UbuSound

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

By Luis Alfaro

• Directed by Tracy Young
• Sets by Robert Brill
• Costumes by Nephelie Andonyadis
• Lights by Russell Champa
• Sound & Music by Jeremy J Lee
• Produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Bill Rauch Artistic Director

What a great month it’s been! About a month ago, we started on our Vacation Journey 2008! We had been talking about going to Turkey for a while, and finally saved up enough money and had enough time in the calendar to do it. On the way, we stopped in Amsterdam for a couple of days, as most of the flights had a layover there.

We’re back now, but here’s some teaser pictures for the moment:

A bike in Amsterdam.

The main theatre in Ephesus - up to 25,000 people could attend!

Cappadocia - Mushroom Fairy Chimneys

A balloon ride in Cappadocia

Goreme and the region from above

For more pictures, go to the photo gallery.

Man, has it been a long time between posts here.  We just got back from a FANTASTIC vacation, and I’ll put some photos up as soon as I weed through them a little.  But here’s something from a few weeks ago to tide you over:

I not only love that the NYPD is finding more creative and expensive ways to avoid walking, but the looks on the people’s faces in the background is priceless.

Here’s another fun shot.  I’m going to be helping move AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY literally next door to another Broadway house.  It’s cool that there’s 2 marquees for the same show on the same block:

So, until I get through my latest pictures from vacation, those will have to do.

Misery by Stephen King, adapted by Simon Moore

• Directed by Emma Griffin
• Sets by Felix Cochren
• Costumes by Jessica Trejos
• Lights by Mark Barton
• Sound & Music by Jeremy J. Lee
• Produced by Syracuse Stage, Tim Bond Artistic Director

OK- so we all know the story of Misery. You get a writer of romantic fiction into a car crash, and have him saved by his “Number One Fan”. She turns out to be his savior and tormentor at the same time. Everyone remembers the “hobbling” scene with Kathy Bates.

But it turns out that this story makes for some pretty good theatre as well. I used Brahms’ String Sextet No 1 as “Misery’s Theme”, and manipulated the music throughout the play. We also got to play with some wonderful psychological sound design elements.

Misery’s Theme

Also, a shout out to the props department, that let me do this to their typewriter. I spent about 20 minutes bashing this into various things to get the right sound for the last fight. Fantastic!

The press also seemed to like it-

Lighting designer Mark Barton and sound designer Jeremy J. Lee pull out all the stops for the climactic scene in the second act of Misery…

In terms of production values, Misery is a Syracuse Stage landmark, among the most outstanding of recent years. Mark Barton’s lighting and Jeremy J. Lee’s sound design are important supporting players, and Jessica Trejos’ costume design reveals unspoken elements in Annie’s autobiography.

Syracuse New Times

Jeremy J. Lee’s sound designs call for special mention. They are almost a third character, creating the world outside the house that Paul cannot get to.

Syracuse Post Standard

… Mark Barton’s lighting and Jeremy J Lee’s sound really took the mood-creating cake here, with the freaky flickering lamps, the thunder and lightning, the weird buzzing reminiscent of backyard bug-lights.

House Lights on Syracuse.com

Here’s the work in progress that is Song For New York. It’s a project with Mabou Mines that I’m co-designing with Rob Kaplowitz. I love the water, but doing a show on a barge is proving to be challenging indeed! Nothing like water, electricity, metal, rain, and lightning to kick start the creative process.

Come out to Gantry Park in LIC the first week of September to see how it all turns out. It should be quite a good show.