The upcoming short film/musical written and directed by Mark Oxman. Cast includes Alice Ripley, Sam Tsui, Uzo Aduba, Myles Erlick, Heidi Blickenstaff, Remy Zaken, and Patrick Page."Sing Along" is a comedy/drama about a boy afraid of the world; his only way to survive intimidating situations is to picture life as a musical. Set in New York City, the film is currently in pre-production and is slated to shoot in early October.
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Sing Along: The Making of a Short Film
Broadway veterans Heidi Blickenstaff, Patrick Page, and Remy Zaken have joined the cast of Mark Oxman’s film Sing Along, which will begin production in October. The film will have original songs by Ron Wasserman.
The film concerns an introverted 14-year-old boy living in New York City, whose love of musicals translate to an overactive imagination, stemmed from his natural creativity. But that creativity leads to trouble in school and more at home, where his naysayer mother crushes his artistic nature and his dream of being on Broadway himself.
In addition, Sam Tsui will replace the previously reported Tony Award winner Levi Kreis, although the film will continue to star Tony Award winner Alice Ripley and Broadway veterans Uzo Aduba and Myles Erlick.
Blickenstaff’s Broadway credits include The Addams Family and The Little Mermaid and [title of show]. Page is currently playing Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin in Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and will be featured as Comte De Guiche in the upcoming Broadway revival of Cyrano de Bergerac. Zaken was an original cast member in the Tony Award winning Spring Awakening, originating the role of Thea.
Heidi Blickenstaff has joined the cast of SING ALONG, alongside Remy Zaken and Patrick Page. Sam Tsui, whose album, “The Covers” was released on Sh-K-Boom Records, has signed on to replace Levi Kreis due to scheduling conflicts.
Sam will playing Gavin, the History tutor who serves as a mentor for the lead character, Stephen. Patrick will cameo in the role of a homeless man who overwhelms Stephen when asking for change. Remy will be an unfriendly classmate who is unsympathetic towards his social disorder. And Heidi will play Ms. Kelly, the loving but stern teacher who struggles to accommodate Stephen when he acts out in class.
Tsui is a prolific musician who has become an Internet celebrity due to his wildly popular music videos on YouTube, alongside his longtime friend, Kurt Schneider. The two have appeared and performed on many popular television programs including “Oprah” and “The Ellen Degeneres Show.” A web series they created called “College Musical” was turned into a feature length film.
Page currently stars in the hit show, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” in the dual role of Norman Osborn and his alter ego, The Green Goblin. Past roles include the title character in “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Scar in “The Lion King,” Decius Brutus in “Julius Caesar,” Lumière in “Beauty and the Beast,” and King Henry VIII in “A Man for All Seasons.” He will next be seen in Roundabout Theatre Company’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” in the role of Comte De Guiche.
Zaken was an original cast member in eight-time Tony Award winning “Spring Awakening,” originating the role of Thea. Last summer, she starred as the title character in “Freckleface Strawberry,” an Off-Broadway production based on Julianne Moore’s best-selling children’s book. In May of this year, she participated in the industry reading of “My Mother, My Sister & Me” alongside Valerie Harper.
Blickenstaff is perhaps best known for playing herself in the musical, “[title of show].” Other Broadway roles include Alice Beineke in “The Addams Family,” Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” and Susan Hershey in “The Full Monty.” Earlier this year, Heidi reunited with her “[title of show]” cast mates in The Vineyard Theatre’s “Now. Here. This.”
“Sing Along” will begin production in early October, filmed entirely in New York. The short follows an introverted and mildly agoraphobic young man who survives day-to-day life by imagining the world as a musical. Tony winner Alice Ripley (“Next to Normal”) is attached as Stephen’s mom, and Godspell’s Uzo Aduba is a cafeteria lady who breaks into song. Billy Elliot’s Myles Erlick will play the lead.
The film was written and will be directed by Mark Oxman, with original music and lyrics by Ron Wasserman and Kathy Fisher. More information is available at www.singalongmovie.com.
Heidi Blickenstaff, Patrick Page, Remy Zaken and Sam Tsui have joined the cast of the upcoming Mark Oxman film musical “Sing Along,” starring Tony Award winner Alice Ripley.
Shooting will begin in New York this October for the film that centers on a young boy named Stephen, who escapes the difficulties of his own reality by turning his life into a musical number. “Sing Along” will feature original songs by Ron Wasserman. Mark Oxman conceived and will direct the film.
Blickentstaff ([title of show], The Little Mermaid) will portray a history teacher, with Page (Spider-Man, Cyrano) in a cameo as a homeless man and Zaken (Spring Awakening) as one of Stephen’s classmates.
