Seth Bisen-Hersh

FEBRUARY

February 6, 2005 — when did it get so warm?

Howdy ho from NYC! I hope you are all doing well — can you believe it’s February 2005? I meant to send a ledger in January, but kept getting struck with bad news — and I hate reporting in bad news without any good news. So I stuck in there until February, when finally there is some green grass around the corner. But first, I guess I should start with the worst month of the year so far: January…

BAD NEWS BEARS

January was full of bad news. I’ll spare most of the gory details… Suffice it to say, I had 2 collaborators back out on me — one had a mental breakdown of sorts, I imagine (she has disappeared and won’t respond to e-mails!) and the other one was just too busy to take on a new project. The first one was devastating because I had written three incredible songs from mostly good lyrics she had written six years ago — for a brilliant, innovative project, that she just didn’t believe in enough. I have rewritten one of the songs lyrically for my act, though… and I will probably use the best of the 3 without telling her b/c it’s really good.

Anyway, that’s not even all of the bad news — the first show being cancelled was the worst blow; then the second collaborator (one I was going to work on some children’s shows with) backed out. Then I played for a jazz audition and realized I couldn’t play jazz (!) — that was awfully embarrassing, but not really my fault b/c I didn’t know it wasn’t a musical theatre audition.

So it was blow after blow after blow…

GOOD NEWS FINALLY COMES

But the first week of February has brought nothing but relief and excitement!

I have an interview to musically direct a show this spring, reminding me that I can find new projects! I actually have become very friendly with the producer of that show — it’s at Theatre Ten Ten — I gave them an oobr.com award last year. They do great stuff, and had a show transfer to Broadway a few years ago I believe…

Anyway, I am definitely playing for a cabaret one of their members is doing for the 50th year anniversary of the theatre, and I have a pretty good shot at the spring show which will have all early English tunes or something…

But the BEST news is that we might be able to do a reading of SPICKNER there for FREE, AND I might be able to do ALL my ACTS there for FREE (we’ll just split the intake — so I can’t possibly lose $$…)

Speaking of projects…

CURRENT PROJECTS

Well, I forgot to mention it under bad news — we were supposed to finally meet about revising Spickner, but it turned out to be the weekend of the BLIZZARD — so that was a disappointment because the next free date all five of us could agree on was 2/12. So we are going to meet about revising Spickner — completely rewriting Act 2 and tweaking a few things in Act 1 — completely revamping the character of Alice — taking out the love drama — basically taking what we had and making it stronger and better.

We’ll be doing a reading late spring/ early summer — hopefully at Theatre Ten Ten — possibly at the York Theatre (I sent the head the script, but they’ve been inundated with things for their new show, so I don’t know when they’ll get back to us). We also applied for the Eugene O’Neill Conference this summer; however, they take 4-6 shows out of 200, so the chances of getting into it aren’t that high — although it is a really good show, so it is certainly a possibility.

The plan is to do readings when industry can come — Monday night and a tues afternoon — and to research and network as much as possible to figure out who to invite and how to get them there — having really good reviews from the Fringe will certainly help — as will being able to record the songs on my new computer — although it’s not great quality, I can play the orchestrated file from my keyboard into a wave file — then just overlay the voice piecemeal, etc. So it ends up sounding fairly decent, if not professional…

MY CABARET ACTS

My friend, Rebecca (from MIT), has graciously offered to turn my shows and my acts into DVDs and CDs! So pretty soon I will have videos, DVDs and CDs of Meaningless Sex, And Then She Dumped Me and The Gayest Straight Man Alive!

I will send out purchasing info — I won’t be able to make DVD copies, but I can do the CDs — I’ll probably charge $5/ cd — and I’ll make certain mp3’s public — such as my Kill All Republicans song and my Tivo, My Tivo classic b/c everyone seems to really want recordings of those.

In terms of PERFORMING the acts — it seems that I will probably wait until I can do them for free.

I have both of my acts from before to reprise, as well as a new piano act called WITHOUT WORDS — it’s just an evening of instrumental songs I’ve written for the piano since so many people like those compositions… it’ll probably have to be a recital type thing that is coupled with one of my other acts — I will almost definitely be doing 2 acts at once from now on for economical purposes.

My new act MEANINGFUL SEX — the opposite of Meaningless Sex, about being in a relationship is almost completed. I have written SIXTEEN new songs for the new act — I have all but 2 mostly written. And I think 11 completely finalized. I will be doing this act with RORI, hopefully at Theatre Ten Ten — probably in May or June — a lot depends on their availability, as well as the Spickner timeline.

IT’S HARD TO BE A KID LIKE ME

As you will remember, I had this cute idea for a children’s show before Spickner came to fruition — so I guess that was a year ago! Maybe even more… Wow.

Anyway, as you’ll remember we had a writer last fall, but he copped out — we didn’t work very well together anyway — and then I went on a search for a new one, but this other musical fell into my lap — and I found a children’s bookwriter but she wanted to work on this other project — so I was going to do those 2 things, but then they fell through.

But at my NEW YEAR’s EVE PARTY (btw, 75 people came — and it was the biggest, bestest party EVER!!), my friend, Andy (who was a little drunk) said that he really wanted to work on the show with me. When he sobered up, he still did. Now I have trepidations about working with such a young author (he’s 22), but he has drive and optimism, much like I used to have at his age. And it’s an hour long children’s musical, so I think it’s a good first “real world” project for him. And he’s very, very hard working.

Anyway, as you remember the show is about a little kid that wishes he/she could be a cat b/c the cat is lounging around all the time and doesn’t have as much to do. But then the cat takes the kid on a journey through some animals (including the Elvis Bunny who has doo-hop singers, and then they do a version of the bunny hop as a dance break!) and the kid realizes it’s not so bad being a kid.

So the plan is to write it by the end of the year, and then do a staged reading in preparation for Fringe 2006, at which point we’d invite all the best children’s theatres in the country (my mother cut out an article from Time listing the top 10!) as well as the big touring companies, etc…

BENEFIT CONCERT

Oh, oh, oh… the other piece of good news from this week is that I’m musically directing a benefit concert for an established theatre company — Rising Sun –www.risingsunnyc.com — it turns out that the head knows my friend, Aida, AND my roommate! It was the weirdest thing, but obviously this is meant to be — the theme of their concert is… NAUGHTY SONGS — which is ALL I WRITE!
So not only am I getting a small stipend for doing this concert for them, it turns out they’ll probably do a handful of my songs — and I’ll probably perform a few from my acts so that I can get a bigger audience — so it’s a win, win, win, win situation!!

I JOINED THE MUSICIANS UNION

That’s the other news — when I lost my collaborator, instead of sitting around and crying in our weekly meeting Thurs at 4, I went and joined the orchestra union. Not that this gets me any work… BUT it makes me ELIGIBLE to play for anything Broadway and off-Broadway. So now when I network and try to get people to hire me, they actually CAN hire me. It was a $150 gamble, but I think it is time. I have been playing for auditions off-Broadway, and I know various people here and there on Broadway shows… not that it means that people will hire me, but my name is surely out there at least.

I went through the directory, and I highlighted all the pianists (they list instruments separately — so I had to painstakingly go back and forth between the sections to get the addresses of all the pianists.)

