grownups get a second chance to live out their onstage dreams. Along the way they find new appreciation for the work that goes into it and the friendships that come out of it proving once and for all the universal power of musical theater." - Joanna May Cullinan
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"Only a single episode of The Flash (yes, the DC Universe superhero) qualifies. But of all the non-musical shows to attempt the genre, this one pulled it off. Consider this: Glee alums Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist (TV's Supergirl) anchor the plot and Darrin Criss guest stars. Musical theater veterans Jesse L. Martin, Victor Garber and John Barrowman sing a truly touching "More I Cannot Wish You" from Guys & Dolls. And Oscar-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land) contribute the original song 'Running Home to You' for the episode's defining moment." - Heather Meeker
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"As a former show choir geek, Glee brought back so many memories of friendship and the usual teenage struggles. For six years, it was a wonderful "escape" for me from my normal life. Every episode allowed me to listen to many old, familiar songs as well as introduce me to some newer contemporary songs. I also loved being able to see all of the young, emerging singers and watch them develop over the course of each season. Many of the actors started on Broadway or went on to perform there once the show was over." - Heidi Lang
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"We don't watch much TV and Saturday Night Live never captivated me as it did as my high school and college friends. But in the last 4 years, SNL has been solace as well as entertainment. SNL has an on-going, not-so-secret love affair with its neighbor Broadway and in no episode was that more on display than in 2018’s 'Diner Lobster' which parodies Les Miserables as only SNL can!" - Debbie Schinker
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"I have to pick Zoe's Extraodinary Playlist due to the storyline and humor. I think the show is so well done and the script writing is excellent. In musical theater we know that people release into song when emotions are so intense that they have nothing else to do but sing, and I think this is done in such a unique and believable way on the show. It's also fun to see other musical theater performers on your tv at home." - Bridie Srsen
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An honorable mention goes to Smash. The show made it on to so many staff member's lists that we had to show it some extra love. The behind-the-scenes drama only lasted two seasons, but it featured Broadway veterans and lavish musical numbers every week. Season one focused on a Marilyn Monroe musical called Bombshell with an outstanding score written by Scott Wittman & Marc Shaiman (Hairspray). It's not-to-be-missed!
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    Author

    The Musical Theater Project's authors include Bill Rudman,  Heather Meeker and Joanna May Cullinan -  and guest writers from time to time!
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5755 Granger Road, Suite 830
Independence, OH 44131-1460
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Contact Us

office: 216-860-1518
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email: ​info@musicaltheaterproject.org
  • About
    • Mission
    • Leadership
    • For TMTP Members >
      • Celebrating You !
      • Curtain Call: Member Newsletter
      • Member Events
      • Tell Us Your Peter Pan Story
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Auditions
    • Volunteer
  • Concerts
    • The Song Is You! Concert Series
    • Rendezvous Cabarets
    • On-Site Cabarets
    • Lecture-Demonstrations
  • School Programs
    • Kids Love Musicals! >
      • Distance Learning >
        • Unit 1: Cinderella
        • Unit 2: Jungle Book
        • Unit 3: The Wizard of Oz
        • Unit 4: Peter Pan
        • Unit 5: Charlie Brown
      • KLM Resources
      • Teacher Preparation
    • Two-Day Residency
    • Extended Residency - Special Needs Classrooms
    • Intergenerational Workshop
    • Meet Our Teaching Artists
    • Sponsorship
  • Radio Programs
    • Footlight Parade >
      • For Program Directors
    • On the Aisle
  • Recordings
    • About Harbinger Records
    • Recent Releases
    • Harbinger Playlists
    • News & Reviews
    • Catalog by Title
    • Catalog by Artist
  • Donate
    • Become a Contributing Member
    • TMTP Annual Report
    • Legacy Giving >
      • Legacy Gift Options
      • TMTP Organizational Fund
  • Resources
    • Bill's Picks
    • Diversity and the American Musical
    • Links & Books
    • Overture Newsletter
  • TMTP Online
    • Movies At Home
    • TMTP Playlists
    • KLM's Mid-Week Musical Pick Me Up
    • TMTP's Blog
  • Store