Gaby Alter co-wrote "Nobody Loves You," but We Loves Us some Gaby Alter.
Goodspeed Opera House invited me (Brendan), Val and Rachel Sheinkin to come up for two weeks and write whatever we wanted to write, as long as Val and I would consent to play a 45-minute concert at the end of the second week. We used this precious kid-free time (thanks for babysitting, Mom) to work 14-hour days like we used to back before we went and became parents. Much of the time was spent in fruitful exploration and rewrites of SLEEPING BEAUTY WAKES in preparation for its April 29 opening at McCarter Theatre in Princeton.
While we were there we saw three great, wildly different musicals in staged readings. ROOM 16, a hilarious, jazzy, so-wrong-it’s-right musical about G. Gordon Liddy and the Watergate Scandal; HELLO, MY BABY, Cheri Steinkellner and Georgia Stitt’s song-plugger/mistaken identity/cross-dressing turn-of-the-previous-century musical with a terrific score of public-domain tunes re-imagined in a memorable and delightful way; and NOBODY LOVES YOU, by Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter.
All three were good, but we had already *expected* the first two to be so, given how much we already knew of the pieces. The latter show was a wonderful surprise, and we need to crow about it for a moment.
At a cabaret the night before, Gaby and a crew of 8 actor/singers from the cast of the aforementioned NOBODY LOVES YOU sang his song “The Argument,” and Val, Rachel and I had one of those mutual, shared, jaw-dropping moments. It was just magical, and something in the songwriting, the performance, and the opening up of the song into a beautiful, choral explosion carried us away. We became card-carrying Gaby Alter fans at that moment.
The next day, Val and I had a chance to watch a final rehearsal run-through of Gaby and Itamar’s show. NOBODY LOVES YOU is a musical about reality television. This sounded (to me and Val) like a terrible idea. But it’s. Just. Great. So funny, so smart, so engaging, and terrific book, lyrics and music. If you have a chance to see this show in any form anywhere, run, don’t walk.
2 Comments
My husband and I attended the Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals and, like you, were impressed and delighted with every one we saw.
I want to thank Brendan and Rachel for a wonderful performance during the Cabaret..It was electric! The intimacy and comradery at the aftershow cabaret creates a magical evening for us theatre lovers.
So glad you were able to get so much work done. Maybe you’ll visit us again?
I’d like to pass along another compliment. I mentioned seeing you perform to a friend of mine who emailed back that, “you’re one of his and his wife’s favorite bands.” They attended your Striking 12 Concert.
You may add us to your list of fans and we hope to see you perform again soon. We’ll also keep an eye out for Val’s solo performance. I could listen to her play that violin all night long!
We also wish you the best with Sleeping Beauty Wakes.
Pat
Thank you so much, Pat!