Workshop Season

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It’s officially summertime, which means workshop season is upon us! Earlier this month, I worked on a new musical adaptation of the play/film Prelude to a Kiss, which will receive its premiere at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa in spring 2024. I was brought on to the project by Wiley DeWeese who was the music director of The Lightning Thief. Along with guitarist Mike Rosengarten, we worked closely with composer Dan Messé to bring his vision to life. Here are some setup shots of the drums in the beautiful Baryshnikov Arts Center, as well as a view from the rehearsal room during the surreal smoke situation from the Canadian wildfires.:

Next up was a workshop in Washington, DC of My Joy Is Heavy, a new show by Shaun and Abigail Bengson, commissioned by Arena Stage. The Bengsons are some of the most talented people I’ve ever met, so I will gladly do anything they ask of me! It was also a dream come to work with Tony Award-winning director Rachel Chavkin, who I found out is a fellow Marylander! Speaking of Maryland, I was able to meet up with a few percussion friends as well as my two eldest nephews while I was in town. It was a treat! Apparently I did not take any pictures of my setup (drum set + SPD), but here is a photo of the program that was handed out during our two presentations:

Now I’m off for a week of work at Berklee Powerstation with my friend Julianne Merrill, followed by a much needed trip to the Hamptons for July 4. Until next time!

Workshops: Thebes/Rutka

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photo by Solon snider sway

I had the pleasure of workshopping two new musicals by friends last week. First up was THEBES, by Katie Hathaway, Emma Sway, and Solon Sinder Sway. I’ve worked with Emma and Katie a few times with their pop project, Hathaways, and was delighted that they asked me to join for their workshop. Here’s the official blurb for the show:

Night after night, the underground nightclub "Thebes" comes alive, as the ghosts of its former rulers - Oedipus, Jocasta, and their cursed offspring - reenact their infamous demise. When Zeus appears to shut the tired operation down, Thebes is faced with a choice that pits the living against the dead once and for all: Do you embrace your fate or can you write something new?

The music was outstanding, as expected, and I had the pleasure of working with Music Director Andrea Grody, who I first met while working on Suffs at the Public last year. I’m really happy with how our presentations went and I am hopefully for the future of THEBES!

Next up was Rutka, a new musical from some of my Hundred Days family, Sarah Gancher (book) and Jocelyn Mackenzie (music and lyrics) and Jeremy Lloyd Styles (music and lyrics). There’s a really nice piece in Playbill about the show. I worked with an amazing music team, led by Sharon Kenny. I was really impressed by the talented cast who helped bring this emotional story to life. I know this show will have a strong future ahead of it!

That's A Wrap: 2022

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After 2 years of a massive slowdown due to the pandemic, 2022 felt normal again in my world of freelancing. I wanted to share with you some of my highlights of the year. Thanks for following along, coming out to shows, and making me feel supported!

Gig of the Year
This one has to go to Brass Queens at Brooklyn Bowl all the way back on February 3. This was the BKBowl debut for the Queens, and my first time playing there since 2016, having performed there previously with Trumpet Wom’ and numerous times with PitchBlak. I just love playing the Bowl because the hospitality is top notch, the sound on stage is excellent, and the food is so dang good!

Cabaret of the Year
I am not sure off of the top of my head how many times I played at 54 Below or Green Room 42 this year, but it was by far more than any year previously. It was really hard to choose a favorite, but I am going to go with an evening of Julian Hornik’s music at 54 Below. It was my first time meeting Julian and crew but I was SO IMPRESSED by all of them. They’re so talented! They’re so young! Plus it was my first time meeting The Lazours, whose music I got to play every night during Melis Aker’s Hound Dog at Ars Nova.

Honorable mention goes to Jenna Pastuszek who presented two perfectly curated nights at the Green Room 42: an evening with Judy Garland and an evening with Barbra Streisand.

