Ed Pierce is Director/Conductor/Vocalist from Fort Atkinson, WI with over 35 years experience in the musical field. He is the winner of the 2011 John Philip Sousa Foundation's Award and the 2014 Bandmaster of the Year Award. Here are Ed's off the cuff comments on Common Man Musicals and their recent production of "You Can Always Come Home", a cabaret of new musical theatre. Ed:First let me address your WONDERFUL cabaret: When I think of the audience that comes to a cabaret, they are looking for fresh, original material coupled with exciting talent: clearly this is the case with “You Can Always Come Home Cabaret”!
You have assembled a great ensemble coupled with Jonathan’s amazing talent for composition.
“Sandwich”, “Spiders”, and “Shut Up” are great fun coupled with contrasting social issues like “I Don’t Want”. And of course there's the heartfelt feelings of your title song “You Can Always Come Home". (see videos) Kudos go to you and Jonathan and the whole team at Common Man Musicals.
Ed: Question: does your performance team stay together? Are you always recruiting?
Kimbirdlee: We've had 2 productions so far and the cast for each production was about 10 actors. 3 of the actors from last summer’s “Four One Act Musicals” (Thomas Slater, Kaitlyn Abdul and Kimbirdlee Fadner) were also in "You Can Always Come Home". We invited a few of our professional friends/colleagues from the NYU-Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, and then we wanted to include more of the talent that has grown up on Roosevelt Island and is connected with Main St. Theatre & Dance Alliance. Our intention is to have a core group but to continue to recruit new talent all the time! Sometimes we hold auditions that are open to the public, and sometimes (mostly for the cabarets) we will invite folks to join us. Our challenge is widening our audience base beyond our own circles, but we can do that by consistently producing quality shows.
MSTDA and Common Man Musicals are launching a “You Can Always Come Home” Cabaret series that will take place every other month now. Our next one is Saturday, June 17th. We are also producing one annual full length musical, which is scheduled for the first weekend of August! We welcome any chance to get the word out about anything to do with new musical theatre!
Ed: Does Jonathan write for each performer?
Kimbirdlee: As the composer, Jonathan usually collaborates with a writer either to write a full show or single songs or short musicals, not usually with a specific actor in mind. That said, he has written many songs and roles that are in my range and I have the honor of workshopping them, recording demos, and performing them. I have a true love for developing new works and cherish every project!
He is developing a full length musical, "Northanger Abbey", that will be produced in August. He knows who will be singing a couple of those parts, so he will try to emphasize their particular strengths - which is so awesome for actors to have something made to fit them, rather than trying to mold themselves into something written for someone else!
Ed: Do you put music into place and THEN seek out the talent to pull it off?
Kimbirdlee: When we organized this cabaret, we had an idea of who we wanted, then put the song list together and fit actors to songs. We always have more actors than we could ever fit into a night, so that's not a problem. One thing that I loved about "You Can Always Come Home" is that even though there were 7 women, we each were unique and covered the spectrum of "types" and weren't competing but rather highlighting each other and supporting each other! I LOVE THAT!!! The Common Women have such a great time together! I'm all about individuality in artistry, which is hard in this business when auditions are often about trying to fit actors into a very specific type.
Ed: Allow me a comment: In my humble opinion, you and Jonathan are on the front lines of growing the arts with fresh material, not being afraid to experiment and push boundaries. The Cabaret format seems to be an ideal one to do so. I offer in contrast Disney: they are about to launch a new live action Beauty and the Beast, a move I applaud. But this comes at a price: the energies used are not being directed at exploring new, original and fresh material. The studio the once prized itself on its musical Renaissance with a new musical every year for ten years straight seems to have dried up. It already has been three years since their success in Frozen until Moana came out! They are sliding slowly back into the creative funk they were in after Walt died. You, Jonathan and the rest of your company have no such fears: you are not afraid to take risks and that makes your material shine! I don’t know how often you will be required to come up with different shows but speaking from the artistic point of view, you are in the right place to do the most good. Folks in the audience come out happy and eager for more.
Kimbirdlee:
THANK YOU for believing in me and us!
I have to tell you that all of the opportunities you've given me over the years have helped lead me to this point. I am ever grateful for our musical collaborations and our friendship. I know we will keep working together for a long long time!
