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Beth Leavel & Jeff Blumenkrantz To Be Featured On REGRETTING ALMOST EVERYTHING Concept Album
With the start of another new year, we all look for a fresh start. Regretting Almost Everything, featuring Tony Award winner Beth Leavel as Anne, and Tony Nominee Jeff Blumenkrantz as her husband Clay, is the story of a middle-aged woman in search of a new beginning. Loosely based on Lauren Taslitz's experience of leaving home in her mid-50s to pursue her love of musical theatre writing, Taslitz wrote the book and lyrics with Danny Ursetti, who composed, orchestrated, and arranged the music. The two artists have produced an album of the full score, which is set to release on March 14th, 2023.
The album consists of 15 songs, plus 1 bonus track. Musical Director and pianist Paul Staroba conducts and performs with an 8-piece orchestra consisting of a string quartet and a rhythm section. The album was recorded at Power Station at BerkleeNYC, produced by Kathy Sommer and Matt Anthony (Alchemy Music), and mastered by Darcy Proper.
Look for the new concept album, Regretting Almost Anything, on all music streaming platforms on March 14th 2023. For more information about the album and the musical, go to RegrettingAlmostEverything.com.
54 CELEBRATES HANUKKAH: A FESTIVAL OF WRITERS DECEMBER 19th 7pm & 9:30pm
“It’s an evening of music hotter than latkes!
Have you ever thought that there are simply not enough Hanukkah songs? Wonder no more! For the second year, 54 Below will be showcasing some of the best Jewish musical theatre writers as they each present a brand new, original Hanukkah song. Join them along with some of Broadway’s biggest mensches as we give the festival of lights the songbook it deserves. You’ll want the miraculous, musical magic to last for eight days and beyond!”
Hosted by Ilana Levine (“Little Known Facts” Podcast, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown)
Musical Direction by Ben Caplan
Produced by Jen Sandler
RESERVE TICKETS HERE
“This year's In The Works~In The Woods Festival taking place September 8 through 11. Outbound (A new play by Caitlin Collins and directed by Joan Sergay). Iris feels lost in her call-center job, until she lands on the phone with Shelly - a young widow who happens to live in a small town Iris has a connection to. The women's journeys intertwine in an exploration, loss, belonging, isolation and resilience. The cast features Suzy Weller, Omalolu Fiki, Tracy Sallows, Tim Barker, Lee Hubilla, Emily Kleypas and Brandon Dial.”
TO RESERVE TICKETS click here
BROADWAY’S FUTURE SONGBOOK SERIES TO HIGHLIGHT WORK BY LAUREN TASLITZ AND DANNY URSETTI
“The Broadway's Future Songbook Series, produced and hosted by John Znidarsic, will continue April 25 at 6 PM in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
The free evening will spotlight the songs of the writing team of Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti, highlighting their new musical Mimosa.
Vocalists include Shannon Tyo, Allie Trimm, Cicily Daniels, Jason SweetTooth Williams, Cori Jaskier, Melanie Burg, Jason Pintar, Amy Weintraub, and Viveca Chow. These artists will be backed by musicians Benji Goldsmith, Yari Bond, Claire Wellin, James Mack, Joseph Wallace, and
Will Shishmanian.”
TO RESERVE FREE TICKETS click here
NEW YORK OPERAFEST ANNOUNCES 2022 SLATE
New York OperaFest has announced its 2022 edition which will kick off on April 15 and runs for two months and will be headlined by numerous companies.
The final item on the company’s schedule for the festival will be “Losing Control,” a series of operas including “The Life Of A Lemon” a 15 minute opera with music by Danny Ursetti libretto by Vaibu Mohan
Performers include Ariadne Grief, Brittany Fowler, Lucas Bouk, among others. Performance Dates: May 26 & 27, 2022
NYU’s GRADUATE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITING’s PANDEMIC PROJECT TO FEATURE A NEW SONG BY MORGAN SMART AND DANNY URSETTI
TWENTY TWENTY: Part 1
Musical-theater artists respond to the year 2020. How we changed. How we connected. And how we didn't.
RSVP here to receive a link to the youtube video that will premiere on Friday, December 17th @ 7pm ET and will be available to stream until December 24th.
