Here is a quick interview with Melody Moore, the new Fanny at Kalliope Stages.
Dreampeddler: Congratulations, Melody, on being cast as Fanny in the Kalliope Stage production of Fanny Hill. As the original producer of the show in New York, I know how challenging the role of Fanny is. What do you feel is the most exciting part of playing Fanny for you?
Melody: The most exciting part of playing Fanny is that this character gets quality stage time with EVERY character/actor in the show! As an actor, getting to work intimately with so many different people can challenge you and help you grow. Through Fanny I also get to portray a woman that goes through a very significant transformation. I'm very excited to bring this to life on stage!
Dreampeddler: What do you think will be the most challenging part of playing Fanny?
Melody: Ed Dixon wrote a very challenging vocal score for this character. My vocal chords are literally being stretched to places they have not gone in years!
Dreampeddler: Ed no doubt is a master at writing music that is intricate yet melodic. I think his best talents shine when he writes duets, trios and choral numbers, as he has a real talent for writing intertwining harmonic lines with multiple characters. Only in a musical can you have more than one character "speaking/singing" at the same time and still understand what is going on.
This is a return engagement for you at the Kalliope Stage having played Queenie in their last year's production of Wild Party. What is it like to work at Kalliope Stage?
Melody: I have grown more as an actress at Kalliope Stage than I have working ANYWHERE. Paul always hires amazingly talented people to be part of the Kalliope family. This includes production staff, artistic staff as well as the actors and musicians. To work with them is a privilege. He also creates a very safe space that is focused on bringing out the best in everyone. The size of the theatre is very intimate as well and it forces the actors to be truly honest in their work. There is nothing like being able to reach out and touch an audience member...literally!
Dreampeddler: I understand you live in Manhattan with your husband. Are you from Manhattan ? Are you there to pursue Musical Theater?
Melody: Yes, I live in Manhattan with my husband and our little schnauzer, Mozart. I am originally from Carbondale, Illinois where I attended Southern Illinois University and graduated with a degree in musical theatre. Yes, I am in NYC to pursue a career in musical theatre and after six years am FINALLY getting some nice juicy Broadway callbacks! I have also been taking a fantastic acting class the past three years with Craig Carnelia. My husband is a singer/songwriter and it's wonderful to be able to pursue our dreams in NYC together!
Dreampeddler: I have heard nothing but amazing things about Craig Carnelia's class. I love a lot of his music and back when I was still acting, I would sing "Diamonds" his song about baseball. Got a lot of gigs with that song. He is a wonderful talent.
Thanks again to Melody for taking the time out of her busy rehearsal schedule to answer some questions. Tomorrow is Feb. 1st and they will be down to 2 weeks before opening!
Break a leg!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Fanny Hill The Musical at Kalliope Stage
As promised, here's an interview with two gents who run The Kalliope Stage in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the first regional production of Fanny Hill! Paul F. Gurgol, Artistic Director of Kalliope Stage and Rex Snider, Managing Director of Kalliope Stage.
I love the spirit of these guys and their positive attitude toward the real challenges out there to run a professional theater in Cleveland. The same problems arise for all theaters everywhere, where do we get our audience and where can we get funding? As Rex said, maybe we should all start selling our blood! And we all need to get more sleep!
Dreampeddler: Tell me a little bit about yourselves.
Paul: Besides rehearsals for Fanny I also work in the education department for Opera Cleveland. Its a wonderful program . I teach master classes to college students. We spend a day with the students from the theater, music and dance departments and create, rehearse and perform an operetta in a day. It is a very rewarding program. It really keeps my skills sharp.
Rex: By day I am an Engineer with a large company in Ohio where I am a mentor and engineering administrator. That is how I get money to pay our bills. Also during the day I manage the theater as best I can, sneaking in a few mins. here and there to put out fires and deal with business concerns between the projects I have with my employer. All my nights and weekends are spent running the theater. I average 3 to 4 hours sleep a night. I am an officer on the board of trustees of Kalliope Stage as well. I am not a paid employee of Kalliope. I do this for Paul and the love of theater.
Dreampeddler: How have rehearsals been going for your production of Fanny?
Paul: Things have been a little hectic on my end. Fanny is going great. The cast sounds amazing. I start blocking this Sunday. We are going to do a sing through of the show today. Melody is going to be wonderful as Fanny. She has the right balance of innocence and sass. She is so like able on stage. The cast seems very excited about working on the show. A lot of development in character is happening already. We work around the table daily to get everyone working in the same style. We are having a lot of fun developing through the phrasing of the music. Adrienne Brockway is doing production design for the show. Sets, lights and costumes. She is building all the costumes from scratch. She is working her tail off at the moment. When I first read the show last spring I just loved it. I laughed out loud. Once I heard the music I was sold. I had to do this show. It has a wonderful sense of operetta, pastiche, sex farce as well as comedia. As always we are working to find the truth as well as a style appropriate for the show. I think Fanny is a wonderful cross of Candide and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. I am working for a fast paced seamless production. We need to take the audience on a ride. I welcome the challenges this show gives me as an artist.
