Romeo and Juliet – the musical

For licensing and rights, contact me here on my website.

Romeo and Juliet the musical uses the original English text of William Shakespeare.

    • Romeo and Juliet the musical
    • Book and Music by Conrad Askland
    • Lyrics by William Shakespeare
    • Premiere January 2015
    • Historic Lincoln Theatre, Mount Vernon, WA
    • Presented by META Performing Arts

Video Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet the musical by Conrad Askland

“I Fear Too Early” – Romeo solo song

“Quench the Fire” – Song from the Romeo Juliet Masquerade Ball Dance

Juliet’s Death

Paris at the Tomb

Nurse’s Song from Romeo and Juliet the musical

Music Overture to Romeo and Juliet the musical – (Full length version)

“Come Vial” Juliet solo from Romeo and Juliet the musical

“Go Counselor” Juliet solo from Romeo and Juliet the musical

Bedroom Scene video and music from the Romeo Juliet musical

“I Fear Too Early” Romeo solo from Romeo Juliet musical production

“Come Gentle Night” Juliet solo song from the modern Romeo Juliet musical

“Measure of Thy Joy” Romeo solo song and “They Are But Beggars” Juliet solo song

Romeo and Juliet Meet – The famous Masquerade scene from Romeo and Juliet

If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This shrine the gentle fine is this
My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss

The Queen Mab speech from Romeo and Juliet

Father I Beseech You – Juliet pleads with her father

“We Are Undone” – Nurse tells Juliet that Romeo has killed Tybalt

I hope these clips reach some educators looking to incorporate Shakespeare with musical theater. I would love to see this production done by a university.

PAN the musical

For licensing and rights, contact me here on my website.

PAN the musical is the story of Peter Pan and Wendy, based on the beloved classic story by J.M. Barrie.

  • PAN the musical
  • Book, Music and Lyrics by Conrad Askland
  • Based on “Peter and Wendy” by J.M. Barrie
  • Premiere September 2013
  • Historic Lincoln Theatre, Mount Vernon, WA
  • Presented by META Performing Arts

Excerpts from PAN the musical

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Mamma Mia – Music Director Notes

I just finished a 10-show run of Mamma Mia at McIntyre Hall (Mount Vernon, WA) with Theater Arts Guild of Skagit County WA, a nonprofit community theater group.

On this show I worked as music director, vocal director, rehearsal pianist and Key1/Conductor.

Mamma Mia Music Director Notes

1 Overture

2. I Have A Dream
Cutoff on third “Sophie” – hold and fade on any chord.

3. Honey Honey
Underscore cut m. 67-71 (dialogue goes quick)
Chorus – in rehearsal have chorus sing open “Ah” on all background vocals. This will get them used to having a full open sound – then with open sound, change lip formation to “ooh”
m. 92-103 Key3 – awesome blues piano part but needs to be pianissimo for dialogue
m. 104 vamp – vamp is F7-Bb7 – last time I play G7-C7 so entrance is very clear for chorus

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Pray the Gay Away® – serious musical comedy

Public Announcement – Tuesday, April 2, 2019

“Pray the Gay Away”® – a serious musical comedy written by Conrad Askland, will premiere November 8-24, 2019 at the Historic Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon, WA (USA). The show will be produced by TAG (Theater Arts Guild of Skagit County, WA) and directed by Lindsey Bowen and Gabriel Guevara.

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The Power of Synopsis in Script Outlines

I’ve been hunkered down in creating the outline for my fourth musical theater work. A massive amount of time has been spent reviewing and refining my knowledge on the process and getting back in gear. Quite a bit of time has been spent on the outline. The reason is that my first script draft, at 70 pages, became so jumbled and confusing that I had to throw it out and start all over. My new approach begins with the outline.

But even with focusing on the outline, my work has quickly ballooned into 80 pages of notes. Not even notes about my specific musical but notes on different approaches to take to script writing. So again I started with a fresh outline of “beats” only to have that, at only 6 pages, start to become a fresh new spider’s web.

You know what process I skipped? The synopsis. And now that I have re-found the synopsis part of the process it is like a lightning bolt for my vision of structure.

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Leadership Approaches for Promoting Change in Organizations

LEADERSHIP APPROACHES FOR PROMOTING CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONS

Conrad Askland
December 2018 – Colorado State University

 

ABSTRACT

Nonprofit arts organizations can have a particularly difficult experience enacting change within their organizations. This is partly due to the artist mindset that can have a default resistance to change, group and sub-group dynamics that create barriers to change, an ineffective leadership practices to overcome these challenges. This paper will highlight some of the barriers to change that appear in arts organizations as well as provide various leadership approaches that can be effective in facilitating healthy change within those organizations. Included are ancient leadership theories of Lao Tzu, the theory of reverse dominance and constructive dissent by Grint and successful leadership tactics identified by Kotter.

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The Stories Behind Some of the Favorite Christmas Carols of All Time

Music has been an integral part of the Christmas celebration since the earliest years of the celebration. From traditional sacred music to up-tempo tunes, the songs of Christmas are a major part of the holiday.

But how much do you know about the origin stories of your favorite Christmas carols. Here is the story behind some of the most popular and well known Christmas carols of all time.

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Lost Boys – PAN the musical

“Lost Boys” from PAN the musical at the Historic Lincoln Theater, September 2013. Book, music and lyrics by Conrad Askland based on “Peter and Wendy” by JM Barrie.

I wrote “PAN the musical” for META Performing Arts, a youth theater non-profit group in Mount Vernon, WA. PAN is a new version of the Peter Pan story that combined audience interaction, songs for children and some high brow musical theater as well. One critic said it was the perfect show for children AND adults to enjoy together.

PAN the musical website at: http://www.PanMusical.com

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