Letter from Dan Wackerman, Artistic Director.

Dear Steve,

I just wanted to acknowledge your generosity to Saint Clement's Episcopal Church by organizing and performing in Living in the Bonus Round as a benefit for the church's Food Pantry and free Vet Clinic. In additional to thanking you, however, I wanted to say how impressed I was by your music, your skill as a singer and master of ceremonies and the quality of the talent you assembled for this event.

All of the music struck me as polished and professional, both as written and as performed by the ensemble. A few of the numbers I think I will remember for a very long time. Lazarus Come Out was an anthem of personal liberation with deep spiritual overtones as was My Thanksgiving Prayer, performed with the utmost tenderness by you and John Fitzgerald. How Do You Fall Back in Love?, sung by you and Jim Brochu, was simultaneously witty and poignant as it described the process of reuniting with an "ex."

But the songs from The Last Session really blew me away. How can it be that music this tuneful, this rocking with such clever, relevant, funny and sad lyrics isn't better known? This is "popular music" in the best sense of the term. In other words, you know how to write that endangered species in American musical theater- a "song": an unforgettable melody supported by lyrics that really mean something. And when music this good is performed by the likes of Michele Mais and Amy Coleman... wow!

Michele is an R&B powerhouse who really "took us to church" with The Preacher and the Nurse. Amy Coleman is that rare combination- a great actor with an equally great singing voice. I was completely captivated by her performance of Somebody's Friend , an angry, heart-wrenching ballad about "miracles cures" for HIV. Amy's rendition was exactly my idea of a great musical theater moment- the distillation of character through song.

Anyway, I just wanted to say "bravo." And please light a fire under your agent so that more people get to experience what I heard on Wednesday night!

Best,

Dan Wackerman
Artistic Director
The Peccadillo Theater Company

[Note from Steve: I don't have an agent. Or a manager, for that matter. Anyone interested?]