2023 LIVE Performance Cast Album at the Edinburgh Fringe on Soundcloud

We've added the songs from our 2023 performance of Eigg the Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to Soundcloud. In the final weeks before the performance some of the songs were cut down in length to best utilize the 60 minute format at fringe. The majority of these tracks are from Willow Studio at Riddles Court on August 10th, 2023. It's important to capture all these sorts of things for performances in the future.

Songs from Eigg the Musical
Live at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Performers: Antigone Biddle, April Alsup, Cieran Morden, Chase Conlin, Cooper Kaminsky, 

Gavin Elbert, Heather Westenskow, Joseph Barnard, Kelly McAllister, Kyra Archuleta, Mark Zarlengo, Ronald McQueen, Tracy Denver

BANNED Cast and Crew flying past Eigg

We were invited to the Edinburgh Fringe again this year and as we entered Scotland's airspace I was able to snap this picture. The map on the entertainment console said it was Eigg. I waved through the window as we passed by, but I doubt anyone saw me.

The Isle of Eigg from high above

In 2023 we won "Best New Musical" from Broadway World for our portrayal of the community buyout of the small Isle of Eigg at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Then we took a deep breath, and next thing you know, we were returning to perform BANNED. The timing was perfect though, WYSIWYG had become a bit dated and the new version of the show was a great fit for everyone on both sides of the pond.

2023 BroadwayWorld Denver Awards

Eigg the Musical recently brought home four 2023 BroadwayWorld Denver Awards, which honor the best in regional productions, touring shows and more. Eigg wins included "Best Musical", "Best New Musical", "Best Director of a Musical" and "Best Supporting Performer in a Musical." BroadwayWorld requires the performances premiere between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023. Audiences members and their friends can then vote and make their selections on an online portal for the best in each category through December 31, 2023. Winners were announced on January 9th, 2024.

“I’m ecstatic and very proud of  what the cast & crew have done and proud of the show too,” said April Alsup, producer and composer of the work. The amount of time and effort that goes into a production like this is unreal. To see those efforts acknowledged in a regional and statewide way is really fabulous."

2023 Regional BroadwayWorld Awards 

"The people voting validate that the work we’re doing is high caliber and at an elite level. It acknowledges the hard work that the leadership team have put into developing the show and the performances of the actors.” BroadwayWorld is an international organization that’s broken down in different regions across America, Canada, Central and South America, Europe and Asia. “This is a peoples' choice award and it's really the only theatre award like it in our area, so it’s a big deal,” Alsup said.

Eigg the Musical was performed at the Vintage Theatre in July 2023. Situated in Scotland's Inner Hebrides, the Isle of Eigg has a fascinating history of sovereignty. Not long ago, the inhabitants of Eigg faced a different type of invader; a celebrity Laird looking to create his Gaelic island utopia. The transfer to community ownership hatched on Eigg is arguably the most captivating example of Scottish land reform. "Our shows were packed at Vintage and it's a good feeling to have your theatre friends support and vote for you," Alsup said.

Denver theatre troupe takes Scotland by storm

Here's an article in the Denver Post on Thursday, November 23rd, 2023 about our short run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this Summer. How nice, thank you Julie for the placement and Kim for your snapshot!

Denver Post newspaper clipping about Eigg Musical

2023 Eigg the Musical Scrapbook

Creating Eigg the Musical started back in 2017 when an article appeared in the Guardian about the community buyout of the Isle of Eigg. Six years later we debuted our show at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the last performance was at Greenside @ Riddles Court on August 12th. We delivered nine shows over the course of two weeks and many of them were sold out. Use the link below to look over the scrapbook we put together. It includes pictures that go all the way back to the beginning of the project.

2023 Eigg the Musical Scapbook

Everyone enjoyed the show and perhaps our small troupe from Denver most of all. Many from the group had never been out of the country before, but everyone was enthusiastic for the experience; after all, the Edinburgh theatre festival is the largest performing arts festival on the planet. Creating a new Musical takes a long time and if you strive for excellence you'll need to find people who know their craft and work well with other people. We were a tight knit group and we all understood that there is much more that we can do together than we could ever do on our own. Music theatre is ephemeral by nature, but it's nice to be able to look back at all the milestones you pass when creating a new musical theatre show.

