Pete Atkin
MV Deity
Posts: 508
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Here we are, 2013
« : 03.01.13 at 12:51 » |
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Ah, Voices, Voices. My seasonal neglectfulness is in danger of putting at risk my Deity status, I’d have thought. But then again, it occurs to me (making the best of a bas job) that I may have scored bonus points if you were on the whole pleased not to be burdened with yet another semi-automatic greeting somewhere on the standard scale from humble sincerity through mere dutifulness to outright fatuity. However it may be, the existence of my actual wishes, even if unstated, should not be doubted, nor should their location at the humble sincerity end of the spectrum.
I’m assuming that we’ve all survived the ineffable jolliness in some sort of shape and that we can all now focus on the problem of exactly when we can stop wishing everyone a Happy New Year without seeming mean-spirited. But I do wish all of you a happy New Year, and a prosperous one, whatever it is that prosperity may mean to you. (It’s obviously not January 3rd then.)
My own main resolution – apart, that is, from my usual resolution to stop making resolutions – is finally to get some proper recording done. There, I’ve said it again.
The first musical thing for me this year, though, is an unusual project, and one which I fear many or most or perhaps even all of you will be unable to partake in. My excellent friend of long standing (for he is exceptionally tall) Mark Wing-Davey (yes, yes, yes, Zaphod Beeblebrox) is currently Chair of Graduate Acting at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He happened to be in Europe at the time of the St.Germain-en-Laye escapade in May and came along. It was then that he asked me if I’d be interested in writing the music for the fifteen or so songs which are integral to Edward Bond’s ‘Restoration’ which he was planning to revive in New York. I had a chance in November to meet the singing members of the cast, and outstandingly good they all are too, all of them simply at home in the idea of musical theatre in a way that most British actors, however talented, seem never quite to be. (Discuss.)
So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. It has been a different kind of a writing project for me, writing specifically for other voices, setting lyrics which presented technical problems different from what I’ve been used to, and without the luxury of collaborative flexibility. But I have enjoyed it. I’ll get to hear the cast in action in a couple of weeks’ time, which I know will be exciting. If you should happen to be in New York in the first week of February and have the opportunity, do please give it a go. It’ll be a collector’s item among Atkiniana.
http://nyugradacting2013.com/season/spring2013/restoration.html
Meanwhile be well, do well, go well. Ah well.
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