Youtube sensation Tsui has stepped in for Tony Award winner Levi Kreiss (Million Dollar Quartet), who had to withdraw from the film due to scheduling conflicts.
As previously reported, Ripley (Next to Normal, Side Show) will portray the mother of Billy Elliot cast member Myles Erlick, who stars as Stephen. Godspell cast member Uzo Aduba is also part of the film as a cafeteria lady who breaks into song.
“Sing Along,” according to a release, “stars a 14-year-old boy living in New York City, with Broadway theaters as his backyard. Deeply introverted and mildly agoraphobic, his love of musicals translate to an overactive imagination, stemmed from his natural creativity. But it leads to trouble in school and more at home, where his naysayer mother crushes his artistic nature and his dream of being on Broadway himself.”
Visit singalongmovie.com.
Today I met with the co-producer and, for the first time, the cinematographer of the film. She had been recommended to me by Bobby Bukowski, my friend who was the DP on films like “Saved!”, “The Messenger,” “Rampart,” “Arlington Road,” and for Glee fans — “Struck by Lightning,” the Chris Colfer starring vehicle he wrote for himself. I was floored by Eugene’s reel; her look was exactly what I was hoping for. But having a conversation with her, I realized it wasn’t just a fluke that she was of exceptional talent. She is a rare brilliant artist who approaches material the same way I do — very articulately crafting each frame, determining beforehand what essence we are conveying and making sure there is a cohesiveness in story in regards to how everything relates to each other. Last week, I had a seven hour meeting with Evan and this week, it was a six hour meeting with Evan and Eugene. I joked with Evan tonight that next week, we’d only meet for five hours, and then four after that, until it ended in us meeting at the subway station, waving, and then returning to our respective homes.
I hope I can get an entire team that invigorates me like these two do. Their great energy and ability is going to make for a fun shoot, no matter how unglamorous it will end up being. We found the location that is perfect for the high school but it is widely expensive. They agreed to cut down the costs slightly but only if we knocked our crew down to ten people. We can make it work — especially if two of those ten are people like Evan and Eugene. But it’s quite ironic at how expensive this shoot is getting and yet none of it is going to unnecessary items — no trailers, no Fiji water — just locations and permits and insurance and lawyers to get the lead actor here from Canada and equipment rentals and lodging costs for out-of-towners. Our budget is $13,000 more than we anticipated. We’ll see what happens when the Kickstarter is launched. And, unsuspectingly, the two of them have agreed to defer their salaries along with me so we could meet production costs.
To those just discovering the tumblr, check out http://www.singalongmovie.com
Right now, the cast includes Alice Ripley, Uzo Aduba, and Myles Erlick.
Four new cast members are in negotiations. Announcements to be made sometime over the next few weeks.
We are raising part of the budget on Kickstarter and have some really cool incentives, such as an invitation to the New York premiere, a meet-and-greet with the cast prior to the premiere, autographed memorabilia (script, poster), the original soundtrack, a chance to be IN THE FILM, an invitation to the wrap party, or bring some of the cast to your hometown for a private screening. The site will go live next week!
For updates, you can follow us at http://www.twitter.com/singalongmovie and http://www.facebook.com/singalongmovie
So Myles just landed the part in this new movie Sing Along, directed by Mark Oxman. About a 14 year-old boy living in New York City with Broadway theaters as his backyard.Deeply introverted and mildly agoraphobic, his love of musicals translate to an overactive imagination, stemmed from his…
I was not asked to promote this, I am just really excited about it and I want to share this project with as many people as possible.
Check out: http://www.singalongmovie.com/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/singalongmovie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/singalongmovie
Tumblr: http://singalongmovie.tumblr.com/
tell your friends and get excited
It’s still in the developmental stages but I finally developed a website to promote the film.
As much work as going into it, it’s ironic that I will scrap it entirely when the domain is geared towards promoting the actual film (stills, trailer, press, festival listing, etc.) and not its inception during pre-production and the Kickstarter campaign.
It’s 10:30PM and I’m laying down MY vocals on the demo tracks to send to professional Broadway singers. I never claimed to be musically talented but I am visualizing each and every member of the cast snickering when they listen to my rendition of their songs. Fortunately Alice’s demo was done by Kathy Fisher and the adjustments I made to the lyrics weren’t enough to constitute a redo on my part.
At least it will give them something to make fun of me for on set.
Well, just launched the Facebook site for “Sing Along” officially now that the Kickstarter page is in the works. The Twitter site is up, too, but I haven’t announced it publicly because it would be premature to do so. Three of the four actors are now officially attached; waiting to hear back from #4.
