Spare Times: For Children
By LAUREL GRAEBER
THE PREMIERE OF ‘GOODNIGHT MOON,' WITH ‘THE RUNAWAY BUNNY'
A beloved bedtime story for generations of children, "Goodnight Moon" unfolds in "a great green room." So it seems fitting that the tale will come to life on Sunday in a place New Yorkers might consider the greatest, greenest room of all: Central Park.
The park is the setting for the premiere of Glen Roven's "Goodnight Moon, a Lullaby for Piano and Orchestra," his musical reimagining of Margaret Wise Brown's 1947 book in which everything from a tiny mouse to the distant stars receives its own affectionate evening farewell. The young musicians of the Interschool Symphony, the most advanced division of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, will play the 10-minute piece, part of a Mother's Day concert also featuring "The Runaway Bunny: A Concerto for Reader, Violin and Orchestra," Mr. Roven's 20-minute interpretation of a 1942Brown book. (The program, lasting slightly over an hour, will include a "play-along" of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"; audience members are encouraged to bring their own instruments.)
Mr. Roven structured his pieces differently because " ‘Goodnight Moon' is really a direct narrative between a parent and a child," he said. "I really wanted the parent to sing the child to sleep." He conceived "The Runaway Bunny" as more like "Peter and the Wolf." "I thought I'd have the bunny's adventures musicalized," he said, choosing episodes in which the bunny announces its intentions to flee - as a fish, as a mountain rock, as a trapeze artist.
For "Goodnight Moon," "I set every word," he said, "all 300 of them," using his orchestral writing to mimic the tale's atmosphere. At the end, he said, "the house disappears, and the kid's kind of floating in the universe, talking to the clouds and the air."
The stories' allure has attracted adult luminaries: the soprano Lauren Flanigan, for whom "Goodnight Moon" was written, will sing it, and the actress Kate Mulgrew will read "The Runaway Bunny." The absent star is Brown herself (1910-52), whose brief life Mr. Roven will commemorate by releasing a live recording of the park performances on his new GPR record label on May 23, her 100th birthday. (Above, Adrian Benepe, the city parks commissioner, introducing last year's InterSchool concert.)
Those who miss "Goodnight Moon" in Central Park can hear it on May 19 under very different circumstances: Mark Stone will sing it in Carnegie Hall. "This has to be for daddies too," Mr. Roven said. "So I have a baritone version."
(Instrument "petting zoo" at 2:30 p.m.; concert at 3:30; the Bandshell, midpark at 70th Street, 212-410-0370, isorch.org; free.) LAUREL GRAEBER
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
AMAY-ZING MAY
This May could be the best month ever for me.
It's really kind of amazing, all these projects.
I'm writing this for myself.
A friend of mine said to remember all this next time I want to jump out the window. I told him, "It's your job to remind me. Ha!"
I think I have to say that May started on Friday at 9:30 AM with an interview with the NY Times about the RunBun and GOODNIGHT MOON concert in the Park. The writer really knew about the concert and my thoughts about the piece, etc. But it was the times. Amazing, actually. I thought for sure that the Times would do a piece on Poetic License. But I'm grateful for the Run Bun push.
Saturday was the Poly Prep auction. It took 30 years but I'm finally popular in High School.
Today was a rehearsal with Kate Mulgrew. She was wonderful. She was pleased that it was rather easy to learn. Naturally she knows and loves the book. Kate is booked on NBC Sunday and Lauren is booked on ABC Sunday. Wow. Kate's show wanted some B roll so we shot the rehearsal and after she left we edited a great minute piece. Then I made a scratch track for Lauren to rehearse to. Ray is out in LA making the Orch track.
Tomorrow I go down to Philly to do my Concert with Mark Stone. Very exciting. The program says THE PHILADELPHIA OPERA presents ... Nice again. This is our pre-Carnegie Show that we're using as a rehearsal. Our last rehearsal went well. I think it's finally coming.
I come back Wed PM to hear the ISO play the pieces for the first time. Sam told me i was going very well and he particularly liked the Goodnight Moon orchestration. Whew. I can't wait to hear it. I'm nervous! But everyone has said it's sounding good.
