King of Pizza Workshop

Last night and this morning we had the first open reading of Matt Conner, Ryan Dean, and A.K. Brink's children's musical, Martin, The King of Pizza. We had a couple of days of rehearsal to get it on it's feet.





The cast featured yours truly as Martin the King of Pizza, Kara Tameika Watkins as Patti, Priscilla Cuellar as Mozz A. Rella, Kurt Boehm as Crostini, and Lani Howe as Rosemary.










Music Direction was done by Derek Bowley.







The reading was held at The Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in Falls Church, VA. The reading was sponsored by Creative Cauldron and the Pizza was provided by Papa John's Pizza. The readings were well attended and filled with a very responsive audience. There was fantastic positive feedback from all, and I think that the readings were very helpful to the creative team. So look for more news about Martin, The King of Pizza here, and if you have not heard any music from it, you can listen to some over HERE at Matt Conner's website.
Enjoy!

KING OF PIZZA - Reading Number 2

Matt, Ryan, and AK had the second reading of their new children's musical, The King of Pizza at our house tonight.

The show was read by me, Kurt Boehm, Kara Tameika Watkins, Felicia Curry and Priscilla Cuellar.








We all gather around a meal first (pizza, naturally) and chit chatted about everything under the sun as Buddha was frantic beneath our feet for pizza bones...
In attendance but not participating were Danny Tippet, Eleasha Gamble, and Jenny Cartney Speaker...













Buddha was mercenary to all of them, putting on his best pouty face and looking pathetic and malnourished and just being heart breakingly cute...









Now it was time to start....We all gathered in the living room and started to read.

























I think Buddha was thinking about playing the part of the cat, and then decided that he would rather chew a piece of rawhide.











In an unexpected turn of events, one of the songs for the show (we simply listened to pre-recorded songs when it was time for a musical number) was not found on the cd. So we all went downstairs and Kurt Boehm sung the song live. Here is Kurt "selling it". :)

















Buddha went and demanded love and affection from Aunt Jenny...



















The show was fantastic, and so much better shaped this time around. And man is it funny! I will keep you updated on all news with this fun show for kids AND adults whenever something new happens with it. Stay Tuned!
Also, you can always hear and see more at MATT CONNER's website!

MATT CONNER.ORG IS LAUNCHED!!!

A NEW top link is listed to the right side, Matt Conner.org! This is Matt's composer website, with all of his professional details, and sound samples! Go and check it out!
Also Matt has been announced as a 2008-2009 winner of the American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation award! Click HERE for more information!

King of Pizza!

We had a reading of Matt Conner, A.K. Brink, and Ryan Dean's new Children's musical, The King of Pizza last night at our house, and the response was terrific! Felicia Curry, Kara Tameika Watkins, Kurt Boehm, Laura Kelly, A.K. Brink and Nancy Hollenbach were in attendance.
The reading went over very well, and I think that they learned many things from it.
I think that the piece is so adorable, and can't wait to see it fully realized soon (Matt has had meetings with a theatre to be named later that is interested in producing it very soon!).
The evening was fun, and we all ate (of course)pizza as we read the show.
The book and score are very Shrek-ish, as in funny to adults and children at the same time(I love when the old King kicks the bucket). The songs had us all in stitches, as they pastiche all kinds of genres and musical styles (as there are many different ingredients in making a pizza).
It was fantastic to see Ryan Halbrook, A.K. Brink, and Matt Conner's work come off of the page. Highlights were Laura Kelly's hysterical Mozz character who keeps passing out at random between fits of hysteria, Kurt Boehm's Martha Stewart-esque Gardner by the name of Basil, Kara Tameika Watkins' French baker that was played with a Josephine Baker style, and the force of nature that is Felicia Curry as "Patti", a butcher who sells her patties on her Patti Wagon and used to be a star singer. She now belts out numbers on her wagon while trying to sell her wares. All were hysterical, and handled with ease by the very talented cast.
Look for this show which will be equally enjoyable to adults and children very soon!