Us & Music

Music has always had a prominant part in both our lives; it's a central joy that we enjoying sharing with each other. Isaac is a professional musician, as music director and organist at St. Matthew's United Methodist Church in Bowie, Maryland, and currently Treasurer of the Washington, DC, chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Jeff remains an amateur, playing cello occasionally and composing, and listening avidly.

Our lives became much busier in the summer of 1996 when Isaac formed a Musical Threater Troupe; he's the music director and pianist.

Jeff is actor, assistant director, and sometimes choreographer. (For, can you believe it, 5 nuns? Twice!). He started out doing lights, but late in 1998 was roped into singing and dancing. In April 1999, it was "Dames at Sea", in which--for the first time--Jeff had a principal role. Then in October 1999 he played the lead [Sid] in "The Pajama Game". More recently, he was Sandor in "Bells Are Ringing", Jud Fry (the only one who dies) in "Oklahoma", Father Virgil ("Nuncrackers"), Sir Charles ("Redhead"), Vincent "Vinnie" DiRussio ("Lucky Stiff"), and Oliver Webb ("On the Twentieth Century"). After learning to tap dance for "Crazy for You", he's directing two one-act shows for fall 2006.

Our productions so far:

• 1996: "Ruddigore"
• 1997: "Once Upon a Mattress" and "Two by Two"
• 1998: "Anything Goes" and "A Grand Night for Singing"
• 1999: "Dames at Sea" and "The Pajama Game"
• 2000: "Hello, Dolly!" and "Nunsense"
• 2001: "Iolanthe" and "Top 10 Countdown (A Revue)"
• 2002: "Nunsense II" and "Bells Are Ringing"
• 2003: "Oklahoma" and "Nuncrackers" (The Nunsense Christmas Musical)
• 2004: "Redhead" and "Lucky Stiff"
• 2005: "On the Twentiety Century" and "Nunsense III: Sister Amnesia's Country Western Nunsense Jamboree"
• 2006: "Crazy for You" and "Wings" + "Scenes in Wonderland"

There are great pieces of music, sure, but here we take a more voyeuristic attitude and reveal our ideas of sublime moments in music history, brief passages or perhaps even just a note in a context that give us a spine-tingling response.

Putting aside any arguments about whether this music by Bach is the greatest piece ever composed, it's at least pretty good, and Jeff's developed a fascination for it over the years that he's feeling the need to talk about soon.