New Composers & Sheet Music

Jeff Blumenkrantz has just had a volume of his songs published. Ho-hum. Steve Lutvak has an album out, available on Amazon. Bucchino has a book of sheet music available: GRATEFUL and THIS MOMENT are the only songs of interest.

Vivian Darkbloom
Ramsdale, New England

I've been to Brian's website and emailed him in regard to finding out more about his music. He's one of the easy ones :) Also, I'm very familiar with Bucchino's work...a HUGE fan of the Grateful album....pick it up if you're reading this thread and haven't heard it - it's fab.

One of the newest best is Steve Weiner. He writes with Pete Mills and Glenn Slater. The best way to hear a ton of his music is to see his concert this Wed. night at 59 E 59th Street, Theatre B.
Go to: http://www.nymf.org/index.php?module=ShowManager&func=display&sid=83.
It is called the "Prospect Concert Series, Wed. 21st, Stephen Weiner, Songs of Love and Aggravation." Tickets are hard to come by, but you may find one. Or, you can go to theatre on Wed. night and see if there were any no-shows. Great line-up of Broadway pros. Everybody will be there.

If you can find him, David Austin is also a fabulous contemporary musical theatre composer. He's in the BMI Workshop right now.

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I performed that number at a BC/EFA benefit concert a while back, and it was recieved VERY well. It might be my favorite Lowdermilk tune.

Also, a note about Bucchino's work- There are more than two songs suitable for the male voice in the "Grateful" songbook. Others include "Taking the Wheel", "Not a Cloud in the Sky", and "It Feels Like Home" (although I had to transpose that one...).

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Updated On: 9/20/05 at 12:01 AM

"The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown", you mean? Yes, I posted a rather lengthy review a while back. Let me see if I can dig it up.

EDIT: Found it.
The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown

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Updated On: 9/20/05 at 12:11 AM

Steve Marzullo - anyone know if he has any samples or anything of his music out there?

I have a few of his songs on the computer as PDFs.

Run Away With Me *Includes Midi and NWC*
The Proposal
Say the Word
Stand here with me
For no apparent reason
Parts of you
How to not (Male)

David Austin is quite a talented composer. He is currently in "I Love You Because" Off-Broadway, which was written by another contemporary musical theatre team you might want to look into, Ryan Cunningham (lyrics) and Joshua Salzman (music). I checked out the "I Love You Because" website to see if there was a way to contact them, but didn't see that as an option. I know they are all with BMI though so you may be able to contact them through the workshop.

Jeff Blumenkrantz is also in the workshop but I believe you can contact him through his website. It is a shame that there aren't any audio files on his site, but I think it is well worth it for you to get in touch with him. I've only heard a handful of his songs (in live settings) but they were fantastic. Color me impressed. A truely outstanding writer.

Have you checked out the NEO CD? It’s a recording of a benefit for York theatre that featured work from "New, Emerging, Outstanding" theatre writers. You can get a taste of a lot of new talent on that. I'm familiar with many of the composers / writing teams represented on the album through various cabarets/showcases/shows etc. and can particularly recommend you look into (if you have the time and patience for a lot of Googling) Daniel Aquisto/Sammy Buck (I loved their musical "Like You Like It" at NYMF ’04), Todd Almond/Gus Kaikkonen (their musical "People Like Us" at NYMF ’05 had some stunning songs in it), Doug Cohen, David Friedman, Jenny Giering (I loved her "Mistress Cycle" at NYMF ’05, but I also attended a concert of hers a few years ago where she performed some folk/rock songs very different from her "Mistress Cycle" score and I thought they were amazing), Brad Howell Houghton, Tom Kitt/Amanda Green, and the aforementioned Peter Mills. (I would include Brian Lowdermilk/Kait Kerrigan in this list, but I see you have already contacted Lowdermilk.) Other composers whose work I've really enjoyed in cabarets and I recommend looking into are Brett Kristofferson and Gary Negbaur.

Jamie McGonnagal was the director of NEO and seems to know a lot of "up and coming" composers. I have seen him post around these parts, so you might want to try reaching out to him. He may be able to assist you with contacting any of the above and maybe recommending a few others.

Hope this helps.

Updated On: 2/2/06 at 12:47 PM

BUMP --- Anyone know if any of these composers (besides Lowdermilk) have websites with audio clips and whatnot? thanks.

Google? What's that?

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Yeah, I can't find anything on any of them.