Category: The Archive

Two preview performances and two shows later: Paradise Lost is on its feet in Manhattan. We made some substantial improvements to the show throughout previews, including the elimination of the Chaos dance number. (It was a good dance song, but it didn't make enough sense in the context of the show. With more resources to show the setting, meaning and characters in Chaos we may re-insert it.)

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Tickets for Paradise Lost are ON SALE at SmartTix.com. Go get 'em! (Search for "Paradise Lost" if the link above doesn't work for some reason.)

We are now one week out from the preview opening, and the show is wobbling to its feet. I won't lie - there's a vast amount of work to do in the next week. But the production is taking on a colorful, exciting shape. We'll be putting all the pieces together over the next couple days, ironing out the wrinkles and polishing it up. Knockin' on the 'wood' here at my Starbucks table... but I do have a lot of confidence in our cast and production staff. The commitment of everyone involved is remarkable.

In the next couple of days the website at www.paradiselostthemusical.com will go online. Stay tuned!

My co-producers and I are working to understand how to market our showcase of Paradise Lost. If you have 6-8 minutes of free time, I'd be very grateful to anyone who could click on the link below to fill out a quick marketing survey online. This would *really* help me and the rest of our creative team.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=555061747613

Please feel free to pass this around amongst friends who enjoy theatre, or music, or both, or neither... or who like taking online surveys...

I spent about four hours trailing after Sarah Levine (our costume designer) today in midtown Manhattan, buying Paradise Lost costumes. Sarah does just about everything you can imagine in the theatre world, from acting to direction to stage managing - but for us she's designing costumes. She's also a bartender. Sorry lads, she's taken.

Our outing today included trips into two S&M stores. Tomorrow we hit Victoria's Secret.

Not *every* cast member is dressed like this - just one or two key ones - but I can safely say the costumes will be very interesting.

In other news, it turns out not to be terribly difficult to find stiletto heels in mens' shoe sizes.

Jason Summers, our choreographer for Paradise Lost, came in last night and taught most of two dance numbers to the cast.

Wow.

Jason is a guy with some real talent at choreography, and he brought in a several very carefully thought out routines. I don't really know how to describe dance, but even from behind the piano I could tell it was pretty awesome. This will add a whole new dimension to Paradise Lost that we never expected to be there at this level.

Don't miss this show.

In other news, our costume designer is apparently taking me on a "SHOPPING MARATHON" (her words) on Monday and Tuesday. I can feel my wrist getting limp already.

We've now been rehearsing with the showcase cast in New York for a week. For most of that time we worked on helping the actors to learn the music for the show; now they're working on it on their own, practicing and memorizing to get off book.

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[Written in response to a sermon on October 2nd, 2005 by Susan B. Curtis of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church]

Dear Sukie,

Thank you for your thoughtful sermon of October 2nd on the science and theology of the Intelligent Design ideas. Thank you also for taking the time to type it up and give us copies. (I realize this is what you usually do, but nonetheless I want to acknowledge and appreciate it.)

Your sermon gave me a great deal to think about, both during the service and afterward. The search for God's presence in the world around us is of great interest to me, both personally and in the context of my work on the Paradise Lost musical. (Incidentally, I've included some recordings of the workshop we did in New York, if you'd care to listen.) The purpose of my letter today is to suggest a different perspective on Intelligent Design that I didn't see present in your sermon.

Time for a rant.

So Hop, quite reasonably, would like to get a driver's license in the State of Maine, so she can, y'know, get a job more than five miles away. You'd think this would be straightforward. No.

I have made the original Mantra music tracks available in my Download section for your enjoyment. Click here!

Tiger Lily, at a recent vet appointment.