Dreampeddler: How many people do you have on staff?
Rex: Staff is very expensive and not easy to find that is self motivated and cares about the company. We currently do not have any paid staff and only a few dedicated volunteers including myself. We used to have one hired office person that handled box office, communications, minor levels of accounting and facilities housekeeping. Since the down turn in support for the arts in Cleveland we found it necessary to lay her off. I now do all that too!
Dreampeddler: Where do you find your actors and actresses? Are they NYC transplants? Students? Recent Grads?
Paul: For Fanny Hill we have an incredible cast of New York and Cleveland actors- the best we've had at Kalliope to date. Melody Moore, who played Queenie last season to rave reviews in our production of Andrew Lippa's Wild Party, is Fanny, and Erin Stewart and David Dewitt are joining the cast as Phoebe and Charles. They both come to us after completing a national tour of Phantom of the Opera as Christine and Raoul. Jared Leal, who player Billy Bigalow in the national tour of Carousel, is playing Will, and David Vosburgh, who was in the original cast of A Little Night Music and the revival of 1776, is playing Croft.
Dreampeddler: Where do you find funding for your organization?
Rex: Besides contributing constantly myself sources are varied. I have not started selling my blood yet.
Thank you guys for your candid responses. I look forward to speaking to more of the cast and following your production up to opening night on Valentine's Day!
Dreampeddler
I love the spirit of these guys and their positive attitude toward the real challenges out there to run a professional theater in Cleveland. The same problems arise for all theaters everywhere, where do we get our audience and where can we get funding? As Rex said, maybe we should all start selling our blood! And we all need to get more sleep!
Dreampeddler: Tell me a little bit about yourselves.
Paul: Besides rehearsals for Fanny I also work in the education department for Opera Cleveland. Its a wonderful program . I teach master classes to college students. We spend a day with the students from the theater, music and dance departments and create, rehearse and perform an operetta in a day. It is a very rewarding program. It really keeps my skills sharp.
Rex: By day I am an Engineer with a large company in Ohio where I am a mentor and engineering administrator. That is how I get money to pay our bills. Also during the day I manage the theater as best I can, sneaking in a few mins. here and there to put out fires and deal with business concerns between the projects I have with my employer. All my nights and weekends are spent running the theater. I average 3 to 4 hours sleep a night. I am an officer on the board of trustees of Kalliope Stage as well. I am not a paid employee of Kalliope. I do this for Paul and the love of theater.
Dreampeddler: How have rehearsals been going for your production of Fanny?
Paul: Things have been a little hectic on my end. Fanny is going great. The cast sounds amazing. I start blocking this Sunday. We are going to do a sing through of the show today. Melody is going to be wonderful as Fanny. She has the right balance of innocence and sass. She is so like able on stage. The cast seems very excited about working on the show. A lot of development in character is happening already. We work around the table daily to get everyone working in the same style. We are having a lot of fun developing through the phrasing of the music. Adrienne Brockway is doing production design for the show. Sets, lights and costumes. She is building all the costumes from scratch. She is working her tail off at the moment. When I first read the show last spring I just loved it. I laughed out loud. Once I heard the music I was sold. I had to do this show. It has a wonderful sense of operetta, pastiche, sex farce as well as comedia. As always we are working to find the truth as well as a style appropriate for the show. I think Fanny is a wonderful cross of Candide and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. I am working for a fast paced seamless production. We need to take the audience on a ride. I welcome the challenges this show gives me as an artist.
Dreampeddler: How many people do you have on staff?
Rex: Staff is very expensive and not easy to find that is self motivated and cares about the company. We currently do not have any paid staff and only a few dedicated volunteers including myself. We used to have one hired office person that handled box office, communications, minor levels of accounting and facilities housekeeping. Since the down turn in support for the arts in Cleveland we found it necessary to lay her off. I now do all that too!
Dreampeddler: Where do you find your actors and actresses? Are they NYC transplants? Students? Recent Grads?
Paul: For Fanny Hill we have an incredible cast of New York and Cleveland actors- the best we've had at Kalliope to date. Melody Moore, who played Queenie last season to rave reviews in our production of Andrew Lippa's Wild Party, is Fanny, and Erin Stewart and David Dewitt are joining the cast as Phoebe and Charles. They both come to us after completing a national tour of Phantom of the Opera as Christine and Raoul. Jared Leal, who player Billy Bigalow in the national tour of Carousel, is playing Will, and David Vosburgh, who was in the original cast of A Little Night Music and the revival of 1776, is playing Croft.
Dreampeddler: Where do you find funding for your organization?
Rex: Besides contributing constantly myself sources are varied. I have not started selling my blood yet.
