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DLR900109 Songs from the stage musical version of the best-selling children's book by Judith Viorst |
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DLR900109 Songs from the stage musical version of the best-selling children's book by Judith Viorst |
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music by SHELLY MARKHAM "Alexander ..." opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in 1998 to rave reviews and played there for two holiday seasons, also touring as part of the Imagination Celebration Tour. Since then, multiple productions of this charming, funny show have popped up across the country. Music writer SHELLY MARKHAM gathered together some of his favorite singers - including Broadway Stars NANCY DUSSAULT and JASON GRAAE - and recorded this studio cast album, adding as bonus tracks three BRAND NEW SONGS written especially for this project. |
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Illustrations by RAY CRUZ The illustrations by Ray Cruz, copyright 1972 by Ray Cruz, are from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and are reproduced with the permission of Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster's Childern Division. |
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The ensemble of "kids" declaring "If I Were In Charge Of The World" BETSY ANN FAIELLA pleads for a story from the "Lady, Lady" Tough kid MARK ARTHUR MILLER sings a song about - gasp! - a girl, "The Lizzie Pitofsky Song" JOHN PAGANO as "Alexander" dreams of running away to "Australia". MONA LISA YOUNG mischieviously explains why "Mother Doesn't Want A Dog" 11 songs in all |
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JUDITH VIORST:
"Turning my Alexander picturebook into an hour-long musical was one of the
great pleasures of my life. The whole process made me feel, as I kept telling
everyone in dazzled disbelief, as if I were starring in a Judy Garland-Mickey
Rooney movie called Let's Put on a Show. The fact that this show had been
commissioned by my hometown theater, the Kennedy Center, was already almost
too good to be true. So was the ease of the collaboration process with my
friend and composer Shelly Markham, my hero and director Nick Olcott, a terrifically
talented cast of young actors, and all the other creative and competent people
who helped make this musical happen.
"Will I ever manage to discuss this glorious page-to-stage
experience without gushing? I'm afraid not."Working my way line by line through my picturebook, I took scenes described in a single sentence and fleshed them out with dialogue and action, pausing at appropriate moments for one or more people to burst into a song that elaborated upon what was going on. Shelly Markham, working out of Los Angeles, started setting my lyrics to music, first playing and singing them to me on the telephone, then sending me tapes, and finally coming to D.C., where we virtually locked ourselves in a rehearsal room at the Kennedy Center until we had finished matching up words and music. Then came auditions, meetings with the set designer and costume designer (who gave the production the colors and look of illustrator Ray Cruz's vibrant drawings), and rehearsals (I was there every day; I could not stay away), where I watched seven young men and women, playing multiple roles, become flesh-and-blood versions of my son Alexander, his brothers and friends, his teacher and dentist, the shoeman at the shoe store, and my husband and me. This was a truly weird, and truly thrilling thing to see. "And then came the show itself, with live audiences yelling to Alexander that he had gum in his hair; or sitting in worried silence when Alexander asked why his best friend was being so mean to him; or helping Alexander shout out, with a mighty roar, that this was "A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." There was even, at the end of the show, some dancing in the aisles. You'd have to be a lot more blasé than I'll ever be not to practically faint from the joy of it all. "As the show was performed,
in Washington and then all over the country, we got many requests—not only
for the Alexander book, but also for the music from our musical. So Shelly
and I put together a CD, which includes—along with singers singing the songs
from the show—three extra songs that we wrote together, plus a guide to how
the Alexander songs fit into the Alexander story. (You can order the CD from
Ducy Lee Recordings for $15 plus shipping and handling at www.ducylee.com).
"I am very proud of our show and our songs, and
so is my son Alexander who, I am pleased to report, seems to be having fewer
and fewer terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days."Judith Viorst was born and raised in New Jersey
and has lived in Washington, D.C., since her marriage to political writer
Milton Viorst in 1960. They have three adult sons whose names are the same
as those of the brothers in her play Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,
No Good, Very Bad Day. A graduate of Rutgers University and the Washington
Psychoanalytic Institute, Viorst is the author of numerous books of poetry
and prose for both children and adults. Among her 14 children's books are
two other Alexander stories and two collections of poems—If I Were in Charge
of the World and Other Worries and Sad Underwear and Other Complications.
Her 12 adult books include Necessary Losses, Imperfect Control, a comic novel,
and six collections of poetry. Along with Alexander, Viorst has also collaborated
with Shelly Markham on an adult musical, Love and Shrimp, which has been performed
around the country, including the Pasadena Playhouse, the Canon Theater in
Beverly Hills, and The Ballroom in New York City.
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Click on the song title to hear sample: 1) "The Sweetest Of Nights and the Finest Of Days" - Nancy Dussault 2) "I Love Love Love Love Love My Brand New Baby Sister" - Jason Graae 3) "Australia" - John Pagano & Ensemble |
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