Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Los Angeles Ovation Awards Winners, Groovelily, Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda

A huge congratulations go out to my friends in Groovelily, Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn. Their latest show, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, won the Ovation Award for World Premiere Musical and Brendan received the Ovation Award for Musical Direction.

These guys are truly the top maestros with piano and violin that I know - and they're smart. Their lyrics bear repeated listening and the hooks in their songs are infectious but sophisticated - not like your typical pop song that bounces around in your head for a week or two but then sickens you after too much exposure!

Their first musical that got them noticed at the NAMT festival was Striking Twelve, which had its off-Broadway premier last year. It is another smart, funny and touching show dynamically played out and performed by Valerie, Brendan and Gene Lewin (the third member of Groovelily). They are touring Striking Twelve for the holidays so check out their site to see if they will be near you. I'll watch them count down to midnight on New Year's Eve myself with Stephanie Fredricks and her mom, Judith. They'll be at the Zipper in NYC for that show.

dreampeddler

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