Allow me to introduce...and a cool announcement

It's possible that some of you who are fans of Promethean (or are only familiar with the movie version of "The Last Unicorn") don't really know much about the author, Peter S. Beagle. Here's a brief bio, courtesy of his business manager, Connor Cochran:

Peter S. Beagle was born in New York City in 1939 and raised in the borough of that city known as the Bronx. He originally proclaimed he would be a writer when 10 years old: subsequent events have proven him either prescient or even more stubborn than hitherto suspected. Today, thanks to classic works such as A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, THE LAST UNICORN, TAMSIN, and THE INNKEEPER'S SONG, he is acknowledged as America's greatest living fantasy author; and his dazzling abilities with language, characters, and magical storytelling have earned him many millions of fans around the world.

In addition to stories and novels Peter has written numerous teleplays and screenplays, including the animated versions of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE LAST UNICORN, plus the fan-favorite “Sarek” episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. His nonfiction book I SEE BY MY OUTFIT, which recounts a 1963 journey across America on motor scooter, is considered a classic of American travel writing; and he is also a gifted poet, lyricist, and singer/songwriter.

“Two Hearts,” Peter’s sequel story to THE LAST UNICORN, won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

2009 will see a veritable flood of new Peter S. Beagle publishing, including the story collection WE NEVER TALK ABOUT MY BROTHER from Tachyon; a manga-style graphic adaptation of THE LAST UNICORN from EigoManga; and numerous titles from Conlan Press, including two new novels (SUMMERLONG and I’M AFRAID YOU’VE GOT DRAGONS), a STAR TREK memoir (WRITING SAREK), an essay collection, (SMÉAGOL, DÉAGOL, AND BEAGLE: ESSAYS FROM THE HEADWATER OF MY VOICE) three story collections (THE FIRST LAST UNICORN AND OTHER BEGINNINGS; FOUR YEARS, FIVE SEASONS; and THREE FACES OF THE LADY), plus audiobook releases of many of his titles.

For more information on Peter and his works, see www.peterbeagle.com or www.conlanpress.com.

Oh, and one other, little thing I almost forgot to mention....

Peter is coming to see the show opening weekend.

More details as they get figured out!

All Hail Groove Coverage (and other covers)

Okay, I'll indulge in an other The Last Unicorn movie-related post. Those of you who know and love the movie probably are very familiar with the title number. Did you know that there are several contemporary covers of the original song? Without further ado:

Groove Coverage (the TECHNO version!!! No, REALLY.):



Declan Galbraith: (probably most faithful to the original in terms of orchestration and sound)



Another cover by Loreena McKennit:



Good to know that the song is so popular- God knows I've been singing it to myself off and on for roughly a quarter of a century.

Two Actresses? What?

Happy President's Day! As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm planning on having two different actresses play the Unicorn and Amalthea, despite one of them being transformed into the other. "Why?" you might ask, and with justification. It seems like most other theatre pieces I can think of that involve transformation (most productions of Jekyll & Hyde, for example) one actor plays both roles. And there's certainly some resonance that could be achieved that way. But I think going with two actresses is the better choice, for both some very practical reasons, and some important thematic ones as well. Reasons include:

1) In act two, Amalthea has to transform back into the Unicorn almost instantly. I'd prefer to have the actress playing the Unicorn simply step onto the stage than bring the action (which is at a climax at that point) to a screeching halt while a quick change happens.

2) If the same actress plays both, she will have to be on stage for nearly every scene in the play. Splitting the responsibility will keep any single cast member from being overwhelmed.

3) The Unicorn is not going to be represented literally, as I explain in this post. If the same actress plays both of them there isn't enough difference between the Unicorn and Amalthea. I'd like them to have striking differences.

4) Now on to more thematically important territory. As a piece of ensemble story theater, this production of "The Last Unicorn" will have a group of characters playing many different parts. One of the reasons for this is I'm interested in exploring the resonance you get when, for example, the same actor that plays Captain Cully also plays Drinn, or the same actors that play Haggard and Lir also play the two Hunters at the beginning of the story. So, I want the same actress that plays the Princess in that brief Prince/Princess (this scene is only in the book, not the movie- movie fans, read the book! I promise you won't regret it) scene to also play Amalthea. I think it creates a pretty cool resonance- it plays with the idea that Schmendrick's magic sort of "borrows" the appearance of the Princess they see before to transform the Unicorn into a human.

