Blood and Fire is a New Musical...
Libretto by Jeffrey Couchman, Music by Lisa Heffter.
Music Direction by Vadim Feichtner. Directed by David Elliott.
Produced by Perry Street Theatricals
Launching a new musical is a tremendous challenge. So when we
were given the opportunity to present BLOOD AND FIRE as a Staged Reading in
the 2015 TRU Voices Series, we were thrilled. Staged Readings occur
throughout the year in NYC as new musicals and plays take their first step in
development to becoming fully realized productions.
It was a perfect start in what we knew would be a huge step
forward in the process. And so... the venue was booked -- a
beautiful 175-seat concert hall -- the actors were ready -- we had been
rehearsing diligently for five days -- and we were all set to take the stage to
bring the show before an audience. Our date, however, was January 26th -- which
had its own billing as "the snow storm of the century" -- and with
NYC totally shut down -- we were forced to cancel the presentation.
It was impossible to reschedule in the short term as many in the
show had other commitments or were going on to other shows. We have rescheduled
for March 16, 2015 – that’s good news! But will this require us to go back into
the rehearsal room, re-hire the actors (and re-cast some of the roles), and pay
the creative fees. Unfortunately, the capital we had was spent for the initial
presentation.
Who
are the Players?
Perry Street Theatricals is an award-winning
producing and general management organization in NYC (pstheatricals.com). TRU
(Theatre Resources Unlimited) was created to bring together a
supportive network of both established and newly developing producing
organizations in the New York area in order to interface these producing
organizations with other potentially valuable resources both within and beyond
the theatrical community.
Together we will "re-present" this developmental staging of BLOOD AND
FIRE... but we need your help to bring this beautiful new work to life.
What
Do We Need & What Do You Get?
Mounting a staged reading is the first step in the development
process of creating a new show. The funds raised will help to offset the costs
of the presentation.
We are hoping to raise $10,000.
-
Funds will provide compensation for all the artists involved,
from actors (we have 13), and stage managers to the writers and director and
music director.
-
Scripts, scores and programs need to be reprinted, the rehearsal
hall needs to be booked. Creative fees are due.
-
Certain funds will also be used to offset the losses incurred
due to the cancellation and any additional costs that we incur that were
unforeseeable at the time of creating the budget.
-
After the presentation, we will cut a BRAND NEW demo recording of 5 or 6
of the songs from the show. Your contribution will help pay for this too!
By contributing to BLOOD AND FIRE, you will be cordially invited
to the March 16th staged presentation (we will send you the RSVP details later)
– and you can see the show for yourself! Once we finish the demo recording, we
will send you either a link to a download of the music or a CD, whichever you
prefer. And of course we will keep you up to date on future developments of
this exciting project.
Won't you please join us in making this first crucial step?
A Brief Description of the Show
Its 1892. An irreligious physician from London’s wealthy West
End falls in love with a woman of faith from London’s impoverished East End.
Meanwhile, a mob of ruffians bands together to destroy a brand new organization
called the Salvation Army. The Army’s larger-than-life founder, General William
Booth himself, marches across the stage alongside an array of Dickensian characters.
Rich, poor, reformers and thugs all collide in a musical tale at once intimate
and epic.
Blood and fire guaranteed...
Don't take our word for it - a few of the songs!
Something Must Be Done
Booth is Coming
Faith
Who's
Who - The Creative Team
JEFFREY COUCHMAN (Libretto) has written screenplays for Imagine
Films, Warner Bros. TV, and other studios. He has published fiction in many
literary journals. Another musical for which he wrote book and lyrics, Battleship
Potemkin (music by Eric Allaman), was presented in the York Theatre
Company’s Developmental Reading Series (July 2014) and will be produced in
Berlin in the upcoming season by Gallisas Theaterverlag. He is author of the
book “The Night of the Hunter”: A Biography of a Film and is
currently editing three volumes of James Agee’s screenplays for the University
of Tennessee Press. He teaches screenwriting at the College of Staten Island.
LISA RALIA HEFFTER (Music) lives
in relative obscurity as a prolific composer. Although her foundation is
in the classics as a master’s graduate of The Juilliard School (Heffter’s
impressionist quartet “Eschape” premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall and
was reviewed by the New York Times as "astonishingly
beautiful."), her passion is writing music for great stories. Most
recently, Heffter’s rock opera, “Atom & Eve” was staged as a concert
reading in October 2014 at the Mary Lea Johnson Performing Arts Center. Rolling
Stone Magazine's Betsy Hill reviewed: “I was totally blown away”;
Heffter’s one act rock opera “Permission” was directed by John Tedeschi
at The Triad for a sold out two week run, and “Oh! The Sport of Love” a
bawdy comic operetta for mezzo-soprano, has been performed from intimate parlors
to starlit stages worldwide. Heffter is currently collaborating with Jean
Witter, librettist, on “Mars: 2076,” a futuristic musical based on the
American Revolution of 1776.
VADIM FEICHTNER (Music Director) served
as music director/dance arranger for the Broadway production of The
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His Off Broadway credits
include: Ordinary Days, Elegies: A Song Cycle, The Burnt Part Boys, The
Public Theater's As You Like It and Lincoln Center American
Songbook's Songs of Innocence and Experience (both co-composed with
William Finn), I Sing!, Infinite Joy, Cam Jansen and V-Day. His
regional credits include: Little Miss Sunshine, My Life is a Musical,
The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, The Memory Show,
Party Come Here, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick andSee Rock City. He
has worked on concerts for Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Leslie Kritzer and Lisa
Howard.
DAVID ELLIOTT (Director) his directing
work has been seen at Olney Theatre, The Culture Project, The Irish Repertory
Theatre, Metropolitan Playhouse, The Zipper, The Players, New York Performance
Works and at Rattlestick’s Exposure Festival. Member SDC.
PERRY STREET THEATRICALS (Producer) My
Life is A Musical (Bay Street),Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (B'way,
Tony Award), Lend Me A Tenor The Musical (West End, Olivier
nom.), Bedlam’s Hamlet/Saint Joan (Culture Project, Off Broadway
Alliance Award), an oak tree (Barrow Street, OBIE ), In
The Continuum(OBIE), Exits and Entrances (Edinburgh), Shylock, Treason (Perry
Street Theatre). Credits for Mr. Elliott: The Exonerated (Drama
Desk). For Mr. Platt: Here Lies Jenny (Zipper), Gumboots, Nixon’s
Nixon (West End). As General Managers: My Life is A Musical,
WikiMusical (NYMF), The Mapmaker’s Opera (NYMF), Ethel
Sings(Beckett), Bedlam’s Hamlet/Saint Joan (Lynn Redgrave
Theatre) Date of A Lifetime(NJ Rep, and upcoming for Off Broadway
'15), White People (Atlantic). Upcoming: In Bed With Roy
Cohn (The Lion), Hamlet (Sheen Center), A
Craiglist Cantata (Off Broadway), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Lynn
Redgrave Theatre).
We thank you in advance!