On stage and ready for Julian Hornik at 54 Below

Pop Show of the Year
For our fourth or fifth show ever, Cinco12 headlined the Bryant Park Accordion Festival with a tribute to the Queen of Tejano, Selena! I simply love this music and everyone in the band. I thought we played really well that night and there was some AMAZING people watching. Every time we play this music, I watch people sing their hearts out and dance along. Couple that with the usual insanity that is Bryant Park…that place was LIT!

i am so proud of my former roommate, jenny luna, who put this band together and absolutely slays the vocals

Theater Run of the Year
Another tough choice, but I’ve gotta go with New York City Children’s Theater’s production of Dory Fantasmagory. I thought the show was charming and cute, and from the drum chair I could see the smiles on the faces of all the kiddos in the audience. It is delightful to watch children fall in love with theater for the first time! Plus I REALLY loved hanging with music director Robert Frost. I hope to work with him and NYCCT again soon!

Subbing Show of the Year
I subbed on some amazing shows this year, including Between the Lines and Suffs, but the award here has to go to Six. All of these shows included an immense amount of preparation (including having to rent a drum set in LA so I could practice at my in-laws house last Thanksgiving), but they were highly rewarding. It’s thrilling to play Six: I’m on the stage, in Tony Award-winning costume, and pretty much playing for the majority of the show. Thanks to all of my friends and fam who came out to see me play this show over the last year. It’s the best when I have people I know in the audience.

At the theater before my first night playing the show, losing my mind

on stage at the lena horne theater for my last date at six for the year, still masked but way less nervous

*****
So that’s it! I’m taking off for the rest of the year to enjoy time with friends, family, and of course PHISH, and will be back strong in 2023 with a few dates at Six and a few workshops!

Until then…Ashley

Happy Opening/Closing: Hound Dog

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We just wrapped our shorter than expected run of Hound Dog at Ars Nova. Despite playing to full houses every night, our run was not extended as we were told it would be. We were all pretty disappointed by this decision. I won’t say much more on here about it, but theater is a business and we are all looking forward to our next endeavors.

I wanted to share some photos from our opening and closing parties. Closing was a particular highlight because it was held on the rooftop of our theater, Barrow Street Theater @ Greenwich House. After reading the wikipedia page for Greenwich House early on in the tech process, I learned that there was a playground atop the building. Because there’s also a preschool in the building, we weren’t permitted to explore other than the theater and basement dressing rooms. The building’s security guard, Calvin, kindly informed me and bassist Mel Hsu of that fact when we tried to take the elevator to the roof during our first week in the theater! Whoops!

Here are the photos, all by HanJie Chow.

The full company on our amazing set

Your truly

Hot band alert: The Flaming Sultans! Me, Sahar Milani, Maya Sharpe, and Mel Hsu

The Flaming Sultans at closing on the roof of Greenwich House

Hound Dog

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For the last few weeks I’ve been working on a brand new play presented by Ars Nova: Hound Dog. We are currently in previews and open this coming Saturday. Here’s the official blurb:

In Melis Aker’s world premiere play HOUND DOG, a young musician returns from abroad to her hometown of Ankara, Turkey to look after her widowed father. Forced to reckon with the family and community she left behind, an investigation into her grieving parent’s strange pilgrimage to Graceland unravels into a sonic mirage of memory packed with humor, nostalgia and the love we cultivate across generations.

I’ve made a lot of new friends on this show and get to play with a really excellent band, including lead singer Sahar Milani, guitarist Maya Sharpe, and Mel Hsu on bass.

Here are some setup shots:

I’m playing a delightfully acoustic setup: 5-piece Gretsch kit with darbuka, triangle, tambourine, and wood block.

The view of our lead singer, Sahar Milani, from my seat. We are on the second story of the set that has windows that open up to reveal the band.

Of course I need the Miller Machine to make this show happen!

The array of sticks I’m using

Me with Maya Sharpe and Mel Hsu. We are the Flaming Sultans!

That's a Wrap: Between the Lines

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I had the great pleasure of subbing for the wonderful Adam Wolfe on an off-Broadway show called Between the Lines for the last month+. I first met Adam in 2018 while he was playing percussion for another off-Broadway show. We both come from an orchestral background and really value applying our knowledge in that realm to the theater world.

Between the Lines features a massive percussion setup, including drum set, several mallet instruments, hand drums, and electronics. While there were certainly some technical passages in the show, the hardest part was getting down the “choreography” of the book: knowing when and where to pick up which mallets, when to flip pages, which conductor camera to look off of for queues, etc… Learning this show really taught me that my MM stands for Mallet Management in addition to Master of Music :-)

Here I am with my wife and the set of BTL. I was so excited for her to see the shows because there are few things she likes more than musical theater and books, and this show is a combination of the two!

