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Theater Talk: Lancaster's Daniel Mertzlufft 'breaks the internet' with Tik Tok Broadway sendups

danielmertzlufft.com

Daniel Mertzlufft graduated from Lancaster High School in 2011 and headed off to the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam intending to become a music teacher, but as things turned out, he ended up in NYC composing and then one day made a Tik Tok sendup/homage to a typical end-of-act-one Broadway musical big finish number called "The Grocery Store" and now his phone rings off the hook. And when James Cordon of The Late Late Show calls, it's a LOUD ring. More on Mertzlufft below, but don't forget your ticket(s) for tomorrow night for Artpark's TAYLOR MAC'S HOLIDAY SAUCE...PANDEMIC! in support of local Pride groups with virtual after-party hosted by Anthony Chase and Javier Bustillos in honor of local artist Ari Moore.

Daniel is a NYC based composer, arranger, orchestrator, and music director. Most known for his viral sensations "The Thanksgiving Musical" on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" featuring Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Josh Gad, Josh Groban, and Kristin Chenoweth, his arrangement of “Remy The Ratatouille” by Emily Jacobson that launched the Tiktok Rataouille musical movement, and "The Grocery Store Musical," an arrangement of Lousia Melcher’s “New York Summer.”

Original works include "Breathe: Portraits from a Pandemic," "Dot and the Kangaroo," commissioned by MTI Australaisa and iTheatrics, House Rules: A New Musical based on the New York Times Best Selling novel by Jodi Picoult.

And, breaking news for Theater Talk, Daniel is working on "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical" based on Disney's animated feature Ratatouille (and with full support from Disney) which will be streamed New Year's Day (1/1/2021) to benefit for The Actor's Fund. Tickets at TodayTix

(Portions of above taken frrom danielmertzlufft.com.)

TAYLOR MAC HOLIDAY SAUCE...PANDEMIC!

Christmas as calamity—2020 Ibsen Award winner and MacArthur Fellow Taylor Mac and his long-time collaborators, designer Machine Dazzle, Music Director Matt Ray and producers Pomegranate Arts join together to celebrate the holidays in all of their dysfunction. Holiday Sauce…Pandemic! will blend music, film, burlesque and random acts of fabulousness to reframe the songs you love and the holidays you hate. There is more to the holidays than rampant capitalism and gift giving and in Taylor’s world, creativity and imagination are their own spirituality. This holiday season will be bittersweet for so many— Taylor Mac reminds us of the collective power of our chosen families, a message that will be of particular resonance this year when so many have lost so much.  Visit the show's website here.

"a present from the island of misfit toys…a Christmas miracle”  -- LA Times

Proceeds benefit Artpark, Pride Center of Western New York and Niagara Pride Inc.

Credit taylormac.org

VIP Virtual After Party celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and honoring Ari Moore.
Immediately following the performance, Artpark and the LGBTQ+ community with emcees Anthony Chase & Javier Bustillos will host a local party via Zoom. During the After Party, we will honor artist Ari Moore, Buffalo’s first prominently out Black trans woman who has established herself as a leader and matriarch of the local movement for decades. Moore owned and operated the Inner City Art Studio before joining the Buffalo Police Department, where she served as an officer for 25 years. Members of the Holiday Sauce community will “stop by” to join the festivities with our honoree in attendance.

Tickets (click here):
$20 (streaming performance + VIP party with Chase, Bustillos, and Moore)
$10 (streaming performance only)

(Portions of above taken from artpark.org.)

Listen for Theater Talk, Friday morning at 6:45 and 8:45 during Morning Edition.
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