BANNED receives eight Broadway World award nominations

Our Summer production of BANNED the Musical received 8 Broadway World Award nominations. Broadway World asks Denver theater goers to nominate their favorite shows for the year so you might say it's a "People's Choice" award, but it's a bit of a popularity contest too; in any case, it's nice to be selected by your peers and we would appreciate your support.

Here are the categories we've been nominated in:
Musical: BANNED the Musical
Director: Kelly McAllister
Choreography: Heather Westenskow
Performer: Tracy Denver
Supporting Performer: Lars Preece, Olivia Kisicki, Star Ilalaole
Ensemble BANNED the Musical

Here's the link if you'd like to vote:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/denver/awards

2024 LIVE Performance Cast Album at the Edinburgh Fringe on Soundcloud

We've added our cast album with songs from the 2024 LIVE performances of BANNED 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.

Cast Album from BANNED
Live at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Performers: April Alsup, Blake Nawa'a, Eli Harvey, Heather Westenskow, Kelly McAllister, Lars Preece, Olivia Kisicki, Star Ilalaole, Timmy Pamintuan, Tracy Denver

2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe comes to an end

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support our show "BANNED the Musical" at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We had a fabulous time! There are so many talented performers at the Fringe and the Greenside Venues staff was amazing. This was our second straight year at the Fringe and both of our performance runs went great. Music theatre is ephemeral by nature and the people involved always feel the impact when a performance run comes to an end.

BANNED cast bow at 2024 Edinburgh Fringe

Saying goodbye to Scotland is always tough, but “a rolling stone collects no moss.” In Greek mythology, autumn appears as Demeter deals with the sadness of her daughter’s return to Hades. The world tends to slow down and hibernate as a result. The creative spirit is like an automotive engine and the driver and their passengers are rewarded with the ride. While all shows come to an end, it’s always best to remember that it only reveals the beginning of a new one, just as Demeter’s joy turns to the flowers of spring with Persephone’s return from the underworld. Thank you again, until next time Edinburgh. 🎭😀

Greenside announces BANNED 4 Star Scotsman review

THE SCOTSMAN - 4 STARS
August 6th, 2024

Denise’s husband has started wearing women’s clothes. Ana has surprised herself by falling for male-identifying gender guru Carl. Above all, Theo wants to capture their eight-strong gender identity group’s lives and loves in a brand new musical, to be staged at a prestigious international festival (sound familiar?).

There’s no denying the sheer ambition of April Alsup’s big, bold musical, in terms of its web of intertwining storylines, its eclectic and diverse characters, and the sensitive issues of gender and sexuality it attempts to address. There’s no denying, either, the sheer panache and energy with which it’s pulled off by its eager, energetic, ten-piece Denver-based company – no fewer than nine actor/singers, plus Alsup delivering an impassioned keyboard part.

Alsup’s songs are strong and memorable, in nicely complex arrangements too – tunes are swapped back and forth in complicated ensemble numbers, and the cast offers glowing harmonies as well as vivid solos. Eli Harvey is a troubled and vulnerable Ana, with a voice as honest and open as their character, while Tracy Denver makes a petulant Denise, at first horrified at her husband’s new apparel interests though later easing reluctantly towards acceptance. Online dating gets a merciless take-down, while the pleasures of sex are dutifully celebrated.

Despite the stage-filling collection of disparate characters – nicely choreographed by Heather Westenskow – there’s nonetheless a convincing overall story arc, as well as fulfilling individual plotlines for several of them (even if others inevitably feel a little underwritten). Best of all, however, BANNED offers a deeply human perspective on issues of gender and sexual identity, its flawed characters navigating their own mistake-filled routes through pronouns, preferences and plenty more. It’s a complex, compassionate show of missteps and misunderstandings, and one that warmly applies the tolerance it requests of others onto its own damaged but likeable characters.

By David Kettle
Read the complete review

BANNED the Musical opens 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Greenside press launch

Here's several pictures of the BANNED cast at the Greenside press launch on George Street. There were twenty acts in the showcase and we were given the honor of opening the 2024 Festival this year. Wow, what a great space and the tech team is so good, Thanks Greenside! 🎭

BANNED cast opening the 2024 Fringe Festival

BANNED cast opening the 2024 Fringe Festival

BANNED preview tickets now available at Vintage Theatre website

BANNED the Musical - Edinburgh Preview
Thursday July 25 - Sunday July 28th
Vintage Theatre: TICKETS AVAILABLE

$15 General Admission Tickets

BANNED is a modern-day musical that follows a group of gender misfits through the events leading up to their debut at a local performing arts festival. The polarizing discourse around gender today goes beyond opinions and has real consequences in society. The characters in BANNED go online to live out their dreams and escape the harsh realities of the world. We witness the juxtaposition of their psyche online and offline, we experience their inner struggles with intimacy, authenticity and acceptance. If the root cause of inequality is marginalization, the remedy is inclusion.

