Quite a Year

The older you get the faster the years fly by. I never thought that was true until I got - older. This was a busy year at CRT. A quick recap

JANUARY
Signed with our new publisher, Blackstone.
Was asked to do DANDELION WINE for Ray Bradbury
Began writing the script for CAPTAIN BLOOD

FEBRUARY
Recorded A VISIT WITH AESOP on the 6th, with JT Turner. The show then waits several months for the music score as we start the produce ...
CAPTAIN BLOOD - which starts recording on the 22nd.
Editing begins on CAPTAIN BLOOD

MARCH
CAPTAIN BLOOD recording is finished on the 26th, after a total of 8 sessions.
Editing continues; the show is being edited in two different formats - as a complete 7 hour continuous story, and in 17 half hour episodes for broadcast on our XM show.

APRIL
In a post production marathon for the entire month, working 15 to 20 hour days, and 125 music tracks, CAPTAIN BLOOD is complete at the end of the month and is sent off to Blackstone for a summer release. Total running time is 7 hours!
Also, worked on the DANDELION WINE script. The script was written by Ray for the stage, so sound effects and music cues and some minor alterations needed to be done to make the show work in audio. Ray approves the alterations and the show is cast.

MAY
DANDELION WINE records May 9th and May 11th, with retakes on the 15th and 16th.
Jeff begins the scrore. The month is spent in post production for this show.

JUNE
DANDELION WINE is completed towards the end of the month. 54 music cuts are created in record time for the production, and very long editing days once again. The first copy we burn is sent off to Ray.
POWDER RIVER Season 3 resumes on June 5th (Production was delayed in December 05 for CAPTAIN BLOOD) with and episode entitled TILL DEATH DO US PART. Sam Donato flies back from Florida to take part in the episodes. Sam was in the original season of POWDER RIVER as Sheriff Wilkins. He was killed off when he told us he was moving to Florida! POWDER RIVER continues recording season 3 for the month.
CHRIS SNYDER joins CRT as a post production Producer! He takes over production of POWDER RIVER.

JULY
Ray Bradbury writes and says he loves DANDELION WINE! Very kind words. He offers us SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and we immediately say YES! WHEN! he sends the script an hour later via email - THAT'S when! Awesome script!
POWDER RIVER continues recording.
on the 17th, REX TRAILER comes to Studio G and records two episodes of POWDER RIVER play Britt's father. Rex is a Boston TV Icon, and was on the air for 25 years on the show BOOMTOWN! What a night!
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW wins the Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Production of 2005!
28th - CAPTAIN BLOOD is released!

AUGUST
POWDER RIVER season 3 completes production on the 7th with the episodes THE WAGON BOY, THE NEW OWNER, and MOMENT OF TRUTH.
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES records on the 28th.

SEPTEMBER
TREASURE ISLAND is re-made! I was never happy with the original production we did in 2001 - so we did the whole thing over! Pretty much a new cast with Joe Zamparelli and Tom Berry returning to their original roles. Chris Snyder edits the show in 3-D sound.PHIL BYRNES, a detective mini-series by Sable Jak starts recording on the 25th
Jeff starts music for A VISIT WITH AESOP

OCTOBER
1st - THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW is released on CD world wide! Barnes and Noble carries it in their stores as a Halloween Special!
9th - the first episode of our new series FATHER BROWN is recorded. M.J. Elliott is writing the scripts.
13th - Guesting on THE JORDAN RICH SHOW on WBZ to plug the upcoming DANDELION WINE release, and SLEEPY HOLLOW.
16th - POWDER RIVER begins recording season 4. Production continues thru October.


NOVEMBER
1st - Blackstone releases A CHRARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS SET on CD.
Recording continues on POWDER RIVER. PHIL BYRNES continues in Post Production, the final episode is recorded on the 27th.
21st - A VISIT WITH AESOP is completed!
CRT signs a TV Development agreement for one of our series! Can't say any more at this time - but it's COOL

DECEMBER
2nd - New Production is recorded - title cannot yet be revealed!
9th - DIBBLE DOES CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK starts previews at the Michael Weller Theatre in NYC for a holiday run.
13th - DIBBLE opens Off-Broadway, produced by the Broken Watch Theatre Company.
19th - POWDER RIVER season 4 is completed with 10 episodes. The episodes were cut from 20 to 10, as we needed more time on SOMETHING WICKED.
30th- DIBBLE closes in NYC
30th - Happy Birthyday, Mom 1920-2001. :(

SOME NEW XM SHOWTIMES!