5) It allows us to involve the Unicorn's original form more directly in scenes in act two, including when Amalthea has her nightmare, and when Amalthea uses her secret Unicorn powers to disrupt Mabruk's spell. The most important reason for having two actresses play the Unicorn and Amalthea, however, is it makes the following exchange possible, in the act two Kitchen scene:

(The UNICORN appears and speaks in tandem with AMALTHEA.)

UNICORN/AMALTHEA: The magician gave me only the semblance of a human being. But now I am two:

UNICORN: Myself,

AMALTHEA: And this other that you call ‘my lady.’

UNICORN/AMALTHEA: She walks in the castle, she sleeps, she dresses herself, she takes her meals,

AMALTHEA: -and she thinks her own thoughts.

UNICORN: And every day she searches the sea and the sky for something she cannot always remember.

AMALTHEA/UNICORN: What is it that she is seeking?

AMALTHEA: (as the UNICORN exits) She knew a moment ago, but she has forgotten.

Pretty neat, huh?

Inspirational(ly Creepy) Music, part 3- music video edition

Whenever I see this music video it reminds me of the character of Rukh, Mommy Fortuna's son and the showman that give the tours of the midnight carnival. I'm not saying I want Rukh to sound like Tom Waits, but I might pass this along to our eventual costume designer for inspiration. I love the hat and the little cane. And that junk band beat of the song is exactly the kind of music that would be playing if the Midnight Carnival had its own band.

Drum roll if you please....

I'm delighted to announce that we have dates and a venue for "The Last Unicorn"!!!

We will be performing at City Lit Theater, 1020 W Bryn Mawr Ave, on the north side of Chicago. Those of you who have been following Promethean's work will be familiar with it; all of our mainstage productions for seasons two and three (including the upcoming Measure for Measure) have gone up there. For those of you not familiar, it's a lovely, intimate venue (that nevertheless seats roughly 100) on the second floor of the Edgewater Presbyterian church in (of course) the Edgewater neighborhood. It's very near the Bryn Mawr Red Line el stop, and easily reached by Lake Shore Drive by car. As a company we have a very strong relationship with City Lit; like me they're also very fond of doing stage adaptations of literature and I encourage you to check their site out.

And now for the dates:

October 16, 2009 through November 14, 2009

Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sundays at 3 p.m.

Official Opening Night: Saturday, October 17 at 8 p.m. (10/16 is a preview)
(There is no Saturday matinee on 10/17)
Additional Press Performance: Monday, October 19 at 7 p.m.

Tickets won't be on sale until later this year (probably not until Measure for Measure closes) but now that we can say when and where, you'll be hearing a lot more about the production. Be sure to keep checking back here at The Last Uniblog for updates!

Aren't you excited? I know I am.

Brushing up my Shakespeare

Hi everyone!
Kind of busy again lately- I'm in Promethean Theatre Ensemble's Evening of Shakespeare, which performs this weekend. We're performing at Let Them Eat Chocolate on Damen near Foster, so if you have a hankering for either me hamming it up, or chocolatey goodness, you should definitely check it out! Here's a link to the info.

Preshow 80s fantasy mix?

Even though (as I've said before, and will probably say again here) the Promethean production of "The Last Unicorn" is a new adaptation of the novel, and not the animated movie, I'm hoping to connect with people for whom seeing the animated movie was a major part of growing up. Hopefully, like me, they saw the movie a bunch as a kid, loved it, and then moved on to encounter the novel as well. In an effort to avoid any kind of brand confusion, the sound design for the show is going to utterly eschew any of the (in my opinion great) songs from the animated movie. But I'm wondering how we can evoke for the audience that idea of reconnecting to a fantasy story from childhood. One idea I had is to make have preshow music that's made up of songs from other fantasy movies or TV shows I knew growing up. What do people think of this? Here's a tentative lineup I dreamed up:

"Dance Magic Dance" from Labyrinth
"The NeverEnding Story" from...well, look, if I have to tell you....
"Flight of Dragons" from "Flight of Dragons"
The theme song to the cartoon "The World of David the Gnome"
The song the princess sings in "The Magic Pony" (the English dub of the Russian film "The Humpbacked Horse")
"Underground" from Labyrinth
Tangerine Dream's "Loved by the Sun" from "Legend"
"The Greatest Adventure" from the animated version of "The Hobbit"
The other David Bowie songs from "Labyrinth", though to be frank I don't like them nearly as much.

Is this a terrible idea or a cool one? Some of these songs are STILL on my playlist and I'm 27. Some of these are clearly a product of their time (i.e. 80. BAD 80s.) but could be a treat for people who recognize them. Any preshow music (if we even HAVE preshow music) is going to have to be decided through discussion with our eventual sound designer, but this is one thought I've had.