There are like 1000 pianists, so I decided it would be ridiculous to do a physical mailing, so instead i intend to send my resume to every single pianist who listed their e-mail address — probably only about a hundred. That seems like a good start.

I also intend to send my resume via e-mail or mail to every musical director on Broadway — I’ve already sent it out to all the music contractors. And I have a year to get myself one 3 hour gig to pay myself back for my dues. Sounds doable (or due-able!).

Anyway, I’m also going to go to PIANO BARS — I know I’ve said this before, but this time I mean it. I’ve already printed out my new, improved, easier to read resume, and I’m going to physically walk to them all tomorrow b/c I’ll be TUTORING in the village already.

I got a renewed sense of how great I would be at playing in piano bars last week when I played for my roommate at some club for rich folk. Since I got there early, I provided some background music… and I did 2 numbers myself and played for my roommate and a few other people this agent he knows knew… so that was fun, and reminded me, “Hey I may suck at jazz auditions, but I am a performing pianist and can play showtunes all night!” So gay bars, here I come…

BIRTHDAY PLANS

So this is the 3 week reminder that my birthday is at the end of the month (2/28). This will be the only reminder I will send out, so make sure you don’t forget! 🙂

I think I’m going to be having a pot-luck dinner that night in Brooklyn at Nicki’s apartment, so if you don’t receive an invitation for it and you wanted to come, let me know. I’m also thinking about having a dinner on the weekend, for those of you who have to commute and could actually afford to take me out. So that’d be at least a 2 part celebration — probably 3 at least b/c my family will come take me out on another night… Perhaps I should try to make it a whole week-long thing!

Presents are not required, but if you feel the urge, I would especially appreciate gift certificates to AMAZON.COM — I got a $10 one for doing some SURVEY (oh it’s great – I do all these surveys for chances to win $1000 and also for points to get dorky prizes or sometimes actual $$ to amazon! I just got 2 free rolls of toilet paper to figure out which is better for some survey…) — I just need another $15 to pre-order HARRY POTTER 6!!!! (And sometimes there are cds I can’t manage to get a press copy of, so that’s the other thing I use gift certificates for — although cash is still accepted, and great b/c it pays for groceries, utilities and rent…)

So, yes, I’ll be 26. 4 more years to go before I swear I’ll win a Tony! 😉

SHALL I GET A PHD?

With all the crises in my life, I have been toying with getting a PhD — free access to pianos, free insurance, etc… I would ONLY do a PHD if I could get FULL funding, of course b/c I can’t afford any more loans. As it turns out, both NYU and Columbia have deadlines in January, but HUNTER COLLEGE — the best of the CUNY schools — actually hasn’t got a deadline until April 1st. I am toying with the idea of applying — but I will of course check with the head of the department that I’d have a good chance at getting a fellowship and that they’d accept someone with a musical theatre background — I know for a fact that someone there has one though b/c I saw a show of one-acts at Hunter for oobr.com and it turns out that one of the playwrights wrote operas and children’s musicals and was getting a fellowship there — that was the first spark of possibility, and all the drama this month, I actually thought perhaps. Although if I start getting actual union jobs, then I probably won’t. But I figure it couldn’t hurt to check it out, and I have almost 2 mos to decide whether or not to apply.

Any thoughts or comments on the topic, please let me know.

THE HUNT

Just a brief paragraph on the HUNT this year — I took Nicki up to Boston for my 8th year at the hunt — instead of having my own team, I joined a new team my former co-captain, Brandy, was forming and had a great time. We solved about 50 puzzles, which is great considering we were under 20 people. The team that won had 140. We intend to build this team up, and hopefully in a few years have a solid 20-30 really good hunters who be a force to be reckoned with! And so perhaps one day I will get to do that Broadway musical puzzle I’ve always wanted to design…

TELEVISION

Well, it has also been a sad month because 2 of my favorite tv shows have been cancelled. 🙁 Both Enterprise, the 5th and 3rd best Star Trek series, and Dead Like Me have gotten the pink slip. It is very upsetting b/c I really look forward every week to my new Trek, and this will be the first time since 1987 (although I didn’t start watching until 1992) that there won’t be a new one to watch. I will also miss Dead Like Me b/c it was such a sweet show.

There are talks of both trying to be picked up on other networks, but I fear that this is unrealistic.

So really what tv shows are left? SCRUBS and GILMORE GIRLS are still really great — so Tuesday has become the best tv night. There’s also SIMPSONS, MALCOLM and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Sundays on Fox that keep me watching and laughing.

HUFF just ended its season — it had its moments. Showtime shows are never as good as HBO ones, but then again none of the new HBO shows haven’t been so great lately either… I look forward to SIX FEET UNDER, THE L WORD, SOUTH PARK and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM returning this summer though. (Although I think the L Word is back soon!) And that new show on USA — the 4400. That’s a great show that has given me faith in tv again.

Oh, I also enjoy the British show COUPLING on BBC-A. And the new show COMMITTED on NBC has its moments… And even though they suck, I still watch JOEY and THAT 70S SHOW for nostalgic sake, but I never play too close attention to either.
Oh, and CONAN — I’m finally caught up on Conan for the week — I’m on Friday’s ep. I didn’t manage to 3 over the week, so it’s been Conan catchup. And we’re on season 6 of TNG, so then I’ll have to pick a new show to watch from the beginning. Oh and I just finished seeing GG from episode 1. Oh, and MURPHY BROWN is on Nick at Nite now, so I started at the first ep and am watching those — I didn’t see the last few seasons, so I’m looking forward to finally seeing the last episode in a few months…

THEATER

Enough tv! Let’s segue into live theatre. Here are the shows I’ve seen since the last ledger:

BROADWAY

Pacific Overtures — such a brilliant score… nothing like a Sondheim musical!

Brooklyn Boy — I REALLY enjoyed this play about a Jewish writer having a mid-life crisis — HIGHLY recommended.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels — it needs a little work, but this could easily ending up being the Broadway musical of the season — really great lyrics and brilliant actors!

Little Women — cute musical based on the book — Sutton is incredible, as always.

OFF-BROADWAY

People are Wrong — really weird rock musical

Baltimore Waltz — really good play about aids and a brother and sister

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee — HIGHLY RECOMMENDED musical by WILLIAM FINN — HILARIOUS! HILARIOUS! HILARIOUS!

Hurly Burly — really long revival of a play with Ethan Hawke. Good but long.

OFF-OFF-BROADWAY — reviews posted on OOBR.COM

Night Rides
George M. Cohan Revue
They All Knew
Election Day

CONCLUSION

So January sucked, but February is going to be great. For the first time since the year started, I have regained my enthusiasm and optimism. Which should serve as a reminder to people that life is full of karmic probability — if you have a lot of downs, they always balance out eventually. While I don’t really believe everything happens for a reason, I do believe that you can find some way to propel yourself forward even when things really suck. Although it is okay to mope around for a month. But just a month.

Anyway, you’re probably all watching that baseball game (football game?) on television, but when it’s over (and someone let me know it is b/c I want to watch the Simpsons) do e-mail me and catch up! Because it’s been too long.

Happy belated new year — and DON’T FORGET MY BIRTHDAY AT THE END OF THE MONTH!!!!

