Our Laundry, Our Town Event at the Drama Book Shop

I was so excited to be part of this special evening at the Drama Book Shop on Thursday, January 30th with author Alvin Eng. As a member of the board of the Thornton Wilder Society, I was in discussion with him on his book Our Laundry, Our Town, a memoir that decodes and processes the fractured urban oracle bones of Alvin Eng’s upbringing in Flushing, Queens, in the 1970s. Finding his way in the downtown theater and performance world of Manhattan, he discovered the under-chronicled Chinese influence on Thornton Wilder’s foundational Americana drama, Our Town.

After I finished reading Our Laundry, Our Town, I re-read Our Town. The latter portion of Our Laundry, Our Town is about Our Town and its influence on Eng’s life and work, including a project in China with students to create theater pieces inspired by the time capsule section of the play. Reading Our Town again was a balm, especially in late January 2025. The spirit world, the portal between life and death, it all felt very present. Our Town is such a rich text that I get something new out of it every time I read or see it. Now I will be thinking of it specifically in the context of this current moment and also in the context of its Chinese influences.

Thank you to Alvin Eng for inviting me to be part of this! At some point it will be a podcast episode, so those who couldn’t make it can hear it.

Me with Alvin Eng speaking at the Drama Bookshop on January 30, 2025.

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Roberta Flack Tribute

Roberta Flack’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” was the first version of this song that I heard. I was going through NPR’s list of 150 Greatest Album’s Made by Women in 2017-2018 as a sort of musical education, and as I was listening to Flack’s First Take, this song stopped me in my tracks. Yes, it’s a great song, and I subsequently listened to other versions of it, including the original, but I’m just so in love with her version. So in love, in fact, that I put “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” in my 2018 and 2019 one-woman shows and based the arrangement on hers.

I love how it starts off a cappella for one line and immediately starts a slow build with piano accompaniment, and then the drums, etc. I love how interesting and intricate the arrangement is but it’s never too busy, it’s like she’s singing a duet with it, and every time I listen to it I hear something different in the instrumentation. I love the entire bridge, but transition of the bridge back into the verse just kills me–I think it’s going to build into it but instead it gets quiet and tapers and ends in a soft half cadence (I’m a sucker for a good half cadence). The accompaniment always knows when to pull back and build back up again as if it too understands the ebb and flow of emotions that comes with saying goodbye to a former lover. I love how she sings “distances” and “sorrow” in the return of the verses, with the slightest bit of an ache. I love how she sings “goodbye” over the melisma.

So as we memorialize the work of the great Roberta Flack this week of her passing, give this one a listen. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it, too.

And here’s my version from 2018, completely inspired by her:

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Happy New Year/2024 in Review

Happy New Year!

I thought I’d do a year in review roundup again. As I said last year, I’m not one for New Year’s as a holiday. In fact, I hate New Year’s and I wrote a song about it. But I do love taking stock of a specific period of time, and the secular new year cycle provides a nice timeline for that. 

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Countdown to 2025: 2024 TV

Disclaimer: I only rank shows that I watch and I’m not a TV critic. Also, there may be some spoilers. Read at your own risk…

Sunny

Last year I watched 11 shows from 2023. This year I watched 10 shows that aired new episodes in 2024, plus a TV special–pretty much the same. Last year I also watched 6 seasons of TV from previous years. This year I watched 16, which is back up to where this category used to be. Honestly, I did not really have a favorite show this year. I enjoyed much of what I watched, but there was nothing that I loved, and this really stood out to me as a consequence of the writers strike. The shows I used to love were canceled or ended, and nothing new has taken their place. This might be why I watched more older TV than new. I really hope I can find a new show I love in 2025, especially since six out of these ten shows were either canceled or have ended.

Here are my top 10:

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Countdown to 2025: 2024 Books and Podcasts

Last year, I read 15 books! This year I read 13. Still over my usual goal of 10 books per year. I also listened to a lot of podcasts, which I have included at the end of this list.


Stats:
4 fiction books 
(last year: 6)
Broken down into: 2 contemporary, 1 classic, and 1 historical fiction
1 of these was the second book in a trilogy; 1 was a re-read

8 non-fiction books (last year: 7)
Broken down into: 4 memoirs/autobiography, 4 academic/history (one being entertainment history)
1 was a re-read; 1 was by someone I know

1 book of poetry (last year: 2)

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Countdown to 2025: 2024 Movies

Last year I saw 30 movies, and this year I saw 29. I saw 4 new movies (last year it was also 4), and 25 older movies streaming/on a plane. I saw 3 of the new movies in the theater, and 1 streaming.

