Beauty and the Lonely Beast

Starting.

This is what I do when I can't sleep.



A duet from the musical. It's finally coming together slowly. Now that I have started, it is going to be hard to sleep.

Random Theatre

Just had the read-through for a new musical/show I am in, Beauty and the Lonely Beast. It's a six person cast and is geared mostly for children, though the happy theme of the show is for everyone. I will be playing Beast who is pretty similar to the movie, but tends to be more depressed in this show.

We had our opening night for 'The Cradle Will Rock' last night and it went really really well. In my scene, I run off the stage to try to save some people from an explosion, but I end up dying in the disaster along with the couple that is madly in love with each other. We had a dress rehearsal with quite a few senior citizens and when I died, they laughed. Kinda funny I thought, but last night, the eerie sound of the explosion seemed to linger in the auditorium. One show down, five more to go.

I sent my information to a conservatory for acting in NYC. They have a two-year program and also a four week summer program that can also be earned for college credits. They called me a few weeks ago expressing a lot of excitement in my interest in the school. They also said that the music knowledge that I have is a great quality to have. There will be auditions for scholarships geared for both the two-year and four week programs. The school is www.sft.edu if you wanted to check it out. I'll let you know what happens.

Also, I have posted more information/songs/lyrics/details/ideas in the musical blogspot. Check it out if you haven't or let me know if you want access.

Yearn for Silence.

Sometimes when I sit in class I hear everything. I will do what I can to explain it the best. This reality of sounds happening around me puts me in a superficial state of mind. I hear everything. The teacher is speaking in rhythm, pencils scratch paper, shuffle of feet, squeaks of chairs, sniffling of the nose, typing on computers, erasing a thought, folding paper, chewing of gum, sip of coffee, knuckles cracking, backpacks zipping and even scratching of the head. This is just in class.

But when I go outside it has much more bigger and unexpected sounds. An ambulance goes rushing by and I feel like I can hear the worry of someone else's heart. I hear the wind in the trees as I feel the depth of their roots in the soil. I hear people yell across the campus and picture their story in my mind.

Sometimes on a rare occasion when I walk home really late at night, I don't hear anything. It feels that without sound my life might be lost, but the silence brings peace and dreams to a reality as I look up at the stars. It is in this moment where I can fly away and be the person I am meant to be.

Introduction.

I finally had time to write out a simple introduction to the musical in my head. It can be found under my private blog at http://workinprogressmusical.blogspot.com. Let me know if you want access to view this blog by sending me your email to traviswicklund@gmail.com, by facebook or even by leaving a comment under this blog. Thanks!

The Cradle Will Rock.

The fall musical this year has a huge cast and is already underway. We had our first rehearsal yesterday and will be set to perform two weekends in October. I believe we will be doing a total of six shows. There was a movie released about 10 years ago about how the play came to be and why it was so controversial.

It seems that everyone involved with theatre or has a slight interest should check out this show or the movie. It was a giant stepping stone for theatre in the 1930s and we probably wouldn't have the quality of theatre we would have now if it wasn't for Marc Blitzstein. I was casted the roll of 'Steve' and also casted as a member of the chorus. He is a young adult that helps out with his father's drugstore, but tends to be more realistic with the events that are happening around him while his father is the idealist. It is a small role, but seems to be a great one that will help improve my awareness in this new world of theatre. It shall be exciting. I might even be looking into several auditions that are in downtown Spokane. 'Urinetown' is coming through along with Sondheims 'A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum'. Thank you Spokane for being a city.

Musical Blogspot.

This is the first post on the new musical blogspot.

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This will be the home for shared ideas of a musical that I am writing. With the title of this blog, it truly will be a work in progress not knowing when or how long this will take. I'm not sure how much time I will able to write this fall semester, but I'm getting ideas together for a story that I want to tell. I realize I can't do this alone. This is when you come in. I need suggestions/ideas/thoughts from you in order for my scattered thoughts to fall in to place and to make sense of the story in my head. You can come with me on this journey if you would like to. You can give suggestions or you can just stick around to see how these ideas will progress. More information will come. I'm still seeing if this will work out on a blog. The next post will hopefully be a rough outline of a story or of ideas that I have. And as for the title of this musical, we will find out together what should be most appropriate.

If you would like permission to access this blog or even become an author of this blog. Just let me know at anytime during this journey.

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The link is as follows: http://workinprogressmusical.blogspot.com/

Just send me your email through here, facebook or my email: traviswicklund@gmail.com

Starting To Write.

Wow. I've never thought I would do this. I have ideas for a musical in mind and started writing some melodies, characters, setting, theme, etc. I don't know when a final rough draft will be finished, but I have started at the very least. If you would like to know details of what I have so far, just let me know. I am thinking of starting a new blogspot with progress and shared ideas from others. We shall see where this goes and how much time I will be able to have to work on it while at school in Spokane.

To Write/Compose.

These thoughts that have been going on in my head don't want to leave and I don't think that they will leave anytime soon. When I tend to sit down at the piano, I don't always work on my repertoire, I tend to write and create music of my own. Hours can go by just playing the same basic melody while finding the perfect accompaniment with the new sound. These thoughts of creating music is all I do now. It seems that this music I feel like creating isn't that of a folk song or an alternative rock ballade. It is different than that. I want to create a story through song, through a play. I've been thinking of ideas and books that could go perfectly in the musical setting, but have yet to find the perfect match that goes with the music I am writing. Musicals have been so diverse now that I feel like I can dive into it with no problem at all. In high school, I had the thoughts of writing an orchestration to a song just because it felt like I needed and wanted to write in order for my mind to grow. It was performed at the last concert of the year. I am having the same yearning thoughts to create a musical and I don't feel like these thoughts will leave until I get more ideas underway. But then again, I might never want these thoughts to leave. As for now, I will practice more piano in hopes that the melody will find me and find words to go with it.

Musicals.

It seems as if 'West Side Story' and 'Rent' gave birth to a child, it would be called 'In The Heights'. Of course it is no Leonard Bernstein, but the music is pretty awesome. The composer and writer also plays a lead role in the show. I'm not sure why I have grown to like the music, but the technicalities of the salsa genre have me always guessing of what tempo and key changes are about to occur. This show won numerous awards at the Tony's including best musical.



Next up is 'Spring Awakening' based off of a play by Frank Wedekind. I listened to the full soundtrack for the first time today while at work and enjoyed every track. Different style of music too. The setting is in 1891 Germany at a boarding school and the music that is portrayed would be like nothing ever heard in that time period. I'm still researching this show, but it won best musical at the Tony's last year. The cast is mostly young too, so it is nice to have fresh faces out there. The last song in the medley is edited to be suitable for CBS.



I have been into musicals a lot lately. It would be amazing to write such a masterpiece that tells a story in a very creative way. Of course you could do that on a basic album with a band or as a solo artist, but it seems that I have been drawn to this way through musicals of presenting a story. We'll see where it heads.