Always,
Seth

MARCH

March 15, 2005 — Beware the ides of March…

Howdy ho, and welcome to the newest edition of the Seth Ledger. Guaranteed to catch you up on the life of Seth. I hope everyone is having a wonderful end of winter — it’s been quite cold and snow-filled, but it should be ending sooner rather than later…

MEANINGFUL SEX

I am pleased to announce that I have booked my new act!!!!! It’s a duet act about relationships; I’ll be doing it with my friend, Rori, who was my partner in my first act, as you’ll remember… (Rumor has it that we might be doing part of it for an encore… and I should know b/c I started the rumor.)

So, I’m doing my act at Danny’s Skylight Room b/c the audience can get FOOD instead of just DRINK as a minimum… and this way I will NOT lose $$ as I did last time I rented a small theatre instead… Here’s the details:

Meaningful Sex
an act about the ins and outs of relationships

By and starring Seth Bisen-Hersh
Composer of the award-winning Fringe shows “Meaningless Sex” & “The Spickner Spin”
Also starring Rori Nogee

Thurs, May 19th at 9:15pm
Sun, May 22nd at 2pm

$10 Cover/ $10 Food & Drink Minimum
(pre-show dining will apply to your minimum)
Danny’s Skylight Room Cabaret
346 W46th St
Reservations: 212-265-8133

—

I have written 16 new songs, and it should be a really funny act. Besides hilarious comedy songs, there will also be a new torch song, as well, have no fear! So plan ahead and make sure you can make one of those 2 dates — I have the late night weeknight show and the early weekend matinee… so it should be doable for most people, I hope!

OTHER PROJECTS

Well, it looks like Spickner will be getting its revised reading in the fall at this rate. We applied for the Eugene O’Neill conference this summer, and they don’t announce the acceptees until June — however, they only take 3 musicals — so we’re hopeful, but realistic… keep your fingers crossed!

My friend, Andy, has come aboard my new children’s musical, It’s Hard to be a Kid Like Me, and has completed the first outline — I have started writing 4/8 numbers so far, although none are finished. I’m diversifying the music as much as possible (unlike my acts), and I want it all to be simple and catchy since it’s a kid’s show. The plan is to probably do a reading then do it in Fringe 2006 — and to start researching children’s theatres throughout the country to market it, etc…

Kevin gave me an idea for my 4th act — The Neurosis of a Jew — don’t know if that’ll happen, but it sounds like a good start — probably about different neuroses people have — perhaps I’ll expand to having a 3 or 4 person cast next time… and deal with compulsive behaviors and addiction… maybe do a sweet, sad song about depression… that sort of thing. I don’t know, but it won’t be premiering until May 2006 so I have plenty of time to worry about it.

I am always looking for more playwrights to work with. I am very picky about collaboration and projects — I’m a perfectionist and don’t want to waste my time on anything that isn’t unique, wonderful and produceable, so I have turned down quite a few people who have asked me to work with them… I have a few other children musical ideas, and do hope to write a handful that can tour the country, etc, and make some $$…

MUSICALLY DIRECTING

I have been musically directing nowadays for $$… I am so far committed to three shows/ projects this spring. I am hopeful to find 1-3 shows for the theatre festivals this summer… I have seen advertisements for MDs the last few years, but have been to busy with my own, so I intend to take advantage of the fact that I don’t have a show in any festival this year to make some $$.

I have been playing for AUDITIONS a lot — I email everyone in Backstage every week and it has resulted in one-two gigs a week — not too shabby. And vocal coaching sporadically — in fact I just recorded 4 pieces for a guy tonight for approx. a dollar a minute! 🙂

I have sent my resume to a LOT of people in my union to no avail yet, but I’m hopeful that the summer will come and many pianists will flee for vacations and summer stock, so that there will be more opportunity…

The shows I am doing this spring/ early summer are:

MOSES THE MUSICAL

www.mosesmusical.com

I will be playing for 7/15 shows — he has a pianist he uses, but who isn’t available for all the performances this time. Also, I am playing for all the rehearsals and teaching all the music, so I get the title Musical Director. If you are interested in coming, I believe the cast/ crew gets a discounted rate of $30 instead of $65 or $45, so lemme know. If you have to pick one show you see me in, make it my own! 😉 I’ll be playing the 2nd weekend entirely and Saturday 4/2 both shows at the least. It might end up being more; I’ll let you know.

BENEFIT FOR RISING SUN

www.risingsunnyc.com

So I got approached on craigslist about helping to put together a cabaret benefit concert for this young theatre group in NYC. And it turned out the artistic director and I knew FOUR people in common proving that it’s a small, small theatre world indeed.

Since the theme of the cabaret was naughty songs, I fit in very well… in fact, they are going to do one of my new pieces from my new act, and I will be doing 2 songs myself probably from The Gayest Straight Man Alive to advertise my new act.

It’s the week before the first act on a MONDAY so it’s very good for industry. I’ll probably invite a few Broadway musical directors to come here me play…

A Naughty Revue
a benefit for Rising Sun

Musically direction by Seth Bisen-Hersh

Mon, May 9th at 7pm

$12 Cover/ $10 Food & Drink Minimum
(pre-show dining will apply to your minimum)
Danny’s Skylight Room Cabaret
346 W46th St
Reservations: 212-265-8133

PHANTOM

The final show I have lined up for the spring is summer stock — yes, I am indeed leaving my beloved city for 11 days (much to my roommate’s relief!). I’m gone from 5/23 (the day after my act) until 6/3.

I’m going to the Shawnee Playhouse to musically direct a production of Yeston’s Phantom — I’m creating the recording that they perform to, so I don’t have to stay out of the city for the actual run. But it’s perfect b/c even though I would love $500/ week for doing summer stock for a summer somewhere, I couldn’t bare to leave for 12 weeks, so it was very fortuitous I found someplace that just needs me for 2…

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS!

My birthday went SOO well — thanks to everyone who remembered — it seemed like a record high this year! My party was really fun even if there was a blizzard — it just proved how wonderful my friends are that they came anyway. And I got taken out 5 times by guilty people who couldn’t make the party — so that made the celebration last almost a week!!! Kind of makes up for being closer to 30 than 20 now…. yikes!!

NEW TV SHOWS

I’ve been watching the STARLET b/c my friend COURTNEY was on it! It’s very reality tv, but it’s fun… I still adore SCRUBS and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. And of course I still watch MALCOLM, SIMPSONS, ENTERPRISE (so sad it’s ending!), GILMORE GIRLS… and the Showtime shows Family Business, Fat Actress (eh it’s okay), and The L Word — I find it really bizarre that I watch more Showtime shows than HBO — but I will watch Six Feet and Curb your Enthusiasm when they return this summer… which is really almost here… how did that happen?

THEATRE

Sadly I haven’t been getting as many comps lately, and now that I am I’m very busy. So here’s the short list of shows I’ve seen since the last ledger:

off-Bway:

Coriolanus — okay production of the Shakespeare tragedy
On the Mountain — really good play at Playwrights
Dessa Rose — wonderful musical by the team from Ragtime playing at Lincoln Center — highly recommended!!!

off-off-Bway (*review on oobr.com):

The Apple Cart*
Rumors*
Shaking the Mess Outta Misery*
Man’s Best Friend
Midsummer’s Night Dream**** BRILLIANT production — the best I’ve EVER seen of this show at American Globe Theatre !!!