It takes a village to stand up a new musical

It really does take a village to bring a new musical to life and we wanted to thank all the wonderful people and organizations from all across Colorado who provided support and helped enhance our experience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. There are just so many moving parts to these sorts of things, so I hope we didn't forget anyone. Your generosity and support was amazing and something we'll never forget. Thank you from all of us! 🎭

Eigg the Musical - Reviews from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The reviews are coming out on Eigg the Musical:

***** 5 STARS *****

"This show has great potential to be something big. It tells an important story and is expertly performed. It is an ultimate show of the power of community, telling an important story of Scotland's history. Could this be Scotland’s next Sunshine on Leith?"
* Abi Whitefield - The Scots Reviewer

Read the complete review - PDF

"I heartily agree with the reviewer!" Justin Hay - Toronto, Canada

FIVE PICKS FOR THE FESTIVAL

"The Hebridean story of the Eigg community and hopes of creating a Gaelic utopia are brilliantly told and wonderfully performed. Well worth the ticket."

Posted in Edinburgh Inquirer - August 14, 2023

"Eigg the Musical: Before we even talk about how great this show is, I just have to mention that the cast is full of wonderful people. So down to earth and so talented! The show itself is AMAZING. The music is awesome, the story is lovely, and it’s chock full of humor, love, and strength. If you want to see a wonderful musical based on a true story, this is the one!" 
* Dan Lentell - Get Your Coats On - EdFestivals 2023 - Edinburgh, Scotland

Broadway World selected Eigg the Musical  as a top ten show you really don't want to miss at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and their readers clearly agreed as  Broadway World announces the "peoples' choice" award winners!  Eigg the Musical was selected as "Best New Musical" & "Best Musical" of 2023.  Awards included "Best Director" and "Best Supporting Actor." Thank you Broadway World! 

Eigg show friends from Ayr Scotland

"Eigg the musical was fabulous with great storytelling of the history of that little island." Joyce Staniard Bell - Ayr, Scotland 

"We really enjoyed it! There were some great singers in the cast, it's a great story about the community buy out of Eigg." Wendy Weatherby - Edinburgh, Scotland."

"Brilliant! thank you for bringing this show to the festival." Ian MacGowan - Aberdeen, Scotland"

"It’s really good and entertaining! You should tour it around the Highlands and Islands! I met Keith Schelenburg in the 80s. I worked for the Council. He sent his little plane to fly me from Fort William. The pilot was Patrick Burns. We flew from Camisky. He had really ambitious ideas for the island." Ken Johnston - Highlands, Scotland"

"What a refreshing, hilarious and beautifully written musical." David Hewitson - Glasgow, Scotland

"Never a dull moment, we really enjoyed your show." Sandy Byrne - Carnwath, Scotland"

"Really enjoyed watching your show....loved the music and choreography....and hats off to Lord Skillington for wearing that Aran jumper in such a warm space!"  Stewart Furini - East Sussex, England

List of our Eigg blog posts

Here's a comprehensive list of our blog posts over the last few years.

2023 LIVE Performance Cast Album at the Edinburgh Fringe on Soundcloud: We've added the songs from our 2023 performance of Eigg the Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to Soundcloud.

BANNED Cast and Crew flying past Eigg: We were invited to the Edinburgh Fringe again this year and as we entered Scotland's airspace I was able to snap this picture.

2023 Regional BroadwayWorld Awards: Eigg the Musical brought home four 2023 BroadwayWorld Denver Awards this month, which honor the best in regional productions, touring shows and more.

Denver theatre troupe takes Scotland by storm: Here's an article in the Denver Post on Thursday, November 23rd, 2023 about our short run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this Summer.

Eigg the Musical Scrapbook: Creating Eigg the Musical started back in 2017 when an article appeared in the Guardian about the community buyout of the Isle of Eigg.

It takes a village to stand up a new musical: It really does take a village to bring a new musical to life and we wanted to thank all the wonderful people and organizations from all across Colorado who provided support and helped enhance our experience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.

Eigg the Musical - Reviews from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe: The reviews are coming out on Eigg the Musical

Eigg the Musical - That's a wrap! Our closing performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was Saturday August 12th, 2023. What a fun ride, we met so many good people and we'll never forget our time in Scotland.