Thank you guys for your candid responses. I look forward to speaking to more of the cast and following your production up to opening night on Valentine's Day!
Dreampeddler
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Teaser
Although my posts have been less frequent of late, that is about to change. I have been working hard on two new projects that will be featured on the blog, and one announcement for a staged reading.
1) Behind the scenes run up to the opening of Fanny Hill in Ohio at the Kalliope Stage. Fanny's First Time in the regional theater market. Interviews are underway with the creative staff and cast. This will be a great play by play for getting a show up and running. Should be a lot of fun.
2) I will be running a new feature on the blog with my dear friend Ed Dixon. There are 2 kinds of famous people out there, one being the celebrity that is known by legions of fans and exposure but has probably had little interaction with all the people who know them, and then there are those folks that literally KNOW legions of people, have actually worked with them and interacted with them. Ed is one of these people. And the stories he can tell about all of these legions, both famous and infamous, are amazing. Well we will be sharing those stories here on the blog under the new feature, "How do you know Ed Dixon?" (working title). This will be a blast. Check out his site at http://www.eddixon.biz/
3) I interviewed DJ Salisbury in December about his upcoming project Super Chix. They will be having a performance of the piece at the Zipper Theater on February 1st. Check out the following facebook event page for more details, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=7919778004&ref=mf
See you again soon!
dreampeddler
1) Behind the scenes run up to the opening of Fanny Hill in Ohio at the Kalliope Stage. Fanny's First Time in the regional theater market. Interviews are underway with the creative staff and cast. This will be a great play by play for getting a show up and running. Should be a lot of fun.
2) I will be running a new feature on the blog with my dear friend Ed Dixon. There are 2 kinds of famous people out there, one being the celebrity that is known by legions of fans and exposure but has probably had little interaction with all the people who know them, and then there are those folks that literally KNOW legions of people, have actually worked with them and interacted with them. Ed is one of these people. And the stories he can tell about all of these legions, both famous and infamous, are amazing. Well we will be sharing those stories here on the blog under the new feature, "How do you know Ed Dixon?" (working title). This will be a blast. Check out his site at http://www.eddixon.biz/
3) I interviewed DJ Salisbury in December about his upcoming project Super Chix. They will be having a performance of the piece at the Zipper Theater on February 1st. Check out the following facebook event page for more details, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=7919778004&ref=mf
See you again soon!
dreampeddler
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
First Regional Production of Fanny Hill
Kalliope Stage in Cleveland will be the first regional theatre to put up Fanny Hill. I am very excited to see Fanny start getting the exposure she deserves. As one of the original producers of the show in New York, it is very rewarding to see a show that we put so much hard work and care into start to have a life of its own. Our Fanny is growing up!
If you are in the area, go to the tickets page on the Kalliope Stage website and enjoy!
Opening night is Valentine's Day, 2008, exactly 2 years after our premiere in New York City!
As producing theater is a collaborative effort, one of the ways we get Fanny Hill out there for regional productions is through Miracle or 2 Productions. They have a catalogue of shows that they represent including Fanny Hill and another of Ed Dixon's shows that I produced, Richard Cory. I am going to interview the founders of Miracle or 2 soon so they can explain exactly what it is they do and how they develop relationships with all these great regional theaters.
Stay tuned and...
BREAK A LEG, FANNY IN OHIO!
dreampeddler
If you are in the area, go to the tickets page on the Kalliope Stage website and enjoy!
Opening night is Valentine's Day, 2008, exactly 2 years after our premiere in New York City!
As producing theater is a collaborative effort, one of the ways we get Fanny Hill out there for regional productions is through Miracle or 2 Productions. They have a catalogue of shows that they represent including Fanny Hill and another of Ed Dixon's shows that I produced, Richard Cory. I am going to interview the founders of Miracle or 2 soon so they can explain exactly what it is they do and how they develop relationships with all these great regional theaters.
Stay tuned and...
BREAK A LEG, FANNY IN OHIO!
dreampeddler
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Striking 12 - Amazing
So Striking 12 was amazing at the Zipper. Val, Brendan and Gene are in top form and the show is still in great shape. They are always just an inspiration to see. So much talent as musicians and performers. Rare qualities!
As for some movies Steph and I saw while we were there, both Sweeney Todd and I Am Legend are worth their ticket prices. Especially if you go see Legend on the IMAX. Always very cool to see an action flick on that big of a screen.
Am diving into 2 new scripts for writing, so my posts may become limited over the next month, but if I see something good or hear of a great new piece, I will let you know.
Dreampeddler
As for some movies Steph and I saw while we were there, both Sweeney Todd and I Am Legend are worth their ticket prices. Especially if you go see Legend on the IMAX. Always very cool to see an action flick on that big of a screen.
Am diving into 2 new scripts for writing, so my posts may become limited over the next month, but if I see something good or hear of a great new piece, I will let you know.
Dreampeddler
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