List of our BANNED blog posts

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

2024 LIVE Performance Cast Album at the Edinburgh Fringe on Soundcloud: We've added our cast album with songs from the 2024 LIVE performances of BANNED the Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to Soundcloud.

Our BANNED 2024 Performance Libretto: We finally got around to updating the BANNED libretto to match our 2024 Edinburgh Fringe performances.

2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe comes to an end: A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support our show "BANNED the Musical" at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Greenside announces BANNED 4 Star Scotsman review: There’s no denying the sheer ambition of April Alsup’s big, bold musical, in terms of its web of intertwining storylines, its eclectic and diverse characters, and the sensitive issues of gender and sexuality it attempts to address.

BANNED the Musical opens 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Greenside press launch: Here's several pictures of the BANNED cast at the Greenside press launch on George Street.

BANNED preview tickets now available at Vintage Theatre website: BANNED is a modern-day musical that follows a group of gender misfits through the events leading up to their debut at a local performing arts festival.

BANNED program flipbook Riddles Court performances: Converting a Microsoft Word document into a PDF and then an interactive flipbook is an eco-friendly way to provide your show's programs to your audience.

Early blocking and choreography rehearsal: We're in the preliminary stages of mounting the BANNED show now.

BANNED! mobile phone props for Edinburgh Fringe: Making a realistic phone was pretty easy, we found some relatively thin puck lights that fit nicely between two electrical wall plates at Home Depot.

BANNED tickets now available!: The Fringe's online ticketing system has lots of options and the Fringe organization has been super helpful with explaining all the ins and outs.

Quad Rail Boards for the Edinburgh Fringe: With over one million people visiting Edinburgh’s festivals during August, outdoor posters are part of many participant’s marketing campaign toolbox.

BANNED Creative Strategy Document: Musical theater’s gender-bending forerunners like Angel (Rent), Lola (Kinky Boots), Hedwig (and the Angry Inch), Priscilla (Queen of the Desert), and Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror) are so “Sassy” and “Vegas Fabulous”, our show is less about making an icon than it is about presenting a group of non-conforming individuals with common talents and struggles, who are marginalized for not abiding by today’s gender norms.

BANNED to debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Colorado composer, April Alsup, has announced the dates for BANNED the Musical, a timely story of a group of Gen Z gender misfits and the events leading up to their performance at a local performing arts festival.

BANNED program flipbook Riddles Court performances

Converting a Microsoft Word document into a PDF and then an interactive flipbook is an eco-friendly way to provide your show's programs to your audience. The process is fairly straight forward and it's a "win-win" for audience goers, producers and most of all our environment. The only downside is it requires the user to have some sort of electronic device connected to the Internet.

Here's our working version of our Edinburgh program this year. When it's complete we'll create a sign with a QR-Code for the audience to access the program and we typically have a small number of the shortened program for individuals who may not have an electronic devices.

Early blocking and choreography rehearsal

We're in the preliminary stages of mounting the BANNED show now. Fortunately, we're at the same venue in Edinburgh as last year and we have all the basic dimensions of the stage and understand the subtle nuances of our theater's footprint. It feels like we're more comfortable locking our moves in this year, but early rehearsals always seem to go through scheduling conflicts.

Here's a short video of the first chorus.

It's important to take videos of your rehearsals so everyone in the troupe can review the progress. Typically, directors start with scene 1 and go from there so it's easy to setup a secure video directory with straight forward filenames. The song "The World Wide Web" is near the beginning of the show and it's all hands on deck. Everyone in the cast has a "mobile phone" and can be seen texting online throughout the song.

BANNED! mobile phone props for Edinburgh Fringe

Making theatre props is always fun and the BANNED show has several interesting challenges. First, all the characters use their cell phones to txt one another and we needed a prop to highlight the activity. The timing on these sorts of things is critical so it was important to give each actor the ability to turn on their phone as well as a theater tech the ability to flip all phones on and all phones off.

Here's a video of the final prototypes working in unison.

Making a realistic phone was pretty easy, we found some relatively thin puck lights that fit nicely between two electrical wall plates at Home Depot. It was like making a puck light sandwich! Using wall mounting machine screws and a nut to fasten them together, we added some foam padding to reduce vibration and stress. Then, it was off to the local arts and craft store (Michaels) for some personal design paper with an adhesive backing to differentiate each phone.