Eigg the Musical Performance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Here's our performance of Eigg the Musical at Greenside @ Riddles Court in Edinburgh Scotland on August 10th, 2023.

Opening scene in 360° Greenside @ Riddles Court: You don't see these sorts of things very often, but it's always interesting to see how these 360 degree videos turn out for stage performances.

Opening night at the 2023 Edinburgh festival fringe: The official opening of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was on Monday August 7th, 2023. Here's an image of our cast and crew backstage at Riddles Court.

Eigg music ensemble join forces at Ensign Ewert in Edinburgh: Over the last few years we've been working with Sandy Brechin on the various nuances of Scottish Ceilidh music.

Greenside press gala to kickoff the 2023 Edinburgh fringe festival: Our show was pulled out of a hat for a two minute press preview slot to kickoff the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Vintage preview program QR code: We've been using QR codes to provide access to our show's program and crowd funding campaign online.

Preview of Eigg the Musical at Vintage Theatre: Here's our first public viewing of Eigg the Musical. The show was sold out and the atmosphere was electric.

Sovereignty and Ownership of the Isle of Eigg: Here's an overview of the sovereignty and ownership of the Isle of Eigg.

Eigg the Musical Troupe Photos: Here's a couple of troupe photos of the Eigg the Musical cast and crew we took near downtown Denver the first week of July.

Reform Starts Now! In scene 4 Cliff attends the Ceilidh festivities at the Isle of Eigg community center; at some point, he gets fed up with the music and fires the band.

2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Program Launch: The 2023 Edinburgh festival fringe program has officially launched and our show is one of nearly 150 musicals and operas at the festival this summer.

Posters for Eigg the Musical at Riddles Court: We created a couple of posters for our shows in Edinburgh this year. The first one we call "the land grab", and the second one is called "the flick".

Ceilidh dance training, what could go wrong? Here's a couple 360° videos of our cast working through some ceilidh dance steps with our local Scottish dance experts.

Kickoff celebration for Edinburgh Festival Fringe: We had an informative kickoff meeting for our Edinburgh performance run on Tuesday.

Tickets available for Eigg the Musical: We're live! The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has updated their website and tickets are now on sale for our show Eigg the Musical.

Logo and marketing collateral for Eigg the Musical: We've been hard at work with messaging and branding for our upcoming show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Mark your 2023 calendars! The time has come! We've confirmed our participation in the 2023 Edinburgh theater festival.

Script development and Cèilidh dance training: This was our first Cèilidh dance event! Here's what happened; some local theater friends volunteered to learn how to dance at a Cèilidh while April played the accordion.

Creating an authentic musical score for Eigg: Here's a short article about composing for musical theatre works.

Yes, we're adding plenty of Ceilidh music! We've been hard at work preparing the various musical instrument parts for the Eigg show over the pandemic.

We have a NEW Eigg website address! We've decided to start using a new website address: "http://eigg.show"

We're adding an Accordion to the Eigg Score: We're nearing completion of the performance materials for Eigg the Musical and should start some readings soon.

Visiting the Isle of Eigg: Here's a collection of media clips from my 2019 Summer visit to the Isle of Eigg.

Music from the show performed on Eigg! After the the festival in Edinburgh I traveled to the Isle of Eigg to take in some of the sites.

Introducing Sbani & Alsup: It's official Mark and April have inked a deal for co-writing "The Isle of Eigg", so without further adieu, here's the writing team of Mark Sbani and April Alsup.

Eigg the Musical early development video: Here's a short promo video for Eigg the Musical.

The joy of a replenished song list! Towards the end of the Sisyphus production I started getting back into the mode of composing music.

An interesting logo concept: We've started thinking about logo concepts for marketing/branding and one idea we have is to form a heart when Ross and Kaja's hands come together.

ALPHA1...we have a song list...do you read me Houston...over: I thought it might be fun to document the steps we take creating Eigg the Musical; after all, this is a "blog" and that's short for "web log"...right?

Experience Eigg Island: Here's a short video clip of the 60 Minutes' adventure to the Isle of Eigg.

The Isle of Eigg: The island of Eigg has a long history of conflict, situated off the coast of Scotland it has always been vulnerable to attack.

First official blog post: You can take the person out of Eigg, but you can't take Eigg out of the person!

Eigg the Musical - That's a wrap!

Our closing performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was Saturday August 12th, 2023. What a fun ride, we met so many good people and we'll never forget our time in Scotland. On closing night we all gathered on stage for our final group photo.

Cast and Crew photo on closing night

Afterwards we gathered to thank all the donors who helped make the trip even more enjoyable, then it was out for dinner and back to pack and prepare for a long day of travel to Colorado.

Cast thanking Indiegogo donors

Eigg the Musical Performance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Here's our performance of Eigg the Musical at Greenside @ Riddles Court in Edinburgh Scotland on August 10th, 2023. It's a small thrust stage venue, but it really allowed the actors to engage with the audience during the show. The production received 5 stars from the Scots Reviewer and we sold out the venue. Thank you Scotland for all your support!

Opening scene in 360° Greenside @ Riddles Court

You don't see these sorts of things very often, but it's always interesting to see how these 360 degree videos turn out for stage performances. Here's scene one of Eigg the Musical from the chandelier hanging stage right in Riddles court. The venue is over 500 years old and once held a coronation party for King James V1.

Opening night at the 2023 Edinburgh festival fringe

The official opening of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was on Monday August 7th, 2023. Here's an image of our cast and crew backstage at Riddles Court. It's just a few steps away from the entrance to the Willow Studio. We were minutes away from the debut of our show based on the "true story" of the small isle of Eigg. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎭🎹🎻.

Cast and Crew of Eigg the Musical

Eigg music ensemble join forces at Ensign Ewert in Edinburgh

Over the last few years we've been working with Sandy Brechin (accordion extraordinaire) on the various nuances of Scottish Ceilidh music. He's from Edinburgh and his son's friend actually did our tech at Riddles Court. Well, we were finally able to meet him in person at Ensign Ewert tavern for a little music gathering on Sunday August 6th and Cieran was able to sit in, it was so much fun.

Ensign Ewert is a small pub which was right up the street from our venue on the Royal Mile. A couple of days later, Sandy attended our show and we were able to return the favor by performing for him at Riddles Court. He loved the show! It's wonderful how music brings people together.

Eigg Musical Ensemble at Ensign Ewert

Greenside press gala to kickoff the 2023 Edinburgh fringe festival

Our show was pulled out of a hat for a two minute press preview slot to kickoff the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. When we arrived we were lead into the green room for a 10 minute layover before heading up for any performance prep, then to another room to hold. Each room was managed by a different set of stage managers. It was pretty cool, Finally, we headed down a staircase to the stage and waited for the act before us to finished up. We gave them high fives as they came off the stage, then it was our turn and the cast lit it up. It was so fun, the gala was attended by the BBC, the Guardian, the Scotsman to name just a few. It was a great opportunity to get the word out about our show!

Eigg cast at Greenside press gala

Vintage preview program QR code

We've been using QR codes to provide access to our show's program and crowd funding campaign online. It's just more convenient, useful and eco-friendly. There are plenty of free services out there that can generate a QR code for you. We recently printed two PDF one sheets for two separate drivers and posted them around the theater. Theater patrons could access the program and/or crowd funding site directly on their phones. We did print a 4 page program on a single 8.5 x 11 piece of paper too, but a lot of people used their phones to access the program as a flipbook and/or our secure donations site online.

Preview of Eigg the Musical at Vintage Theatre

Here's our first public viewing of Eigg the Musical. The show was sold out and the atmosphere was electric. Thank you Denver for all your love and support! Next, we travel across the pond for a 12 day performance run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Alba gu bràth!

Sovereignty and Ownership of the Isle of Eigg

Here's an overview of the sovereignty and ownership of the Isle of Eigg.

EIGG FOR SALE
   “A perfectly secluded island of the Old World, the very beautiful island of Eigg.”
       - Advertisement 1966

“The history of Eigg is, in part, a history of the whole of Scotland. It may not have stood in the mainstream of events but it has caught all the backwash and contributed not a little of its own. Prehistoric man settled Eigg as did the early Christians and Vikings. It provided a base from which the Lords of the Isle rose to power and later came under the aegis of the Clanranald chiefs and was caught up in their piratical clan wars. Men from Eigg supported the Jacobite cause. When it was suppressed, the Clanranalds - their power gone and fortune spent - sold Eigg. During the 19th century, it was owned by a series of extraordinary industrial barons who lavished their money on the island. Today, modem life and taxation have produced a new approach to island-owning and living.
       - Judy Urquhart writing in Eigg, (Canongate, published 1987).

