Summer vacation in Bavaria

My first visit to Bavaria was 40 years ago and I was immediately drawn to the area's beauty and charm. I'm fortunate to have friends there that have always been welcoming as we have often visited each other over the years. This year's trip was a bit nostalgic since our kids are now grown up and have their own lives. We played the whole trip by ear, Denver has a nonstop on Lufthansa now so I flew into the new airport near Munich and stayed outside of Augsburg.

Google map of Bavaria

First, we spent a day exploring Munich and the next in and around Neuburg on the Danube, then it was off to Austria to visit the Mozart museum and the Salzburg castle. The next day we travelled to Linz and that evening we headed back to Augsburg for some late night family fun. Producing music theatre works for the international theatre scene is hard work and this year's trip to Germany was a perfect way to get away from it all, unwind and put things into perspective.

BANNED performance video from Edinburgh Fringe

 Miss our Edinburgh fringe show? No worries, we got you! Here's the next best thing to being there. 

BANNED Cast & Crew

Each night we setup a video camera in a different location in Greenside's Willow Studio at Riddles Court. Our performance run was from August 2nd through August 10th, 2024. The timing of the show was sixty minutes to fit the Fringe format. The theater is an immersive black box with a 3/4 thrust. The stage size is 4x3 meters so there isn't a lot of room. We brought the piano façade to double as the bar and used 6 rehearsal blocks instead of chairs. At the end of the run we donated the set and props to a local theatrical school.

The Scotsman review of BANNED the Musical

Denise’s husband has started wearing women’s clothes. Ana has surprised herself by falling for male-identifying gender guru Carl. Above all, Theo wants to capture their eight-strong gender identity group’s lives and loves in a brand new musical, to be staged at a prestigious international festival (sound familiar?).

There’s no denying the sheer ambition of April Alsup’s big, bold musical, in terms of its web of intertwining storylines, its eclectic and diverse characters, and the sensitive issues of gender and sexuality it attempts to address. There’s no denying, either, the sheer panache and energy with which it’s pulled off by its eager, energetic, ten-piece Denver-based company – no fewer than nine actor/singers, plus Alsup delivering an impassioned keyboard part.

Alsup’s songs are strong and memorable, in nicely complex arrangements too – tunes are swapped back and forth in complicated ensemble numbers, and the cast offers glowing harmonies as well as vivid solos. Eli Harvey is a troubled and vulnerable Ana, with a voice as honest and open as their character, while Tracy Denver makes a petulant Denise, at first horrified at her husband’s new apparel interests though later easing reluctantly towards acceptance. Online dating gets a merciless take-down, while the pleasures of sex are dutifully celebrated.

Despite the stage-filling collection of disparate characters – nicely choreographed by Heather Westenskow – there’s nonetheless a convincing overall story arc, as well as fulfilling individual plotlines for several of them (even if others inevitably feel a little underwritten). Best of all, however, BANNED offers a deeply human perspective on issues of gender and sexual identity, its flawed characters navigating their own mistake-filled routes through pronouns, preferences and plenty more. It’s a complex, compassionate show of missteps and misunderstandings, and one that warmly applies the tolerance it requests of others onto its own damaged but likeable characters.

By David Kettle
Read the complete review

Opening the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival

This year we were given the honor of opening the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the song 'All we want is S.E.X' from my new musical BANNED. The event took place at the Greenside press launch on George Street and I was able to snap this picture right before the cast took the stage. There were twenty acts in the showcase and we were lucky enough to be given the opening slot this year. 🎭

Program for BANNED Musical at Fringe

We've finished up our program for the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival now. Converting a Microsoft Word document into a PDF and then an interactive flipbook is an eco-friendly way to provide your show's programs to your audience. The process is fairly straight forward and it's a "win-win" for audience goers, producers and our environment. The only downside is it requires the user to have some sort of electronic device connected to the Internet.

Here's a quick look at our interactive program. There could be tweaks hear and there, but it's pretty close. We'll create QR card and a sign for the audience to access the program at Riddles Court and we typically have a small number of the shortened program for individuals who may not have an electronic devices.

Growing up in a small town

I wrote this song about someone reminiscing their memories of growing up in a small town. The family moved to Vienna, West Virginia in 1958 when their youngest child was just one year old. All the children left the area after college, but frequently brought their families home to visit as their parents aged.

4202 3rd Avenue, Vienna, WV 26105

Three generations of the family had a presence in the Parkersburg area for around 60 years. The parents passed away in 2011 and 2013 and the original farmhouse was torn down in 2018. The song is about time, coming of age and finding refuge in the family memories one holds in their heart and mind. 

     

5207 3rd Avenue, Vienna, WV 26105

Green screens are fun

Chroma keying, is a visual effects technique of putting two or more images together based on their color range. The technique is used to remove a background from the subject of a photo or video. This technique can be referred to as color keying where a green (or blue) screen is used because they differ from the hue of human skin, but at the end of the day no part of the subject should have the color used as the background.

BANNED cast spotted at the Cavern in Liverpool

We recently used a green screen to create a cast announcement for the musical BANNED! Going along with the shows theme of a group of individuals being banned, the green screen technique allowed us to create a "mugshot" of each of the cast members, as well as, to spot the cast in various locations in and around the United Kingdom leading to the Edinburgh fringe festival where the show will debut this Summer.

BANNED! cast announcement