|
|
Plane Crazy a finalist for NYMF!
I just found out that Plane Crazy has been selected out of over 300 applications as one of 36 finalists for the New York Musical Theatre Festival for 2005! Here is an exerpt from the e-mail:
Thank you for submitting Plane Crazy for consideration to the 2005 Next Link Project. As you may be aware, we received over 300 applications for this year's Festival, and the process of winnowing down the options has been exciting, enjoyable, and challenging.
We are pleased to inform you that after careful consideration the Reading Committee has selected your show as one of the 36 finalists for the Next Link Project. All 36 are now being evaluated by the Next Link Jury (comprised of leading theatre professionals Rob Ashford, Thomas Cott, Joanna Gleason, Kevin McCollum, Susan H. Schulman, and Jack Viertel), who will select the final line-up of 18 shows for inclusion in the Festival.
How cool is it that one of my musical theater heroes, Joanna Gleason (another Canadian), will be reviewing Plane Crazy?
Keep your fingers (and stew legs) crossed!
Technorati tags: Broadway | Music | Musicals | Blog | Blogs | Theater | Theatre | Entertainment
|
|
|
My Favorite Plane CrazyPost
Well, there's been a flurry of Plane Crazy activity since we launched the site. This is my favorite post. Here's a priceless extract:
Many reading this blog are old enough to remember When Stews Were Sexy and the World Was Sexist, which is the subtitle of an off-Broadway play about life as a stewardess in the 1960s.
Visit the show's brand new website and let the opening song play for a while. Then check out the show synopsis.
Technorati tags: Broadway | Music | Musicals | Blog | Blogs | Theater | Theatre | Entertainment
|
|
|
Thanks Boing Boing!
A great big thank you to Cory Doctorow and Boing Boing who blogged the launch of the Plane Crazy Web site. Thanks guys: Much appreciated.
Cory had some really nice things to say about the workshop he attended last year:
A year ago, I got to see the musical performed at a workshop at Toronto's Poor Alex Theatre and it was fantastic: funny, catchy, engrossing, with a really authentic sixties-kitsch feel: like Hair at 30,000 feet, with seasonings of Jesus Christ, Superstar and Germaine Greer.
I've been a Boing Boing reader since Cory started working on it in 2000, and it's been amazing to see it grow in reach and popularity. I've also known Cory since Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom was just a glimmer in his eye, and I listened to my husband describe this cool story that Cory was writing as they took the train to a client in Kingston, ON. Cory is a great example of how to succeed in this brutal creative business, and his focus, discipline, and work ethic is something to which all creators should aspire.
Technorati tags: Broadway | Music | Musicals | Blog | Blogs | Theater | Theatre | Entertainment
|
|
|
Plane Crazy Web site Officially Launched
|
|
|
Please don't tell my mother I am in advertising...I prefer her to think I play the piano in a whorehouse!
Back in my impressionable youth I watched a lot of TV. A lot. I used to fake illness and spend the day at home watching TV. That's where I developed my passion for old movies, and movie musicals (Fred and Ginger to be specific). I did all my homework in front of the television (math was particularly easy to do with the boob tube on). I would memorize the TV Guide listings so my sisters only had to ask what was on and I would give them the complete line up for the evening. In addition to my love of old movies I developed of love of advertising. And back in the good old days of the late sixties and seventies they had lots of great jingles that I still carry around in my brain. Who can sing the jingle from Mystery Date board game -- "Open the door to your mystery date!" Love the internal rhyme, man!
Yeah, yeah, I've read the Ogilvy bible and I did hard time in Procter & Gamble's marketing division for advertisng deliquents. Even ran an advertising agency (ConnAd of course!) with my hubbie. Of course, it's no coincidence that my husband loves advertising and has devoted his career to it in some form or another. But it was watching every episode of Bewitched that really helped develop my truly deep understanding of the craft of advertising, and the hard, hard work involved.
About that the old joke -- for some reason advertising is generally viewed as morally despicable and dare I say, evil. Don't get me wrong: It drives me nuts with its pandering, inane, irrevelant and irritating messages. But on the othe hand I love advertising when it is great. And I love watching advertising executives and creatives portrayed on the screen and stage, as the industry is ususally given a sexy (and lovably silly) sheen in those movies and TV shows. (World Wide Widget anyone?)
So the Golden Age of Advertising (all those wonderfully goofy sexist campaigns!) was something I just had to include in Plane Crazy, especially since advertising has a spotty history in its portrayal of women. And it was an "ad woman", Mary Wells, who was the brains behind the Braniff Airlines sexy and Pucci-esque repositioning. But when I poke fun at the industry and the advertising execs it is done with love, comes from my experience, and hopefully rings true.