Well here's some cool news! For any of you out there who listen to us on XM Radio, we have been added to the Saturday schedule! In addition to the Mon-Fri. show, we are now on Saturdays, starting at 12 noon (EST) until 2:30pm - where all five episodes played that week will be repeated back to back. These are followed at 2:30pm with THE NEW DIBBLE SHOW in addition to it's normal times, Sat. at 7:30am and Sun. 2:30pm EST).
So, here's how it looks now

THE COLONIAL RADIO THEATRE program
MON-FRI: 2:30am, 10:30am, 6:30pm (EST)
SAT: 12:00pm to 2:30pm (EST)

THE NEW DIBBLE SHOW
Sat. 7:30am, 2:30pm (EST)
Sun. 2:30pm (EST)

XM has been very good to us, and these newly added showtimes are fantastic!

NEW SERIES

For our XM listeners, CRT will be releasing a new series come January! It's called THE DEAD LINE and deals with mystery and suspense! 15 great episodes produced and written by Jack Ward of Sonic Cinema in Halifax. We don't normally release works by other producers (have only done so once before), but I loved Jack's stories and wanted to give them a larger audience.

Also on XM in January, look for our new production of Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. Starts next week I think.

While those are playing on the air, we start production on FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES, which star J.T. Turner! Awesome scripts by M.J. Elliot. We have one in the can and 15 total are planned.

DIBBLE closes in NYC this Saturday night. I had hoped to attend the last performance, but I am behind schedule with SOMETHING WICKED and need to keep working on that (its already late - but its gonna be a good one!)

thats all for now!

Summer is Coming!

Summer? On Christmas Eve? Maybe not, BUT the release of our 1st collaboration with Ray Bradbury is only days away - and THAT is exciting!! For months now I've been talking about our production of DANDELION WINE that we were lucky enough to have produced for Ray, and on Jan. 5th, the wait is finally over! We recorded the show in May, and the original plan was for a Dec. 1st release, but it got bumped to January. Ray wrote a sequel to DANDELION WINE (50 years after writing the original)called FAREWELL SUMMER, and I hear it's quite good and people who liked the original are really enjoying it. Exciting times here at CRT!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas, and an even BETTER New Year!

So - here's the deal ... on radio I am pretty much MR. CHRISTMAS; with our Dickens Christmas CD set on sale in stores and online, Cricket on the Hearth, Seven Poor Travellers, The Chimes playing all next week on XM, Dibble Christmas shows coast to coast and stations here and there ... the OZ show that has Santa in it, THE ROAD TO OZ plays on Christmas Eve, a Christmas show playing Off-Broadway ...

and I dont even have a tree, nor have I done ANY shopping. Not a window candle to be found.

Never used to be like that. So, I gotta sit here and ask myself why. Well, I know there are a few reasons, but still - I need to stop this. It's been five years since I put a tree up!

The family next door left a Christmas card / photo in the mailbox, which was very nice of them. Great kids! The nine year old wants to write a book about mini-bikes. Last I heard he had nine pages! Now, for a nine year old, I think that's pretty good!

OTHER NEWS

Dibble got a rather nasty review from a failed playwrite - turned - critic. I mean, this review wasn't even a review - it was more like "I hate this script, Jerry Robbins can't write, the jokes suck, and it's nothing but a bomb" kinda review. He even gave away the entire plot / gag. What a guy!

Turns out David Finkle (thats his name, rymes with wrinkle) is a flopola who penned a play that closed after only (ahem) TWO PERFORMANCES in 1968, and then he tried again in 1972 and - yep, you guessed it - EL FLOP-O in seven performances. So, what we have is a bitter "if I bomb, you bomb" playwrite turned critic who seems to go after the script writing in all his "reviews." So I consider it an honor to join the ranks of shows like MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS who have been slapped by his bitterness. But, it must be horrible to be a failed playwrite who only saw a total of 9 performances before REAL critics told him to get a day job (I wont tell David that Dibble has already breezed past his performance record).

