Abolitionist Reel

One aspect of producing that I really love is that it gives me a chance to do music for the shows. Since I don't have a degree in music, am not a professional musician, etc. etc. nobody would have given me a chance to do such a thing unless I was doing the producing. What I do have is Apple's Garageband, which allows you to create slick sounding music fairly easily.

I created this piece of music The Abolitionist Reel in the middle of the 2007 HUCK FINN rehearsals, and could only have done it with Garageband, since at the time it was Christmas, I had just moved, just started a new job, and was directing and producing the show, in a pretty hostile environment to boot. And I was sick.

It isn't Beethoven's 5th, but to me it's practically miraculous considering all the stress I was under at the time. I will post the other piece of music here, Yalla Gal soon.

click here to listen to a Quicktime version of Abolitionist Reel

The tune is meant to be played at the end of the play - Huck plays it on the banjo, which he has recently begun to learn how to play - thanks to the Duke and the King recruiting him for their Royal Nonesuch show. Then Jim is supposed to chime in with a harmonica. Then lights down, curtain call - the music gets fancy here with percussion and then piano and bass. The music eventually fades out.

I think what we'll do for the outdoor production is have live musicians play these tunes, and maybe incidental music throughout, the way the Pantaloons did for their 2007 Edinburgh Fringe production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

HUCK FINN reading

We will be doing a reading of HUCK FINN in Manhattan in preparation for the outdoor performance - the public will be invited. Stayed tuned for more details.

This Time, Rumors of Demise May Be True

This is such a cool house that Mark Twain built, in Hartford Connecticut. I visited it twice. It would be a shame if they closed it down.

But now the fanciful, three-story confection that was built by Mark Twain in 1874 at the height of his success may be forced to close because it is running out of money.

In a reversal of fortune that seems ripped from the pages of Twain’s classic “The Prince and the Pauper,” the nonprofit organization that has long run the 14,000-square-foot house as a museum told its trustees last month that it was “facing significant challenges” that could force it to shut down.

Though the staff had already been reduced to 17, from 49, the organization formally known as the Mark Twain House and Museum says it is having trouble meeting its payroll and paying suppliers. Unless salvation — in the face of a corporation, foundation, government group or other deep-pocketed benefactor — unexpectedly walks through the door, cash will run out in three to four weeks.

More at the NYTimes