NOT re-ducks (if you get my drift). Picture it – Monday, 10/31/11 (wavy picture/ahhh, ahhh, music)
Now – Monday, 11/28/11 – saw the November Songbook program featuring Drew Fornarola (http://www.drewfornarola.com/). Am I the only person without my own website? But I digress.
Mr. Fornarola is a composer/lyricist and playwright. In addition, he collaborates with others (a good thing). He seems to have some good ideas. Some are in the – gosh, how do I say it – nascent stage. The writing is a little on the young side – not that there's anything wrong with that. I believe that we're seeing a talent that will only continue to grow.
First off, he writes harmony. Really – honest-to-goodness two-, three-, and four-part harmony. Big plus in my book. The opening number was actually written for last year's Christmas Songbook (more about that later) – a nice duet titled "Prayer for Faith". This was followed by a stand-alone song, "All of My Friends", including a patter section and a recurring lyric "All of my friends are whores." Gotta laugh.
Then two numbers from Super Claudio Bros.*, a video game musical, and two from Vote for Me: A Musical Debate – "The Global Warming Song" (There's no global warming on FOX) and "Middle East Policy" (the cure-all is a Disney park). Why, yes, Mr. Fornarola did study political science at Princeton!
From COLLEGE The Musical, we had "Generation Meh" – I'd comment on it, but really I can't be bothered. Oh, wait, I just did.
"Eight and Five" was one song from a song cycle. Unfortunately, the only one. Let's hope he revisits the cycle.
The program was rounded out with four pieces from Tiananmen, described as a theatrical opera. We shall see. There are some nuggets worth exploring, though the last stand-and-sing anthem "They Will Hear Us" was a little predictable, both compositionally (style-wise) and harmonically (a little bit rudimentary and cliché).
Still, it's great to hear a new theater composer actually using real vocal harmonies and clever lyrics. With a little more seasoning, this fellow can go a long way. IMHO.
ConcertMeister
*co-written with Marshall Pailet
Christmas Songbook 2011 on 12/11 and 12/12. ('Tis the season, yanno?)
Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteThank you for attending our concert and for your kind words about my work. I consider myself very much a work in progress as an artist, and hope if you come to one of my shows in one or two or ten years that you'll see improvement in the areas you identified! Thanks for creating this blog and raising awareness about new work.
~Drew