CONCLUSION:

Well that’s about it — not so much going on… just trying to be seen out there as much as possible!!! Write back and let me know what’s up w/ YOU!!!!! 🙂

Always,
Seth

APRIL

April 22, 2005 — April showers may bring piano playing hours!

The Seth Ledger

I figured I better send out a real ledger this month, so here it is… first let’s get the listings of the shows I’m doing out of the way, then onto the news:

———–

Meaningful Sex
an act about the ins and outs of relationships

By and starring Seth Bisen-Hersh
Composer of “Meaningless Sex” & “The Gayest Straight Man Alive”
Also starring Rori Nogee

Thurs, May 19th @ 9:15pm & Sun, May 22nd @ 2pm
$10 Cover/ $10 Food & Drink Minimum

Danny’s Skylight Room Cabaret, 346 W46th St
Reservations: 212-265-8133

(for those of you gone for the summer by then, have no fear, I will reprise the act in Sept, as well as bring my last act The Gayest Straight Man Alive to Theater Ten Ten on the UES!)

———–

I’m doing 2 songs from The Gayest Straight Man Alive and one of the singers is premiering a song entitled “I’d Rather Take a Nap” from Meaningful Sex. I’m also accompanying the rest of the evening which includes naughty musical theatre songs:

The Rising Sun Performance Company Presents
Beneficial Bawdiness
A Naughty Cabaret to benefit RSPs 2005 Season!
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
7PM Monday May 9th
Directed By Anna Gorman & Courtney Hebert
With Akia, Anna Gorman, Courtney Hebert, Courtney Tisch,
Crystal Franceschini, Elizabeth Burke, Peter Pinto
Featuring Guest Artist Seth Bisen-Hersh

Dannys Skylight Room Cabaret
346 West 46th Street, New York City
$12 Cover/ $10 Food/Drink Minimum
Pre-show dining can apply to your minimum
Advanced Reservations are highly recommended!
Reservations: 212-265-8133
www.risingsunnyc.com

———

APRIL FOOLS JOKE SOON TO BE REALITY

So as many of you know, this year I got almost 40 people with my annual April Fools email… in it I said that I had been asked to play AVE Q and was going to be playing it the following weekend. SO many people fell that I realized there was no reason on earth I wasn’t playing AVE Q on Broadway yet.

I mustered up all my courage and talked to the musical director, Gary Adler, last week. And he called within a week, like he said he would. And tonight… I ACTUALLY SAT IN THE PIT OF AVE Q. Yes, you read this right. This is NOT an April FOOLS joke. If you want corroboration, you can ask Dave who saw me walk out of the STAGE DOOR.

So basically, I got to watch the entire show from the pit, which is buried beneath the stage. So we watch the show on monitors… but the guys down there are joking incessantly, and mocking the show — and they label the “pit virgin” — “GAY” — and EVERY time someone in the show says the word “GAY” they pointed at me. Also, whenever someone makes a mistake, they pass around a red “you’re fired” slip. And there are certain scenes that get reenacted every night. It’s quite a fun pit…

Sadly, unlike my April Fool’s gag, you don’t sit in the pit and then end up playing the next night. Gary originally was going to take a month off this summer, so he had been training a bunch of subs. However, he no longer is, so there are more than enough subs at the moment. He is giving me a copy of the score and a copy of a live cd of the pit to practice with, though. And he says people will undoubtedly get gigs or leave town, etc, and I should be moved up to the actual sub list and be formally trained within 2-6 months. (There’s really no telling how quickly this will happen, but I believe in the fall when there are new shows opening left and right, that I will be able to make my BROADWAY DEBUT.)

Anyway, I was backstage, saw the dressing rooms, peed in this really, really tiny closet toilet…. truly divine — and I waved when the pit camera panned me, and I got to come out the STAGE DOOR afterwards, which was COMPLETELY surreal…

So yeah, I’ll hopefully get to do it again in 2-6 months…

AUDITIONS, AUDITIONS, and MORE AUDITIONS

So all of my income nowadays comes from playing for AUDITIONS. After sending my resume to every ad listed in Backstage for the last few months, I have been having a pretty full plate of playing for auditions. I am now on THREE major casting directors’ lists. One, Barry Moss, adores me and uses me every chance he gets. I hope to get on the other 8-10 major casting directors’ lists in the near future…

The more I play, the more actors/ actresses I start to recognize, etc. And the more directors and theaters I work with, etc. So it’s really beneficial to be out there as much as possible… this one director might need a composer for a new musical… if that pans out, I’ll let you know, of course…

STAR WARS

I have already bought my ticket for EPISODE III — for 12:01 the night before it opens! WOO! It’s actually the night before my act, so I’ll probably be pattering all about it during the act…

BYE, BYE, BIRDIE REUNION CONCERT

So I got a call from Jason, and he’s putting together a 10th Anniversary Bye, Bye, Birdie concert as a benefit for EBHS. It sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun… hopefully there won’t be much rehearsal b/c leaving the city for 2 days is going to be really hard given the amount of last minute gigs I’ve been getting… but it’s set for May 27th and 28th, and should be a blast from the past…

TIVO UPDATE

Not much going on on tivo — finishing up the last few eps of ENTERPRISE… if anyone wants to watch the last episode w/ me, lemme know! ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT has ended for the season and still hasn’t officially been picked up… but I remain hopeful — it took Seinfeld 3 or 4 seasons before everyone was watching it… the SIMPSONS and MALCOLM already have episodes for next season listed on the web, so that’s cool beans… SCRUBS and GILMORE GIRLS are back for a few more weeks until they end for the season…

My roommate is watching SMALLVILLE now, and I must say I’m completely intrigued… so I’ve decided to start it from the first episode in a few weeks when they replay on the Family channel…

THEATER UPDATE

Shows I’ve seen since the last ledger: (* review on oobr.com)

Mud — Michael Henry from Spickner was in this free show which was interesting to say the least…

The Awesome 80’s Prom — Daryl is a PA so I got to see this for free — it’s basically an 80s party, but while you dance typical high school prom things happen around you… quite fun…

Broadway by the Year: 1945 — I started flyering for this series to get to go — they explore one year of broadway every month, and do a myriad of songs off-mike… and then the after-parties are always fabulous…

Privilege — ushered for this comedy off-bway which stars Bob Saget

The Swan* — see review

Twelfth Night* — see review

Moses: The Musical — went to see the show I played for in rehearsals

Taming of the Shrew* — see review

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — BRILLIANT bway revival starring Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin — highly recommended…

A Piece of my Heart — reading of a play about Vietnam nurses — makes you really angry at a country that starts really bloody wars for no reason

Steel Magnolias — bway revival of this touching play

A Woman Behind Glass — one woman show — great performance, but the show was eh

CONCLUSIONS

So that’s about it… things here have gotten quite busy; hopefully it’ll keep up… I keep sending my resume to billions and billions of people… I have this feeling that I’m in for a big break soon. So let’s all just keep waiting… it’s gotta happen, happen some time…

WRITE BACK if I haven’t heard from you in MONTHS!!!!!!