Please see our BANNED! website to purchase tickets and learn more. See you in Edinburgh!

BANNED tickets now available!

Tickets for our Musical BANNED are now available on the Fringe's website, use the "Find Shows" menu option or use this link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/banned-the-musical to go directly to our page for more information.

BANNED tickets now available!

The Fringe's online ticketing system has lots of options and the Fringe organization has been super helpful with explaining all the ins and outs. Our venue is Riddle's Court and the theater is Willow Studio. It has a three quarter thrust stage and roughly 60 seats. We've tried to set the ticket prices at a reasonable price to accommodate everyone who wants to see our show. During the preview week we have all sorts of specials, the weekdays have some special offers too and of course the weekends are crazy. Hope we see you there...so excited!

Quad Rail Boards for the Edinburgh Fringe

With over one million people visiting Edinburgh’s festivals during August, outdoor posters are part of many participant’s marketing campaign toolbox. Working in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, Out of Hand, a major outdoor advertiser, have built a wide range of highly visible, centrally located advertising sites throughout the city for Fringe performers to promote their shows.

BANNED Quad Rail Board Mockup

Their sites are positioned for maximum visibility around the Fringe performance areas, with sites outside the main venues, busy pedestrian walkways, main traffic routes and transport hubs. With over twenty different formats, there is something for all budgets and sizes of show to make a real impact on the streets of Edinburgh during.

BANNED Rail Board Concept

Their properties go real fast though, so you have to be ready for the kickoff in March. They launched there availability at noon in Scotland (6AM in Colorado) on March 26th. We had already gone through their media package beforehand and selected the best options for us. Their site opened right on time and after getting acclimated with there latest software we were able to secure several Quad Rail Boards right in the thick of things around Edinburgh.

It's now or never, it's something we can't ignore

The "Organized Confusions" rehearse  and write songs at Frank's Tavern, a family owned watering hole that has a stage and several empty living spaces upstairs. The group has got together to write a number that tells their story to others out there that have the same sort of feelings. It all starts with playing around with la-la-la-la and turns into a really cool song that talks about their journey as a group. You can play the song with the rehearsal track below and here's a link to the sheet music for the Fringe version of "When it Rains it Pours."

When it Rains it Pours
BANNED Version

April Alsup · BANNED Rehearsal Track: WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

ANA & ENSEMBLE (mix it up)

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

IT’S NOW OR NEVER

IT’S SOMETHING WE CAN’T IGNORE

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

IT’S NOW OR NEVER

IT’S SOMETHING WE CAN’T IGNORE

WHEN AT LAST MY FRIENDS WE STOOD CONVINCED

THAT RACES NEED TO BE RUN

WELL WITH HIS SMILE AND HER GENTLE STYLE

WE KICK THE BLOCKS AND WAIT FOR THE GUN

AND RACE WE WOULD, WITH ALL WE COULD

THE PEDAL ON THE FLOOR

WE’LL MEET THE TEST AND WE’LL GIVE IT OUR BEST

AND LEAVE THE REST AND NOT ASK FOR MORE

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

IT’S NOW OR NEVER

IT’S SOMETHING WE CAN’T IGNORE

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS (Suspense)

(DENISE enters, JOE receives an eMail and they learn their entry to the festival has been BANNED and marked as too controversial by a major advertiser, they lament then some exit.

This is my life, I can't live it like yours

Towards the end of the show Denise asks the "Organized Confusions" to play an upbeat number and to tell everyone how they really feel. She's a little tipsy and flirting with Carl. They agree and knock it out of the park with "The Sweet Bell that Tolls." The performance is recorded and posted to social media and the word starts to get out about their new ensemble. You can play the song with the rehearsal track below and here's a link to the sheet music for the Fringe version of "The Sweet Bell That Tolls."

