Underground Movement & Quiet Castings

shhhhhh… We slipped this update in last week on our LojoWerkz IG

The Low-Key LoJoWERKz PROJECTS UPDATE:

A few weeks ago at the Broadway ASCAP offices we had a great private reading and critique of our musical "Roofless" with Stephen Schwartz & Michael Kerker, followed by a strategy meeting where we discussed the next step for "Roofless" and some other projects. We'll be playing everything pretty close to the vest this year but just to let you know… "Roofless" = still in production. "HotFoot" starring Lil Buck = still in production AND 2 new, very exciting musicals we've been quietly developing for years are now moving into pre-production… both adaptations, packed full of all the elements we love. That's about all we can say right now. … as we creep stealthily back into the LoJoLab. We may be quiet for a few months… but, DON'T SLEEP LoJoFam!!!! The Wheels of Creating-Fire-in-Obscurity continue to grind forth. StayTuned! (We didn't have any new artwork to drop but we found this storyboard frame from "Roofless" development oddly appropriate. hahaha.)

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S/O to 3 new LA ROOFHEADz!

THE ROOF KEEPS GETTIN HIGHER & HIGHER!!!   

S/O to our newest Los Angeles based Roofheadz:  

ANTHONY, ARLEN & BRIANNA!

CHECK OUT tha comedic skills of ANTHONY NAPPIER:

CHECK OUT the incredibly Truthful voice of BRIANNA BRYAN:

CHECK OUT the emotional intensity of ARLEN ESCARPETA (& some historic death scenes, lol):

15-MIN AUDIO SNEAK LEAK from DEVELOPMENT READINGS & DEMOS

Here it is RoofFam, THE FIRST EXTENSIVE LOOK AT "ROOFLESS" LEAKED TO THE PUBLIC. Close your eyes and enter the world of the "Roofless!"

This 15-min mash up includes audio from our rough demos that we've produced during the development process, from workshop recording sessions, and dialog from table readings (which explains the page-turning noises….hahaha.) Much of the vocal work on the 20 songs in the show has been recorded by us, the composers (Tim Long and Jerome Johnson, aka LoJoWerkz) as is the normal case for musicals in development. Occasionally we've had very talented performers step in to help us on some of the demos. You'll hear much of their work here. Names of performers, as well as scene/song names appear on-screen.

PARENTAL ADVISORY - EXPLICIT LANGUAGE (One feature of "Roofless" that has been praised by critics is the "frank, unapologetic and realistic flavor" of the street vernacular.)

This demo touches on only about 1/8 of the material in the show, but hopefully represents the "Roofless" flavor fully. Again… our main reason for releasing this development material is to help raise awareness of the show as part of our fundraising attempts for our upcoming LA trip where we'll take many of the performers heard here with us to perform the entire show for our mentor Stephen Schwartz, Michael Kerker of ASCAP and several other Industry folks who will critique the show & offer us their advice. So PLEASE, if you like what you hear and want to help us move the show to the next step, DONATE to our support drive. ANY AMOUNT IS GREATLY NEEDED AND EVEN MORE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

gofundme.com/RooflessThaMusical

Thanks,
Tim and Jerome
LoJoWerkz

Credits:
BIG SHOUT OUT to Bryant Lamar and 4U Media Group for recording the Avionce Hoyles sessions, and Tim Kennard and Quinton Davis, Forrest Productions for some amazing recording sessions in 05, some of which have remained as part of the score.

The following performers can be heard on these demos (credited, by scene in the demo) - they have almost all offered their considerable skills without payment as we've been on this journey and our thanks to them is immeasurable and eternal! (Listed Alphabetically): Fredrick Custard, Keith Da Sneak Daniels, Desmond Dansby, Kelley Childers Friedberg, Michael Fruga, Khalid Freeman, Earl Burns, Evangeline Smith, Misha Howell, Avionce Hoyles, Branjae Jackson, Bryant Lamar, Jillian Marie, Amanda Martindale, Adam Matta, Sterling Matthews, Andresia Moseley, AnnaMaria Pasley-Horn, Lawrence Rosenborough, Gabriel Royal, Taylar Smallwood, Nita Chandler Smothers, Kathryn Stefanic, Rosa Thomas, and Dionne White. (Composers Jerome Johnson and Tim Long also appear extensively.)