Always,
Seth

MAY

May 16, 2005 — the merry ides of may

The Seth Ledger

It’s May! It’s May! The lusty month of May! May this ledger find you all well… First off, don’t forget that my act is THIS WEEK:

Meaningful Sex
an act about the ins and outs of relationships

By and starring Seth Bisen-Hersh
Composer of “Meaningless Sex” & “The Gayest Straight Man Alive”
Also starring Rori Nogee

Thurs, May 19th @ 9:15pm & Sun, May 22nd @ 2pm
$10 Cover/ $10 Food & Drink Minimum

Danny’s Skylight Room Cabaret, 346 W46th St
Reservations: 212-265-8133

Please reserve if you haven’t yet; they called me and said they needed to get a benchmark for how many people were planning on coming so they can assign an appropriate amount of waiters or something…

I am VERY excited about this act; the eighteen new songs I wrote are all golden — I replaced a few I wasn’t 100% behind… so I hope y’all can make it! Assuming Rori is around, we’ll probably reprise it in Sept. I will also be doing “The Gayest Straight Man Alive” again sometime this fall at Theater Ten Ten.

OTHER PROJECTS

The benefit I played for last week was really fun and well attended; thus, Rising Sun has decided to do a few more cabaret type acts in the near future, and of course, I will still be involved.

I promised Jason I’d plug the BYE, BYE, BIRDIE REUNION CONCERT — that’s right, I will be in EB next weekend — the concert will be Fri and Sat 5/27 and 5/28 and he’s managed to get almost 2/3 of the original cast from the high school production in 1995 back… so if you missed hearing me sing “Kids” and “Ed Sullivan” in 1995, this is your chance… if you’re in NJ, plan on seeing me that weekend.

Other than that, I am tentatively musically direct a cabaret act in JULY. I responded to an ad on craigslist, and the guy wrote back saying he liked me best; he’s coming this Monday to see if we get along.

I may be musically directing a show in the midtown festival; I just heard back from the guy, but it was too late to call him tonight; so hopefully that’ll be official soon.

And I am definitely musically directing COCKTAILS WITH COWARD — an evening of Noel Coward songs strung together with some of his characters, etc.

It is written and directed by this guy Dan Lavender who I met while playing for an audition a month ago. He’s my age and has been around the biz since he was a kid. He’s a bookwriter and a director, and has been looking for a composer — and as we all know I have been looking for a bookwriter, so it seems like fate has come in very handy.

We are going to be working on at least one new musical project to start… he has quite a few ideas, so after Coward goes up in July, we’re going to begin on one… and it’s going to be GOOD.

OTHER COMPOSITION PROJECTS

As soon as my new act was completed, I began work on my NEXT act. It is tentatively going to be called NEUROTIC TENDENCIES, and it’s going to be about obsessions and phobias and neuroses… and I think I’m going to write it for 4 people, so I’d have Rori, probably a tenor and a soprano — that way more people will come. 😉

A KID LIKE ME has received its second outline. I have written about half of the score. Andy who’s writing it w/ me has gone to TX for the summer, but when he’s back in September, we’ll probably write it quite quickly. The tentative (seems I’ve been typing that adjective a lot) plan is to put it in Fringe JR 2006, but I’d also love to get it in the NYMF (New York Musicals Festival). Then we’ll of course market it to EVERY major children’s theater group in the country, etc.

Snickers just jumped on my lap, so I guess he’s telling me to say hi for him…

AUDITIONS, PIANO BARS, BWAY PITS, OH MY!

Well, I did really well during the crazy audition season. I managed to get my foot in the door at a few major casting directors, and my name is getting out there more and more… sadly, that’s kind of waning for the summer, so I’m trying to figure out where else I can play.

I played a few classes at PACE (through Dan L again), and that went well, so hopefully I’ll get a more permanent job there next fall.

My newest thing is PIANO BARS. I started trying to break in back in FEB, but didn’t get so far — I have been going to them every night now. Sadly, every bar is different in their process, but it is my hope that since so many people vacate the city for the summer, that some time in the next few months, I’ll get the opportunity to get my foot in the door… it seems the same pianists play at every bar, so it’s a hard thing to break into, but once you’re in, you’re in… the same with broadway…

Speaking of, I’ve been sending my resume out incessantly, and sometimes it pays off.

I will be sitting in the pit of the LIGHT in the PIAZZA on Wednesday! However, he said he has enough subs, so I’ll probably just learn the show and never be used… the AVE Q guy hasn’t responded to my last call about leaving me a score like he said he would… I just hope he’s really busy. I’m still counting on playing there in 6 mos! Finally, the other positive response I got was from the Keyboard 2 player on …Spelling Bee. She said she doesn’t need any right now, but also in about 6 mos she probably would.

So it looks like I’m on schedule to make my BROADWAY DEBUT by the end of the year — as 6 mos is November… I’ll of course keep you updated.

STAR WARS/ STAR TREK

Kobie, Sara, and I are going to see EPISODE 3 at 12:01 Wed night (actually Thurs) !!!

ENTERPRISE ended this week. I am very sad. Very, very sad. It hit me how for the last 18 years, there has been a new Star Trek episode every week. So sad, so sad… and it really was getting good!

The good news is I’ve heard ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT will probably be returning, so I encourage you all to rent the DVD of season one and get hooked so it has a long, healthy run!!

DRAMA DESK AWARDS

I will be volunteering at the Drama Desk Awards next week. I have signed up to be a SEATFILLER at the TONY’s again for the 4th year, but they haven’t written us back yet about who was chosen… I’m hoping that they’ll go w/ those of us who have done it plenty of times… I’ll keep y’all updated.

THEATER

Here’s what I’ve seen since the last ledger:

*review on oobr.com

Ana Gasteyer at Joe’s Pub — what a treat and what a diva!

Coole Lady* — interesting but kind of dry show

Tonylust* — really funny satire about the tonys

McReele — really well written political satire

The Master Builder* — great, great revival of the classic ibsen play

Broadway by the Year: 1955 — gotta love this concert series!

The Apple Tree — I LOVE KRISTIN CHENOWETH — wow. She needs to stay on the stage. She can do anything w/ just the slightest tip of her head…

Cherry Orchard* — good revival of a classic

Memory House — I really enjoyed this new play at playwrights w/ DIANNE WIEST — who is just a class act

A Little of What You Fancy* — really fun evening at a British music hall

CONCLUSIONS

Well that’s about it. COME SEE MY ACT!!!!!! And write back to let me know how things are by you…

Always,
Seth

AUGUST

August 13, 2005 — busier than a bee in heat

The Seth Ledger

It’s May! It’s May! The lusty month of May! May this ledger find you all well… First off, don’t forget that my act is THIS WEEK:

Meaningful Sex
an act about the ins and outs of relationships

By and starring Seth Bisen-Hersh
Composer of “Meaningless Sex” & “The Gayest Straight Man Alive”
Also starring Rori Nogee

Thurs, May 19th @ 9:15pm & Sun, May 22nd @ 2pm
$10 Cover/ $10 Food & Drink Minimum

Danny’s Skylight Room Cabaret, 346 W46th St

Reservations: 212-265-8133

OTHER PROJECTS

The benefit I played for last week was really fun and well attended; thus, Rising Sun has decided to do a few more cabaret type acts in the near future, and of course, I will still be involved.

