Ned Donovan - Ithaca ‘12

Hey everyone,

So if you know me at all, you know that I am obsessed with the musical “Passing Strange”.  My story with Passing Strange is kind of fun, because I didn’t want to see it when I first read about it in the NY Times that February, and then when I went to the city in March, my friend Debra Evans informed me that if she was going to help me find cheap tickets, I was required to see Passing Strange.  I begrudgingly agreed.  Man, was I wrong.  I was on the edge of my seat, laughing uproariously, crying, rocking out, enjoying myself fully, just the way theatre was meant to be.  I saw many shows that week, including Sunday in the Park with George, In The Heights, A Catered Affair, and more; and Passing Strange easily took the cake for the best thing I saw that season.  I came home, saddened that no CD of the show

existed yet, and told everyone to go see it if they were in New York.  Not many people listened.

Fast forward a few months and we’re in June of 2008, the CD rendition of Passing Strange is totally a letdown in comparison with the beauty of the show, many songs are overlooked, and the interludes which made the show so great aren’t in there.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to drop a quick note and let you know an exciting update in my life.  All the BFAs were put into a hat and names were drawn at random, and I’m singing for Patti Lupone in a master class on Wednesday, December 9th.  It’s going to be an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about my work.  I will post again later about how it was.

Love to everyone as we enter the holiday season!

~Ned Donovan

Well hey there everyone,

Long time no post on my end, and I’m sorry about that…it’s been a busy month.  I want to start this post off in a shameless plug for a show I am involved in.  Fenix Theatre Co. in Portland has been producing Shakespeare in the park this summer, and after a very successful run of Taming of the Shrew at the beginning of the summer, they are about to open A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I am a co-fight director for the project alongside the absolutely amazing Sally Wood (this woman had a C-section about 2 weeks prior to the first rehearsal, and she’s out there teaching things and kicking ass and taking names).  It’s directed by Peter Brown who directed The History Boys for Madhorse Theatre Company, and having watched it, it’s gonna be awesome.  A couple shoutouts to the cast as well, Seth Rigoletti (my drama teacher at Waynflete) is playing Demetrius, and Vano Kimmel (graduated from Waynflete with me, is now an Acting major at Clairmont) is playing a fairy in the fairy ensemble.  I’ve loved working on the show, and I can’t wait to see it, and you all should too.  It opens wendesday, and runs wednesday through saturday starting at 6 o’clock and runs for two weeks.

It’s the song that rings in most aspiring musical theatre performers.  ”God I hope I get it! I hope I get it! How many people does he need?”  That number from A Chorus Line accurately sums up the feelings most people have at an audition.  How many times have you heard a cabaret group do the song “One”?  I can say I’ve heard it a lot.  Every Little Step is a documentary following the audition process of the 2005 revival of A Chorus Line on broadway.  They take you from day one, to shots from the performances, complete with callbacks, and rejections; laughs, and tears; and thrilling moments of exultation all the way to moments of bone-crushing defeat.

It also tells the tale of the coming about of A Chorus Line, when Michael Bennett sat 24 dancers down in a circle, and they had a 12 hour talk session where everyone told their stories.  It was captured with a reel to reel recorder (I believe the recordings are in the archives at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts) and from those conversations a show was born.

Hey everyone,

Over the summer my goal is to get audio and video sections onto the site.  I have gotten four recordings up onto the audio section already.  The audio section can be found under the About section. I will add recordings and videos as I get them ready to be put up.  The first four are “Prologue” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, “I’d Give it All For You” from Songs For a New World (with Genney Myers), “I’m Coming Out of My Shell” from A Year with Frog and Toad, and “Run Away With Me” from The Unauthorized Biography of Samantha Brown.  Please listen to them and enjoy.  Please let me know what you think about them, and also give me tips for getting better recordings up, as well as song ideas.

Thanks,

~Ned Donovan