PROSPECT THEATER COMPANY’S MUSICAL THEATER LAB TO PREMIERE NEW TEN-MINUTE MUSICAL BY LAURA BARATI AND DANNY URSETTI
On Wednesday, November 17 at 7:30pm the company will present RULE OF THREE, a concert evening featuring hot-off-the-presses offerings generated in its annual Musical Theater Lab.
Tickets start at $25 and are available at www.ProspectTheater.org or by calling Symphony Space's box office, 212-864-5400.
NEW SONGS FROM YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES AT FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW TO PREMIERE NEW SONG BY TASLITZ/URSETTI
Break out the popcorn for a night of madness mixing movies and original music! In this innovative new concert, nine of the hottest and most up-and-coming musical theatre writers and teams will be challenged to create a musical theater song from a Hollywood hit. The night will boast some of Broadway's brightest stars belting out brand new numbers from some of the world's favorite films. Attendees can expect to hear adapted songs from Blockbuster hits including When Harry Met Sally, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Pulp Fiction, The Avengers, Apollo 13 and more!
ROOSEVELT ISLAND LIBRARY TO PRESENT CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF MIMOSA
The free abridged concert performance is scheduled for Saturday, October 23rd 1 pm at The Roosevelt Island Branch of New York Public Library, thanks to a City Artist Corps Grant.
Ursetti is among 3,000 New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants program, launched in June 2021 by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre. The grants are intended to support NYC-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
The cast includes Viveca Chow, Cori Jaskier, Ally Bonino, Jacob Fjeldheim, and Danny, with musical accompaniment by Fjeldheim and Ursetti.
THE YORK THEATRE COMPANY’S MTTP 2021 FEATURES “I DON’T WANNA DIE” FROM DANNY & JARED’s
BMI ADAPTATION OF MY COUSIN VINNY
The York's MTTP 2021 Summer Intensive was all virtual, so students created and workshopped new and/or existing musical theater songs with writers. Writers were gathered together by the York's literary manager, Seth Christenfeld.
DANNY IS AWARDED A CITY ARTIST CORPS GRANT
City Artist Corps Grants is part of City Artist Corps, a new $25 million recovery initiative designed to help artists who were both hard hit by the pandemic and who may have been left out of other local and federal funding opportunities.
Danny will use the grant to produce a family-friendly concert production of Mimosa in October 23rd 2021, 1pm at The New York Public Library on Roosevelt Island.
CARNEGIE HALL’S VOICES OF HOPE FESTIVAL TO FEATURE “BUILT FOR JOY”
This special Songbook program, presented in collaboration with Carnegie Hall's Voices of Hope Festival, will feature new songs of inspiration by emerging Broadway talent created in response to the pandemic. Twelve original songs will be performed by stars from the worlds of Broadway, pop, and cabaret. Directed by John Znidarsic.
NEW YORK THEATRE BARN PRESENTS
EXCERPTS FROM MIMOSA APRIL 14th
New York Theatre Barn hosts a free live stream of excerpts from Mimosa April 14. The digital event streams on NYTB’s YouTube at 7 PM ET.
The presentation also includes a conversation with the writers Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti. Featuring performances by Diana Huey, Shereen Pimentel, Christine Toy Johnson, Tuan Malinowski, and BB Stone.
THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: VIRAL MONOLOGUES Celebrates 20th Edition
“ An incredible team of writers, composers, and actors collaborated from afar to write, rehearse, perform and produce 11 all-new musical monologues in just 24 hours.
Christopher Fitzgerald performed "Captain Pupik," based on a monologue by James Lapine with music & lyrics by William Finn. Danny Ursetti served as musical director.”
NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MUSICAL THEATRE SELECTS MIMOSA AS 1 OF 6 WINNERS FOR 15 MINUTE MUSICAL CHALLENGE
“The National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced 12 winners from its 15 Minute Musical Challenge. The contest was developed in March as a push for creativity during times of self-isolation during the pandemic.”
“We were amazed by the passion and talent across the nearly 300 submissions we received," said Betsy King Militello, executive director of NAMT. "The selected award recipients displayed work that was inventive, challenging, humorous, and heartfelt.
We will be thrilled to see what happens for them in the future."
