Tag Archives: musicals

The Magic of The Musical: Series 2 Episode 1 now on Mixcloud

MUSICAL THEATER FANS:  Our sec­ond sea­son of month­ly shows, live from Angel Manor, began on April 15… but if you missed it, here’s your chance to catch up: Lis­ten again on Mixcloud!

THIS EPISODE:
“Musi­cals with­in Musicals”

Every­thing is “meta” these days, but just a few cul­tur­al rev­o­lu­tions ago a young and devel­op­ing Amer­i­can musi­cal the­ater dis­cov­ered the val­ue of self-ref­er­en­tial sto­ry­telling. This episode looks at musi­cals which “break the fourth wall” by acknowl­edg­ing the audi­ence — and even include their own musicals!

Lis­ten again on Mixcloud!

The Magic of The Musical: The Tony Awards

Our new sea­son of The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal with Cale­do­nia Sky­tow­er begins in April, but in the run-up to that time, we’re repeat­ing some of last sea­son’s pro­grammes, so today, Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18th at 2pm slt/pacific you can hear our show on the Tony Awards, orig­i­nal­ly broad­cast live from SL19B last year.

The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal explores the blend­ing of music and dra­ma — fea­tur­ing the songs, his­to­ry, and lore that make up the musi­cal the­ater canon. Learn more about some of your favorite shows and com­posers as we cue the orches­tra, and the over­ture begins.

In this, Episode 03: “Count­down to The Tony Awards” your host Cale­do­nia Sky­tow­er talks to guest Mor­rie Enders, the Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Lin­coln Com­mu­ni­ty Play­house in Nebras­ka. Togeth­er they explore some “what ifs” and “might have been“s from var­i­ous Best Musi­cal races from the Amer­i­can The­ater Wing’s Tony Awards past.

In keep­ing with the show, “On Broad­way!” is our Fea­tured Music theme through the day. And don’t miss the episode of Where Have You Been? where we vis­it Svar­ga, and Engines of Our Inge­nu­ity every four hours from 4am Pacific.

The Magic of The Musical: “With Cat-Like Tread”

Tune in on Sat­ur­day Jan­u­ary 21st at 2pm pacific/slt for anoth­er chance to hear a show in our orig­i­nal series, “The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal”! The series con­tin­ues with brand new episodes from April, but until then we are repeat­ing a few of our favourite episodes in the third Sat­ur­day of the month slot.

In this edi­tion, “With Cat-Like Tread” focus­es on the influ­ence of the dis­tinc­tive operettas of W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sul­li­van on Amer­i­can musi­cal theater’s evo­lu­tion years lat­er in the 20th C.  Host Cale­do­nia Sky­tow­er is joined by guest Elrik Mer­lin as they com­pare and con­trast with views from both sides of “the pond.”

At the height of the Vic­to­ri­an era in Eng­land, a part­ner­ship devel­oped between drama­tist W.S. Gilbert and com­pos­er Arthur Sul­li­van that result­ed in a form of operetta so unique that it is reg­u­lar­ly referred to as its own genre: “G&S” – Gilbert and Sul­li­van.  Their dozen musi­cal shows direct­ly influ­enced musi­cal the­ater in the 20th C, intro­duc­ing inno­va­tions in con­tent and form that are still part of the lan­guage of musi­cals today. They’ve stood the tests of time, pol­i­tics, and par­o­dy – often­times encour­ag­ing the lat­ter. Their shows are still wide­ly per­formed in the Eng­lish speak­ing world, and Gilbert and Sul­li­van soci­eties abound in North America.

The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal explores the blend­ing of music and dra­ma — fea­tur­ing the songs, his­to­ry, and lore that make up the musi­cal the­ater canon. Learn more about some of your favorite shows and com­posers as we cue the orches­tra, and the over­ture begins.

Also Today … 

NOTE: The actor men­tioned in this episode who por­trayed the Police Con­sta­ble in the 1980 New York Pub­lic The­ater pro­duc­tion was actu­al­ly Tony Azi­to, not Tony Ansel­mo. Azi­to was an Amer­i­can eccen­tric dancer and char­ac­ter actor.  Ansel­mo is an Amer­i­can voice actor, best known as the voice of Don­ald Duck.

The Magic of The Musical: “With Cat-Like Tread” Now On Mixcloud

The lat­est episode of “The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal” is now avail­able on Mix­cloud! Click here to lis­ten

“With Cat-Like Tread” focus­es on the influ­ence of the dis­tinc­tive operettas of W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sul­li­van on Amer­i­can musi­cal theater’s evo­lu­tion years lat­er in the 20th C.  Host Cale­do­nia Sky­tow­er is joined by guest Elrik Mer­lin as they com­pare and con­trast with views from both sides of “the pond.”

