a "pandemonium" for narrator and orchestra
Music by Michael Valenti • Text by Ron Spivak
Based on an unpublished children's poem
by Joan Behrens Bergman and Janet Mishler
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Duration: approx. 20 minutes
Orchestration: Piccolo / Flute / Oboe / English Horn / 2 Bb Clarinets / 2 Bassoons / 2 Horns in F / 2 Trumpets in Bb / Trombone / Percussion / Timpani / H
arp / Strings
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“The conductor was looking a little upset. Before we tackle the next composition,
Why don’t we all take a small intermission?’”
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A bungled rehearsal. Talking musical instruments that criticize each other’s playing (when no "humans" are looking). These are the elements that make up THE NOISY INTERMISSION, a delightful new work for orchestra and narrator that will entertain — and educate — the entire family. Based on the children’s poem by Joan Behrens Bergman and Janet Mishler, THE NOISY INTERMISSION tells -- in charmingly rhymed verse -- the story of an orchestra rehearsing for an upcoming concert. When the musicians leave for a break, the instruments magically come to life, introducing us to some fascinating characters: the romantic violin, the snooty oboe, the gossipy clarinet, the indecisive trombone, the nervous harp, and many others. Their arguments lead to chaos, until a stern reprimand from the baton makes them learn the value of cooperation. In Michael’s stirring musical realization of the story, the instruments’ leitmotifs at first clash in a dissonant cacophony, but then ultimately blend in a melodic, soaring “Finale.”
As the baton declares, “You need harmony, or it all falls apart!”
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Conductor’s Score
Piano / Vocal (rehearsal) score
THE NOISY INTERMISSION is available for public performance. Spivak is also available to perform it in person. For further information and performance rights, contact:
Michael Valenti — [email protected]
or
Ron Spivak — [email protected]
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MICHAEL VALENTI (music) composed, arranged, and conducted the music for the Emmy Award winning television series, A WALK THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY. For CBS radio he shared the Peabody Award for NEWSMARK. His numerous Broadway credits include OH BROTHER!, CLOTHES FOR A SUMMER HOTEL (Tennessee Williams’ last play, which starred Geraldine Page), H***Y TONK NIGHTS, BLACKSTONE!, and BLOOD RED ROSES. Off-Broadway he composed scores for, among others, MADEMOISELLE COLOMBE starring Tammy Grimes, which received five Outer Critic Circle Award nominations including two for Valenti’s book and music. His SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS is still the longest running children’s musical ever produced in New York, and his version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST continues to enjoy productions worldwide. In 2003 the Goodspeed Opera House presented his musical O.HENRY’S LOVERS (written with librettist Joe DiPietro). In 1995 Mr. Valenti composed PROCESSIONAL FOR A PONTIFF, a large orchestral work which was written for the entrance of Pope John Paul II into Central Park, New York, on the occasion of his celebration of the Eucharist. In 1989 he conducted the premier of his dramatic oratorio, THE WAY, which is based on the fourteen stations of the cross and starred Davis Gaines, Judy Kaye and Christine Andreas. The Goldman Memorial Band at Lincoln Center has performed all of Mr. Valenti’s published concert band pieces. In August 1987, he was given a retrospective at Lincoln Center under the direction of maestro Ainslee Cox, during which the band premiered his BIG APPLE MARCH. The following year Valenti was invited by the band to conduct the premier performance of his BLACK HAWK MARCH. From 2002-2009 Mr. Valenti composed the music for the annual productions of THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS. In 2004 Marshall University established The Michael Valenti Music Collection in the College of Fine Arts and The Michael Valenti Graduate Assistantship where he has served as Composer-in-Residence. In 2007 his original manuscripts were exhibited at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, at Lincoln Center.
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RON SPIVAK (text) is an actor, singer, stage director and musical theatre historian; he has dedicated much of his life to the restoration/preservation of cast recordings, scripts, scores and other musical theatre ephemera. He wrote, directed, and has performed (as narrator and singer) his acclaimed symphonic concerts BRAVO TO BROADWAY and RICHARD RODGERS RE-VUED with major orchestras, and has sung with such Broadway and cabaret luminaries as Steve Ross, Julie Wilson, Jane White and Andrea McArdle. His two man r***e IT'S BETTER WITH A BARITONE, co-starring Rocky Blumhagen, has won acclaim with orchestras (and -- in a more intimate version -- in nightclubs) across the country. As Musicals Editor/Archivist for the esteemed Samuel French play publishers, Mr. Spivak prepared the published scripts and scores for more than 50 musicals, and also unearthed and cataloged the long-lost scripts and orchestrations to more than two dozen early Broadway musicals, including George and Ira Gershwin’s original version of OF THEE I SING, which led to CBS’s acclaimed recording conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. He has composed the historical liner notes for several cast recordings, and wrote for SHOW MUSIC MAGAZINE. He has played leading roles in the musicals MAN OF LA MANCHA, GUYS & DOLLS, COMPANY, DAMN YANKEES, ANNIE, GODSPELL, LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE, and JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS, in Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta RUDDIGORE, and in the plays BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE, Seneca’s THYESTES, and A THOUSAND CLOWNS. Most recently, he was in the Off-Broadway revival of PROMENADE, and may be heard as the bashful Constantine Levin on the world premiere studio cast recording of ANNA KARENINA: THE AUDIO MUSICAL. Spivak’s directing credits include the musicals A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, MAN OF LA MANCHA, COMPANY and the plays NEXT, THE BALD SOPRANO and THE LESSON. An alumnus of Cornell University with degrees in English and Theatre Arts, Mr. Spivak is also a gifted playwright, and author of the fantasy/drama MERLIN REDUX.
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Copyright © 2011 Michael Valenti / Ron Spivak
