12-27-16 Interview

12-27-16 Alan Brasington began his performing career at three when he repeated to neighbors a dirty joke he’d overheard his grandmother telling. It was years before Alan understood the joke but he loved the attention the delighted neighbors gave him. Still it would be twenty seven years before he was able to become the actor he was clearly meant to be. Alan’s mother was just sixteen when he was born and she loved the movies. Mother and son would watch films on their black and white TV and revel in the performances of actors like Cary Grant and Greta Garbo – who Alan thought of as Kings and Queens or Gods. It was an opportunity to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London that allowed Alan to discover who he is and what he was meant to do. Listen to him tell the story of his rise from poverty to live a truly extraordinary life. A life he was able to embrace because of his mother positive certainty that he could be/do anything – that all things were possible – and clearly mother was right. To hear how Alan wound up at the Royal Academy and the rest of his remarkable life story.

6-4-13 Audio Interview with Steve Orich – Orchestrator

Steve’s Mom says that when the piano arrived at their house eight year old Steve walked over to it and immediately began to pick out melodies. He says “I learned how to read music instantly, it was a language that spoke to me on a very special level, I looked at it and within days I could read anything.” He was understandably bored by the series of traditional piano lessons that followed, so he stopped taking them and just taught himself. Steve’s career included musical direction, accompaniment, playing for off Broadway and then Broadway shows, until a course with legendary orchestrator Don Sebesky completed his training and showed him what he was really meant to be/do. Listen to how he became the orchestrator for the smash hit Jersey Boys, the soon to be Broadway opening of the revival of Cole Porter’s Can-Can and the orchestrator for Noah Racey’s Pulse.

Audio Interview

May 7, 2013 – Charlie Tyler and Rita Corn are appearing as the eccentric Elwood P. Dowd and his long suffering sister Vita Louise Simmons, in the delightful production of the much loved comedy Harvey, which is currently running at the Lemon Bay Playhouse in Englewood Florida. As Charlie mentions in his interview “Harvey” is the 6th longest running show in Broadway history. That is quite understandable because while it is funny, charming, and outrageous, it is also thought provoking, as it asks us to think about what is really important in life. Both Charlie and Rita discovered their love of theater/acting when they were very young and ironically both had to put off really indulging in their passion until they had lived otherwise productive lives. Listen to these charming and interesting people talk about the way they kept their love of theater alive until they could dive in, which to our delight, is what they are currently doing.

11-15-11 Interview

Continuing my series of interviews with the creative team and stars of Bonnie and Clyde The Musical which opens on Broadway December 1, 2011- is my interview with the composer Frank Wildhorn. Frank says “As soon as my hands hit the keys, although I didn’t know what I was doing, I knew I was making music.” He was 14 and living in Hollywood Florida where his family had relocated, and although terrifically enjoying all the things his new Florida home had to offer, Frank’s future was sealed; he would make music. One after another mentors came into his life; a friend’s musician father cautioned him to avoid having ‘something to fall back on’ as his parents had urged, because he said “if you do, you’ll fall back on it.” Miraculously, famous, talented and accomplished mentors like actor/director John Housman and lyricist Leslie Bricuse came into his life and “took him under their wing” Listen to the mysteriously directed life and the glorious music of Frank Wildhorn.