The Cricket and Seagull Fireside Chat

It must be fun to be Michael Dowdle—to have the musical chops to play anything on the guitar.  So when it came time to do an album of anything he wanted, why did he choose a genre that showcases peace over virtuosity, and relaxation over flashiness?

Michael talks about being both a soloist and a session player; playing both what you love and what's put in front of you, and turning it all into "A Brighter Day."

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...

Besides being a bit hard to spell, the name Dallyn Vail Bayles has long been associated with dramatic vocal, stage, and screen performances. Now this Green River, UT, native returns from his new home in the New York City area with a CD and a live concert simply called "Prayer."

Whether it's "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables (he had a starring role in the national broadway touring company) or the album-ending "I Have Seen Him," by LDS composer Ross Boothe, Bayles has chosen each song to reflect some aspect of that most personal communication with God; prayer.  Dallyn talks about music, growing up in Green River, raising a family in the Broadway environment, and his upcoming concert at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo, UT, on September 5th.

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...

Ramona Zabriskie has a great imagination, but when she began editing down Nephi's words in First and Second Nephi fifteen years ago, she didn't imagine the resulting musical "With Mine Own Hand" would be premiering to LDS audiences from around the world at BYU Education Week. 

Along with Utah composer Becky Alexander, Zabriskie has created a large-cast, full-scale stage musical which has had limited productions in the Portland, OR, area and will soon be the first out-of-state production to appear at Education Week. This week she and her husband Dale, who plays the older Nephi, talk about adapting scriptural accounts, the miracles that brought the production together, and the themes of Nephi's life.

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...

Imagine taking "Pride and Prejudice," the best-known, best-loved, and most-filmed of Jane Austen's novels, and turning it into a musical. Where would you begin? What would you cut for the stage while still leaving in the favorite characters and witty dialogue?

That's exactly the challenge faced by two LDS composers, Deborah Morris and Ann Kapp Andersen; the premiere run of their new musical theater version of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is currently running at the SCERA theater in Orem and will be appearing later this month at BYU Education Week. We'll include musical excerpts and hear the authors tell about converting this world-renowned literary masterpiece into a 2-hour stage musical.

That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull...