Final reflection on Song Of Solomon's journey...

What a ride we have had with Salgado Productions this past month. I want to take a second to thank Franco Moschetti and his entire team for nurturing the passionate, creative artists at The Thespis Theater Festival. Both the festival and the Competition is organized to help bring never-before seen work of playwrights, directors and actors to the stage in a way that may lead to future productions. It concluded September 5th, 2014 with great success.

As I read the words of my friend and extraordinary musical director, Eugene Gwozdz I feel inspired to further continue the work of making ART WITH A PURPOSE. He shared: "Congratulations to Luis Salgado who won BEST DIRECTOR of the 2014 THESPIS FESTIVAL for his amazing work on SONG OF SOLOMON! I am so happy that SONG OF SOLOMON brought Luis into my creative life!" 

YES, WE WON BEST DIRECTOR! I am grateful for the ride. Not only the ride but the amazing amount of support I have felt from so many in the last few days.

I must say, it takes a village to build ART. Thank you to Valeria Cossu and Heather Hogan for all the incredible work, thank you to the CAST;  THEY WORK SO HARD, thank you to my unique creative team for helping me make an epic journey a reality (with very little) AND FOR EXCELLING IN THEIR CREATIVE WORK. Thank you to the amazing band as well as to our MD Eugene Gwozdz and vocal coach Charlie Willis who wrote: "I'm so blessed to have been part of the cast and the vocal director for this amazing production. Thank you all cast and crew for an amazing show." I love when everyone is PROUD of having CONTRIBUTE to the making of ART WITH A PURPOSE. Beyond it all I want to say THANK YOU to Andrew Beall and Neil Van Leeuwen for an amazing story, and having the trust in my vision, and the entire Salgado Productions Team. We won this recognition TOGETHER and Song of Solomon: A New Musical rocks.

We also got The very first review for Song of Solomon: "Director Luis Salgado helps nurture this new musical and gives it the size that the music calls for. Staged at the Actors Temple Theatre, which gives the space a long aisle, Salgado made great use of this long space in the blocking, especially in the transitions. This musical shares the epic style of Les Miz, but in the world of Ancient Israel and King Solomon".  READ FULL REVIEW

As I write my "last blog" about the Journey to Art With A Purpose in this stage of Song of Solomon, I have the honor to share the words of a very sweet/great soul who honored me with his spirit and kind words.

"I've taken some time to assimilate it all before posting my thoughts on last nights 2014 Thespis Festival Awards Ceremony, at which our director, Luis Salgado of Salgado Productions was awarded the prize for Best Director. To say it was richly deserved is *such* an understatement that I barely know where to begin.

Suffice it to say he brought great honor to everyone involved in the production of Song of Solomon: A New Musical - cast, crew, musicians, creative team and most especially, its composer Andrew Beall and lyricist Neil Van Leeuwen, who have written a through-composed musical of the caliber of Phantom, Miss Saigon and Les Miz.

Both Luis and Song of Solomon are natural wonders, clearly destined to make an immense and positive difference in the world through their powerful vision and artistic sensibilities. And so I feel deeply honored to be part of Song of Solomon, and at having the privilege of working with, being directed by, and getting to know someone as *humanly* outstanding as Luis.

As a Virgoan, he may be a little uncomfortable with such praise, but it is too well-deserved to leave unsaid.

Like Phantom, Miss Saigon and Les Miz, Song of Solomon occupies that rare space between traditional Broadway musical and opera - which is to say, it is powerfully relevant and plot- and character-driven, but every word, from beginning to end, is sung. And the music is, frankly, sublime.

With his unique gifts as actor, dancer, choreographer and director, and his personal sense of purpose and meaning, Luis literally *mined the treasures* inherent in Song of Solomon. He took all the visual expressions *implied* by the score and fleshed them out with a relentless creative energy - engaging *all* of us in that process of exploration. And all in a period of around three weeks!
He has done us all very proud...


Speaking for myself, I feel grateful to the Thespis Festival and its President Franco Moschetti for inviting us to participate in this wonderful event. The awards program last night included 10-minute live excerpts from all the nominees, plus a powerful collection of Thespis-selected short videos, and a tribute to the late, great Robin Williams.

The audience last night consisted of small groups representing each of the nominees, and I felt personally in awe of the immensity of talent surrounding me and on the stage for each performance. It is truly a humbling experience to see and feel all the creative gifts that have been spread so freely to so many.

That we were all permitted to share our gifts to each other is perhaps the greatest gift of the Thespis Festival. And I am so looking forward to the video they made of the ceremony, which I hope they will make available for purchase.
For such a rich and rewarding evening, Thank You!"

Thank you Tony Paterniti for this post.

Concluding this blog:
Thank You to everyone who came and supported Song of Solomon: A New Musical. Your feedback as an audience has been incredibly helpful and we invite you all to share deeper thoughts about the show, music, plot as we seek to help the writers develop their vision to fullest potential. 

Visit www.salgadoproductions.com and tell us how we can make it better.