To see the entire playlist of videos from "You Can Always Come Home" Cabaret, click below:
COMING UP: Common Man Musicals Events Saturday, June 17th "You Can Always Come Home" returns to MSTDA on Roosevelt Island Friday - Monday, August 4-7th "Northanger Abbey" (Jonathan Fadner & John Blaylock)
Kimbirdlee is the Artist-in-Residence Vocalist for Ed Pierce’s Wisconsin based band, PECB. They have an exciting 2017 Summer Pops Concerts Series lined up! This year’s musical highlights will include a premier of a Jonathan Fadner composition titled "Rushing Past the World", Disney heroines Moana, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast - also song of Patsy Cline, People from Funny Girl, and La Traviata, to name a few fantastic selections.
(June
6, 2016 – New York) Jonathan and Kimbirdlee Fadner created Common
Man Musicals to produce new works of musical theatre that are
relevant, relatable and affordable. Common Man Musicals launches
this June with four original short musicals, presented Friday, June
17 through Monday, June 20 at 7:00pm at the Main Street Theatre &Dance Alliance on Roosevelt Island.
Each
evening begins at 6:30pm with a party in the lobby before the
eighty-minute presentation.
The
line-up:
Droning
On (Book
and lyrics by Emily Roller, music by Jonathan Fadner)
An
enraged mother seeks justice after her very special but otherwise
ordinary son is shot down by a drone.
How
Love Feels (Book
and lyrics by Marella Martin Koch, music by Jonathan Fadner)
The
man on the moon falls in love with Helen… who is engaged to Stan.
Make
Your Mark (Book
by Marella Martin Koch, lyrics by John Blaylock, music by Jonathan
Fadner)
Why
would a straight-A student obsessed with following the rules draw a
penis on the board and then just leave? Felicia’s friends are
asking themselves the same question.
Silver
Water Avenue Book Club (Book
and lyrics by Sarah Fiete, music by Jonathan Fadner)
"Future on Fire", the latest book in a popular dystopian series, has just come out - and the Silver Water Ave Book Club could NOT be more excited. But when Impogene brings her brother Tristan to a meeting, the book club must face a villain of their own.
"Main
Street Theatre & Dance Alliance is thrilled to host Common Man
Musicals at the Howe Theatre in the Roosevelt Island Cultural Center.
When our youth music director Jonathan Fadner proposed this
collaboration, we were excited at the opportunity to bring in
original, new works to be performed in our community. We can't wait
to see this talented young group take the stage!"
"We
are so grateful for the generous partnership of Main Street Theatre &
Dance Alliance, who have given us the opportunity to share new
musical theatre by and for the Common Man and Woman, on
an island right in the heart of NYC, to boot!”
-
Kimbirdlee Fadner, Producer and Actor at CMM
Common
Man Musicals’ inaugural production is music directed by Jonathan
Fadner, directed by Timothy Koch (Asst. Dir. Bengal
Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,
Assoc. Dir. The
Cripple of Inishmaan on
Broadway), Ben Liebert (played Boq in Wicked
on
Broadway, Ordinary
Days
revival & director of Viper
plays Top Gun)
and Marella Martin Koch (The Sonnet Project), and features
performances by Kaitlyn Abdul, Laura Barati (Cold Basement
Dramatics), Ross Baum (RANGE a cappella), Kimbirdlee Fadner (DeLaMuse
the band), Jonathan Fadner, Meagan Lee Hodson (Comfort
Women Off-Broadway),
Dave Mahokey, Tom Slater (Producers
Broadway tour), Harriet Taylor, Kevin Thiel, Erica Wilpon (Jesus
Christ Superstar Broadway
tour),
and Jennifer Zahlit.
Performances:
June 17, 18, 19 & 20 at 7pm at Main Street Theatre and Dance
Alliance on Roosevelt Island. (548 Main Street, New York, NY 10044)
Tickets: $15 ($10 students, seniors) Run time: 80 minutes. For more information visit
http://www.commonmanmusicals.com/events---tickets.html.
Common
Man Musicals is a collective of fresh new NYC writers brought
together by one common man denominator, composer Jonathan
Fadner.
The company is dedicated to bringing audiences together to form
communities in the positive, educational and inspiring atmosphere of
live musical theatre.
Main
Street Theatre and Dance Alliance strives to nourish
creativity by providing high quality theatrical and dance
training as well as performing opportunities to everyone in our
diverse community. We believe that every person, child or
adult, should have the opportunity to participate in the arts,
regardless of cultural, socio-economic, ethnic background or age.
