After 20 years of only modestly presenting our works to the public, Tommy Dodson and I, as the entity, “Musical SoCal,” have decided to latch our fortunes onto the YouTube spinning wheel. Since our forte is stage musicals, we were uncertain as to how this art form would relate to the YouTube requirement for brevity, with regard to a successful continuous series. We are aware that success can be both promotional and monetary.
We had already begun to veer from the strictly live, stage presentation of our musicals. Not too long ago, we made a video of our, “Blues, Booze and Attitude” one-man musical. We were new at it, but did the best we could in our cramped music/video studio. With the resultant product, we made an unsuccessful stab at video on demand (VOD). We consider problematical the fact that we sequenced the video just as the musical had been performed on stage. Actually, it should have been edited to correspond with the requirements of a filmed product. Fortunately, Tommy’s Tableaus is giving us the opportunity to do just that.
A few weeks ago, we placed the first of the Tableau series on YouTube. The initial response has been enough for us to continue. With Tommy’s position in the cat-bird seat at the insides-lighted-and-revealed grand piano at Stacey’s Piano Bar in Palm Springs he has been able to spread the word in a very direct manner Results have been seen on that score.
“Blues, Booze and Attitude” is a story that takes place during the Great Depression. Thad Johnson, who is musically active in the church, scratches out a living as a piano entertainer, Spats Dollar, in a bawdy house run by Ma Danner. With his mother and grandmother respectively cheering on the angel and devil perched on his shoulders, Fats/Thad finds himself rattling between the blues and the Hebrews of the Old Testament. The segments on YT consist of a short intro by Tommy, and no more than one song at a time, provides the opportunity for a belated but effective editing of the video.
The second of the series has just been posted. Contrasting with Spats bluesing it up at Ma Danner’s, it shows Thad singing gospel, with Ol’ Rev urging him on.
Comments