Music is an integral part of every Lean & Hungry Show. Ben Model, seasoned pianist, is joining the Lean & Hungry team for the Comedy of Errors later this month.

But Model isn’t your usual pianist and composer. Ben specializes in piano improvisation, which means that everyone present for The Comedy of Errors broadcast, including Model, will be hearing the music for the first time.

Model’s improvisational creations usually accompany silent movies, a passion of his that goes back to his days as a film student at NYU. He recalls taking a class on silent films where the students sat in silence. Model volunteered to accompany the screenings with music, the way they were meant to be seen and from there began to make connections and build a career.

Today Model improvises on the piano full time for silent movies across the country. He says that he has composed music on paper before, but he far prefers to improvise.

“Improvising isn’t just ‘winging it’.” he explains as he describes the combination of musicianship, chord progressions and themes, and instincts that come to him.

“Music will just come out of my hands...nothing you play is a mistake” Model says, “I also like to call it ‘Musical Language’ Composition in Performance’ and ‘Music of Momentary Significance’.”

Come hear Ben Model improvise the soundtrack for Lean & Hungry’s The Comedy of Errors at the American University’s Amphitheatre on Sunday June 22nd. 

Click Here to learn more about Ben Model and follow his blog.

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s most ridiculous, high-energy stories of mistaken identity.  What happens when two sets of identical twins wind up in the same town?  Mayhem, of course!
            The characters of The Comedy of Errors are larger-than-life, and were originally inspired by stock characters of Roman Comedy and Commedia Dell’Arte.  In this adaptation of The Comedy of Errors for the radio, I am focusing on a uniquely American twist while remaining true to Shakespeare’s text.  We'll create an uninhibited sense of adventure, and a time and place in our American vernacular that would lend itself to slapstick, dizzying comedic plotlines, and non-stop energy.  Therefore, Lean & Hungry’s production of The Comedy of Errors is set in the height of the California Gold Rush with Wild West characters. Adriana will be a go-get-em pioneer woman with some Annie Oakley flair.  The twins named Antipholus will be impatient and rowdy cowboys, galloping around town with their trusty sidekicks—the twins named Dromio.  Evoking the Wild West will also require a rich soundscape, and I am particularly excited about bringing the hustle and bustle of a California boom town to life through sound and live improvised music.  
            The Wild West setting will be great fun and intriguing for listeners. The familiar archetypes and exciting setting of the Wild West will provide a whimsical journey for the imagination.  I hope you will join us for our journey out West!

My technical job description as liaison between WAMU 88.5 and Lean & Hungry Theater is to manage the logistics and communication between the two entities, which sounds like a fairly boring task. In reality, though, the liaison’s job is much more fun than that.
           I’ve been working with Lean & Hungry Theater since late 2010, when I joined the production team of Romeo & Juliet. As a result, I carry a lot of institutional knowledge. Curious who came up with our scissors/bell/ratchet technique for making typewriter sounds with the foley kit? I’ve got you covered: it was the supremely talented Danny Cackley, while working on Much Ado About Nothing. Wondering why all sound effects are made at the foley microphones instead of at the actors’ microphones? I know that one, too: it’s because we need to know which track has which sound during post-production, so it’s best to group them the same way throughout.
           Sure, I do lots of scheduling, corralling and logistics, but I also help to transform a script into a radio broadcast full of rich sound.
I work with the actors individually to hone their microphone technique, making sure they find the ideal distance and angle from the microphone for each of their characters. We also work through common pitfalls such as popped plosives (when the air from a P, K or T causes an unpleasant popping sound on the microphone), sounds that may not translate well over radio (whistling, crying, screaming, etc.) and moving heads away from the microphone.
           I’m looking forward to a new set of sound adventures – this time in the Wild West – in our summer show, The Comedy of Errors!