LMAY: F*cking and Dying - Meet The Composers!

In anticipation of Let Me Ascertain You: F*cking and Dying, we wanted to give you a sneak-peak of our impressive lineup of composers. Check them out below, and then grab your tickets to the show before we sell out. Saturday, May 17th @ Joe's Pub. Tickets available HERE! 

César Alvarez writes about theater, music and science here. He’s a Drama Desk-nominated composer, lyricist, performer and writer. Founding member of The Lisps. Co-founder and resident composer of LA-based dance company Contra-Tiempo.

Lady Rizo is a Grammy Award winning comedienne and chanteuse who was named the ‘Cabaret Superstar’ by New York Magazine. She has sung and recorded with Moby and Yo-Yo Ma among many others. She is Mistress of Ceremonies for current hotspot The Darby, and performs regularly at the legendary nightclub Nell’s and at Joe’s Pub since 2009. A recipient of the New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship. Be sure to check out her website here. 

Maggie-Kate Coleman wrote the book and lyrics for POP! and From a Childhood, written with Erato Kremmyda. She's been all over the place: The York Theatre Company’s NEO Cabaret (with composer Daniel Maté), Joe’s Pub, Barrington Stage, Laurie Beechman Theatre...just to name a few!

Erato A. Kremmyda is a New York based composer, originally from Athens (Greece).  Theatre (selected): Agamemnon (Irondale, NYC), The Dot (Bios, Athens), We Are Theatre(Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC), Wagon Wheel (Loewe Foundation Development Award, Planet Connections, NYC), Field Trip: A Climate Cabaret (Superhero Clubhouse/ Marfa Dialogues NYC)...and many more! Take a trip over to Erato's website.

Called “electrifying” by The Huffington Post, the Brooklyn-based Grace McLean is a multi-hyphenate actress-composer-singer-writer-teacher on the rise. Following a year as a lead in Off-Broadway's critically acclaimed electro-pop opera Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Grace has returned her focus to her acclaimed original music, both as a solo artist and with her band Grace McLean & Them Apples.

Andrea Grody was Music Director for The Civilians’ The Great Immensity at the Public Theater. Other recent projects include Fortress of Solitude at Dallas Theater Center, Venice at the Public, Love Labour's Lost at Shakespeare in the Park, White Christmas at Northern Stage, and a workshop of Carmen set in Cuba and reimagined by Moisés Kaufman and Arturo O’Farrill. Upcoming: Robin Hood at Williamstown Theater Festival. You can hear Andrea's most recent output on our podcast Sex Variants!  
  

LMAY: Sex Variants 1941 - Song Preview!

Only three more days till Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941 at Joe's Pub this Monday night! All of the evening's originals songs are inspired by, and derived from, 80 graphic first-person accounts from one of the earliest “scientific” surveys of sexual deviancy. Tickets available HERE! 

Artwork by Gwen Shockey

We wanted to give our friends across the blogosphere a special sneak peek at the evening's entertainment, with this short excerpt from the original composition, "Moses," by Max Vernon, a songwriter lauded as "equal parts bohemia and broadway" by the New Yorker.

Max Vernon

On the genesis of the song: 

Max: This was a tricky song to write because there was a lot to unpack–I wanted to figure out how to honor the sensationalistic and darkly comic tone of the medical journal itself while also being very clear about Moses' depression and dysmorphia and not turning that into a joke. It's pretty obvious to me that Moses, while into some mild kink, was not in fact a "deviant," but rather a transwoman who in 1941 had no language to articulate that. To me, there's nothing funny about that. Writing a song that was equally absurd and painful was the only way for me to make sense of the material.

Check out the lyrics, and take a listen below. And stay up to date on Max's projects by visiting his Website and Facebook!

Excerpt from "Moses" by Max Vernon

Sometimes I dream that I'm a female cat

and another cat is taking advantage of me

sometimes I like to wear my mother's gown

and twirl around while masturbating frantically

until the day my balls shrivel up and die so I can realize

my castration fantasy – and this body will fade

away like a memory.

Hello my name is Moses

I got a cruel and strange neurosis

I get a thrill from panty hoses

doctor what's your diagnosis?

LMAY: Sex Variants 1941 - Meet The Composers!

In anticipation of Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941, we wanted to give you a sneak-peak of our impressive lineup of composers. Check them out below, and then grab your tickets to the show before we sell out. Monday, February 3rd @ Joe's Pub. Tickets available HERE! 

Tim Acito has received three Drama Desk nominations (book, music, and lyrics), multiple ASCAP composer grants, the GLAAD Media Award, and a Sundance residency for his work in musical theatre, which has been performed Off-Broadway, regionally, and abroad. 

César Alvarez writes about theater, music and science here. He’s a Drama Desk-nominated composer, lyricist, performer and writer. Founding member of The Lisps. Co-founder and resident composer of LA-based dance company Contra-Tiempo. 

Maggie-Kate Coleman wrote the book and lyrics for POP! and From a Childhood, written with Erato Kremmyda. She's been all over the place: The York Theatre Company’s NEO Cabaret (with composer Daniel Maté), Joe’s Pub, Barrington Stage, Laurie Beechman Theatre...just to name a few!

Michael Friedman has written music and lyrics for The Civilians' Canard Canard Goose, Gone Missing, Nobody's Lunch, This Beautiful City, In the Footprint, Paris Commune, and The Great Immensity (premiering at The Public Theater in April). He also wrote the music and lyrics to Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Broadway). Check him out performing an original he wrote for The Civilians' nationwide Occupy #S17 here! 

Andrea Grody's recent projects include Venice at the Public Theater, Love Labour's Lost at Shakespeare in the Park, White Christmas at Northern Stage, and a workshop of Carmen set in Cuba and reimagined by Moisés Kaufman and Arturo O’Farrill. Upcoming: Fortress of Solitude at Dallas Theater Center and The Civilians’ The Great Immensity at The Public. You can actually check out Andrea's most recent output on our latest podcast Holy Matrimony!  

Erato A. Kremmyda is a New York based composer, originally from Athens (Greece).  Theatre (selected): Agamemnon (Irondale, NYC), The Dot (Bios, Athens), We Are Theatre(Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC), Wagon Wheel (Loewe Foundation Development Award, Planet Connections, NYC), Field Trip: A Climate Cabaret (Superhero Clubhouse/ Marfa Dialogues NYC)...and many more! Take a trip over to Erato's website.

Grace McLean began writing ditties as a remedy for her pickled love life and has developed a sparse, plunky style that underlines her often irreverent, always truthful lyrics.  In addition to playing with her band Grace McLean and Them Apples and composing music for a performance piece about 12th century German mystic Hildegard von Bingen, Grace currently performs in the pop opera Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. Check out some of her tunes here!

Jill Sobule has made four more critically acclaimed albums, Happy Town, Pink Pearl, Underdog Victorious, and 2009′s California Years, which Jill released on her own record label, "Pinko Records," after collecting over $85,000 from fans who funded the project. She has played the role of political troubadour for NPR stations across the country and for Air America Radio. Check out her nifty corner of the web here.

Max Vernon's work has been performed at venues such as Dixon Place, LaMaMa, Ars Nova, Joe's Pub, and Music Hall of Williamsburg. His musical, WIRED, was a finalist for the 2011 Eugene O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference, and given a 29-hour reading at Ars Nova Theatre.  Learn more about his work on his website.

Come join us at Joe's Pub on Feb. 3rd to hear what these fantastic composers come up with!