The Sweet Bell That Tolls
BANNED Version

April Alsup · BANNED Rehearsal Track: THE SWEET BELL THAT TOLLS

HIGHER AND HIGHER THE AIR GETS SO THIN
STILL WE PLAY THIS GAME, AND WE ACT AS IF WE COULD WIN
THE PAST WELL IT CLOSES,
THE FUTURES BEDECKED WITH THE SCENT OF RED ROSES

IT'S FOOD FOR THE MIND, AND REST FOR THE SOUL
I'M IN NO HURRY FOR THE SWEET BELL THAT TOLLS
CAUSE THIS IS MY LIFE, I CAN’T LIVE IT LIKE YOURS

Dance Sequence

IT'S FOOD FOR THE MIND, AND REST FOR THE SOUL
I'M IN NO HURRY FOR THE SWEET BELL THAT TOLLS
CAUSE THIS IS MY LIFE, I CAN’T LIVE IT LIKE YOURS

BANNED Creative Strategy Document

Creative Strategy
Author: April Alsup
Client: BANNED the Musical
Project: Brand Identity
Website: www.banned.show
Date: 2/21/24
Revision: 1.2 

(Download the PDF)

Project Background: BANNED the Musical is scheduled to debut the first week of August at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The discussion of gender can be a divisive and sensitive topic these days. Our show appeals to the masses by developing empathy for a small group of vibrant and creative young people who challenge those boundaries and are marginalized as a result.

Project Objective: Create a logo and image identity for the show that draws you in, is memorable and makes you think, that establishes the brand’s image while providing the underlying premise for the show. After first seeing the logo people should momentarily wonder and then be able to easily articulate what the image said to them at least a week after seeing it.

Target Audience: United Kingdom (UK), just about everyone, performed by Millennials and Gen Z.

Assumptions: We have an entertaining and compelling show about gender norms. People in the UK are familiar with gender issues and probably know someone who is non-conforming or transgender. Most have already developed opinions on the subject. People will read through the Fringe program multiple times between now and August, but this isn’t about selling tickets through special offers.

Positioning Statement: Musical theater’s gender-bending forerunners like Angel (Rent), Lola (Kinky Boots), Hedwig (& the Angry Inch), Priscilla (Queen of the Desert), and Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror) are so “Sassy” and “Vegas Fabulous”, our show is less about making an icon than it is about presenting a group of non-conforming individuals with common talents and struggles, who are marginalized for not abiding by today’s gender norms.

Strategy: Rethink Gender. Following a small group of artists who meet at a gender identity therapy session to their debut at the New Horizon performing arts festival, provide elements that show the broad spectrum and various dimensions of gender and speaks candidly to an audience of all ages.

Design Considerations: The visuals should be simple and use a minimal color palette. Not too serious, use playful colors and elements. Social media is a prominent element in the lives of young adults, use electronic devices and gadgets like phones, tablets, and/or a watch. Find a background element that shows gender diversity in the public space and can be reused.

Tactical: Look for an element that accentuates one’s gender, (stereo typical) women use makeup accessories like hair pieces, jewelry boxes and mirrors, for men it could be a moustache or a tie, break the barrier between male and female here. Find an abstract artistic treatment that captures the spectrum of gender, include the use of electronic gadgets and create a modern genderless world.

Single Net Impression: This seems like a real show about real people succeeding in spite of adversity

BANNED to debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2nd, 2024

Contact:
April Alsup
BANNED the Musical
info@banned.show

BANNED to debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

(Download the PDF)

DENVER, COLORADO - Colorado composer, April Alsup, has announced the dates for BANNED the Musical, a timely story of a group of Gen Z gender misfits and the events leading up to their performance at a local performing arts festival. The polarizing discourse around gender today extends beyond opinions and has real consequences in society.

The show is the brainchild of April Alsup and was a perfect fit for everyone on both sides of the pond. "We’ve built a fabulous relationship with the creative programming vision of our sponsor” said April Alsup, “we introduced our concept to Greenside Venues earlier this year and they were thrilled to include our show in their 2024 festival lineup.”

The characters in BANNED go online to live out their dreams and escape the harsh realities of the world. We witness the juxtaposition of their psyche online and offline, we experience their inner struggles with intimacy, authenticity and acceptance.

In 2019 the Edinburgh fringe festival spanned 25 days and featured 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival it is now the world's largest performance arts festival.

BANNED the Musical will be directed by Kelly McAllister and staged in Colorado using local talent. The Denver based team will travel to Scotland and perform with other theatre troupes from around the world. The show will debut at Greenside @ Riddles Court on August 2nd and runs through August 10th 2024.

"Undoubtedly one of the most charming venues at the Fringe" - The Guardian

Some famous faces have graced the halls at Riddles Court; including King James VI, who in 1598 attended a state banquet there and in 1751 it became the residence of David Hume. It should come as no surprise that the building has a rich Fringe history and will become the venue for the new musical’s debut. Tickets are available on the Edinburgh festival fringe website.

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Please see these websites for more information:
www.alsup.org | www.banned.show | www.greensidevenue.co.uk | www.edfringe.com