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Summer 2010 It’s been a year since I last updated, but I consider myself fortunate to have been too busy to have time! And it’s been a very exciting year. I continue as the associate conductor at In The Heights on Broadway. We recently celebrated our 1000th performance, and there have been many cast changes, lots of rehearsals, and thanks to our wonderful management, lots of cake for all those going-away and welcome-to-the-family events! Two wonderful short-term projects kept me booked solid this spring and summer. First was doing the music direction for a reading of a new musical version of An Officer And A Gentleman, with music and lyrics by Kenneth Hirsch and Robin Lerner, book by Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen, and directed by Simon Phillips. The show is now being prepped for production in Melbourne and Sydney, followed by Toronto, London, and hopefully Broadway! And in August, I had the pleasure of working as Associate Music Director of Paul Simon and Derek Walcott’s The Capeman for the Public Theater at the Delacorte in Central Park. It was wonderful to continue my collaborations with Grammy-winning pianist/composer/arranger Oscar Hernandez (http://spanishharlemorchestra.net/ and http://www.oscarhernandezmusic.com) and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, and working for the first time with the wonderful director, Diane Paulus. It was an overwhelming thrill to perform the glorious score in such a sublime setting with such a brilliant group of singers, actors, and musicians. Even more overwhelming and thrilling, however, was meeting and working with Paul Simon, one of my childhood idols. (There are some good rehearsal photos at http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/gallery/1553.) Currently I am producing an album by a fantastic band called Planet Z, fronted by my old pal, composer/guitarist Rob Tomaro (http://drroberttomaro.com),, and my spectacularly talented and beautiful partner, electric violinist Susan Aquila (www.susanaquilamusic.com). The music is somewhat reminiscent of late 1970’s jazz-rock fusion, but with the twists of the electric violin and guitar as lead instruments, along with bass (Irio O’Farrill) and two drummers (Ray Marchica and Paul Pizzuti). We look forward to a release this fall. And just to make sure I didn’t have one free moment, we renovated our kitchen and both bathrooms this May and June. The new rooms look beautiful, and of course we had to paint, get new furniture to match, new lighting, new plumbing…I think the animals got the worst of it—Tiger the evil cat really had it in for Paul, the contractor, attacking him at every opportunity, and Daisy couldn’t figure out where to sleep. But the results were worth the inconvenience! Best wishes to all, Joe |
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