Author Archives: brendan

Wheelhouse vlog #4: coffee = rewrites.

May 15, 2012 – 12:59 am
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Wheelhouse vlog #3: I’m serious that I love you.

May 14, 2012 – 12:35 am
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Wheelhouse rehearsals, day 1. Office Supplies in the prop department.

May 11, 2012 – 11:51 pm

Val said it yesterday morning before I drove up here: I can’t believe that people are paying us actual money to write and perform a show about *us*. An autobiographical show. It blows my mind. Doesn’t matter that this show has been in the works since 2005. It’s ACTUALLY HAPPENING. Now, keep in mind–this show [...]

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Hi, we’re a rock band.

February 7, 2012 – 4:47 pm

Hi! We’re GrooveLily, a theatrical power-pop trio consisting of Valerie Vigoda, Brendan Milburn, and Gene Lewin. If you’ve never heard us before, listen to this: We write musicals and perform in them sometimes, and we play concerts whenever we can.

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I can’t believe I do this for a living: The Behavior of Broadus.

September 10, 2011 – 6:04 pm

I’m getting to work on something wonderful and strange: a piece of theater about the father of behaviorism, entitled “The Behavior of Broadus.” Back in March I lucked into seeing an invite-only, hastily-rehearsed and gleefully thrown-together performance of this play with songs by the Burglars of Hamm. Center Theatre Group was commissioning this piece–and my [...]

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Even people in high school need to press “rewind” sometimes

August 24, 2011 – 2:43 pm

Yesterday I got a terrific surprise in my inbox–a fan from the Bay Area sent a video of her teenage son singing “Rewind” impromptu in the car. This is the kind of thing that makes us feel life is worth living, makes us grin from ear to ear. Check it out: I’m officially a very [...]

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Nifty Bren & Val interview in KBPS’s blog, “Culture Lust”

August 24, 2011 – 2:36 pm

Kathy Diamant did a phone interview with us about the origins of Sleeping Beauty Wakes and what we’re up to–and we ranged far and wide in our conversation. Check it out: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/aug/23/groovelily-wakes-sleeping-beauty/ It’s a pretty nice story of how we got where we are, and what we hope for the future.

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Sleeping Beauty Wakes: The view from tech rehearsals.

July 15, 2011 – 10:00 am

We’re in the darkened theatre–the big proscenium stage of the Weiss Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse. We stay in this dark room for 10-12 hours a day now, with brief 10-minute breaks every hour or so when they turn on the house lights on and we go outside to get a moment of beautiful Southern [...]

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Nice mention of Wheelhouse and our upcoming writers’ retreat on Playbill.com

July 1, 2011 – 1:03 pm

Check it out: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/152312-Rhinebeck-Writers-Retreat-to-Nurture-New-Musicals-by-Alex-Timbers-Michael-Friedman-GrooveLily We’re in pretty august company, and it’s nice to read that Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses’ terrific piece “Nobody Loves You” is getting more work time at the Rhinebeck retreat AND is getting a production at the Old Globe. Val and I will be there with bells on–this show kicks butt.

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Sleeping Beauty Wakes at McCarter, 0 Days to Opening: Letter to an aspiring musical theater composer.

May 6, 2011 – 12:20 pm

I’ve often wanted to get a time machine and at the very least, send a message to my former self. If I could, it would go something like this: Dear 16-year-old Brendan, Congratulations. You’ve written your first song for a musical. You’ve recognized that pop songs in and of themselves are too limiting for you, [...]

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