I may be musically directing a show in the midtown festival; I just heard back from the guy, but it was too late to call him tonight; so hopefully that’ll be official soon.

And I am definitely musically directing COCKTAILS WITH COWARD — an evening of Noel Coward songs strung together with some of his characters, etc.

We are going to be working on at least one new musical project to start… he has quite a few ideas, so after Coward goes up in July, we’re going to begin on one… and it’s going to be GOOD.

OTHER COMPOSITION PROJECTS

Snickers just jumped on my lap, so I guess he’s telling me to say hi for him…

AUDITIONS, PIANO BARS, BWAY PITS, OH MY!

I played a few classes at PACE (through Dan L again), and that went well, so hopefully I’ll get a more permanent job there next fall.

Speaking of, I’ve been sending my resume out incessantly, and sometimes it pays off.

So it looks like I’m on schedule to make my BROADWAY DEBUT by the end of the year — as 6 mos is November… I’ll of course keep you updated.

STAR WARS/ STAR TREK

Kobie, Sara, and I are going to see EPISODE 3 at 12:01 Wed night (actually Thurs) !!!

ENTERPRISE ended this week. I am very sad. Very, very sad. It hit me how for the last 18 years, there has been a new Star Trek episode every week. So sad, so sad… and it really was getting good!

The good news is I’ve heard ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT will probably be returning, so I encourage you all to rent the DVD of season one and get hooked so it has a long, healthy run!!

DRAMA DESK AWARDS

THEATER

Here’s what I’ve seen since the last ledger:

*review on oobr.com

Ana Gasteyer at Joe’s Pub — what a treat and what a diva!

Coole Lady* — interesting but kind of dry show

Tonylust* — really funny satire about the tonys

McReele — really well written political satire

The Master Builder* — great, great revival of the classic ibsen play

Broadway by the Year: 1955 — gotta love this concert series!

The Apple Tree — I LOVE KRISTIN CHENOWETH — wow. She needs to stay on the stage. She can do anything w/ just the slightest tip of her head…

Cherry Orchard* — good revival of a classic

Memory House — I really enjoyed this new play at playwrights w/ DIANNE WIEST — who is just a class act

A Little of What You Fancy* — really fun evening at a British music hall

CONCLUSIONS

Well that’s about it. COME SEE MY ACT!!!!!! And write back to let me know how things are by you…

Always,
Seth

OCTOBER

October 19, 2005 — as the fall falls behind us…

So 5 people asked me why I haven’t sent a ledger in awhile (it was actually 2 but for dramatic affect, I flipped it around.), so here’s a ledger…

First off, I have now uploaded THREE cds to my new webpage — www.sethbh.com — they’re all up on the NEWS section for they are new, but I will move them in a few weeks to the SHOWS page — and then I will keep just the highlights up on the NEWS page. Just FYI, b/c lots of people think I should just put them up on the shows page — but then you wouldn’t know what was new b/c I recorded some more older cabaret stuff… and that’s linked further now… Anyway, the point is I have THREE cds UP NOW!!!!! GO LISTEN!!!!!

Second, I’ve been invited to THE GAYEST STRAIGHT MAN ALIVE at theater ten ten on 11/6 at 7pm! It’s a great time b/c nothing else happens on a Sunday night — and it’s only $10, and I don’t have to pay a room fee!!! (we just split 50/50 — so that means I cannot lose $$) This is like the 13th time I’ve done this act; if you STILL haven’t seen it (or you would like to see it again), I hope to see you there:

—–

The Gayest Straight Man Alive
a musical study of queer heterosexuality

By and Starring Seth Bisen-Hersh

Sunday Nov. 6th @ 7pm

Theater Ten Ten
1010 Park Ave (b/t E84th & E85th)
$10 suggested donation, cash only at the door
(includes a reception after the performance)
Reservations 212-288-3246 x3 (24-hour hotline)
—-

WRITING

I have been writing a lot lately it feels like. I finished the entire score of A KID LIKE ME (which is one of the cds available!) The show is REALLY cute. We’re going to get it picked up by a touring children’s company, hopefully, and make a fortune off of it… go listen to the CD!! NOW!!! It’s adorable. 🙂 (thanks to Felicity, Chaz, Julie, Chauntee, and James! and of course Andy for writing the book!)

I have been writing a whole bunch of new cabaret material, so hopefully I can get enough songs written to premiere my new act Neurotic Tendencies in MAY…

The most exciting news is I have a new collaborator, PAUL, who is brilliant. We are writing a new SEX FARCE, and it’s going to be HILAaaaaaaaarious. From start to finish. We hope to put it into the New Musical Festival… more info on that as it becomes spring… but we’re going to change the entire theater scene — no more tameness — our show is HBO style for broadway — something no one else has dared to do — and we do it w/ such intelligence, charm and humor!! OMG the show is fabulous. Really. Moving on…

MUSICALLY DIRECTING

I have been working on SIX shows this fall. That is why I always seem like I’m rehearsing something. In no particular order:

I’m doing a benefit for this theater company, the Bandwagon Theatre — they put on old revivals of really old musicals each spring — if I do the benefit, then I probably will do the show in the spring which pays very well. So it’s all for delayed payment, really. But I am getting to work w/ great talent… and Kitty Carlisle Hart is opening the show. So that’s pretty amazing in itself…

I just finished some quick musically directing for an Olsen Twin parody musical at Don’t Tell Mama — I was brought in just to teach some new cast, fix some songs, add some harmonies, etc. It’s a cute show, and runs all month long at DTM, so that’s exciting. I really feel like I live there sometimes — I mean last July, if you’ll remember I was involved in a show running there almost every day…

Speaking of DTM, I am there one or two Tuesdays per month musically directing a showcase of talent — basically I go in and rehearse the singers for 20 min each, then we perform — or sometimes they’ll come and hire me beforehand… which is good for me $$wise 🙂

And right across the street at Danny’s, tonight I finished the 3rd in the series of Rising Sun cabarets — tonight’s was Halloween themed — and I wrote a new song called “The only thing better than sex is chocolate” for the event which I will also use in my next act… it brought the house down tonight!! (I was really relieved actually; world premieres are always scary b/c you don’t know if the audience will go w/ you when you cross certain lines — but this one did, and jumped over w/ me!)

Anyway, speaking of special songs — I just wrote one called XMAS SUCKS — for a holiday concert in December — I don’t know if it’ll get accepted, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t… it’ll certainly be different than anything else they receive. 😉 And it’s very funny. And not at all raunchy! And not really that insulting…

So I’m doing a READING on MONDAY of the new musical, Sleepy Hollow. I have rehearsal Thurs and Fri 10-6. Which means 6 days of being somewhere by 10 for me this week. Yet still I am wide awake once it hits like 10pm — I was exhausted ALL day. I kid you not; then 10 hits and I’m like full of energy. But it’s really hell the next day waking up when you go to bed at 4, so I’ve been aiming for 3. It’s really hard to go to bed when you’re wide awake, and when there never ceases things to be done.

Anyway, the final show I’m doing this fall, is I’m playing piano for a high school production of FORUM — which is great b/c it’s SONDHEIM and it pays fairly well (some high schools have budgets to hire professional pianists apparently).

