Host Luisa Lyons chats with performer and writer Alexandra Palting whose new solo musical 0874 A Filipino American Love Story recently played the She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival, where the show won Best Score. The musical tells the story of when Alex’s college boyfriend moved across the country and her Lola (grandmother) showed her a grocery bag filled with hundreds of love letters from Alex’s grandfather.

Alex shares how her Lola inspired not only the show but Alex’s love of musical theatre, her unique vocal approach to writing her one woman show, the development of the show, and the process of performing in the She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival.

Alexandra Palting is an actor and writer based in New York City. She is the performer, writer, lyricist and co-composer of 0874: A Filipino-American Love Story, a one-woman musical that tells the story of her grandparents’ courtship and immigration to the United States. The show premiered off-Broadway at the Connelly Theater during SheNYC Arts (Festival winner: Best Score) and was developed through The Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage residency.  She has performed her music at venues including The Lincoln Theatre and Merriweather Post Pavilion and has sung at venues from the swing clubs of Baltimore to the Vatican. Favorite acting credits include CATF, Olney Theatre Center, Imagination Stage, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, The Keegan Theatre, InterAct Theatre Co. and Shakespeare in Clark Park. Her on-camera work can be seen on "Law and Order," in independent films, and in productions for clients like Apple, the NIH, and Home Depot. Her work as an audiobook narrator can be heard anywhere from NYT Bestsellers at MacMillan Publishers to Microsoft. As a producer, she has raised over $60,000 for arts organizations that champion diverse voices and for nonprofits like Feeding America and RAINN that provided direct aid to vulnerable populations throughout the pandemic. She studied at the University of Delaware, RADA, and Harvard Online Business School. @alpal1210, alexandramariapalting.com.

Show Links

• Alex Palting: https://www.alexandramariapalting.com/
• The Making of “0874: A Filipino-American Love Story” at the Kennedy Center: https://youtu.be/uyY5pHSDbOI

This Week on the Filmed Live Musicals Calendar

​Discover new musicals:

• We’ve Battled Monsters Before - a new American-Filipino indie-folk musical)
• Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir - a rock and roll musical set in a mythical dive bar
• The Boy Who Kissed the Sky - inspired by the early life of Jimi Hendrix​​ ​

Cabarets
Catch performances by Broadway veterans and a cabaret featuring the talents of Broadway standbys, understudies, and alternates!

Last Chance!
It’s your last weekend to livestream Opera Wyoming’s macabre musical Ride the Cyclone.

Find out where you can watch these musicals and more
​in the Filmed Live Musicals streaming calendar!

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Immersive Audio Sondheim
Masterworks Broadway have released “immersive audio” editions of the original cast albums of Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Into the Woods, and Company. Sondheim himself consulted on the remastering of each album prior to his death in 2021. Each album is available via Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. 

Where to Stream:
Sweeney Todd: Amazon, Apple
Assassins: Amazon, Apple
Into the Woods: Amazon, Apple
Company: Amazon, Apple

​For more info visit Masterworks Broadway.

New books

• Fixing the Musical: How Technologies Shaped the Broadway Repertory 

Doug Reside, curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts makes the case for the fact that the musicals we most remember are those which most effectively used their era's best recording and distribution technologies to document and share the work with those who would never see the original production on Broadway. The book will be available from August 25, 2023. Available for pre-order via Amazon and Bookshop.org.

• THE TONY AWARDS: A CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE IN THEATRE

A new coffee table book by Eila Mell and the American Theatre Wing featuring over 130 interviews, and 400 photographs celebrating the history of over 75 years of Broadway greatness. The book also features a forward by six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald. Currently available for pre-order, the book will be released in April, 2024. Pre-order via Amazon or Bookshop.org.

