Berklee Blogs

First-hand accounts of the Berklee experience

Tag: Musical Theater

Musical Theater

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yoshieYoshie Nakayama, from Tokyo, is a Contemporary Writing and Production major, finished her 5th semester in the Spring 2015. She studies arranging, recording/mixing with ProTools, playing trombone for concerts/recordings, and singing in vocal ensembles. She graduated Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo with Bachelor of Music from Music Education major, Music Education minor, with a license of teaching music in japanese Junior high/senior high schools.

こんにちは。いかがお過ごしですか。バークリーでは先週で夏学期が終わり、一旦涼しくなっていた気候は、夏らしい暑さが戻って来ました。
私事ですが、この週末にNYに行って、現在お世話になっているオンラインのインターン先の方にお会いしたり、日本から公演に来ていた友達のショーを拝見した他、ブロードウェイのミュージカルを見て来ました。
アメリカは音楽や芸術に足を運ぶ方々がとても多く、グラミー賞をとっているミュージシャンのライブでも$30−50ほどで見ることができるのですが、ブロードウェイは留学生には厳しい価格設定になっています。でも、当日券として販売する座席の余りがある場合には一枚$40弱で購入できたり、立ち見で良ければ$30を下りますし、劇場によって違うのですが、毎公演限定枚数を抽選で$40弱で販売するところや学割のあるところも多いです。そういった安価なチケットでの座席は、たとえば3階バルコニー席だったり、大きな劇場の端の方だったり、或はステージの角が目の前にあるような、近すぎて全体が見えない席だったりします。それでも、お財布事情の厳しい方々には優しい価格で、私は今回シカゴ、アメリカン・イン・パリ、ファインディング・ネバーランドを見ました。

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The Dynamic Duo: Nell Benjamin and Larry O’Keefe

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/berkleecollege/8740623711/

Larry O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin met at an improv audition at Harvard University. The pair has been making magic ever since and have gone on to create musicals such as Cam Jansen, The Mice, Sarah Plain and Tall, and Life of the Party.

O’Keefe and Benjamin visited Berklee’s 1140 building on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 for an intimate and candid discussion about how to become a successful writer and composer in the musical theater industry. The dynamic duo represents the first artists to participate in the Curtain Up visiting artist series. The Curtain Up concert is an annual concert featuring the winning songs of the Curtain Up Musical Theater Songwriting Contest. It was held in the David Friend Recital Hall on April 1; Larry and Nell attended and were able to offer some feedback to the students who attended the clinic.

O’Keefe ‘93 has made a name for himself in the musical theater community. Earning an education from USC, Harvard, and Berklee, he honed his skills to create works like the Drama Desk Award-nominated Bat Boy: The Musical, which ran off-Broadway in 2001. This production received an Outer Critics’ Circle Award and the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical.

O’Keefe is very busy working on multiple projects, including Andy, which will feature Steve Carell and which is based on the musical Annie, and an adaptation of the novel Heathers into Heathers: The Musical, which will be opening up in Los Angeles.

Benjamin’s television credits include the last and weirdest season of Unhappily Ever After, Animal Planet’s Whoa!, Sunday with Mo Rocca, and the new Electric Company. She received the 2003 Kleban Foundation Award for lyrics and a 2003 Jonathan Larson Foundation grant. She is currently working on a musical adaptation of Because of Winn Dixie with Duncan Sheik and on Pirates!, a witty adaptation of Pirates of Penzance.

For anyone who has a hard time writing melodies or knowing when (or when not) to edit a piece…this clinic was for you. Personally, I have a hard time with melody manipulation and song structure when I’m writing and they answered questions with clarity and examples. After talking with Larry and Nell after the clinic, I was inspired and motivated to pick up the script I had been writing (one that I had previously put away for good), revisit it, and bring some new life to it.

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Musical Theater Summer Intensive: All-Star Faculty List

UPDATE (7/27/12):

 

The Musical Theater Summer Intensive is excited to introduce you to five new additions to it’s faculty !