BROADWAY WORLD: VIDEO — LAUREN TASLITZ AND DANNY URSETTI PREMIERE 'BUILT FOR JOY' MUSIC VIDEO FEATURING KERI RENÉ FULLER AND MORE
“To mark the occasion of their now postponed Lincoln Center concert as part of the Broadway's Future Songbook Series, musical theater writers Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti have released a music video for their song "Built for Joy."
The song, which would have been performed at the April 20th concert, comes from In My Book, a musical commissioned by Coastal Carolina University and presented there last spring, inspired by students' real-life stories.”
BROADWAY’S FUTURE SONGBOOK - POSTPONED
Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti’s Broadway’s Future Songbook Series at Lincoln Center has been postponed.
The concert was scheduled for April 20th, 2020 and was going to feature songs from their shows, Regretting Almost Everything, In My Book, and the world premiere of a song from their newest project, Mimosa.
VIDEO PREMIERE: “J.C.T.” FROM LINCOLN CENTER’S BROADWAY’S FUTURE HOLIDAY CONCERT FEATURING JASON “SWEETTOOTH” WILLIAMS & MORE
Broadway’s Future Songbook Series, presented by Arts and Artists of Tomorrow and produced, directed, and hosted by John Znidarsic featured the world premiere of Lauren Taslitz and Danny Ursetti’s new song “J.C.T.”
Performed by Jason “Sweettooth” Williams, Cori Jaskier, Belén Moyano, and Amy Weintraub, with Danny at the piano.
THE EMPEROR’S NEWEST CLOTHES, FEATURING SONGS BY WILLIAM FINN, DEBUTS ON HBO NOVEMBER 15
“A classic Hans Christian Andersen fable gets an animated, music-filled makeover when The Emperor's Newest Clothes, featuring songs by Falsettos Tony winner William Finn, debuts November 15 at 6 PM ET on HBO.
Written and produced by Sheila Nevins, the 30-minute program features the voices of Alan Alda, Jeff Daniels, and Alison Pill. Simon Wilches-Castro directs the whimsical tale, which will also be seen on HBO Family beginning November 16 at 8:45 PM ET.
Songs are arranged by Danny Ursetti and Michael Starobin”
BROADWAY WORLD: NO REGRETS IF YOU SAW REGRETTING ALMOST EVERYTHING AT FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW
"Writers 50-something Taslitz and 30-something Ursetti met in 2015 as MFA classmates in New York University's Tisch School for the Arts Musical Theater Writing program, and REGRETTING ALMOST EVERYTHING marks their first major collaboration. Two-time Tony Award winner William Finn describes it as 'Outrageous, wise, and honest. Anyone who cares about the future of musical theatre would be well advised to see this.'"
NYC MONUMENTS INSPIRE ORIGINAL MUSICALS AT THE TIMESCENTER
“Prospect’s annual writers lab is one of our most impactful programs. It engages a diverse array of artistic viewpoints and styles in dialogue with a shared theme,” said Reichel. “The outcome is always compelling, and this year we are once again thrilled to showcase these talented writers and their world premiere works in our IGNITE Series of concerts.”
MR. FINN’S CABARET PREMIERES REGRETTING ALMOST EVERYTHING
“Last night was truly a sensational "Command Performance" starring Jeff Blumenkrantz & Anne L. Nathan that also included a chorus of students from Barrington Stages Music Theatre Conservatory Ensemble. Musical Direction was by Benji Goldsmith and the Mr. Finn's Cabaret symphony orchestra consisted of Emily Chiu (violin, bells, guitar) and Jacob Fjeldheim (cello, keyboard).
Another cabaret space "below" at 54th street in NYC should take notice of this great production.”
I WANT TO EAT BRAINS TO PREMIERE AT FRESH GRIND FESTIVAL
“Black Coffee Productions will present the inaugural Fresh Grind Festival in New York January 18-22. The developmental series is set to showcase ten staged readings of new works. The line-up features ten-minute plays, full-length plays, and two musicals. George Simon, the artistic director of BCP, serves as the executive producer for the festival.
I Want to Eat Brains (or the Day I Killed All My Friends)
Lyrics and book by Lily Dwoskin; music by Danny Ursetti; directed by Dunya J. Karam; musical direction by Lena Gabrielle”