As part of my Valentine's Day Sampler Week, I have a treat for all of you..jpg)
In the spirit of the holiday season, the Glee Club performed carols for the public last week at the bookstore.
This week, I've got tidbits about Penn "entertainment" alumni on TV, stage ...and on Penn's campus!
And I would also like to take this opportunity to dedicate this video to the memory of the Glee Club's former director, Bruce "Monty" Montgomery. (click here to see exclusive DT videos from when the Glee Club honored Monty on his 80th birthday)
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"Bruce Montgomery had the Glee Club do two numbers which called for flutes or recorders but where he whistled those parts personally. One night, he came up dry and couldn't get his whistle going. After that concert, I told him, "I could do that for you." And he handed the whistling over to me. From then on, I did all the whistling. On one special occasion, I got to whistle with the Glee Club for Japanese Emperor Hirohito's brother, Prince Mikassa and his princess at the William S. Payley House on the Mainline. So my public concert whistling career started at Penn."
This month Steve will be traveling to Tokyo and Osaka to compete in this year's International Whistling Convention and Competition plus 3 concerts. Facebook MySpace Friendster Twitter Digg
With sad news, I report the passing of Penn Glee Club's former director Bruce "Monty" Montgomery.
While I had few interactions with Monty during my years at Penn, he always seemed to embody the spirit of Penn.
Click here to read the obituary that came from Monty's family ..and watch 2 videos from Monty's 80th birthday last year (including a touching speech he gave)
Add your comments/memories about Monty below!"Bruce Eglinton Montgomery, one of America's leading authorities on Gilbert & Sullivan, died suddenly at his summer home on the coast of Maine on June 21st, 2008. The Chestnut Hill resident had celebrated his 81st birthday the previous day.
Mr. Montgomery, or "Monty" as he was known to many, hailed from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he directed musical organizations, many of which were dedicated to Gilbert & Sullivan. He was a long-time member of the Orpheus Club, where he was also named an honorary member for his appearances as guest conductor. He was a true renaissance man: painter, poet, composer, lyricist, author, choral arranger and conductor. He also served on the boards of the Theodore H. Presser Foundation and the Edwin B. Garrigues Foundation. A colorful and vibrant man until the very end, he was beloved by the countless performers and audience members whose lives he touched over a long and distinguished career.
Montgomery served as director of the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club for 44 years (1956-2000), writing, directing, choreographing and conducting their shows on many tours around the world. He published a memoir in 2005 entitled Brothers, Sing On!: My Half-Century Around The World With The Penn Glee Club published by University of Pennsylvania Press, relating many of his favorite stories from his tenure as director of the Glee Club, as well as reminiscences about his Gilbert and Sullivan activities. Montgomery served for many years as director and/or music director of Penn's Mask & Wig Club, the University Band, the Penn Players, and many other musical and theatrical groups at Penn before his retirement in 2000. In 1971 he helped to create the Penn Singers, a student light opera and musical theatre company, and continued to serve as their director until his death.
Montgomery was the Artistic Director of the Gilbert & Sullivan Players of Philadelphia - a group founded by his father, tenor James Montgomery - for over three decades after his father died in 1955. Under his guidance, the group produced over 65 productions. He directed and performed leading comedic roles in each of the 14 Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He then served as stage director for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Chester County, PA from 1987 until 2007. Montgomery's works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and many other performing groups. The music he wrote for Gilbert and Sullivan's Thespis in the 1950s, for which most of Sullivan's original score was lost, was produced on several occasions, including the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England in 2000.
After his 1963 Irish folk opera, Spindrift, was performed by the Penn Players, he wrote the music and lyrics for a hit 1964 off-Broadway show, The Amorous Flea, receiving rave reviews in the New York papers as "the greatest melodist since Jerome Kern and the greatest lyricist since Larry Hart." The show is still performed in regional theater around the globe.
In 2005 Montgomery received an honorary doctorate degree from his alma mater, Bethany College, in Lindsborg, Kansas. He was also named "Man of the Year" by the Friars Club of Philadelphia in 2006.
After this long and distinguished career Monty was honored by The University of Pennsylvania, where the studio theater at The Annenberg Center was renamed the "Bruce Montgomery Theatre." The newly renovated theater was unveiled at a gala celebration on May 10, 2008, marked by live performances of his original compositions. It was the crowning achievement in the life of an amazing and gifted man and was his last public appearance.