Notable movie moments this year were seeing the Wicked movie, seeing a screening of a movie a friend produced, seeing my favorite movie Poltergeist in a theater again, and watching a bunch of Hitchcock films in preparation for two podcast episodes, as well as some just for fun. Our now annual Christmas movie marathon around a series or theme was the Terminator movies (we watched all the first two and Dark Fate, the third one wasn’t available to stream and the other two don’t exist). Our Halloween movie was Totally Killer, our Valentine’s Day movie was His Girl Friday.

My rating system for new movies uses stars and equates as follows: 1=bad, 2=ok 3=really good 4=great.

My favorite new movies (4 stars) this year were:
Thelma

Runners up (3.5 stars):
Advanced Chemistry
Wicked

My favorite old movie I saw for the first time:
Quiz Lady

My favorite old movies I loved seeing again:
Poltergeist
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator: Dark Fate

The (Not-So) Big List:

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Countdown to 2025: 2024 Theater

Shoshana wearing a 1990s Tommy shirt holding the Tommy revival program.

Last year I saw 34 showsThis year I saw 41, slightly higher than last year. 35 of those were in person and 5 were streaming or on Zoom (5 fewer than last year).

I performed/read in the 2 Thornton Wilder Society readings, one was a concert with songs from my musical, and I performed in 4 low key shows (3 singing salons and my cabaret workshop, all at Ripley Grier). I watched 2 opera programs this year after watching none last year, and I saw two concerts with artists I’ve been a fan of.

I have highlighted my favorites. And after the favorites is the HUGE list of everything I saw. Then, I have listed some panels, exhibits, and events I also attended this year.

Top 10 Favorites (in no order, I swear):
The Connector (MCC)
Suzanne Ciani Reflections and Waves Concert (Church of the Heavenly Rest)
The Keep Going Songs (Lincoln Center Theater)
Lempicka
Hyeyoung Kim: Water and Fire (Joe’s Pub)
Cats “The Jellical Ball” (PAC NYC)
Maybe Happy Ending
Dan Fishback is Alive, Unwell, and Living in His Apartment (Joe’s Pub)
Oh, Mary
Cybill Shepherd concert (Vibrato)

Runners Up (Also in no order):
Once Upon a Mattress (City Center Encores!)
Nobody Cares (Audible Theater/Minetta Lane Theater)
How to Dance in Ohio
Jelly’s Last Jam (City Center Encores!)
Teeth (Playwrights Horizons/New World Stages)
Dead Outlaw (Audible Theater/Minetta Lane Theater)
Tommy
Three Houses (Signature Theatre)
Titanic (NY City Center Encores)
Our Town

The Big List:

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My Joe’s Pub debut!

It’s my Joe’s Pub debut! Songs from my show Days of Rage with Hyeyoung Kim will be part of this concert: Hyeyoung Kim: Water & Fire. I’m so excited to hear them in this venue, one of the best in the city, and I’d love to see you there to celebrate on Thursday, May 23rd at 7pm. Get your tickets now.

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Happy New Year/2023 in Review!

Happy New Year!

I thought I’d do a little year in review roundup. I’m not one for New Year’s as a holiday. In fact, I hate New Year’s and I wrote a song about it. But I do love taking stock of a specific period of time, and the secular new year cycle provides a nice timeline for that. 

On New Year’s I was busy finishing up my 2023 books, TV, movies, and theater up to the last moment. I am always jealous of folks who post their end-of-year lists in mid-December and then get to relax for the next week or two. I go up to the deadline. Here is each one:
2023 Theater
2023 Movies
2023 Books and Podcasts
2023 TV

Articles!
I had three articles published this year, two for American Theatre magazine and one for Theatermania

  • Itamar Moses: Every Day He Writes the Book. I did this interview in 2019 for a different publication that folded. I then got permission to publish it for American Theatre. I’m so proud of this interview about being a musical theater bookwriter, writing The Band’s Visit, and working on various musicals, including 2023’s An American Tail. And it was featured on the Broadway Briefing (a daily email sent out to everyone in the “industry”).
  • A Composer/Singer Collaboration That’s in the Show’s DNA. There were quite a few articles on the new musical Double Helix, and mine focused on the collaboration between writer Madeline Myers and star Samantha Massell for American Theatre magazine. I loved interviewing these awesome women.
  • Interview: Meet Nitra McAuliffe, Coauthor of Broadway’s Rarely Seen Musical The LieutenantMy Theatermania debut! This was a dream interview of mine. I’d wanted to interview Nitra since I came across her name and this show years ago. A Tony-nominated woman composer with barely any online footprint? That’s right in my wheelhouse. When the York Theater did the show this past year, I had my chance. 
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Countdown to 2024: 2023 TV

Disclaimer: I only rank shows that I watch and I’m not a TV critic. Also, there are some spoilers. Read at your own risk…

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