by Steven Blier | Jan 21, 2019 | Blier's Blog
After all that work and all my crazy anxiety, I am happy to report that the show went quite brilliantly on Thursday. The place was packed. The cast was on fire—seven vibrant personalities, set free in a way you don’t always see at my school. Mary Birnbaum’s staging...
by Steven Blier | Jan 17, 2019 | Blier's Blog
Dress rehearsal. This is usually when I have my worst day at the piano, when every ounce of grace and fluidity is replaced by gristly tendons and a rotating display of tiny memory slips. Imagine a light case of arthritis accompanied by a series of mini-strokes—that is...
by Steven Blier | Jan 16, 2019 | Blier's Blog
We had our first day in the hall today. This move is less disconcerting these days than it was when we started NYFOS@Juilliard in 2006. Going from a small room—in those days, my apartment—to the 1000-seat Peter J. Sharp Theater used to feel like a Great Disappearing...
by Steven Blier | Jan 14, 2019 | Blier's Blog
Last Tuesday I was ready to rehearse Kurt Weill’s Berlin, and I am now ready to play the show on Thursday. But I was not ready for how deep it was going to cut. My soul has gotten a workout this week, in a wonderful way. I guess it all began with my gradual awareness...
by Steven Blier | Jan 13, 2019 | Blier's Blog
Today we had two visitors: Marianne Barrett, who coaches German at Juilliard, and Jeremy Lawrence, a specialist in the songs of the Weimar Era. He did the translations for Ute Lemper’s CD of Berlin cabaret songs (we’re using two of them), and he also has his own show,...
by Steven Blier | Jan 12, 2019 | Blier's Blog
Mary Birnbaum finished staging the show today. A minor miracle—I remember Sunday and Monday sessions (before Tuesday concerts!) permeated with under-the-gun anxiety as we routine some very complicated choreography. Kurt Weill’s Berlin is less dance-heavy, so that has...
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