ALEXANDER REA

Performed on 6/28/15 at Judson Memorial with Michelle Y. Thompson (guitar/vocals) with Henry Lee on piano. Below is video from the show. Audio is from the camera mic so it’s not that great (sorry). I was playing a cajon (sitting on it), with a travel conga, kick drum, hi-hat and traps.

This Friday I’m performing with the band Neoray in Park Slope Brooklyn at The Fifth Estate at 8 PM. Neoray is a combination of the austere vocals of Christy and eclectic electronic layers. The songs about imagined characters of Brooklyn and Manhattan, absurdest lust, supernatural menage a trios and aristocratic space travelers. Formed in 2011, Neoray uses analog pianos as a base to their sound, with Singleton grafting her sometimes chilling lyrics into the mix.

It’s been a little while since I’ve performed at a club. You can find me performing Saturday night, July 2nd, at Otto’s Shrunken Head in the East Village NYC. I’ll be playing percussion with Willie and the Wolves. (So I guess that makes me a wolf). It’s the release party for the album I recorded with the group.  You can hear some of it on Reverbnation.

Above The Belt, an aerial showcase that I’ve helped Britt Nhi Sarah produce got it’s start in The Belt Theatre.  The Belt was a small cabaret space next to the Zipper Theatre and both were part of the venue known to most as The Zipper Factory.  Opened in 2001 it was home to such productions as “The Sensuous Woman” by Margaret Cho, “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” “Jesus Is Magic” by Sarah Silverman, “Betty Rules” and Alan Cumming’s adaptation of Jean Genet’s “Elle.” The website is still live.  An eerie reminder of a great place.

I’ll be playing drums tomorrow night with Katie Petterle at the Metropolitan Room. Katie Petterle debuts with a brand new show! Singing the greatest pop rock songs from the last 50 years, Katie and her accompanist, Greg Schlotthauer, sing favorites from the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, Carol King and more!

Last night at the Kirk Theater in Theater Row, I played drums for the reading of the musical Plagued or How to Escape Persecution at the Hands of an Angry Mob.

I will be playing drums for Suzanne Fiore at The Metropolitan Room this Saturday, October 24th at 5 PM. Please call for reservations at (212) 206-0440 or book online.

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I will be playing drums for Suzanne Fiore at The Metropolitan Room on the next two Saturdays. September 19th at 7:30PM and September 26th at 5:00PM.  Please take note of the two different times.

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Last week I was at Context Studios in Williamsburg Brooklyn recording a new percussion track for AJ Silver’s upcoming shows in Germany. AJ will be performing at all five of the theatres of Die GOP Varieté.  AJ is also a trick roper and has performed with many acts around the world. Please go to AJ’s website and watch his demo. This is my second time recording with AJ. AJ used a drum track last year for a tour with GOP. Both tracks include djembe, dumbek, tambourine, shakers and various other sounds. Both recordings took place at Context Studios.

Last night at The Tank, our show Above The Belt performed for the seventh time since I teamed up with Britt Nhi Sarah to produce it.  It was a great success.  We sold out and unfortunately had to turn people away. I apologize now if you are one of those people turned away.  Please contact me and I’ll make sure you get into the next show at The Tank on August 16th. Below are a few photos from behind the scenes that I took.  Stay tuned for much better photos at the shows website by Jan Meissner.  Please visit our website and learn more about the great artists we have had the pleasure of featuring.

I have the pleasure of being co-producer on Rated RSO, a sold out one-night only event tonight at Joe’s Pub. After two sold out shows in Los Angeles, RATED RSO: The Music and Lyrics of Ryan Scott Oliver will receive its New York premiere tonight!

Above The Belt, the monthly aerial show that I am producing with Britt Nhi Sarah is back. After losing our monthly residency when the late great Zipper closed we’ve taken the show on the road.

Next up, March 26th at the Bleecker Street Theatre!  45 Bleekcer St., NYC. Map

Showtime is 8:00pm.  Ticket’s are $25 and can be purchased at the door or online at Telecharge.

Above the Belt is an aerial showcase that has been dazzling New York audiences for the past three years. It is committed to the city’s reputation as the most innovative stage on earth and every show is new and fresh with a constantly evolving line-up of the most essential aerial artists. Learn more about Above The Belt at our website.

Here at Pace, the cast gets ready in a circle for tonights first public reading of Darling.

