100% of this post is brought to you directly from Subway (as in sandwiches) because that is where Colleen spends 30% of her life. She (I) just loves (love) these sandwiches!!! I think at this point we should have a Subway Sandwiches sponsorship for our song cycle The Subway Songs. That would make me the happiest and most bread-ham-and-cheese-filled girl in the world. Anyways..  on to the blogging:

Have you heard of One Song Glory (the event, not the song, although we love us some RENT)? Well, you ought to have! It is an amazing educational program which gives teenagers the opportunity to work with some of the biggest directors and musical directors in the country. One Song Glory is brought to you by Acting Upstage, Canada’s foremost presenter of original, contemporary musicals. When they are not busy presenting amazing Canadian premieres of tick…tick…BOOM!, Elegies, The Light in the Piazza and their current show Parade, they have a few other programs on the go.

This year 200 teens auditioned for 40 coveted spots that would allow them to attend discussions with casting directors, actors, and other prominent industry professionals. All their hard work culminated with two performances for a ticket-buying audience featuring songs by contemporary writers like Jason Robert Brown, William Finn, Pasek and Paul, Ahrens and Flaherty, and Romer-Segal and Dauncey. Wait… what? Yes, we were honoured to be included alongside such prestigious/kickass songwriters. Not one, not two, but three of our songs were chosen to be performed!

When Mitchell Marcus (founder and Artistic Producer of Acting Up Stage) contacted us to ask if they could use a few of our songs in the show, we didn’t have to think twice. It was such an amazing experience producing our first song cycle in the summer of 2010, but we were really excited for the opportunity to give our songs to Mitchell and the team of amazing musical directors and directors that he had amassed for One Song Glory, and sort of let our baby go.. see if it could stand on its own. For me (Colleen) it was a big challenge to ensure that I had the sheet music written perfectly so that others could pick it up and learn each song without any input from me whatsoever. Boy was I relieved when the kids sang their final note and I could exhale knowing that everything sounded like it was supposed to! I hadn’t accidentally included flats where I meant sharps, or completely flubbed a rhythm, or misspelled a word resulting in complete disaster.

“Ride” was thoughtfully acted and beautifully sung. “It’s Been A While” was poignant and had wonderful harmonies. “Field Trip” was a particular treat because its a song that thrives on raw energy, and boy did these kids have that by the trainload! They bounced around the set singing enthusiastically and made us want to get up and rebel along with them. And after the show we got to meet a few of the little stars and get this.. THEY were excited to meet US! When the heck did that happen? Akiva and I are usually the ones following songwriters around, trying to sneak in an introduction.

So, THAT was cool. Props to Acting Upstage for putting together this very important arts education program every year, the wonderful directors and musical directors who mentored these kids, and most of all to the talented young performers themselves, who gave their time, talent and emotion to our work. You give us great faith in the future of musical theatre in this country and make us want to write some more!

Can’t wait to see you all gracing the stage again soon!

– Colleen & Akiva