Ned Donovan - Ithaca ‘12

Hey everyone,

It’s been a while since I last posted, sorry about that, I’ve had a lot to do.  The largest of which is that the show I am a part of, A New Brain, is opening at Ithaca College this week.  This thursday, March 26th is the opening performance, and let me tell you the show is amazing.  I’ve been watching it unfold since the beginning, and as an understudy, I am there to know the Minister’s part in the off-chance that Bruce Landry (the Minister) can’t perform that night.  Because of this, I’ve watched the set go up, the technical aspects join the show, I’ve watched the music grow, and the story become clear, and I have to say that this show is beautiful, and everyone should see it if you have a chance.  You can read my quick summary in an earlier post, or go here.  Please come see it, you won’t be disappointed.

On March 14th I auditioned for summer stock theaters at the New England Theater Conference.  There were 42 theaters there this year, and I received a good amount of response from the theaters there, so hopefully I can find a fun job for this summer.

Hey everyone,

I’m home in Maine on Spring Break, just relaxing and trying to stay healthy for my NETC audition at the end of the week.  In preparation for this week I had a lot of things to do in Ithaca.  One of the places I’m auditioning for is the Maine State Music Theater in Brunswick, where I’ve wanted to work for a long time now.  This season they are doing: Light in the Piazza, Crazy For You, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and The Drowsy Chaperone for their mainstage season, and for the intern shows they’re doing: A Year with Frog and Toad, and School House Rock.  I know…it’s an amazing season.  Because of my NETC audition, however, I can’t audition for them at their local auditions, and I just couldn’t justify auditioning for only one theater instead of close to 40 at once.  So friday I recorded a DVD audition for MSMT and hopefully that will be good enough for them.  Another thing I had to get done was an update to both my resume and my headshot, because they were outdated (my resume was closer than my headshot, which was last updated fall of my junior year in high school when I was in The Sound of Music with Lyric Music Theater).

Hey everyone,

I was procrastinating doing my homework and I wanted to find some solo songs from obscure musicals which I could use for auditions.  This led me to google “Musical Theatre Audition Songs from Obscure Shows”.  One of the things to come up was a blog written by Chris Caggiano, who is a professor at the Boston Conservatory.  He asked his students to write papers defending choices as to what is the most Underrated Musical of all time.  Their answers were widely varied, which is interesting, and with the exception of a couple shows that truly don’t make sense (Wicked, The Last Five Years, Spelling Bee) all of which have great acclaim, and have either been successful in professional production, or in being listened to and appreciated by most theatre people.  Their other answers were: Bat Boy, Scarlet Pimpernel, and Children of Eden, among others.  His blog can be read here.

City of Angels Playbill

It got me thinking about this question, as it is something which we talk about frequently here at IC.  Shows and songs are thrown around talking about what should be appreciated more.  Many people bring up Mack and Mabel, Title of Show, and others.

Hey everybody,

I have some exciting news.  I’ve been cast as the understudy to the Minister in William Finn’s “A New Brain”!  This will be my Ithaca College Mainstage Debut, which is very exciting.  I’m thrilled because this is the show I was hoping for, and I was not expecting to be cast.  Kudos to the Ithaca College BFA class of 2012 however, we were cast in every show, and in many cases, in prominent roles.  A New Brain is about Gordon Schwinn, a composer who hates his job as a writer for a children’s television show featuring an annoying frog, Mr Bungee.  While at lunch with his agent Rhoda, he collapses and is rushed to the hospital where he finds out he has arteriovenous malformation and needs brain surgery.  Surrounded by his lover Richard, his agent, his neurotic mother, a contemplative and insightful homeless lady, and a whole mess of doctors, nurses, (and the hospital minister) he attempts to recover from his predicament.  The music is exciting, and the story touching, hilarious, and downright scary in some cases.  For me, this is William Finn’s masterpiece, and I am so happy that I will get to be a part of it.  The show previews on tuesday, march 24th, then opens thursday march 29th with a run through sunday april 4th.

Hey everyone, this is part two of updating what’s been going on in my life.  This one dedicated to the theatrical things I’ve personally been involved in.

Evil Dead: The Musical, opened and closed as a roaring success.  We had 65 or so people come each night, and everyone left with positive remarks.  A bunch of people have commented about how they’d rather see this on Halloween night instead of Rocky Horror Picture Show, so we call the whole experience a win.  I’d like to thank each of the people involved in the show, both cast and crew, and I know I’ll forget people, so if you don’t see your name here and you worked on the show…you’re thanked.  Thanks to: Matt Musgrove, Angelica Duncan, Nicole Intravia, Marcin Pawlikiewicz, Elizabeth Hake, Danny Lindgren for being a wonderful cast to work with; thanks to: Nick Bombacino, Pete Kielar, Nia Sciarretta, Sledge Shendge, Natalie Scott, Jason Barrera, Kendra Slack, and many more for being an awesome production team and crew.  If I have forgotten you in that list, I apologize greatly…don’t hurt me.

I was also involved in a staged reading of an irish show by Frank McGuinness called: Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme.