Their show is an entertaining, one-of-a-kind combo of indie rock concert and touching holiday fairy tale (though secular…the holiday is New Year’s Eve), with enough bah-humbug cynicism and fourth-wall-breaking humor to keep it well out of saccharine territory…It’s a must-see opportunity. – Tom Mizer

Catch one of the only eight performances Dec 26-31 at the Metropolitan Room in NYC — or, check it out in Helsinki. We love this video, below! To our knowledge, it’s the first time our show has been translated into Finnish.

First, we were excited to get together and play, ’cause it’s been a while. Second, we’ve also been wanting to get together to work more on WHEELHOUSE (which premieres next spring at TheatreWorks of Silicon Valley), ideally in the company of the wonderful director we now have on board for the show; her name is Lisa Peterson. Lucky for us, the executive director of Lone Tree was happy to help us accomplish both at once; her name is also Lisa Peterson.

Lisa and Lisa had never met, though as theatre professionals they had heard each other’s names for many years. We were delighted to be the reason Lisa flew in to meet Lisa at the Denver airport.

Lisa (J.) Peterson, our WHEELHOUSE director - photo by Fred Hayes

Lisa (Rigsby) Peterson, Executive Director of Lone Tree, at groundbreaking last year - photo by Kristal Kraft

Lisa and Lisa watched STRIKING 12, which was a blast to do at the beautiful brand new Lone Tree Arts Center…and between Friday and Sunday, we were able to squeeze in 3 days of intensive work on WHEELHOUSE, mostly in a glass-enclosed conference room in the middle of the venue’s administrative offices. We had a borrowed keyboard; we had a big table; we were steps away from Super Target; it was perfection.

A big thankyou to both Lisas for making it all possible.

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam

It is looking likely that we’ll be spending the final week of 2011 in NYC, performing STRIKING 12 in a lovely intimate Manhattan venue which we’ll announce shortly. (This is in addition to our November 18 Lone Tree, CO and December 10 Westport, CT performances.)

Keep informed by visiting our brand new STRIKING 12 Facebook page. May we suggest that you take a moment to “like” STRIKING 12 on Facebook, and GrooveLily as well? (We are fragile and need constant reassurance.)

Hence: this.

But wait! There’s more!

We also recently worked our butts off on another spec song. Some of our adventures in spec songs have led to odd things that may have no other homes ever, or to songs that become part of the GrooveLily canon and are among our most-requested live numbers.

We wouldn’t presume to predict what’ll happen with this one, but we like it. Suffice it to say that it will most likely not be used for the big epic nature movie we intended it for, but we were inspired by footage of animal parents and children in the wild…and we wanted to write something that resonated for human parents and kids as well.

This one we’re basically giving away–it’s a free-or-pay-what-you-will deal. Merry belated Christmas, Hanukah, and all the rest–and enjoy the fruits of our labors. We hope that you spend this last week of the year among people that you love, doing things that bring you joy, and bring joy to others.

Here’s the song. Listen, share it with your friends, and please enjoy it with our best wishes for a terrific 2011.

From John Horan Jr.’s review in the Northern Virginia Daily:

MIDDLETOWN — Wayside Theatre strikes gold with “Striking 12.”

Sure, it’s a holiday musical, but after this sweltering summer, the mere thought of colder times is a welcome tonic, an itch the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre also scratched with its production of “White Christmas” in July. And “Striking 12″ is definitely cool. A most unusual show, it’s a small-scale musical, ably performed by a gifted trio, that both captivates and resonates on several levels.

Sara K. Story in STRIKING 12

Also, we just heard about a high school production starting rehearsals in Dayton, OH for a holiday run…and starring in the show is Michael Canada, shown here rehearsing his vocal for “Fine, Fine, Fine” after winning a local contest to compete in American Idol. Click on the picture for video and full story. Fun!

American Idol contestant Michael Canada rehearsing "Fine, Fine, Fine"

Two men who've had enough. The resemblance is astounding.

Val and I are trading off for two weeks, with one of us working on Toy Story The Musical on site in Anaheim while the other stays home and takes the kid to and from school–and today it’s my turn to be on site. And who do I run into but Brent Shindell, the guy who played “The Man Who’s Had Enough,” in other words, my character in Striking 12. He was in one of the very very few productions where they did it with THREE PEOPLE, just like me and Val and Gene.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the youtube videos–but Brent totally stepped up to the plate and played and sang all of my parts with great aplomb in Santa Barbara in 2008.

What a trip this life is turning out to be.

Fighting the good fight against Seasonal Affective Disorder

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 York City (Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center).

Here are dates and links to buy tickets:

STRIKING 12 at Arena Stage (Crystal City location): Dec 2-4, 6, 10-13

STRIKING 12 at Portsmouth Music Hall (Portsmouth, NH): Dec 5

STRIKING 12 at Merkin Hall @ Kaufman Center (New York, NY): Dec 31

Check out Val’s Arena Stage blog post!

We’ll also be celebrating the re-release of our STRIKING 12 CD on PS Classics, including for the first time a special card to allow you to download the newer songs we’ve written for STRIKING 12 since that CD was released. These download cards will be available ONLY in person at the shows until 2010…so come on down to Arena Stage, Portsmouth Music Hall or Merkin Hall to pick yours up.

The cover of our first-ever song folio

In addition, we’ll have our first-ever official published song folio, hot off the presses and courtesy of Warner/Chappell and Alfred Music! Eight songs from STRIKING 12 are included, in full beautiful old-fashioned piano/vocal sheet music style. These have just become available online as well: check ‘em out here.

Brendan will be mixing those new songs from live tracks from last year’s Zipper Factory Theatre show on December 30, 2008, in time for this December 2 release. If you already own the CD, you’ll be able to buy the download card separately.

In addition, the fine folks at Warner/Chappell, in conjunction with Alfred Music, are publishing our first-ever song folio, also to be available this December – we should have them available at Arena. 8 songs from STRIKING 12 will be included, in full old-fashioned piano/vocal sheet music style.