And I really need to publicly thank MRS. SPAD b/c she was the one who told me she knew this guy named Ben Cohn — and he sends me SO much work, including Forum…

Other than shows, I am playing for AUDITIONS CONSTANTLY — and it just got REALLY busy b/c I’ve been getting last minute calls INCESSANTLY this week, even though I’ve been booked for awhile. So at this rate, I really do not anticipate any free time until Thanksgiving. At which point I’ll be giving thanks I have a day off.

Once November hits, I am going to send my revised resume off to all the keyboardists of Broadway shows again to remind them of my presence. I am currently on the waiting list of 4 I think, so I need to just be like I’m still alive — and tell them I’m around all holidays if need be, etc. I have good contacts off-Broadway now at least, so I’m hopeful to be subbing into a pit sometime soon… I will make my Broadway debut in 2006 by the latest. I promise.

So yeah, I have also been getting a lot of clients for coachings and stuff — I’ve had two Broadway stars over — Sebastian LaCause and Jen Cody… soon to be more! No one SUPER huge though, though I know some people really obsessed w/ Sebastian…

And then in my complete and utter lack of free time this week, I also have promised to flyer and poster for some concerts at TOWN HALL in exchange for going to the concert and afterparties…

Though partying w/ Broadway stars has become old hat over here! 🙂 Did I mention I was in the program for doing copyist for the last Actor’s Fund benefit? Oh and I got a thank you note signed by Brian Stolkes Mitchell which is now on my fridge…

I LOVE MY NEW IPOD

In other news, I received as a present the most amazing thing.. the IPOD SHUFFLE — I spent the next 2 weeks uploading all of my music to my computer — I’m still in the process — but I just put up things I actually listen to — I need an external 40GB harddrive to put EVERYthing I own onto the computer since I have 700 cds — but wouldn’t that be awesome?!?! If I had KNOWN, I would’ve just gotten a larger hard drive and more RAM in the first place when I bought this new computer…

OMG that was a YEAR ago — I’ve already had this one for a YEAR — time if FLYING.

But the IPOD is amazing — I put in 7 cds at a time, and I can do a search for every track Bernadette has ever sung and just put those on… or every Sondheim song… though it couldn’t fit them all b/c it’s the tiny one.

And the thing is SOOOO tiny – and it fits around my neck, so I don’t have to carry a bag or put it in a coat, and I don’t need batteries b/c it automatically charges itself and gives you 15 hours of playing time… I LOVE MY IPOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still love my DVR, and I don’t know how anyone lives w/o one. KEVIN can only tape ONE tv show at a TIME! How AWFUL!! My roommate and I couldn’t live like that…

So this season I recommend ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, GILMORE GIRLS, MY NAME IS EARL, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. It’s like all my shows are the beginning of the week now… old shows I still like SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, MALCOLM, SMALLVILLE… other shows I watch but not as emphatically AMERICAN DAD, SUPERNATURAL, THE WAR AT HOME, JOEY… oh WEEDS was great, but that just finished… HUFF will be back soon! (Still mourning the loss of Dead Like Me…) and they say SCRUBS will return, but I still don’t know when…

In other tv news, I started watch 24 from the beginning (Thanks A&E) and it is AMAZING. At least the first season is. I still have 4 more eps to watch this week, but OMG, I haven’t been that drawn into a show in AGES. Go watch the first season!!!!!!

MOVIES

I cannot WAIT for HARRY POTTER 4!!!!! I’m going at MIDNIGHT, lemme know if you want to join. And I also want to see RENT at MIDNIGHT, so let me know about that. Those are two movies I can’t WAIT to see… I really wanted to see PROOF, but I think I’m just going to wait for it to come on tv… and the Aristocrats, I wanted to see that… I like obscene, over-the-top humor after all 🙂

THEATER

I haven’t seen much at all lately. I have been too busy. Since the last ledger, I have only seen the following:

Oh gosh, I haven’t written a ledger since the Fringe; well I only saw 8 shows this year and they were: The Sagacious Uncle, The Official Subway Musical, Swimming Upstream, The Last Silver, Arias for the Mundane, Confessions of a Drug Addict, The Importance of Marrying Wells and Some Unfortunate Hour.

Joy — off broadway play which was okay
Dr. Sex — tame sex musical (my pet pieve)
Broadway Unplugged — amazing concert w/o microphones
On the 20th Century — AMAZING concert and I was in the PROGRAM !(!!)
Miracle Brothers — really intelligent new musical at the vineyard — really enjoyed it
A Soldier’s Play — revival of a Pulitzer prize winning show, kinda dull but good
Deconstructing: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly — Seth’s new show, quite a lot of fun
See What I Wanna See — REALLY intelligent off-bway musical — I can’t WAIT for the recording
Five Course Love — really FUNNY off-bway musical… of which I know quite a few people involved!

CONCLUSIONS

So I’m pretty busy, did you get that part? Please LISTEN to my CDS!!! And come to see my act if you haven’t by now (what have you been doing? I’ve been doing it for TWO years off and on!!).

Also, write back to update me if we haven’t chatted in awhile. I like to keep tabs on the 500 people on my ledger list. (Yup, it’s up to 500!)

Always,
Seth

DECEMBER

December 30, 2005 — The Last Ledger of 2005!

Hello, everyone out there in ledger land! I apologize for being so bad at sending out ledgers this year, but I knew I HAD to send one out before the year ends. First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I am hosting my third annual roof party tomorrow night, and I can’t WAIT!! It’s going to be the biggest and best party yet, I can feel it… Many, many, many people have RSVPed and are bringing friends… so yeah, I figured tonight I should take it easy and finally catch people up on my life…

CURRENT PROJECTS

I am happy to announce the return of MEANINGLESS SEX in 2006! As most of you know, I started working with a new, brilliant bookwriter, PAUL MANCINI on a new sex musical — we ended up using 6 or 7 songs from the original Meaningless Sex even though we have a brand new book and 6 brand new characters — so we figured it would be easiest to keep the buzz of the old show, etc. I rewrote the lyrics to most of those songs extensively, so barely anything remains of the old show.

We met with director extra-ordinaire DAN LAVENDER (Cocktails with Coward from last July), and he is on board! I am recording the brand new DEMO CD (12/17 songs!!) late January (will send out an email when they’re up at SETHBH.COM), and we’re also going to do a private reading for critical friends we know late January, as well.

We’re applying for the NEW YORK MUSICAL FESTIVAL (NYMF.ORG) mid-January. We’re hoping to be apart of their 3rd year in September 2006, so please keep your fingers crossed for that. Then, hopefully, we can invite a billion industry people in the hopes that someone bites and picks the show up for a respectable off-Broadway run.

The show is fast, funny, and adorable. The score is by far the best I’ve ever written. And I think colleges will be doing the show for decades to come…

A KID LIKE ME is done. The entire score is still up on my webpage, if you haven’t listened yet. I sent the show into Theaterworks, which is the largest tourer of kid’s shows… and would also pay the best… so we are just waiting now to hear back from them… hopefully early next year they’ll at least respond to my inquiry… I would very much hope that they will pick the show up and do a workshop next year, and then put it on tour in 2007, but there’s really no telling. If they pass on the show, we will submit it to the other TYA (theatre for young audience) groups in the city, and quite possibly to the best children’s theaters in the country. It’s a very easy show to put on, and the score is super catchy, so I think it’ll have a pretty long and lucrative life.