There have been eight (8) owners of the Isle of Eigg in modern times:

• In 1828 the Clanranalds sold Eigg to Dr. Hugh Macpherson for £15,000.
• In 1917 it was sold to Sir William Petersen, a Dane.
• In 1925 Sir Walter Runciman bought it from Petersen’s executors for £15,000. At his death it passed to his son, Sir Steven.
• In 1966 Sir Steven Runciman sold it to Captain Robert Evans, a Shropshire landowner for £82,000.
• In 1971 he sold it to Bernard Farnhum-Smith for £120,000.
• In 1975 Keith Schellenberg bought it for £250,000.
• In 1989, after a protracted legal suit with his former wife, he was ordered by the Court of Session to sell it.
• In 1997, the year in which Eigg finally came into community ownership

The early focus of The Eigg Trust was to purchase the property, either outright or to participate in a joint purchase with another trust with compatible aims. The trust offered the prospect that when a future visitor asks who owns Eigg, the response, will not be a German factory magnate, English pop star, Swiss banker, Saudi oil sheik, Dutch syndicate, aristocratic heir, racing car driver, insurance company or any other sort of "laird", but simply, "Us ... held in trust for people and nature".
        - The Edinburgh Review, Edinburgh University Press, No. 88, 1992, pp. 158-162. "internet version from www.AlastairMcIntosh.com"

Eigg the Musical Troupe Photos

Here's a couple of troupe photos of the Eigg the Musical cast and crew we took near downtown Denver the first week of July. There's a few cast members missing, but the photos turned out really nice. The troupe was discussing the winners of this year's Tony awards and the possibility of a New York City run for the Eigg show in 2024. Thank you Tracy Holt Doty for the picture!

Eigg the Musical Cast & Crew (Color)

Eigg the Musical Cast & Crew (Black & White)

Reform Starts Now!

In scene 4 Cliff attends the Ceilidh festivities at the Isle of Eigg community center; at some point, he gets fed up with the music and fires the band. Later he returns with his entourage and tries to run the hippies down in his Roll Royce. 

We've moved into Fellowship Hall now. It's a nice place to rehearse the show. It has wood floors and a tiled ceiling that reduces some of the ambient noise we hear in Miller Hall. Also it's slightly bigger and is similar in size to Willow Studio in Riddles Court.

2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Program Launch

The 2023 Edinburgh festival fringe program has officially launched and our show is one of nearly 150 musicals and operas at the festival this summer. We started working with the edfringe folks back at the beginning of the year and we're on page 221 of this year's program. The show is 60 minutes and one of over 150 Musicals and Operas at this year's event. See you in Scotland. 🎭

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Program with Eigg the Musical (page 221)

Posters for Eigg the Musical at Riddles Court

We created a couple of posters for our shows in Edinburgh this year. The first one we call "the land grab", and the second one is called "the flick". They were created by Sam Wick and really capture the essence of the show in a couple of minimal images. Great job Sam, they both turned out great!

Eigg the Musical posters for the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Ceilidh dance training, what could go wrong?

Here's a couple 360° videos of our cast working through some ceilidh dance steps with our local Scottish dance experts. The tunesets are pretty traditioanal, we start with "Miss McLeods Reel", then transition to "Willajford" and briefly hit "The High Road to Linton. What a great tuneset!

360° video of Eigg troupe dancing to Miss McLeods Reel

Next, the troupe wanders into some waltz moves and the band joins in with "When Irish Eye Are Smiling". What a memorable moment! Man oh man, that was a fun night!

360° video Eigg troupe dancing to When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Kickoff celebration for Edinburgh Festival Fringe

We had an informative kickoff meeting for our Edinburgh performance run on Tuesday.  We met at First Baptist Church of Denver and did a walk through of the facility and went through the status for the show and played through some of the music. The building has several smaller rooms for logistical meetings, table reads and vocal rehearsals and most of the rooms have a piano. Miller hall is downstairs from the sanctuary and has a full blown theater with a proscenium stage and a large area for choreography and blocking.

