Blog

Chicken or egg...

Fri, 11 May 2012 07:57:30 -0400

As regular as clockwork, Charles Isherwood writes about the lack of fresh voices on Broadway. However, we rarely see the NY Times critics championing those that make the effort.

http://tinyurl.com/cvzy9o7

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Opinions...

Mon, 9 Apr 2012 08:29:58 -0400

Those of you who read this blog know that we have... um... opinions about critics. HERE’s an interesting point of view from Mr. Seth Godin.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/04/is-everyone-entitled-to-their-opinion.html

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Next...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:43:35 -0400

Our plates are filling up with new projects. Click HERE to find out what’s next.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

The gift that keeps on giving...

Fri, 2 Mar 2012 17:32:07 -0500

We’ve moved on to many other projects but we keep getting happy news about The Story of My LIfe as it continues its life out in the world. We just received copies of the Korean cast recording and it sounds just spectacular! Thanks, OD Musicals.
- brian@bartramandhill.com

Story selections...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:36:02 -0500

THE STORY OF MY LIFE VOCAL SELECTIONS

Now available!

We're thrilled to announce that the printed vocal Selections for The Story of My Life, containing all of the Neil Bartram songs from the 2009 Broadway production, are now available everywhere.

Here are a few links to where you can find this freshly minted collection.

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Alfred Music

(It seems to be selling out quickly but there is more stock to come.)

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Voyage reading this Saturday...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:38:46 -0500

We’ve been gearing up for this Saturday’s reading at Goodspeed for about a week and a half now and it’s going incredibly well. Our director, Jack Cummings III of the Transport Group, has been guiding the cast through a thrilling process.

The reading is at 7:30 on Saturday January 14th on the Goodspeed Opera House stage. We’re in great company with two other new shows - Harmony, Kansas and The Dogs of Pripyat. If you’re in the area and have an interest in new musicals, come on over.

More info HERE.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Going back to Goodspeed...

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 15:33:05 -0500

We’re happy to be heading back to Goodspeed Musicals (where we tried out The Story of My Life) in January to work on Not Wanted on the Voyage for two weeks.

More info HERE.

And more info to come.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

The Social Network at work...

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:59:51 -0500

My friend, the crazily talented and incredibly sweet Dylan Saunders, invited me to the NYC performance of Team Starkid yesterday. I don’t know the actual head-count but I would guess that there were well over a thousand screaming fans gathered on the floor of Irving Place all because of one viral video - A Very Potter Musical. Yes, it has over 7 million YouTube hits! It didn’t hurt that Team Starkid member and Glee heartthrob Darren Criss was making a guest appearance.

The most astounding thing from where I was sitting was seeing the thousands of iPhones being held up for the entire three hours recording video of the show and getting ready to go viral again and again and again...

...and again...

- brian@bartramandhill.com

All over the tube...

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:51:33 -0500

I was tooling around YouTube last night when I should have been writing and found a goldmine of stuff. Click on these links and check them out.

Angels In The Snow - Korea
I Didn’t See Alvin - Korea
This Is It - Korea
The Butterfly - Broadway

The Korean production looks fantastic and it’s such a joy to see Will and Malcolm again!
And there are a whole bunch more I haven’t had time to see yet. Next time I need a break from writing...

- brian@bartramandhill.com

But enough about me...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:26:17 -0500

Our dear friend, David Turner, has started previews for the newly revised On A Clear Day You Can See Forever at Broadway’s St. James Theatre. He’s playing the role formerly tackled by Barbara Harris on stage and Barbra Streisand on film. David’s very versatile. Sharing the stage with Mr. Turner is a young fella named Harry Connick Jr. whom some of you may know.

We can’t wait to be there cheering on opening night.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Story talk...

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 08:52:42 -0400

Jason Cocovinis and his team at the licensing company Music Theatre International put together this outreach video for The Story of My LIfe. As we move on to our other projects, it’s good to know that MTI is taking good care of the show.

Click HERE to see the video.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Young minds pt. 2

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:30:49 -0400

We just got back from spending three weeks in Toronto working with the students of Bishop Strachan School and Upper Canada College (among others) on our adaptation of Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted on the Voyage. It’s challenging stuff and they all met the challenge like pros.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Opening night...

Fri, 7 Oct 2011 09:43:35 -0400

I just stumbled across this feature about the opening night of The Story of My Life back in 2009.

http://tinyurl.com/StoryOpening

How is it possible I’ve never seen this before?

- brian@bartramandhill.com

Young minds

Mon, 3 Oct 2011 06:23:58 -0400

We’re up in Toronto for a few weeks working with students at BSS on a reading of Not Wanted on the Voyage. Thanks to Brendon Allen for the invitation and for having the courage to expose his students to challenging and provocative work. We’re working with a great bunch of kids on some rather mature material and they’re embracing it wholeheartedly.

- brian@bartramandhill.com

“Just” is just that

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 09:51:24 -0400

Here’s a litmus test for the worthiness of new ideas. If the word “just” appears in the idea, it needs rethinking. When we’re trying to solve storytelling issues, if either one of us makes a suggestion like “Why don’t we just have that character do...” or “We could just write...” then it’s not enough. It’s a bandaid solution and needs to be chucked and rethought. The better suggestion contains superlatives and extremes - “It would be completely thrilling if she...” or “We could have him do something insane like...”

“Just” equals mediocrity.

- brian@bartramandhill.com