 

BRITT SHUBOW KESHNER

Dance

Britt Shubow Keshner is a choreographer, director, vocal coach and acting teacher in New York City. Britt is the Theater Arts teacher at Wagner Middle School on the Upper East Side where she directs and choreographs over 350 students in various productions. She also teaches at the Summer Arts Institute at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School during the summer. Britt taught at multiple public schools around New York City with Rosie’s Theater Kids. She taught dance and voice at Rosie’s Summer Intensives and had her choreography performed at the Maravel Arts Center and The Duke on 42nd Street. Britt holds a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts and MA in Educational Theater from New York University. Prior to receiving her masters, Britt performed in the Broadway show Mamma Mia! for five years. She performed on the 2002 Tony Awards, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Broadway on Broadway, and the CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade. Britt had the pleasure of stage managing and performing in numerous “Easter Bonnet” and “Gypsy of the Year” fundraisers for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

 

GEORGIA LYMAN

Stage Combat

Georgia Lyman was most recently seen as Molly in Orfeo Group’s Love Song (2012 Best Fringe Production).  Prior to that, she played multiple roles in John Kuntz’s Hotel Nepenthe for the Actors Shakespeare Project. She has also worked at Speakeasy Stage, New Rep, the Lyric Stage Company and has been nominated three consecutive times for the Elliot Norton Best Actress Award.  A core member of Orfeo Group, she was seen in Marisol and Look Back in Anger. She co-produced the award winning The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) for them as well as all four web trailers for past Orfeo Group pieces.  Her film and TV credits include 3 seasons as Cassie Giggs on Showtime’s Brotherhood,a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU, as well as RIPD, The Town, Bride Wars, My Best Friends Girl, The Mulberry Tree, and The Women.  She has been performing, teaching and choreographing stage combat for 10 years.  She is experienced in hand to hand, small sword, broadsword and small stunts.

 

LIVINGSTON TAYLOR

Performance Techniques

 

Internationally-renowned performer and Berklee faculty member Livingston Taylor will share his wisdom on performance techniques at the Intensive. More information on Livingston can be found here.

 

 

 

SARAH MOUNT

Assistant to the Director

 

Sarah Mount is a graduate of Berklee College of Music where she studied Songwriting and Creative Writing. She previously worked as an assistant to the Chair of Liberal Arts at Berklee, where she helped coordinate events and visiting artists, with a focus on publicity and promotional materials. She was a member of the 2012 Berklee Poetry Slam team, and also performs in the band: Tumbleweed Company. Most recently Tumbleweed Company played a closing set for Santana. Sarah will be doing her Graduate study in Contemporary Studio Performance at the Berklee Valencia Campus in the fall of 2012.

 

 

CHRISTOPHER LEE

Showcase Production Assistant

Christopher Lee is working on a Bachelor’s in Music Education with a minor in Latin Music Performance at Berklee. He has performed in venues nationwide, including  Carnegie Hall, The Knitting Factory, and more. Chris interned at the National Guitar Workshop and volunteers with Genuine Voices, the National Guitar Workshop, and the City Music Mentorship. He is also involved in the Berklee Poetry Club, serving as a student leader, and is a member the Berklee Slam Team. He volunteered at the National Poetry Slam 2011, and the innaugrual Louder Than A Bomb presented by MASS LEAP, and has performed his poetry in the Berklee Performance Center, the Berklee Gala for the Giant Steps campaign, Berklee Liberal Arts conferences, and the Boston Book Festival. He currently collaborates with his band, I Kill Giants, who just released their first EP, the critically acclaimed “Let It Out.”

 

ORIGINAL POST (5/10/12):

We are very pleased to announce the A-list faculty members joining us on campus this summer for Berklee’s first-ever Musical Theater Summer Intensive led by Program Director Caroline Harvey.

CAROLINE HARVEY

Program Director

Caroline HarveyProgram director Caroline Harvey is an internationally renowned performer, writer, and educator. Her writing has been featured in print, film, and television—including season five of HBO’s Def Poetry—and she was most recently featured at in the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. Harvey is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music and also teaches at berkleemusic.com, Berklee’s home for online education. She is currently a Pushcart Prize nominee. Harvey has performed and taught at schools and organizations nationwide, including YouthSpeaks, the Esalen Institute, Lesley University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. She is honored to have shared stages and classrooms with such artists as Mos Def, Livingston Taylor, Alicia Keys, Melissa Ferrick, Susie Bright, Dave Chappelle, Donna De Lory, and many others.

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ミュージカル曲のアレンジに挑戦!2 Musical Theater Arranging Part2

今日は、バークリー生の、バークリー生による、バークリー生のためのミュージカル曲

のコンサート「Curtain Up」の本番でした!

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ミュージカル曲のアレンジに挑戦!1 Musical Theater Arranging Part1

今学期とっているMusical Theater Arrangingというクラスで、ミュージカル曲の

オーケストレーションに初挑戦しています。

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