Kickoff celebration for Eigg the Musical

It was nice to have most of the talent under one roof for the first time and everyone was super excited; afterwards, we all found time to unwind at City O' City, a nearby watering hole. We'll be spending a lot of time together over the next few months in preparation for 2 weeks in Scotland this Summer.

Tickets available for Eigg the Musical

We're live! The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has updated their website and tickets are now on sale for our show Eigg the Musical. The Fringe Society has done a great job and this year's festival is sure to be one of the best ever. Come join us in Scotland.

Tickets available for Eigg the Musical

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August.

Logo and marketing collateral for Eigg the Musical

We've been hard at work with messaging and branding for our upcoming show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. To start our art director put together a creative strategy for the graphic designer to work from. There's plenty of back-and-forth at this stage, but at the end of the day the period between the initial concepts through the final design went relatively smoothly and took about a month. Here's the final design, we'll plan to use it on our marketing collateral moving forward.

Mark your 2023 calendars!

The time has come! We've confirmed our participation in the 2023 Edinburgh theater festival. The show is now scheduled for the first week of August (7th-12th) with previews (4th-6th) and we are right on the royal mile. It's been a lot of hard work, but so fun and rewarding too. Over the next few months you'll probably see a variety of announcements here and on the festival's fringe site about the show and how to purchase your tickets, so please stay tuned.

Hopefully, the pandemic is behind us now and everything will go smoothly in Edinburgh. The extra time has allowed us to refine the script, enhance the music and put a bow on it. We're all so excited to come to Scotland and perform the work for everyone.

Script development and Cèilidh dance training

This was our first Cèilidh dance event! Here's what happened; some local theater friends volunteered to learn how to dance at a Cèilidh while April played the accordion. Back in 2019, after a short visit to the Isle of Eigg, we decided to incorporate Scottish Cèilidh music into the show. April worked with several professional accordionists on Skype during the Pandemic. Mike Aman owns Monarch Accordions and he worked on her repertoire and technique. Sandy Brechin is in Edinburgh, he's one of Scotland's best known Cèilidh accordionists and he helped with the overall Scottish Ceilidh genre.

Cèilidh Dance Training

In any case, earlier this year it felt like it was time to come out of the woodwork so I reached out to several local organizations specializing in Scottish dance and one of them connected me with a Scottish couple living in Colorado who were involved with Cèilidh dancing in Scotland. We had a Skype call to discuss the specifics and penciled in a date to get together. Everyone was eager to participate and learn more about the dances and the culture behind them too. Playing the music was the easy part and everything seemed to flow naturally. We played tune sets for a Gay Gordon, a Reel and a Jig and it was so much fun! 🎭

Creating an authentic musical score for Eigg

Here's a short article about composing for musical theatre works. The publication is based in Los Angeles, but they have a Colorado connection too. The interview touches briefly on "method composing" and the nuances of creating a score that supports the musical atmosphere found on the main islands of the Inner Hebrides. To read the interview and see all the pictures select the link below.

Read the Interview at:
https://shoutoutcolorado.com/meet-april-alsup-composer-of-musical-theatre/

Yes, we're adding plenty of Ceilidh music!

We've been hard at work preparing the various musical instrument parts for the Eigg show over the pandemic. It'll be nice to get out and finally play all this music for everyone. We've decided to supplement the Eigg score with some traditional Scottish Ceilidh music with dance sequences. They are so much fun to play and really make the show come alive!

April's Ceilidh Arrangements

We have a NEW Eigg website address!

We've decided to start using a new website address: eigg.show

The one we use today, www.eiggthemusical.com, just seems too long and boring. We'll plan to redirect the old address for a while since lots of people use it as a link on their websites, but a few months ago the Web officially added several new internet TLD (top level domain) names and "show" is now an available as an extension.

Oxford defines the term "show as "a play or stage performance, especially a musical" and "www.eigg.show" is easy to remember and we just love it! What do you think? We'd love to hear from you!

We're adding an Accordion to the Eigg Score

We're nearing completion of the performance materials for Eigg the Musical and should start some readings soon. April had never written for a Ceilidh band before, but she'd fallen in love with the music and the people on this little island so over the last few months she's been learning how to play the accordion to fit it into the ensemble.

Visiting the Isle of Eigg

Here's a collection of media clips from my 2019 Summer visit to the Isle of Eigg. On the first day I wandered into the church and recorded "Your Song" by Elton John on my phone so the quality is not so good, but it was fun to reminisce the visit while putting together this short video.