Happy new year to everyone.  The rest of this month became booked rather quickly with performance work. I’ll be performing two different styles of shows for the ever discerning pallet.  Tomorrow night I’ll be in Williamsburg at Rose Live with Willie and The Wolves, a surf, sould, blues (and more) act .  Next week I’ll be at Pace University’s Schaeberle Theater on percussion for Ryan Scot Oliver (RSO) and B.T. Ryback’s world premiere six-night reading of the new musical Darling. I first worked with RSO on a recording for his show Alive At Ten. Read more about Darling on BroadwayWorld.com.

Above The Belt, the monthly aerial show that I am producing with Britt Nhi Sarah, has it’s fourth and final showcase of our Fall 2008 season this coming Sunday, December 14th, 7pm at The Zipper Factory. Next door in the Tavern. New 2009 Winter/Spring season dates: Sunday, February 8th at 7pm Sunday, March 8th at 7pm Sunday, April 5th at 7pm Sunday, May 3rd at 7pm Above the Belt is an aerial showcase that has been dazzling New York audiences for the past three years. It is committed to the city’s reputation as the most innovative stage on earth and every show is new and fresh with a constantly evolving line-up of the most essential aerial artists. Learn more about Above The Belt at our website.

This Saturday afternoon, November 22nd at 5pm I will be performing with Suzanne Fiore at The Metropolitan Room. Call for reservations at 212-206-0440. The cover is $20 with a two drink minimum. Featuring Ray Fellman on piano, Matt Sharffglass on bass and yours truly on percussion. The Metropolitan Room is located at 34 West 22nd Street (Google Map). The recording from our June 16th show, Live At The Metropolitan Room, will be on sale at all of these shows and is also available now at CD Baby. Suzanne Fiore, she is simply divine and we all knew we were lucky to witness her performances. This girl is a STAR, truly.” – Broadway.com

The aerial show that I am producing with Britt Nhi Sarah has it’s third showcase this coming Sunday, November 2nd, 7PM at The Zipper Factory. Above the Belt is an aerial showcase that has been dazzling New York audiences for the past three years. It is committed to the city’s reputation as the most innovative stage on earth and every show is new and fresh with a constantly evolving line-up of the most essential aerial artists. Learn more about Above The Belt at our website.

The aerial show that I am producing with Britt Nhi Sarah has it’s second showcase this coming Sunday, October 12th, 7PM at The Zipper Factory. Above the Belt is an aerial showcase that has been dazzling New York audiences for the past three years. It is committed to the city’s reputation as the most innovative stage on earth and every show is new and fresh with a constantly evolving line-up of the most essential aerial artists. Learn more about Above The Belt at our website. You can stay up to date with the show during our 2008 run.  You can join our mailing list, become a fan of our Facebook page, join our Flickr group and add some photos of your favorite aerial moments and subscribe to our Google calendar.

This Sunday night I will be performing for Prospect Theater Company’s 10th anniversary concert.  Part of the 2008 NYMF, the New York Musical Theater Festival. Sunday, September 21st at 9PM 37 Arts 450 W. 37th Street (Between 9th & 10th Avenues) New York, New York 10018 (Google Map) Tickets and More Info Currently scheduled to appear are performers Stephen Bogardus, Matt Cavenaugh, Gavin Creel, Malcolm Gets, Adam Jacobs, Jose Llana, Jeff McCarthy, Liz Power, Brian Munn, David Abeles, Piper Goodeve, Jen Blood, Mark Mozingo, Dan Sharkey, Ryan Dietz, Jim Poulos, Tina Stafford, Jim Bauer, Meghan McGeary, Jaygee Macapugay, Simone Zamore, Victoria Huston-Elem, Catherine Porter and many more to come! Featuring songs by Jim Bauer, Randy Courts & Mark St. Germain, Rick Hip-Flores, Gihieh Lee & Tim Nevits, Peter Mills, Peter Mills & Stephen Weiner, and Maryrose Wood & Andrew Gerle Celebrate ten years of innovative new musicals from Prospect Theater Company! Join Broadway stars and Prospect members in an anniversary retrospective of songs from THE TAXI CABARET, THE FLOOD, ILLYRIA, DIDO (& AENEAS), THE ALCHEMISTS, LONELY RHYMES, THE PURSUIT OF PERSEPHONE, THE TUTOR, THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW, IRON CURTAIN, TOCK TICK, THE ROCKAE, THE BLUE FLOWER, and HONOR.

