Author Archives: Valerie

A Val + Bren (+ Joel McNeely) Song at Carnegie Hall Fri Mar 12

We wish we could be there…for the first time ever, one of our songs is going to be performed at Carnegie Hall!
Méav Ni Mhaolchatha will be singing “Where the Sunbeams Play,” a closing-credits song for the movie TINKER BELL AND THE LOST TREASURE that we wrote with brilliant composer and great guy Joel McNeely. Méav [...]

Returning to College Station, TX Thursday Mar 4

Really looking forward to this! We played STRIKING 12 a couple of years ago here at Texas A&M, in a cozy cabaret space for 3 nights in a row, and had a blast. Now we’re returning to play the larger Rudder Theatre, with SLEEPING BEAUTY WAKES in concert, this Thursday, March 4, as part of [...]

Val & Bren to play Kennedy Center “Broadway: Today & Tomorrow” Series Feb 13, Millennium Stage

Michael Kerker and the fine folks at ASCAP are presenting a week-long series of free performances at Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and have given Val and Brendan the final one-hour concert slot: Saturday, February 13 at 6 PM. The two of us will be playing a bunch of songs from a bunch of [...]

More GrooveLily Artwork for the holidays from Madison Kemp

We posted some of 12-year-old Madison Kemp’s GrooveLily artwork a few months ago – and here’s her latest, just in time for the holidays. Thanks Madison!

It’s Striking 12 season, with lots to celebrate

Bringing STRIKING 12 to the chilly east coast: we are thrilled to be in residence at legendary Arena Stage in Washington, DC for two weeks (Dec 2-13); to return to the beautiful Portsmouth Music Hall in New Hampshire on December 5; and to continue our tradition of STRIKING 12 on New Year’s Eve in New [...]

Bren and Val To Receive ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award

We just have to crow about this for a moment: this is a huge honor. It’s one of those awards for which you cannot apply; you simply receive a mysterious phone call out of the blue from Michael Kerker at ASCAP, saying “please post 6 of your songs online, a variety of work from different [...]

SHACKLETON commission: La Jolla Playhouse + TheatreWorks

Northern and southern California unite in the Antarctic! We are incredibly happy to report that La Jolla Playhouse has officially joined with TheatreWorks to co-commission ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME, the solo show for Val we are writing with Joe DiPietro. We’ve had a long and fruitful history with TheatreWorks, and are delighted at the chance [...]

Anywhere near Birmingham, AL? Check out STRIKING 12 at BSC, Nov 19-22

We’ve just been notified that Birmingham-Southern College will be producing STRIKING 12 this season, with 12 actors + 6 onstage musicians. One of the first college productions of our show, it’s also certainly one of the largest/most ambitious. We wish we could see it ourselves, but unfortunately can’t travel to Alabama. If you’re in the [...]

Coming Very Soon: Newer Songs From STRIKING 12, + 8-Song Published Folio

In time for our upcoming run of STRIKING 12 at Arena Stage, the excellent team at PS Classics will be printing up more copies of the CD – and inside will be special cards to allow you to download the new songs we’ve written for the show since that CD was released. We’ve been wanting [...]

Anyone Already On Our List Sign Up For Free Download At Show & Not Get It?

Each time we play a concert, we generally do a CD giveaway – and recently, we’ve been offering a free download of a song cut from SLEEPING BEAUTY WAKES to *everyone* who signs up on our email list. We’ve been telling people that if they’re already on the list, they can go ahead and sign [...]