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About

…and The Team

For many of us, the cost of going to a Broadway musical has soared out of reach. They are either too expensive to attend or only infrequently pass through town on tour. And its slowly vanishing cousin, the local high-school musical, is often low-risk, and above all harmless.

 

In contrast, Micro-Musicals are bite-sized productions. Kinda like a radio play. They may not be staged in large theatres, but are performed with a full cast and accompaniment on intimate stages. They are typically audacious, witty and topical - even edgy. Often they are works-in-progress on their way to Broadway.

 

There doesn’t seem to be much of an outlet for the aspiring composer, actors, singers, and storytellers of these fledgling musicals between the limited audiences of cabarets and speakeasies and the big stages off, near, or on Broadway.


So we thought we’d create one. A site/ venue/ stage/platform for these fantastically talented folks and the fans that appreciate them.

 

…also… 

I’m a fan of short stories, short films, and now short musicals, aka, Micro-Musicals. 

Musicals tend to be big and brash and over the top and that’s fine. I like that, sometimes. They are also very expensive to stage, and the access to stages is very, very limited. However, there are more musicals – just as good – out there which may not necessarily fit on a big stage, so… here we are.

 

 

I was in a musical once. In grade school, I played the role of the fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof.  In middle school choir, I sang from the Great American Songbook until my voice changed and I could no longer sing on key - a bit of a relief, actually. I realized my place was not on stage. I documented musicals as a Media Department student at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston.

I studied piano and organ as a kid. Dad toured with  Concordia College Choir, and among many other things, he was obsessed with the way a choir sounded in a church. 

Here’s more about me on LinkedIn.

All of these experiences lead to the here and now!

 

 

I started this project to create and to support the micro-musical creators.  This is an expensive endeavor and we are fair to those who participate by paying them a decent wage for their time. 

 

I sincerely believe in the opportunity being created here and hope you believe in it as well. I aim to build a community of the most dedicated supporters, who will grow with us and help shape the future of The Micro-Musical Theatre Show.

 

~ Alton Christensen
EP, TMMTS

 

The Team

The Team

Lore Toolajian

Alton Christensen

Executive Producer

Founder

Alton Christensen is a broadcast TV veteran of 39 years, and web content producer/creator for 20 years. A graduate of The High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (HPSVA), Alton started at KPRC-TV (NBC affiliate, Houston); later a senior animator on USAToday-The Television Show (Washington, DC); a senior animator for NBC Sports graphics team for the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona.

He won two Sports Emmy Awards (Graphic Design & Graphic Production) and went on to found Edgeworx, a disruptive post-production environment – the first entirely desktop based visual effects and non-linear editing facility working on broadcast, cable, and film projects with offices in New York, London, and Los Angeles.

He created and produced internationally syndicated television programming and original web content, and since been involved in many nominated and award-winning documentaries. 

 

As an Adjunct Professor at NYU, he taught a class on the digital production process. 

 

He has participated in the development of several projects through the incubator program at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP.

 

See also LinkedIn and IMDB .

Lore Toolajian

Ralph Kelsey

Recording Producer

Post Production Producer

One of Sandblast Productions founding members, Ralph is a percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and award-winning sound designer. 

 

A graduate of SUNY Fredonia with a B.S. in Sound Recording Technology, he was nominated in 2014 for an Emmy for his outstanding audio mixing work on HBO’s Vice.

 

He has mixed and sound-designed for ABC, CBS, NBC, Showtime, HBO, USA, Syfy, ESPN, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH-1, Lifetime, Spike & the History Channel, among others.  Ralph and partner Mike Ungar have mixed the ESPYs for an unprecedented sixteen consecutive years.

 

From the first season of NBC’s 30 Rock and parody commercials for SNL to Nat. Geo’s Amish Out of Order and Sesame Street’s Abby’s Flying Fairy School, Ralph continues to explore the power of sound and the way it elevates good work to great.

 

Earlier this year, Ralph mixed and sound designed the feature film The Lennon Report.  He just completed mixes of Brett Eldredge’s CMA Nashville show and is creating sound design for an interactive VR 360 project.

Hear more about The Micro-Musical Theatre Show in this radio interview:

Lore Toolajian

Loren Toolajian

Recording Producer

Sandblast Productions founding member, and composer, producer & broadcaster, Loren combines his passion for music and exploring the creative process in myriad ways.

 

His music for film and television has been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, Showtime, MTV, ESPN, HBO & Sesame Street.  His theatre music has played in New York, and in regional theatre in Boston, San Francisco, & Louisville.  He is also a proud member of NY’s renowned 52nd Street Project, for which he has written and music-directed over 75 songs.

 

As the former resident composer of NY’s acclaimed Signature Theatre Company, Loren collaborated with the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, including Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Horton Foote, Lanford Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy, Bill Irwin, and Edward Albee.

 

In the studio, he has produced songs for T Bone Burnett, Alicia Keys, Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Mos Def, Brad Paisley, Meghan Andrews, Shane Patrick, and Jesse Lenat.

 

After broadcasting stints in San Francisco, Los Angeles, & New York, Loren is starting his ninth season at the Metropolitan Opera, where he frequently produces live weekly radio broadcasts heard on Sirius/XM, and where he conducts live backstage interviews for the 11 million worldwide listeners of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcast.

Stefano Imbert

Illustrations

Art Director

Stefano Imbert was born and raised in Rome, Italy, where he studied at Istituto d’Arte. In 2002 he graduated from School of Visual Arts in New York City. His passion for his projects gives his work an emotional range, from pathos to the whimsical, and throughout many of his images, one may detect his ever-present sense of humor.

 

Stefano has provided poster design and illustration for theatres nationwide, including Mint Theater Company, Hartford Stage Company, Boomerang Theatre Company, and BC/EFA. He has provided cover art internationally for Oxford University Press, Simon & Schuster, Broadway Play Publishing, Inc., and Light Hunter Publications, among others.

 

Stefano also works in the world of fashion illustration, and is a regular contributor to MensWearStyle.co.uk, a London-based online men’s fashion publication.

 

His work has been included in shows at the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, the Leslie Lohman Gallery, and the Museum of American Illustration, which also hosted a solo show of his work in 2009.

 

By invitation, Stefano has been a judge for annual illustration competitions for both the Society of Illustrators (New York), Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and Illustrators Australia. He is adjunct professor at CUNY and has served on the Board of Directors of the Society of Illustrators (New York) as International Chair since 2004.

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