Other than that, I am musically directing a reading of this show called the DIET MONOLOGUES — which is a series of rants about dieting, etc, on Mon, 1/30 at 7:30 in the Dramatists Guild. I also got a random call today to musically direct PARADISE LOST: THE MUSICAL in Feb/ Mar — so we’re still finalizing the agreement, but that looks very likely. Between those and the bi-monthly Matt David Showcases, I’ll be very busy.

But not busy enough — of course, I will be playing many AUDITIONS during the day — but I am also starting my own AUDITION WORKSHOP with my aforementioned pal, Dan Lavender….. yes, we will be giving actors tips of the trade — improving their technique — upgrading their repertoire (can you tell I have a computer science degree?) — we’re starting SADAW (Seth and Dan’s Audition Workshop) Sundays in FEBRUARY, so any actors out there, keep your eyes open for an email about it in the near future.

UPGRADING COMPUTER

Speaking of upgrading…… for Hanukkah (thanks Dad, Mom and Joanne!!) I am receiving a 250GB HARD DRIVE — I am going to put ALL 800 cds on it!!! And then fill it up with all KINDS of music — I will have the largest collection of MP3s in the WORLD!!!! And this means when I do vocal coachings, I shall be able to go through every cd I have and pick out tracks for people to sing… And I’m receiving a 512MB RAM — thereby, DOUBLING my computer’s RAM — meaning I will be able to RUN things without the computer getting pissy at me for multi-tasking so much!!! It will be INCREDIBLE!!! Fast and LOTS of space.

Oh and I also got a huge book of SUDOKU puzzles — I am ADDICTED — they’re a GREAT way to make the time pass… I did a SIX STAR one yesterday (the hardest kind there is!) — took me 3 hours — but I sat there, and I did it. And it cracked. B/c I am amazing. Go ahead — I dare you to find a Sudoku I am unable to solve!!!!! Speaking of puzzles, I cannot wait for my NINTH IAP MYSTERY HUNT at MIT over Martin Luther King’s weekend. We are joining the team that came in 2nd place last year, so we hope to actually win this year. As most of you know, I’ve never been on the winning team, but I think 2006 is my year. I already have 4 puzzles semi-written in my head, so we HAVE to win…

TIVO UPDATE

Well, the saddest TV news is that FOX (BOO FOX) has cancelled TWO of my FAVORITE shows this season — Reunion, the new show about a murder that enfolds over 20 years — is completely gone. 🙁 It’s really fox’s fault for having baseball preempt it in the middle of its mystery — you can’t expect people to remember what happened in a complex show 4 weeks later — MORAL: baseball should be off network tv and be restricted to the baseball channel!

And FOX is cancelled the FUNNIEST SHOW IN THE WORLD — ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT — having cut its season down to 13 episodes from 22 — this is an UPSETTING crime — it is the smartest comedy tv has ever seen — the problem being that the Nielson Rating people won’t allow you to be a Nielson family if you live alone (I got the thing in the mail one year, and they balked at me for having no family) — thus SMART people who are mostly SINGLE and in CITIES are VERY underrepresented — maybe this is why the stupid shows get picked up while the intelligent ones sadly get cancelled.

The future of all good tv is in HBO and Showtime, where they can put on tv that is good regardless of if enough people watch it. Showtime, actually, might pick up AD — so keep your fingers crossed… it would be a perfect show to pair up with marvelous Weeds.

In other tv news SCRUBS is finally making its return to NBC!!! And the other new comedy of the season is also on NBC — MY NAME IS EARL — I really like that show a lot. It makes me chuckle. The final new comedy I watch is How I Met Your Mother — which I find amusing, but not ingenious.

Lately on TIVO, I have been recording ALFRED HITCHCOCK movies — I have 6 saved right now — I’m going to watch them all like I did w/ WOODY ALLEN — I actually have 3 movies saved by Woody that I haven’t watched yet, and I believe there are TWO more movies of his I have yet to see. But that’s not bad for someone who’s really made 40 or so…

MOVIES

I’ve seen an incredible amount of movies this year. Of course, there were HARRY and RENT, both of which I really enjoyed even though the book and the show are better. I also saw CAPOTE, which was wonderful, and SQUID and the WHALE, which was really enjoyable. Finally, I saw 5 movies on Xmas Eve when they have no one working at the theaters (yay movie hopping day w/ Sara Fay!!) — MEMOIRS of a GEISHA, NARNIA, SYRIANA, MUNICH, and KING KONG — I REALLY liked Munich a lot. It was the best of the day, though none of the 5 was bad in any way… sorry, I seem to be rhyming a bit — I’ll try to stop it. I still want to see the Producers, Brokeback Cowboy and Match Point, which is a testament to how many GOOD movies were made this year! Usually I only see a few a year!

THEATER

I really haven’t been seeing as much theater as I used to at ALL… I’ve been very busy writing and rehearsing and having meetings, and such… but here’s what I’ve seen since the last ledger: (* = review up on oobr.com)

Kander and Ebb Salute at Town Hall — really amazing concert celebrating K&E
Euan Morton/ Eden Espinoza Concert at Town Hall — fun evening w/ the 2 newer bway stars
Broadway Originals at Town Hall — old stars doing their original songs! what an evening!
In My Life — really bizarre Broadway musical… (for those of you from EB Courtney Balan was in it!)
Slut — fun musical almost as raunchy as meaningless sex
Rebound and Gagged* — really good play up at vital theater co. off-off
The Neofuturists — fun evening w/ this comedy group that puts on 30 2 min plays in an hour in a random order
Sweeney Todd — the Broadway revival — intense, but I really enjoyed it, and Patti LuPone is oustanding.
Lea Salonga at Carnegie Hall — amazing evening. simply amazing. amazing. amazing. amazing.
Guys and Dolls* — went to support Chaz in this community theater production
A Month in the Country* — great production of an old, old show
A Touch of the Poet — revival of a really long play by O’Neill
Souvenir — brilliant show starring the lovely Judy Kaye as a woman who can’t sing but thinks she can
WICKED FROM THE PIT — oh yes, I just thought I’d put that in HERE, though I guess this goes up with the news section, really, and especially since by now people are done even skimming the ledger — but yeah, I saw my THIRD Broadway musical from the pit, and am on another really long waiting list… but 2006 will be my year to make my Broadway debut, damnit!!
Seascape — revival of a Pulitzer winning play by Edward Albee — really, really good.
Absurd Person Singular — funny comedy in three parts — the 2nd part was by far the funniest

CONCLUSIONS

Well, that seems to be it for 2005. I hope you’re all doing really well. I really think that 2006 is going to be my year. I can feel it. Just feel it. I wish you all the best of new years, and I hope you have great New Years parties if you’re not coming here (but you SHOULD be…)

I shall leave you with a glimpse of my latest song:

Next year will be my year.
It WILL be my year, I swear.
Next year will be THE year
You can say you were there!
A new slate to begin,
A new game to win,
It’s here, you’ll see…
Next year will be
The year for me.

Always,
Seth

2005 Ledgers

Seth Abridged