I had a blast learning and playing this book and will certainly miss the show. I am hopeful that it lives on in one way or the other after it closes this coming weekend.

Up next: Hound Dog at Ars Nova.

Six at the Tonys

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Major congratulations to everyone at Six: The Musical on an excellent night at the Tonys, including wins for Best Original Score (Toby Marlow & Lucky moss) and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Gabriella Slade). It is a true honor to get to play this show from time to time. Thank you to Elena Bonomo for trusting me with your chair when you’re away and to the rest of the band —Julia, Michelle, Kimi, and Marianna—for always making me feel welcomed. Here’s a little clip from last night’s performance ICYMI. I can’t wait to get behind the drums there this week!

That's a Wrap: Dory Fantasmagory

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I just wrapped a 4-weekend run of Dory Fantasmagory, Russ Kaplan and Sarah Wordsworth’s adaption of the popular children’s book. We even got a nice little Times write-up going into the last weekend!

Even though it meant giving up weekend mornings for a month, I loved showing up to work at Theatre Row to play for the kiddos. The best part was that I could see the audience from the drum booth! Each show started with an imagination exercise led by one of the teachings artists of New York City Children’s Theater and it was so fun and hilarious to get to watch the kids participate. I’m hopeful that this show will live on and I hear there may be a sequel in the works!

That's a Wrap: Season 5 of The Grinch!

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My fifth season of the Grinch has come to a close. It is such an honor to present this production across the country. I continue find such joy in this music, year after year. It was a shorter than usual tour this year, but I made the best of my time in Paducah, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Much love to my entire Grinch family. Fah who foraze!

We are definitely back

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I just wrapped what was certainly my busiest week of playing since the pandemic began. If my calculations are correct, I logged 4 gigs in a week which doesn’t sound that crazy until you factor in the 19 hours of rehearsal (actual number!) that these shows required.

On Monday, I had a morning rehearsal for Prospect Theater’s Tuesday night REIGNITE concert. Before the concert, we had a 5-hour tech rehearsal where we worked out the staging for 15 different songs, each featuring a different vocalist or vocal ensemble. It was my first time playing at Symphony Space in at least ten years! I thought the drums looked great on the stage!

On Monday and Thursday, I had rehearsals for the Selena project I’m in. We played a Dia de los Muertos party on Saturday night at what is normally a restaurant in Ditmas Park. It turned out to be a great place for a concert. We sold the place out! I didn’t take any pictures except for this blurry one with percussionist Neil Ochoa. That dude can play.

Before the Selena gig, I played a super fun Halloween gig with Brass Queens at the Zo Loft in Rockefeller Center. I thought one of the coolest parts was that I got to venture down to the loading dock that services all of RocCen to load in my drums and park my car while I was at the event. It blew my mind that I entered the loading dock at 50th street and drove a block and a half underground to get to 1 RocCen. There’s a whole world down there! Brass Queens repurposed their custom Stella McCartney jumpsuits made for the Met Gala into “Brasstronaut” suits. I LOVED IT!

The final show of the week was Drew Gasparini’s show last night at “Broadway’s Living Room,” 54 Below. This has become the cabaret spot in NYC. The energy in that room is always electric and Drew really brought down the house. I last played with Drew in the Bahamas in February 2020 for a presentation of his coming-to-Broadway show, the Karate Kid.

The craziest part of the week, perhaps, was the rehearsal for Drew’s show, which was at Euphoria Studios, the place I was rehearing on 3/12/2020 when it became suddenly clear that the world was shutting down. On my way in I passed the Sweetgreen we ate lunch at that day and the matcha shop that we stopped at for a quick pick-me-up. Coincidentally, the bass player on Drew’s gig, Justin Goldner, was the MD for that rehearsal in March. It was all very surreal.

Again, I only took one photo last night and it was with Erica Rotstein, Drew’s manager and one of the producers from Hundred Days, who happens to be married to my lifelong friend Ian Kagey. It was great to get to catch up over a drink at the end of a very long week!

I think that’s it! Thanks for following along. Now it’s time to pack for Grinch tour which kicks off on Saturday!