I feel sorry for people like him. A once "promising" playwrite who got a chance, bombed like the Hindenburg, and spends the rest of life trying to do the same to others. Now, I can take a bad review, but this wasn't a review; it was a rant from a failed man.
You cant touch ME, David, but nice try!

Back from a great time in NYC and the opening of DIBBLE OFF BROADWAY! What a night! Drew DeCorleto has done a magnificent job bringing our radio series THE NEW DIBBLE SHOW to life on the stage. First of all, the show looks great! The cast sits in directors chairs with their names on them (Rita, Penelope, Etc),and they are on a rise that looks like snow! Then there is a PERFECT looking Christmas Tree, and a sound effects table to die for!

In the house on opening night were playwrite/screenplay writer Michael Weller (Ragtime, Hair, Moonchildren, Zhivago), Christopher Kyle (Alexander, K-19 - The Widowmaker), Jito Lee (Set designer), and J.T. Turner (CRT).

Drew took three of the holiday radio scripts and edited them into one, and then I did some bridge work and punch ups, and then took Jeff's music cues and worked them into the show. Then he needed to cast the show - and he found the perfect cast! I really love this production, and I only wish I could see it again. I have to thank EVERYONE involved and I hope that anyone who reads my blog and lives in the NYC area will see the show and support the Broken Watch Theatre Company!!

Last night we recorded another POWDER RIVER episode! We have three more to do on Monday (which I now need to write) and then I think I'm going to give the show a rest for a while. That will give us 60 episodes, and I need to focus on our Bradbury productions and also a VERY EXCITING project I will mention here soon.

So, back to the old drawing board. Hope you can get to NYC and pay Dibble a visit!

OUTTA HERE

Off to NYC for the opening night of DIBBLE Off Broadway! Late night finishing up another POWDER RIVER script that we tape on Wednesday. busy, busy!

DIBBLE STEPS OUT

Previews start today in NYC for DIBBLE DOES CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK! at the Michael Weller Theater. Drew DeCorleto is directing a fantastic cast, and I wish them all a ton of success! The plays official opening is Monday night, the 11th!

More writing today.

DANDELION WINE - JAN.5TH

Our production of RAY BRADBURY'S DANDELION WINE is released on Jan.5th from Blackstone Audio! Here is the official cover art! It's already available for pre-sales in the usual places (Amazon, Borders, ect) and I have a good feeling about this one! Not only is it a magnificent script (by Mr. Bradbury himself), but the cast just nailed it - and lets not even start to talk about Jeff's music score! Anyway, it's going to be exciting to get this one out the door!

HOW ABOUT A PIRATE FOR A CHRISTMAS GIFT? I was at Barnes and Noble over the weekend and saw three copies of our CAPTAIN BLOOD on the shelf! Next month I get the numbers and see how it did in release. Talk about nerve wracking!! Still, I think it continues to sell judging by the sales ranking on Amazon and B&N.com, but you can't really tell as those systems ARE rocket science!

Now I need to play "catch up" on Powder River, as I have missed two planned recording sessions. I got a little bug that caused me to lose my voice completely, and I had to finish a script for the next Bradbury production, AND get new programming ready for our XM show - so Powder River writing suffered and the scripts didnt happen.

DIBBLE IN NEW YORK starts previews this week and opens Dec. 11th!

We have recorded all the PHIL BYRNES scripts we had, and now the final 4 episodes are in post production! Sable Jack did a great job with this series, and I hope she likes the final product! This will be on our XM show in January, and we will offer it for download soon, and eventually a CD release!

Looks like our stage production of William Luce's magnificent play BARRYMORE will rise from the packing trunks for an engagement in Gloucester, MA at the WEST END THEATER. We haven't locked in a date yet, but I think it will be late March or April. Joe Zamparelli will direct again, and we are auditioning the other role in the show. This is very exciting, because it's my favorite play to do, and the last time we performed it was at the Derry Opera House in Derry NH. The GOOD news is, that I need to get in fighting shape for the stage, which means ATKINS DIET again!! So if you're in the Gloucester MA area, I hope you come see the show and say hi afterwards!

Thats all for now.