BIGGEST ROOFLESS LEAK EVER… TOMORROW, JAN 25!

HEADED TO LA for a reading with STEPHEN SCHWARTZ! SUPPORT NEEDED!

UPCOMING TABLE READINGS & New Character Illustrations

DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES!!! NEW TABLE READS

Two Table Readings Coming Up!  Next week in TULSA and

around the first of the year in LA with our esteem'ed (pronounced Shakespeareanly, of course) mentors, whose names we shant drop because they are so high up in the stratosphere of Broadway luminaries that dropping said names all the way down to our lowly level might hurt some innocent bystander.

NEW TABLE READINGS also give us the chance to pull out  one of our goofy favs from our promo video library.  Check out a ridiculously LoonyTuned look at how we conduct our table reads. (This footage is from ASCAP Headquarters, DGA building in LA. 5 or 6 years ago I think.) Click it out below:

So for years, each time we assembled a cast for a reading or developmental performance Jerome and I discussed how we needed a graphic that showed all the show's characters to help interested actors quickly see the types we're seeking.  So finally - after many years and over 3,000 actors have been through the "Roofless" casting process (betta late than neva, hahaha) and in anticipation of a couple important readings coming up, we pulled the illustration together.  Ladies and gentlemen, we present the archetypal Roofheadz. (Above,l to r) R'Yonne, Dimples, Hogeye, Nine, Loomin', Sela, Lil Man, Scope, Marquee, Father & Tha Devil… and levitating, or rather, "levibreaking," above the principals is the character who has come to represent the flava of "Roofless" and, in essence, the flava of all our work, Tagz!  

Some model creds: My work as TuTchT IMAGING has put me in association with some of the top male models of color around the globe.  I gotta shout out the brothers whose images I drew from in developing this cast illustration.  Their brilliant work always inspires me.  S/O to Broderick Hunter, CyKeem White, Ronald Epps, Designer/Model C.Milano, Australia's Prince, and top UK model Harry Uzoka, among others. And, of course, a longterm S/O to Stephen Christopher and J Photogj Frieson Jr for working with us years ago to develop the flying Tagz character. The Sela illustration is based on images of the beautiful Joan Smalls.

(The similarity of these and other models to the characters depicted in this illustration does not represent any involvement in, or endorsement of "Roofless" on their part   ...Not yet anyway, hahaha.   One of these brothers might soon be flexing his acting chopz as part of one of our table reading casts.)

CASTING FOR TABLE READINGS TULSA & LOS ANGELES

Not sure what a Table Reading is? Below is our tried & true goofy attempt to explain how we do our table reads.  (The vibe and tone of this vid isn't representative of the musical "Roofless," we were just on a LooneyTune kick at the time. hahaha.  Enjoy.)

Called "INSANE" on Broadway.com - Gotta love it!

ROOFLESS Development Update

--- Update Sept 28 ---
The climb continues.

We are working with Michael Kerker, ASCAP's Musical Theatre Division and Stephen Schwartz to coordinate a reading of the latest draft of "Roofless" in Los Angeles sometime in 2014.  Calendars are still being coordinated to arrive at a date.

Opportunities for involvement (Demo Recording Cast, LA Reading Cast, Support and Fundraising for the event) will be posted in the coming months.

BIG SHOUT OUT to our mentor STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

ROOFLESS returns to LA for the next step! 2013

The reading date has yet to be established.  

We'll post the date when it becomes available.

CONCEPT ART THROWBACK

ROOFLESS CONCEPT ART THROWBACK

Remember this first "Scope on the Ledge" joint? After our initial sessions at the ASCAP/DISNEY workshop, on the advice from mentor Stephen Schwartz, we combined several of the original characters to create a new principle character named Scope. This piece was the first visual representation of our Roofhead homie!   Thx to NYC model Mike Press and Parisian photog Michael Cruzz for the collab on this precarious-perched image that helped people understand a little about this guy.

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