Drinking Scotch and exploring the Isle of Eigg in 2019 |
Good friends at Eigg the Musical in Edinburgh |
Drinking Scotch and exploring the Isle of Eigg in 2019 |
Good friends at Eigg the Musical in Edinburgh |
The Eigg show has been a wondrous musical journey. Early on, I knew we needed to supplement the score with traditional Scottish music and after visiting the island I decided on the instrumentation of the music ensemble (accordion, violin and keyboard). My goal would be to compose and perform the work with the ensemble, I like to call it method composing. I had never played an accordion before, but it felt so natural. Well, I searched the internet and found Sandy Brechin, a Ceilidh accordion maestro from Edinburgh. He knew all about the story of Eigg and of many others too, he'd even performed on the island and knew some of the locals. So over the next year we used the marvels of technology to connect with each other and he helped a lot with my playing.
Sandy Brechin and April Alsup using Skye |
Sandy Brechin with Eigg Ensemble (April, Mark and Cieran) |
Here's an image of our cast and crew a few minutes before entering the Willow Studio at Riddles Court for our debut (albeit preview) of Eigg the Musical in Edinburgh Scotland.
Cast and Crew of Eigg the Musical |
Eigg the Musical cast and crew |
Eigg the Musical cast and crew |
Eigg the Musical writing team April Alsup and Mark Sbani |
April Alsup at St Thomas in Leipzig Germany |
In 2019 I travelled to the Isle of Eigg for a little theatrical research. During the trip I was exposed to the atmosphere at a ceilidh dance and I knew it needed to be integrated into the Eigg show. Over the pandemic I learned to play the accordion and now I can actually play with a ceilidh band. Here's a 360 video of the Eigg cast learning the dance steps to Miss McLeod's Reel. Our dance instructor was Tim Luscombe and he studied dance at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. It was a lot of fun and very informative too.
Drone launch point and historic main street |
It's that time of year again, time to put a bow around your latest work and submit it to the plethora of music theater festivals, camps, universities, etc. for the upcoming season. You never know how your show will line up with the vision of the various committees, but by chance this year I saw a post for the Edinburgh Fringe and after a little research, some back and forth eMails, a few phone calls and a pitch we were in. Our show has a real Scottish flavor to it and it'll be a perfect addition for this year's festival.
For more information select an icon below |
A while back a read an article about a small island in the Hebrides called Eigg and the music just started flowing out, which is always a good sign; anyway, I've been working on it with playwright Mark Sbani for quite some time now and we decided to stand it up for the festival. We've setup a news blog and several social media pages/groups for the show (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) to help people follow along. Pick your favorite one and let us know what you think!
2023 Canvas Rebel Interview |
Here's a master track for the "WYSIWYG Finale". It's the last 5 minutes of the show and closes the loop for all the character threading. We even included an upbeat curtain call that rocks. The finale starts with April lamenting Carl's initial reaction to meeting her in the real world. Ron emerges and serenades the audience at the piano with a closing soliloquy. Denise turns to Ron and lets him know that she's willing to work things out with him.
Ron searches for the answer through song and April breaks down and starts to cry when Carl returns to give her some support and advice. He tells her that she is a real as anyone he has ever met and she deserves love, but that she can't go around living her life defined by others, then suggests that they all logout and login to life, she closes her laptop and they all sing together. (What You See Is What You Get).
It's sung by Blake Nawa'a, Carolyn Jordan, Tony Domenick with a cameo from yours truly. (October/2022) Here's a link to download the Sheet Music for the "WYSIWYG Finale" to follow along. Use the icons below to listen to the song on your favorite streaming service.
NOTE: also available on the major streaming sites on 11/11/22
Here's a list of all the people who participated: David Traugh, Blake Nawa'a, Antonio Domenick, Jessie Sotwick, Sienna Stocky, Joe Columbo, Luke Columbo, Joe D. Castro, Jody Haught, Kelsie Bedard, Carolyn Jordan, Anne Jennes, Brandon Bill.
Here's a master track of "Mañana". It closes out the prologue and it's a classic music theatre "want" song. It's similar to how Ariel sings "Part of Your World" to express her desire to become human in the beginning of Little Mermaid. WYSIWYG's main character (April) wants to get off the Internet and be accepted as a woman in the real world, She wants to fall in love with a man and take on the same sort of challenges that all women face. It's sung by Blake Nawa'a, Carolyn Jordan and Tony Domenick (October/2022). Here's a link to download the Sheet Music for "Mañana" to follow along.
Lake Powell water level (Bullfrog Marina) 2010-2022 |
In any case, the hotel only has 48 rooms and it's in the middle of nowhere. I always like getting a room with a view and I happened to line up a couple of "before and after" pictures from several visits to the lake. The change in the water level is really quite dramatic so I thought I'd share it for everyone to see.
Immersive 360° image above Defiance Hotel (September 2022) |
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Here's a master track of "Someone Who's Just Like You". It takes place at Frank's Tavern after Denise tells April about Carl's handle online. Afterwards, she looks-up his profile and can't believe that he likes to cuddle and wants to find someone to settle down and grow old with. Then, the line that gets her "the man of your dreams". It's the last song of the 1st act so it's a cliffhanger. It's sung by Blake Nawa'a with Tony Domenick and Kelsie Bedard on background vocals (August/2022). Here's a link to download the Sheet Music for "Someone Who's Just Like You" to follow along.
April Alsup Artist Page on Deezer |
Over the last year or so we've had some inquiries about the availability of my songs on several European streaming audio sites. We weren't as familiar with these music distribution channels, but after a little research we connected with our music distributor and discussed how we could do a better job at making April Alsup songs and music available to as many people as we could. Here's a link to the Tidal network, the company is based in Norway and their streaming audio services are prominent in Scandinavia and Europe.
April Alsup Artist Page on Tidal |
TIDAL is a global music streaming platform that tries to bring fans closer to artists through unique experiences and the highest sound quality. You might have to register, but there's a free app version and they do claim to give artists and songwriters (aka me 👩) better royalty percentages. Select the link or image above to access the Alsup artist page on Tidal.