Technorati tags: Broadway | Music | Musicals | Blog | Blogs | Theater | Theatre | Entertainment
|
|
|
The Ms-tery of Plane Crazy
I grew up in a feminist household. Although my father was Hungarian and born in 1926, he always regarded my two twin sisters and I as fully capable of doing anything and being anything we wanted (as long as it made lots of money!). He was happy when I got married, but secretly I think he wanted me to be a driven, single, business tycoon who would one day grace the cover of Fortune magazine.
At university I joined the women's groups on campus, started reading Ms. Magazine, stopped wearing a bra (actually, I really didn't need one all that much...) and generally swore off men forever.
However, I found the groups a tad boring, switched back to Mad Magazine, joined Queen's Musical Theatre, and met my future husband who was also in the Queen's Commerce program. So I got my MRS degree after all...
But I still firmly believe that a woman should have a choice to do whatever she wants -- whether that is to have a career outside the home, or to have kids and stay home, or to do some combination of the two. Yes I know we've come a long way baby, but we still have a long way to go (just check out the beer ads on TV!), especially around the globe. That is one of the reasons I wrote Plane Crazy -- to remind us, in a fun and entertaining way -- about the issues that women have faced and continue to face today. Well...also to win a Tony and meet Hugh Jackman, but that's a different story.
So endeth the lesson, at least for today.
Technorati tag: Broadway Music; Musicals; Blog; Blogs; Theater; Theatre; Entertainment
|
|
|
Plane Crazy: In the Beginning...
As we are a couple of days from launching the official Plane Crazy Web site, I have taken a few moments to sit back and say "you've come a long way baby".
So much work and energy has gone into this musical thus far (and so much more is ahead, I know, I know) I have to stop and think -- where did it all begin? Can I pinpoint the genesis of Plane Crazy, the actual moment of conception?
When did that seed first drop into the fertile ground of my young, impressionable brain, to grow and grow over the years, nurtured by my experiences, dreams, and fantasies? Let us cast our minds back to the 1960s.
My Grandmother (on my Dad's side) was Hungarian, so we would travel to Europe for vacations and drop in on my Grandmother who lived in Budapest. We always flew into Frankfurt or Zurich and we almost always took Luftansa. As a child of five I was enthralled with the whole airplane experience and especially the compartmentalized food on those long flights, those lovely little trollies that would bring wonderful snacks and exotic soft drinks. I remember it was all so grand.
But most of all I remember the napkins. With our drinks (hard or soft) we would get napkins that had little cartoons on them. Except these were naughty little drawings of balloon-breasted women in short tight dresses (inevitably bending over to pick up something ), with some lewd joke or pun captioned underneath. I don't think I really understood the jokes, but I was fascinated by these napkins (remember, I was five). I hung on to a few of them for a while but over time I have lost them. But at that moment, at 30,000 feet, as I sat drinking my Orangina and contemplating those funny drawings, an idea was born: Stews...sexy...sexist...funny...airplanes...that was to grow one day into Plane Crazy!
To be continued tomorrow...
Technorati tag: Broadway Music; Musicals; Blog; Blogs; Theater; Theatre; Entertainment
|
|
|
707 Lighting Fixture Complete...
From BoingBoing:
Todd Lappin has finished installing his 707 jet panel in his house. It looks incredible! Here's a link to his great Flickr site.
My 707 has come a long way since I first found it at an aircraft scrapyard in Tucson. Here's a daylight view, shortly after I stripped off the paint. The illumination comes from rope lights mounted on the structurally-cool back side. (Next time you rest your head against a window-seat wall to snooze, this is basically what lies underneath.)
I did an earlier post on this fixture in the middle of March. I love it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's a great example of modernist architecture...both the plane and the resultant fixture. But mostly, it feeds into my plane fetish and obsession with the Jet Age, amply demonstrated by my musical Plane Crazy, and my Pucci stewardess uniform collection.
Technorati tag: Broadway Music; Musicals; Blog; Blogs; Theater; Theatre; Entertainment
|
|
|
Plane Crazy Receives Record Number of Tony Nominations!
It was announced today that Plane Crazy, The Classic '60s Musical Comedy, has received a record 15 Tony nominations!
Plane Crazy was nominated for Best New Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Web Site Design, Best Costumes, Best Sets, and in a special category: Best Functioning Jet Plane on a Stage, among many other nominations.
When author Suzy Conn was contacted for comment she was quoted as saying "I'm so thrilled just to be nominated, but when do I get to meet Hugh Jackman?"
This extraordinary announcement comes on the eve of the launch of the official Plane Crazy Web site and merchandise store. Exciting things are store for Suzy Conn! What's next, The Ellen DeGeneres Show?
Oh, and Happy April Fools Day!
Technorati tag: Broadway Music; Musicals; Blog; Blogs; Theater; Theatre; Entertainment
|
|
|
Browse the Plane Crazy NYMF 2005 archives
|
|