Music from the show performed on Eigg!

After the the festival in Edinburgh I traveled to the Isle of Eigg to take in some of the sites. On the first full day I took a stroll and found this Church of England building just a stones throw from the Glebe barn. There was a welcome sign for all and I couldn't help playing something from the Musical on the island for the first time. 🎭😊

Introducing Sbani & Alsup

It's official Mark and April have inked a deal for co-writing "The Isle of Eigg", so without further adieu, here's the writing team of Mark Sbani and April Alsup. They've been collaborating most of the year and now they've agreed to make a go of it.

April Alsup: Music & Lyrics
Mark Sbani: Book

Eigg the Musical early development video

Here's a short promo video for Eigg the Musical. It's a medley of excerpts from five different songs with several process tidbits scattered around here and there. Eigg is truly a magical island with a long history of conflict. Hippies, a manipulative laird, ancestry, flashbacks, rivalries, revolution, tragedy, loyalty and love. What more can you ask for?

The joy of a replenished song list!

Towards the end of the Sisyphus production I started getting back into the mode of composing music. It takes about 6 months to compose the songs needed to create a full length musical. Composers are always thinking about their "next" work, but you never really know when an idea will get enough traction for you to commit to the magnitude of a full length musical. In any case, you need a bunch of songs to work with so you might as well get at it and replenish your song list with new musical ideas.

At first, you're just putting chords and melodies on paper with words scattered around here and there. Then the story emerges and the songs start having relevance to the characters and the plot, that's when the lyrics start flowing and complete songs are placed in the libretto.

For me, if the songs come, so does the story. I wouldn't be good at writing songs for a predefined script. So here's the list of songs we have to use with Eigg, I started working on them in early 2017 as the Sisyphus production geared up and I put that work in the hands of the director. There are nearly 50 new songs here! I'm so thankful they came together like they did.

An interesting logo concept

We've started thinking about logo concepts for marketing/branding and one idea we have is to form a heart when Ross and Kaja's hands come together. The heart actually resembles the outline of the island and we are exploring ways to use the concept in the script. It's a clever idea, but we'll have to see if we get any traction with it.

I've always enjoyed creating logo concepts. The current logo is really just a placeholder. Now we get to explore combining elements from the story with messaging, visuals and typography. I'll reach out to our graphic designer and see what they think. I can't wait to see what they come up with...stay tuned!

ALPHA1...we have a song list...do you read me Houston...over

I thought it might be fun to document the steps we take creating Eigg the Musical; after all, this is a "blog" and that's short for "web log"...right? I've left out some of the preliminary steps because you never really know when or if a project is going to reach the tipping point, but we're there now. The initial concept came in mid 2017 after reading about the Isle of Eigg on Wikipedia. It was a bit touch and go at first, but songs came and the story emerged. It's really quite magical, you have to do a lot of research and get out of the box too. I think we (composers) do this differently, I find it important to let the music drive the story and if the music comes, so does the story; in any case, it takes roughly 6 months to write the songs needed for a full length musical. Here's a preliminary set of songs, but trust me this will change! songs will come...songs will go, as we fully develop the libretto (more to come!)

A short video clip of the 60 Minutes experience on Eigg

Here's a short video clip of the 60 Minutes' adventure to the Isle of Eigg. The camera shots are amazing and really capture the beauty of this place. We all enjoyed listening to Draggan Mihailovich talk about the experience and the magic of the small island.

The Isle of Eigg

The island of Eigg has a long history of conflict, situated off the coast of Scotland it has always been vulnerable to attack. The natural resources found on this remote island are legend, the waters of Loch Nam Ban Mora once gave birth to women of unusual height and physical strength, the magical powers found in the "Singing Sands" near the Bay of Laig were used to build the mighty Viking ships and the cathedral caves below Mount Sgurr helped protect the island's faithful during the Jacobite rebellions.

Today, the inhabitants of Eigg face a different type of invader; a foreigner with his own vision for Eigg, willing to purchase the island and use the land as he sees fit. Regrettably, with his ownership comes much anxiety among the residents. Who will prevail in this clash between the haves and the have nots? Stay tuned!

First official blog post

You can take the person out of Eigg, but you can't take Eigg out of the person!