So it has been almost 2 months now since we closed. It seems so long ago and seems like yesterday.

It has been a wildly exciting time post-NYMF. A couple of updates:

1. I Got Fired won the 2010 Theater For The American Musical Prize presented at the 2010 NYMF Awards for Excellence Gala. (Photo by Michael Thomas Homes)

2. I Got Fired is going to Korea! IGF was also the winner of the DIMF Production Award which includes a full production at South Korea’s Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF). We’re really excited about the production (which will be about 4-5 times the scale of the NYMF show). From what I hear, its an amazing experience that will allow us to continue to work on the show while exposing the evilness of Jenny to all of Asia. 

3. On December 6th, original cast members Kelly Carbacz, Devon Goffman and myself will be performing two numbers from the show at The Dude’s Cancer-Crushing Concert of Emerging Composers at the Laurie Beechman Theater featuring works by Miller & Tysen, Keith Varney (hey, that’s me!) Kerrigan & Lowdermilk & Waldrop & Williamson. We’ll also be performing some stuff from Elway: The Musical & some other cool stuff.

• So, of course all of the interesting IGF news is the stuff I can’t talk about. Its funny, that I’ve made it a goal to be as transparent with our information as possible,  but that the realities of success mean that you can’t always do that. Annoying, I know. Suffice to say, that we’ve got a lot of really promising (but not not definite) stuff that we’re working towards. I’m certainly crossing my fingers. Sorry to be so vague. 
• The NYMF gala was such a blast. Totally overwhelming to be hanging out with some of my heroes while trying to pretend that I wasn’t totally star struck. I’m not great at playing it cool. The best part was being able to hang out with most of the NYMF cast again.
• Just finished draft 98 of the show! We presented draft 71 at NYMF, so there have been lots of changes (hopefully improvements). 

Thats it for now… stay tuned!

Keith

Hey everybody!

So the World Premiere of I Got Fired is in the books! I’ve been basking in a grateful haze of leftover merch and too much free wine. Its time to pick up the pieces and figure out what is next!

I have an insane amount of people to thank for this amazing experience. Who knows how meaningful this was to all the people who played various roles on the show, but I can promise it was truly meaningful to me. Without exaggerating, I Got Fired has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t put into words my gratitude to my collaborators, the producing team, the cast, the crew, the fine people at NYMF, TBG, my family, the people who donated money, the people who gave me advice and the countless (or 691) people who bought tickets.  

I’ve been getting the question “so, what’s next” over and over and I wish I knew what to tell everybody. Now, I spend a month staring at my phone hoping that somebody with an extra million dollars or so will call and offer to put up the show! Or an agent will call me as a writer. Or an agent will call me as an actor. Hell, I’d take an agent as a graphic designer or fantasy football guru! I’m hoping to go pro in fantasy football.

I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. I am completely confident that I Got Fired will have a life beyond NYMF. Certainly more confident than I am that I will have a life! Stay tuned. I will be posting updates here on the blog as we get through them. Sadly, I can’t really update on each meeting that I’m having, that would be tacky, but as soon as anything is locked in, you’ll be the first to know!

OK, I’m rambling now. I was planning on writing something more profound and focused, but I need another cup of coffee and I gotta run.

Keith

I’m almost too excited to type! We started our preliminary rehearsals today. Worked through some scene work and spent some time going over music with Doug. Tomorrow we work on group musical numbers and meet more of the cast

Margaret made amazing I Got Fired cupcakes!

Doug Obermaner (MD) & Devon Goffman (Steven) rehearse while Theresa Flanagan (PSM) and Margaret Morton (ASM) look on.

Devon belts on ON MY WAY while Doug plays.

OK, lots going down! I shall bullet point.

