valines.net

No mention of the sound… wah. But a good and well deserved review!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/section/blog16

Saturday, May 31, 2008, 5:27 pm
By Jay Handelman

A country friendship Joy Hawkins, left, as Louise Seger and Christine Mild as Patsy Cline in “Always … Patsy Cline” at Florida Studio Theatre. (COURTESY PHOTO / MARIA LYLE)

Go ‘Crazy’ for “Patsy Cline” at FST

Here’s an article about the lead actress in the show I’m currently sound designing for in Sarasota at the Florida Studio Theatre.

THE ARTS
‘Patsy Cline’ role enriches actress
By Jay Handelman
Published Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 3:19 a.m.

When she was in college, Christine Mild saw a production of “Always … Patsy Cline” and thought that it would be “cool to play that part someday.”

Always … Patsy Cline

She finally played the country singer in a production last summer in Akron, Ohio, that she now says was “probably one of the greatest experiences in my life.”

And she is looking forward to enjoying it again in a new production that begins Wednesday at Florida Studio Theatre.

“It was a specific challenge vocally to train to get her vocal style,” Mild said. “But singing with a band onstage, and all those great songs and a good story, it’s just so much fun. Even if you don’t know Patsy Cline, by the end of it, you feel you know and like her.”

The musical has been presented frequently on area stages since FST first produced it in Sarasota in 1995.

It is the true story of Cline fan Louise Seger, who got to meet the singer one night at a Texas honky-tonk. Cline ended up spending the night at Seger’s home (instead of a cheap motel), comparing notes about children and husbands and creating a friendship that continued through letters until Cline’s sudden death in a plane crash in 1963 at age 30.

Though she was not a Cline fan before working on the show, Mild said she likes the way Cline “completely sings from her soul. She was not trained in any way. She’s not manipulating her voice. She’s just singing from her gut.”

Mild stars with Joy Hawkins, artistic director of the Red Barn Theatre in Key West, as Louise, a role she has played many times in the last decade, including a tour through Scotland. Hawkins also is directing the production.

Louise talks directly to the audience to tell the story of their friendship, while Cline performs the hits that made her a legendary singer during her brief career, including “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “Sweet Dreams.”

Hawkins was first introduced to the show when she produced it at her Key West theater with creator and director Ted Swindley.

“I never thought of myself in this role, and he auditioned people and he liked me. Then it just seemed to click,” she said. Swindley then recommended her to other theaters that were producing the show.

It is not just another acting job, Hawkins said. “It’s been a blessing in my life. You don’t often get to grow with something. I have now found a place where I can feel really easy and at home, yet it’s never the same for me. And I don’t get tired of the music if it’s a good band and a good singer. It’s just delicious music to listen to.”

Begins Wednesday and continues through June 15 at Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $19-$32. 366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org.

Fringe review: ‘The Greg Barris Heart of Darkness Rock and Roll Circus’

posted by emaupin on May 16, 2008 8:23:00 AM

This is a little video from a quick preview and tech rehearsal of the Greg Barris Heart of Darkness Rock and Roll Circus at the 2008 Orlando Fringe.  I’m producing this show and appearing in it as well.  Come see the show and chances are we’ll buy you a beer!. 

note: There’s a ton of swearing and that sort of thing so in this show so you may want to leave the kids at home.

from Sarasota Magazine

Monday, April 21, 2008
Toxic Audio

Florida Studio Theatre’s Stage III makes a lot of noise with Toxic Audio.

By Kay Kipling

If you’ve ever wondered about the abilities of the human voice to produce all sorts of seemingly impossible sounds, then Toxic Audio, now onstage at Florida Studio Theatre’s Stage III Gompertz Theatre, is for you.

This Orlando-based a cappella group makes a living by not only singing without the benefit of instruments, but by performing the sounds the instruments would make as well, with their voices. That’s right—guitars, percussion, bass, you name it, they do it. Of course, the amazement of that might wear off after a few numbers, so Toxic Audio has wisely concocted a series of gimmick-laden musical skits to help demonstrate their talents.

For example, on a version of Paperback Writer, one of the five cast members (Jeremy James) improvises a rap song using random words selected by audience members from books quickly flashed in front of them by the rest of the cast. On Autumn Leaves, Michelle Mailhot Valines, who scats with ease, is put to the test delivering the lyrics in a number of quickly changing languages, including Tagalog. And on The Rose, Matthew Buckner employs a trunkful of visual gags to punctuate the story the lyrics tell.

There’s lots more audience participation during the evening (performed in about 75 minutes with no intermission), so be forewarned. There are also a couple of more straightforward numbers (Stand By Me, Turn the Beat Around), along with an original tribute to the technical director/sound engineer, John A. Valines III, who works the wonders of the sound board Toxic Audio demands.

All in all the cast, which included on the night I attended Shalisa James and Chadd Winston, performs with energy and professional skill; they obviously have their schtick well in hand. Toxic Audio continues through May 4; call 366-9000 or go to floridastudiotheatre.org for tickets.

Here’s the preview video for the show I’m producing through Rickshaw Boy in association with Barris International for the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival. Come and see! You can learn more about the show and buy tickets here!

Most of us use our voices every day and never think about what power they have.

The cast members of the music group “Toxic Audio” clearly take their voices more seriously than most people, and they know how to use them in impressive ways.

The Orlando-born Fringe Festival act has grown into an off-Broadway and Las Vegas hit and Grammy Award-nominated musical act that is now in Sarasota through May 4 to close Florida Studio Theatre’s Stage III season.

The program is a theatrical concert of a capella singing, like a vocal
variation on the long-running hit ”Stomp.”

But this quintet of singers is hardly a mellow barbershop-type group. While one person sings a melody, the others are creating the sounds of a band, from the beat of the drums to the strumming of a guitar to the tinkling on a piano or the strong chords of an organ. All with their mouths and voices, and the assistance of electronic reverb and other effects.

They perform an eclectic mix of songs, from a traditional jazzy arrangement of “Route 66″ to playful twists on “Autumn Leaves,” during which Michelle Mailhot-Valines is instructed to sing the lyrics in a variety of languages, including Tagalog. There are ethereal and airy melodies and the sounds of waves crashing on a shore.

One member of the audience gets a date for “Dream a Little Dream,” in which Matthew Buckner has to speed up or slow down his singing like the LP record that is supposedly played. I say supposedly because all the sound effects are created by their voices.

The show is often fun to watch and hear, but it could use a bit more focus in how it is put together. It could also use a little more straightforward singing, like the closing “Turn the Beat Around,” a vibrant, bouncing rendition that sounds pretty close to how it was recorded by Vickie Sue Robinson, with all the horns, drums and other instruments.

But there are more gimmicky bits like “Paperback Writer,” in which Jeremy James creates a spontaneous rap song using words randomly chosen by audience members from paperback books. Buckner also does a cute but silly routine acting out the lyrics being sung by the others to “The Rose.”

Early on, they threaten to turn off the audience with a horrid-sounding “(Put the Lime in the) Coconut” in which they each sound like they are coughing up lungs as they create music through rhythmic coughing, hacking, sniffling and sneezes. It might seem funnier later in the show, once the audience is warmed up to them.

There is no questioning the skill and talents of the singers. There are eight cast members listed in the program (plus sound technician John A. Valines III and Layne Stein), but five perform at any given performance. At Friday’s opening, it was Buckner, Mailhot-Valines, bassist Chadd Winston, Jeremy James and Shalisa James. Each has a strong voice and ability to adapt to different sounds. Jeremy James acts a little smug, as if to say, “Aren’t we talented?” It does not take long for audiences to come to that realization all on their own.

I can feel something slipping. Not that unusual. I’m waiting for that final understanding. Doesn’t everybody say that? Yeah, but I can barely hear a word she says. I can’t quite follow and I’m trying to keep up but she’s talking at so many words per second. It’s like trying to see the blank spots between the film as it runs through the projector. Disney could do that, I’m not him. I slip again, this time I bust my knee. I want to cry as I feel my jeans get wet. She’ll be upset by this delay. She’s still walking ahead of me, hasn’t noticed yet that I’m down on one knee, bleeding. I don’t bother to tell or call out. Instead I’m just going to lay down. The sun is out, that’s a plus. I know it won’t bleed forever, but I hope for the throbbing to stop. I’ve fallen on this knee before. I doubt anything is broken, but damn, it hurts.

Here’s a nice piece about the place I used to work.  They just celebrated their 30th Anniversary which fortunetly I was able to attend.  I even got to tech an improv show, for old times sake. 

Somewhere in there becomes this shinnig glow. Something I’ve felt before, like everything just gets further away. An attack, will I live? What if I don’t and what if this is it? Staring at the faces of people I could care less about. No, not right now. I’d rather be looking at something beautiful. It’ s warm and that’s probably all. A bad sandwich earlier. I burp and the feeling goes away, but for a moment I thought that’d be it.