Montgomery was looking forward to directing a "Gilbert & Sullivan Entertainment" this autumn in honor of Charles Spencer, the Ninth Lord Spencer, brother to Princess Diana, at a benefit for Studio Incamminati.
Montgomery is survived by an older brother, James Montgomery, two younger sisters, Constance Cook and Elizabeth Thomas, ten nieces and nephews, ten great nieces and nephews, a great-great nephew and a great-great niece.
Burial will be private and a memorial Celebration of Life is planned for early Autumn in Philadelphia. A date will be announced on Monty's website: http://www.montyart.com/.
In lieu of flowers Monty's family requests that contributions be made to:
The Glee Club Endowment Fund #402396, c/o Platt Student Performing Arts House, 160 Stouffer Commons, 3702 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (For further information, phone 215-898-2312). Known as the "150 x 150 Campaign," this fund was established to honor the Penn Glee Club's 150 years of continuous operation. Gifts can also be made online here or by going to http://www.makinghistory.upenn.edu/, clicking give now on the right, click I am ready to make my credit card gift, then find the Glee Club Endowed Fund under Cultural Resources & Student Life."
Read all about Monty's history from his book, Brothers, Sing On!: My Half-Century Around The World With The Penn Glee Club
More on Monty's website
Watch DT exclusive videos below from the 2007 Alumni Weekend where the Glee Club honored Monty on his 80th birthday!
See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com
(from l to r) Mark Huerta (C'09), Andrew Leonard (C'09), Kyle Andrews (SEAS'09), and Patrick Wolff (C'09)
Last week I saw on Facebook that the Glee Club was allowing people to place orders to send Singing Valentines to "that special someone."
If you enjoyed that, then you should check out the Glee Club's "Miracle on Rice" show next week: February 21, 22, 23 at 8:00 PM in the Zellerbach Theater. Tickets Available on Locust Walk from Feb. 18-22 and at the Annenberg Center Box Office. Visit www.penngleeclub.com for more information.
Did you see Marc Platt's (C'79, Glee Club) movie trailer for his upcoming film Wanted during the first half of today's Superbowl? It looked really cool. (Marc's previously produced projects include Legally Blonde and Broadway's Wicked)
Wanted stars Angelina Jolie and comes out next June. Per Yahoo Movies, here is the Wanted plot synopsis:
"25-year-old Wes was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox. After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors--including the Fraternity's enigmatic leader, Sloan--Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny. "Click here to see the Superbowl Wanted trailer
What happens when you mix professional sports with the Glee Club?
Jonah Platt (C'08) is quite the renaissance man.
Not only can Jonah sing well, and not only is he the musical director of Off the Beat, but he started and sustained an improvised musical troupe "One Night Stand" for the past 7 years (with a show in Los Angeles this week!). Talk about being involved!
...Not a big surprise, considering he comes from an involved family of Penn alumni (his mother Julie Platt (C'79) is a University Trustee and his father Marc Platt (C'79, Glee Club) is a Hollywood executive and Broadway Producer).
Jonah tells me that at his shows the audience makes up the name of a musical ("Mongoose Diaries," "Thundercats in Love," "They Came From My Mother" and "Walk of Shame" are a few recent ones) and the troupe then makes up a cohesive hourlong musical right on the spot. Per Jonah, "We make up the music, the lyrics, the dances, the dialogue-- everything completely improvised with nothing pre-planned or rehearsed."
Check out this "Walk of Shame" clip from their performance at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Jonah is the one lying on the floor and sings at minute 3)
Jonah will be performing their group's international (60 min.) hit show, One Night Stand, at the Hudson Guild Theater in LA this week on January 10 (8pm), 11 (8pm) and 12 (8pm and 10 pm). (6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038). Running Time: 60 minutes, Tickets: $15.00. To make reservations (323) 960-5773.
(I'll be there at the Saturday 8 pm show)
Their group then performs at the Dirty South Improv Festival in Chapel Hill, NC in February, then back to Edinburgh Scotland for the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where they made their debut last summer.
Click here to learn more about how Jonah started this group and some of the big name backers to his show.
Check out the "One Night Stand" website
Click to see what other 2008 Penn undergrads are up to
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Todd Shotz (C'96, Glee Club) has been named Vice President of Television Development and Production of the newly formed production company, Rifkin-Eberts. (more info here)
Todd, a '96 classmate of mine and integral part of our annual Pennfest events continues to shine. If you think he's busy as new VP, Todd also owns his own Hebrew tutoring company called Hebrew Helpers! Talk about ambition!
Mazel Tov, Todd!
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