Thursday is a private presentation of POETIC LICENSE the Stage Version. I'm VERY excited. Joanna Gleason and Chris Sarandon as well as Donald Corren are doing it. What can I say. Hallie and Andrew are singing 10 Songs from the Underground. This actually could work!
Saturday the 8th is the Final Dress of RunBun GNM but we're going to be recording it. I hope we can get it nice and clean at rehearsal. Today, we also recorded Kate's lines very cleanly so if we need to re can lay in all her dialogue.
And SUNDAY is the CONCERT IN THE PARK. With all the Publicity, there could be a HUGE turnout! I hope so!
The next day we start at Sound Associates mixing and mastering. The art work is at the printers, it's available to be pre-ordered on AM. I hope to ship the masters to the printers on Tuesday. We can then have them on the 17th and available to be reviewed and played on the air. Max, who is doing an amazing job with Poetic License, thinks we'll do very well with this. He's also getting tons of air play for the sony cd on mother's day.
Then I can practice practice practice and get to Carnegie Hall on May 19th. That's another career highlight. All my own music at Carnegie. Amazing.
And 5 days later, we do a PANDORA reading. WE FINALLY GOT THE RIGHTS. Kirk Douglas is coming, George and Jolene are coming. Kerry and Cady are doing it as well as James Patrick.
So that's the month. Best month of my life career wise? Maybe.
It's really kind of amazing, all these projects.
I'm writing this for myself.
A friend of mine said to remember all this next time I want to jump out the window. I told him, "It's your job to remind me. Ha!"
I think I have to say that May started on Friday at 9:30 AM with an interview with the NY Times about the RunBun and GOODNIGHT MOON concert in the Park. The writer really knew about the concert and my thoughts about the piece, etc. But it was the times. Amazing, actually. I thought for sure that the Times would do a piece on Poetic License. But I'm grateful for the Run Bun push.
Saturday was the Poly Prep auction. It took 30 years but I'm finally popular in High School.
Today was a rehearsal with Kate Mulgrew. She was wonderful. She was pleased that it was rather easy to learn. Naturally she knows and loves the book. Kate is booked on NBC Sunday and Lauren is booked on ABC Sunday. Wow. Kate's show wanted some B roll so we shot the rehearsal and after she left we edited a great minute piece. Then I made a scratch track for Lauren to rehearse to. Ray is out in LA making the Orch track.
Tomorrow I go down to Philly to do my Concert with Mark Stone. Very exciting. The program says THE PHILADELPHIA OPERA presents ... Nice again. This is our pre-Carnegie Show that we're using as a rehearsal. Our last rehearsal went well. I think it's finally coming.
I come back Wed PM to hear the ISO play the pieces for the first time. Sam told me i was going very well and he particularly liked the Goodnight Moon orchestration. Whew. I can't wait to hear it. I'm nervous! But everyone has said it's sounding good.
Thursday is a private presentation of POETIC LICENSE the Stage Version. I'm VERY excited. Joanna Gleason and Chris Sarandon as well as Donald Corren are doing it. What can I say. Hallie and Andrew are singing 10 Songs from the Underground. This actually could work!
Saturday the 8th is the Final Dress of RunBun GNM but we're going to be recording it. I hope we can get it nice and clean at rehearsal. Today, we also recorded Kate's lines very cleanly so if we need to re can lay in all her dialogue.
And SUNDAY is the CONCERT IN THE PARK. With all the Publicity, there could be a HUGE turnout! I hope so!
The next day we start at Sound Associates mixing and mastering. The art work is at the printers, it's available to be pre-ordered on AM. I hope to ship the masters to the printers on Tuesday. We can then have them on the 17th and available to be reviewed and played on the air. Max, who is doing an amazing job with Poetic License, thinks we'll do very well with this. He's also getting tons of air play for the sony cd on mother's day.
Then I can practice practice practice and get to Carnegie Hall on May 19th. That's another career highlight. All my own music at Carnegie. Amazing.
And 5 days later, we do a PANDORA reading. WE FINALLY GOT THE RIGHTS. Kirk Douglas is coming, George and Jolene are coming. Kerry and Cady are doing it as well as James Patrick.
So that's the month. Best month of my life career wise? Maybe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)