• Tickets have gone on sale! We’re doing pretty well, opening and closing nights are almost sold out. Very exciting! For those of you hoping to squeeze in at on the day of with Equity tickets, etc, will be disappointed. Buy your tickets here!
• Rehearsals begin next week! I’m so excited & anxious to get started. The terrific cast will be announced shortly. I’ll say this, the cast will be able to sing their faces off.
• Lots of production stuff going on as well. We’re ordering out set for Ikea (only half a joke) this week. Doug Oberhamer has been working feverishly on all of the arrangements of the score and Steve Bebout and Dontee Kiehn have been working hard on figuring out how the show is going to move. I warned Dontee that she should be prepared for my shocking incompetency in dance and that any attempt to get me to do anything other than walk will likely end in a fiery crash.
• The Mike Calls in Sick video is a smash success! If for some reason you haven’t seen it, check it out here.
• Have you heard the word that Jenny sucks?

More soon!

K 

Check out the new orchestrations by Doug Oberhamer for the opening number! The band is going to ROCK! TICKETS GO ON SALE WEDNESDAY!!

So! We had a terrific casual table reading with a good chunk of the production team and some volunteer actors. Got a chance to hear the show out loud for the first time in a while. Had a blast, a lot of the changes we’ve been making have really improved the show. There was one section when we forgot it was a musical… so there may be a new song coming. 

Casting is coming along… stay tuned.

Czerton has finished the set design and he and Steve B are mapping out all of the transitions.

Best part about the reading: We ran 91 minutes. Our aim is to have a total running time of 90 minutes. So, we still have 5-10 minutes to trim before we get into the theater ((to leave room for transitions, laughs(?) & applause (?)), but its a hell of a lot better than last reading which took 110 minutes.

We’re filming something awesome tomorrow. Look for it soon.

After the reading and after a script meeting with Steve B last night, I’ve finished the new draft of the script. Added the new song and make a ton of little nips and tucks and transplants. And the script is now 5 pages shorter! This is good.

Can I just say how awesome the entire IGF team is? Its a huge operation now and everybody is just so darned good. I’m so excited.

Ok… So I’m taking a quick break to write this while a CD of the most current version of the score gets burned. I’m headed off to a table reading of the show with most of the creative team. Should be a blast! We are now on draft 68 of the script and its starting to come together!h

Yesterday, I spend some quality time with Sibelius (the music notation software) and wrote electric bass parts for the score and put in lots of the changes that have been done lately. So, I now have a complete piano/vocal score for IGF. Naturally, I can’t imagine it won’t get riddled with changes in the next few weeks (we start rehearsals in 2 weeks!!), but I feel like the basic structure is pretty solid now. 

Vermont was great. I’m sure most of you saw the pictures on the IGF Facebook page. For those who didn’t, why the heck aren’t you a “liker” on Facebook yet??

Lots of exciting new marketing schemes are being worked on and will debut this week and next. Naturally we’re also making a big fund raising push!

So… am I a bit overwhelmed and stressed these days? Um…. YES. That being said, I continue to be insanely grateful to be in this position and to have the support of so many wonderful people who are donating their, time, talent, money or all three to my little musical.

OK. Just heard itunes announce the CD is done, gotta run!

Keith 

Hi everybody! 

We are rapidly approaching the I Got Fired in Vermont benefit concert! We’re working on booking folks to come sing at the event… we’ve already booked my High School rival and nemesis James Blanchard (booo) who stole lots of my parts over the years. Be prepared for a knock down drag out fight to determine who is the real Joseph and which one of our coats is truly amazing and Technicolor.

Now, we need to get some butts in the seats to see the action… um… and fund my show. So, Liz has been working tirelessly to get the local press to cover the event. She’s awesome. I’m going to post this photo of me on the cover of the Country Courier (in 1999 as a Fat Teenage Joseph) as the kind of press we’re looking for.

RSVP to the Vermont event via facebook here!

Hey everybody!

So, the first round of Equity auditions for I Got Fired was yesterday. What a blast. We saw over 200 extremely talented performers. The first person to sing (at 9:30AM) arrived at the audition studio at 5:30AM… wow. 