More Musical Theatre Games: Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
Last week I shared info on the new Hamilton Simulator, and this week saw the launch of another musical-themed game Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical. Gods. Romance. Murder. Musical Numbers?! Play as Grace in a world where Greek Gods live in hiding among us. Change your fate as you draw friends, foes & lovers into song using your powers of musical persuasion to unravel the mystery of the Last Muse's death. The game features music by Grammy-nominee Austin Wintory, and Australian musicians Tripod (Scott Edgar, Steven Gates, and Simon Hall), and Montaigne. The character voices are provided by The Last of Us actors Laura Bailey and Ashley Johnson, along with Felicia Day, Troy Baker, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and Merle Dandridge as the Gods. Stray Gods is available now on STEAM, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and X/S, PC and PS4/5.

SIX: Teen Edition
The Teen Edition of the international hit musical SIX is now available for licensing in the US via Concord Theatricals. It is also available in the UK. A release date on the West End capture of the musical has yet to be announced.

Children of Eden

A special one-night-only concert performance of John Caird and Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden was filmed at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago in October, 2022. The production featured over 150 performers, including Michelle Williams, Randal Keith, Koryn Hawthorne, David Phelps, and Sam Tsui. The film is expected to be released later this year.

This Week On the Calendar
Ride the Cyclone
Two different productions of the cult favorite musical about 6 teens in a chamber choir whose lives are cut short in a freak accident aboard a roller coaster.

Fifty Key stage Musicals
The Routledge Key Guide book in concert!

Gilbert & Sullivan Festival
Catch 9 G&S productions streaming from the 29th International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Factotum
Stream a new opera for free from the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Midnight Gang
A special one for the kids from London’s inclusive theatre company Chickenshed.

Come to the Cabaret
Catch Broadway performers such as Ann Hampton Callaway, Stephanie Torns, Caroline Illiff, and Jonathan Hoover performing their signature cabarets.

​And more! 

A Strange Loop Filmed in London
Although not yet confirmed by the production, it was announced on Twitter/X this week that the West End transfer of Michael R. Jackson’s “big, Black and queer-ass American Broadway show” has been filmed in London.

Hamilton
The mega-hit musical Hamilton has announced two partnerships this week that extend the musicals reach into the virtual world and onto the pickleball court.

Hamilton Simulator
The musical has paired with gaming company Super League and Small World Games to release a new immersive digital experience which allows players to step in to the world of the musical, and American history. The game commences on a ship arriving at the Old New York Docks, and users can unlock collectible versions of Hamilton characters that become companions on their journey, rapping, singing, and going head-to-head with adversaries as they go deeper into the narrative world brought to life on Broadway. The Hamilton Simulator is available for free on Roblox.

Hamilton Pickleball Paddles
Pickleball — a hybrid of tennis, ping-pong and badminton — has been around since the 1960s and has been named the fastest growing sport by The Sports & Fitness Industry Association three years running, can now be played with USA Pickleball Association-approved paddles! To celebrate National Pickleball Day on August 8, Hamilton announced a partnership with the female-led Nettie, a company specializing in pickleball gear, and released a Hamilton emblazoned paddle featuring the quote “I’m not throwing away my shot.” Paddles are available for $99.99 from Hamilton and Nettie.

NOW FREE: A Spotlight On
Launched earlier in 2023, the British platform features interviews, shorts, documentaries, performances, and masterclasses. Most content is now freely available, with additional content available via a premium subscription. More info and access via A Spotlight On.

Back to the Future on Good Morning America

To celebrate the opening of the West End musical on Broadway, the cast of Back to the Future performed “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” on Good Morning America.

TOP OF THE UNIVERSE: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - “Subspace Rhapsody” 
According to Screen Rant, the soundtrack for Star Trek’s first musical episode topped the iTunes streaming charts after its release, charting at #1 in the Top 100 Soundtracks and #3 Top 100 Albums. The soundtrack features music and lyrics by Letters To Cleo's Kay Hanley and Tom Polce (the latter of whom also wrote for Crazy Ex Girlfriend). “Subspace Rhapsody” is available to stream via Apple.

​Stage Access & ReachTV
The streaming platform Stage Access has partnered with travel entertainment provider ReachTV to broadcast opera, ballet, and concerts in airports and hotel rooms across the United States.