At the height of the Vic­to­ri­an era in Eng­land, a part­ner­ship devel­oped between drama­tist W.S. Gilbert and com­pos­er Arthur Sul­li­van that result­ed in a form of operetta so unique that it is reg­u­lar­ly referred to as its own genre: “G&S” – Gilbert and Sul­li­van.  Their dozen musi­cal shows direct­ly influ­enced musi­cal the­ater in the 20th C, intro­duc­ing inno­va­tions in con­tent and form that are still part of the lan­guage of musi­cals today. They’ve stood the tests of time, pol­i­tics, and par­o­dy – often­times encour­ag­ing the lat­ter. Their shows are still wide­ly per­formed in the Eng­lish speak­ing world, and Gilbert and Sul­li­van soci­eties abound in North America.

The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal explores the blend­ing of music and dra­ma — fea­tur­ing the songs, his­to­ry, and lore that make up the musi­cal the­ater canon. Learn more about some of your favorite shows and com­posers as we cue the orches­tra, and the over­ture begins.

NOTE: The actor men­tioned in this episode who por­trayed the Police Con­sta­ble in the 1980 New York Pub­lic The­ater pro­duc­tion was actu­al­ly Tony Azi­to, not Tony Ansel­mo. Azi­to was an Amer­i­can eccen­tric dancer and char­ac­ter actor.  Ansel­mo is an Amer­i­can voice actor, best known as the voice of Don­ald Duck.

The Magic of The Musical Episode 05: “Every Song is a Scene”

*This show is now avail­able on Mixcloud.

Join us at the VCRa­dio The­ater on Chest­nut Hills in #Sec­ondlife at 2pm pacific/slt on Sat­ur­day, August 20, or tune in and lis­ten to the show live on Vir­tu­al Com­mu­ni­ty Radio.

This month we fea­ture the work of the late com­pos­er and lyri­cist Stephen Sond­heim, who passed at age 91 in 2021. Sond­heim was the most impor­tant fig­ure in the Amer­i­can musi­cal the­ater of the last half cen­tu­ry. Host Cale­do­nia Sky­tow­er is joined on-the-air by spe­cial guest, David Duvall.

Duvall has been an ardent stu­dent and teacher of musi­cal the­ater for over 40 years. He is a com­pos­er, arranger, musi­cian and direc­tor whose work has been pri­mar­i­ly the­atri­cal, but who has also worked in tele­vi­sion, earn­ing 2 Emmy nominations.

The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal explores the blend­ing of music and dra­ma — fea­tur­ing the songs, his­to­ry, and lore that make up the musi­cal the­ater canon. Learn more about some of your favorite shows and com­posers as we cue the orches­tra, and the over­ture begins.

Links of Inter­est for this episode:

The Magic of The Musical Episode 04: “A New Vision”

The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal, Episode 04 “A New Vision”
… fea­tur­ing the life and works of Oscar Ham­mer­stein II. Join us at the VCRa­dio The­ater on Chest­nut Hills in #Sec­ondlife at 2pm pacific/slt on Sat­ur­day, July 16, or tune in and lis­ten to the show live on Vir­tu­al Com­mu­ni­ty Radio.

The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal explores the blend­ing of music and dra­ma — fea­tur­ing the songs, his­to­ry, and lore that make up the musi­cal the­ater canon. Learn more about some of your favorite shows and com­posers as we cue the orches­tra, and the over­ture begins.

In keep­ing with today’s show, “On Broad­way!” is our Fea­tured Music theme through the day. And don’t miss the lat­est episode of Where Have You Been? which this time vis­its the Uni­ty Project at Rain­bow Painters Gallery, and Engines of Our Inge­nu­ity every four hours from 4am Pacific.

*This show is now avail­able on Mixcloud

Saturday 16th — A Busy Day!

There’s a lot hap­pen­ing today on Vir­tu­al Com­mu­ni­ty Radio! Be a part of it by tun­ing in or attend­ing one of today’s events in Sec­ond Life…

Catch the lat­est edi­tion of Where Have You Been? at noon or 4pm Pacific/SLT, 8pm or mid­night in the UK, where we find things to do and places to see around the Sec­ond Life Grid. In this episode we vis­it Seren­i­ty Val­ley.

Then from 1 to 2pm SLT, get a per­son­al Tarot read­ing from Hon­ey Heart, co-host of our orig­i­nal series Tarot @ Teatime, in the Tarot tent in VCRa­dio Plaza. Read­ings are free of charge, total­ly con­fi­den­tial and for enter­tain­ment pur­pos­es only.

Today’s Fea­tured Music is… Musi­cals! In cel­e­bra­tion of the first of our new month­ly series pre­sent­ed by Cale­do­nia Sky­tow­er: The Mag­ic of The Musi­cal! which pre­mieres today at 2pm Pacific/SLT, 10pm in the UK. Tune in or be part of the stu­dio audi­ence at the VCRa­dio The­ater! (See sep­a­rate entry.)