I mentioned last week how much being “behind the table” stresses me out, but with the help of donuts and the cover of having several other NYMF shows in attendance, I got through the day just fine.

Some quick thoughts:

• The new “it” (read: overdone) song this week are “Here I Am” from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. We heard it at least 6 times.
• I need new headshots. And too many people’s headshots don’t look like them. Everybody says it, but nobody believes it… you are better served by a headshot that looks like you, not by one that looks like a 19 year old supermodel. Its often your non-supermodelish qualities that we are looking for! (Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of supermodels, I just don’t have any of them in my shows… hmm….thats an idea…)
• The time pressure is so high (to see as many people as we can), that the folks behind the table only get breaks that last only 2-3 minutes. Its worth it, because saving that extra 5 minutes allows us to see at least 5 more people.
• EVERYBODY can sing their faces off. I don’t know how many times I wrote “great voice” on the back of a headshot.
• I am frequently charmed when people screw up or get flustered. Its a moment when you get to see who the person is, not how “professional” they can act. Often times a technically flawless audition can be a little boring… drop your music or something… I can be really refreshing and appealing for somebody to be their own spastic self in an audition, not some sort of robot (YOU HEAR THAT MUSICAL THEATER TRAINING PROGRAMS??? NO ROBOTS!!)
• Heard some music composed by some of my friends and fellow young writers (Kooman & Dimond, Adam Gwon etc). It was great. 
• Also startling… seeing shows that you wrote on people’s resumes. I saw both Joshua & Scooby Doosical on resumes. It even looks like they didn’t write it in just cuz I was there. Thats a humbling thought. 
• Now I have a stack of 200 headshots, plus 100 submissions of incredible people who I don’t have parts for. Next show: Cast of 400!

ALSO: I will be attending the: NYMF OPEN (Non-equity) CALL FOR I Got Fired: A Semi-Autobiographical Sort-of-True Revenge Musical on Friday (the 27th). Go to MichaelCassara.net/audition to sign up electronically. 

Thats it for now… don’t forget to read the amazing IGF Intern Blog!

Keith

So, since the Audition Notice (breakdown, if you’re in the biz) went live this week, we’ve been getting tons of submissions (headshots & resumes from actors looking to audition) from really talented (and lets face it, attractive) performers from all over the place. Now, this is perfectly normal… in this town if you announce an audition to clean your bathroom for free, you’re get a line of eager actors… but I’ll admit that I always feel insanely honored that anybody would even consider wanting to do something I wrote. This is why I hate being “behind the table” at auditions because, I’m so grateful for anybody showing up, I spend the whole time trying to make everybody feel like they are great and feeling really guilty when I can’t hire everybody who comes in. 

For the record, the EPA (Equity Principal Audition) will be on Tuesday July 20th at the Equity Building (which I can only get into as a writer cuz I’m still non-equity as a performer! ha). Here is the breakdown for IGF

Anyway, We’re getting submissions for these characters who are based on real people in my life… and it gets surreal. There are actors who want to play Kathy, Maria & Mike… little do they know these are all real people and good friends of mine. Even stranger is all of the people who have submitted themselves for “Jenny” (my evil ex-boss). Of course “Jenny” is not her real name (and you’ll never know her real name, don’t even try). I assume that “Jenny” reads this blog every once in a while and I can tell her that there are lots of amazing people who what to play her! 

Even stranger…er is the submissions for “Keith”. Um… that’s just bizzare.

Anyway… I visited our venue for the first time last night and it looks like its going to be a really fun place to perform. Its intimate without being cramped. I can’t wait. On the other hand, there are no wings… so an exit stage left is an exit into a brick wall… oh well, I’m going to have to rely on the amazing creative team to come up with a way to make that work!

Also, the band will be on stage for the show… which is cool because they are going to ROCK!

Bye for now!

Keith