Michael Kaplan
Musical Theater and Storytelling
A Hit at the Florida New Musical Festival!
The 2024 Florida New Musical Festival held in Winter Park was a dream - an incredibly talented cast knocked audiences out performing our 1st Act. Here's Michael with the cast and creative team.
Photos from 2022 staged readings in Dallas, Texas and Cambria, California
Like everyone else, I sit in awe of Stephen Sondheim. But deep down, Frank Loesser is really my guy. I love his irresistible melodies and the way he uses songs to bail characters out of sticky situations. Foodies is my humble attempt at the Frank Loesser model, and it's a very farcical plot with plenty of hummable songs.
Take a hilarious tour of Foodies!
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In the last 2 years, Foodies has received 4 staged readings around the country, beginning with a production in Dallas through musicalwriters.com, produced and directed by Rebecca Lowrey. Check out some highlights from these performances.
Our Most Performed Song - and a Dance Number!
And the winner of most performed song from Foodies is…the Reprise of “I Thought It Was Too Late For Me.” In this video, Jeff Mar artfully edits together three different performances from 2022: Rebecca Lowrey’s staged reading in April (Dallas); a cabaret performance at the Musical Writers Festival in July (also in Dallas); and a staged reading in Cambria, California in November 2022. Many thanks to the wonderful performers: Greg Gorrindo, Tara Brinkman, Brian Hathaway, Taylor Willis and Laura Lites Collins.
And from the Cambria staged reading...a chance to push the form, sweep aside the music stands, and go for a full-on production number. (Well, sort of!)
A Single-Episode Podcast
As we finished writing the show, we found ourselves in the middle of Covid lockdown. Using a blend of Zoom dialogue and socially distanced recording sessions, we created a podcast that plays like a SparkNotes version of the show. 11 songs, bits of story, and real taste of the Foodies experience.
Demo Recordings
For those of you who would rather cut to the chase, here are all the individual tracks...