I teamed up with the amazing Britt Nhi Sarah to help her produce the new season of Above The Belt.  A monthly aerial showcase premiering Sunday, September 14th at The Zipper Factory.

Good evening everyone.  This Saturday, the Fringe NYC 2008 run of Green Eyes opens at Theater 80 in the East Village of Manhattan.  I will be playing percussion (drum kit) under the musical direction of Matt Hinkley.  It’s billed as a “musical” but it’s really not.  Consider it an acoustic-rock show with a story line.

A contemporary love story, Green Eyes tracks the rise and fall of a relationship over time through folk-rock music and modern dance. The new musical utilizes two singers, two dancers, and a five-piece orchestra to fuse both song and dance, shedding new light on the traditional “boy meets girl” story.

Diana Glazer, in association with Steve Tate and Leopold Group, are proud to present Green Eyes as part of the 11th Annual New York International Fringe Festival and will be showing for five dates beginning August 16, 2008.

Directed by Jessica Redish** who recently created the musical staging for the Lortel Award-winning Adding Machine, green eyes has been described by North Shore Chicago Magazine as “a multi-media musical for the John Mayer generation.”

Purchase tickets, listen to past recordings and get more background of the show at the Green Eyes website.

For those of you that subscribe to my RSS feed you’ll know that I did not post anything about my show last night with Les Funky Bitches Fantastique. A referral from Josh Landay who I performed Tock Tick with in February 2007 for Prospect Theater Company.  We performed the opening set of the night at The Annex.  There is unfortuntely not much online that is up to date regarding this project by Richard Caliban but you can can at least get some background at Richard’s site.

You have only seven more chances to see Honor, the new musical from Prospect Theater Company, where I’m playing percussion with the five piece orchestra directed by Dan Feyer.

Brandon Cutrell invites the cast of Honor to perform two numbers at the weekly Friday night party for the theatrically inclined. With the musical director from the show, Dan Feyer on piano, Yuri Shubov on violin and myself on percussion.

I will be playing percussion for the new Propsect Theater Company musical Honor. Opening this Monday, April 21st with previews starting tonight. Lyrics by Peter Mills (recipient of the 3rd annual Fred Ebb award last November) Book & music by Peter Mills and Cara Reichel Directed by Cara Reichel Musical direction by Dan Feyer April 19 – May 18, 2008 at the Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 West 26th Street. The theater might be hard to find for some. It’s closer to 10th Avenue and attached to the community center. Closest subway is the C or E to 23rd Street. Walk north on 8th Avenue to West 26th Street, then west to the theatre. Peter Mills and Cara Reichel have managed to do the near impossible. They have taken Shakespeare’s comic masterpiece, kept its Elizabethan spirit, voice and wit, yet created a new, accessible work that brashly and, at times, poignantly speaks to contemporary musical theater.” – The New York Times, on ILLYRIA, adapted from TWELFTH NIGHT

Two more Saturday afternoons with Suzanne Fiore There is only two more weeks to see the lovely MAC Award nominated Suzanne Fiore at the The Metropolitan Room. This afternoon and next week at 5:00PM. Call for reservations at 212-206-0440. The cover is $20 with a $15 minimum. Featuring Ray Fellman on piano, Matt Sharffglass on bass and yours truly on percussion. The Metropolitan Room is located at 34 West 22nd Street. The recording from our June 16th show, Live At The Metropolitan Room, will be on sale at all of these shows and is also available now at CD Baby. Suzanne Fiore, she is simply divine and we all knew we were lucky to witness her performances. This girl is a STAR, truly.” – Broadway.com

To support our run this month at The Metropolitan Room, we perform one number at The After Party. Ray Fellman on piano and myself on percussion.

Percussion recording for the performer AJ Silver for his Bola act touring around Europe.

Every Saturday this month I will be performing with the lovely Suzanne Fiore at the The Metropolitan Room. Each week the sets start at 5:00PM. Call for reservations at 212-206-0440. The cover is $20 with a $15 minimum.

Ryan Scott Oliver April 7, 2008 Recorded at the Clive Davis Department of NYU More details soon

This weekend I will be playing percussion for Prospect Theater Company’s Dark Night Series, Museum Pieces, When Art Inspires MORE Than Life. Technically I’m not playing for all of the mini-musicals but it’s a catchy title for this article right?