Ned Donovan - Ithaca ‘12

Hey everyone,

Last April I took a bartending course through a Portland Maine based company called the University Bartending program.  They are a subcompany of the dogfish company (http://www.thedogfishcompany.com/) and they send a team around to different states every year to give classes to various cities.  They are coming to Ithaca at the end of april!  So if anyone is interested in taking their course, I will give you the information here.

The University Bartending program will be giving a class at the Holiday Inn in Ithaca’s downtown.  The will be there April 24-26.  The class lasts the whole weekend, at the end of which you will be well trained in the skill of bartending, as well as given a letter of recommendation.  The class being offered is what’s known as a “weekend Professional” class.  The class description from their website is as follows:

Description: The Professional Course is designed for the student who is interested in working as a bartender after completing the course. In theProfessional Course, students are trained in all aspects of professional bartending. Students in the Professional Course learn “hands on” during extensive pouring lab sessions.

Hey everyone,

I wanted you all to know about a phenomenal thing that came out of a bad thing yesterday.  Yesterday my friend Ben (playing the lead in New Brain) deemed himself too sick to perform, and his understudy was asked to step up.  Andrew Karl (Ithaca College Musical Theatre freshman) is the understudy and he began working mid-afternoon to be prepared for last night.  We got to sit in the audience and watch his performance, and I want everyone to realize just how phenomenal it was.  Cat Stephani (playing Lisa the homeless woman) was also sick, and she performed the show, but asked to not be in the big dance number.  Her understudy Deanalis Resto (Ithaca College Musical Theatre sophomore) stepped up for that number and was also phenomenal.  I would just like to give my congratulations to the two understudies for their performances.

For me this is testament that this program is truly great.  The understudies’ performance could easily have gone without noting they were an understudy, and no one would have cared.  They were professional, poised, and dead on for all their lines and blocking.  Congratulations to them!

~Ned Donovan

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to share with you a review written about our production of “A New Brain” here at Ithaca College.  It’s a great review, and you still have tonight, tomorrow, and two shows on saturday.  www.ithaca.edu/theatre for more information.

Here’s the review.

~Ned Donovan

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 everyone,

James Hunter was great live!

Just a short post to give a small update on my location, since I put 2400 miles on my car since I was last in Ithaca, I figured people might be a little jumbled.  After a nice trip to Allentown (ending with a concert of Ryan Shaw and James Hunter who were AWESOME) I am back at school in Ithaca.  I have to say it’s a little weird being in my room and having Charlie Forray (a new roommate replacing Jason Barrera who is at the National Theatre Institute for the semester) be in his place.  Soon to come also is Danny Lindgren who is replacing Martine Baruch (moved in with his Music Fraternity).  Max and Alan are still here though so it’s nice to have some things not change.

Martine still hangs out

   Martine came by as soon as I got back, so I guess not much has changed, it’s just odd to have him not living here.  I don’t have much to say, it’s nice to be back at school, and I can’t wait for classes to get started.  When I have more to talk about, I’ll be sure to mention it.