Dear Garden Players,
January is an exciting month for us. We spend three weeks learning new music in preparation for our Benefit Concert. Each year we learn a different style of music. Last year we learned jazz from the 1920s and brought in Tamar Korn to sing with us. This year we are learning some classical rounds, which is wonderful for group and harmony work, and we are learning some music inspired by my 2 year old twins. Special guests may include the composer Sunny Knable, composer Julie Mandel, clarinetist (with an award winning childrens CD we are doing one piece from) Oran Etkin, my Dad Lowell Hershey on trumpet (first trumpet at Phantom of the Opera), and my husband Nick Russo on guitar (he just recently played the Big Apple Circus, and toured through Sweden with his 1920s jazz band)
After the Benefit Concert is over, we will plunge right in to our May musical. There are all kinds of things that come along with us putting on a show. We organize parent volunteers for our costume crew, props crew, sets crew, and fundraising crew. We have Sunday rehearsals between the hours of 1-5.
Best of all, the kids get to be a part of developing a new musical which will then go on to be performed all over the world. The past two musicals have been performed in The Broadway Workshop New Musical Festival in Manhattan and as far off as Europe.
Our goals for this semester, beyond putting on truly professional shows, are to foster a deep sense of self work, creativity, and the strong bonds of community as we support each other. I love the magic of theater!
Much love to all,
Betina