June 2009
HMS is Back On The Air with Handel's Messiah Rocks
HMS Media's newest broadcast special is a change of pace, and it's something about which we are extremely excited. Handel's Messiah Rocks premieres on WTTW11 Wednesday, June 3 at 9pm as a summer pledge special. The show is an update of the timeless classic, featuring conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops and LaChanze (Tony Award winner for The Color Purple), J. Robert Spencer (Tony Award nominee for Next To Normal) and MiG Ayesa (star of Australian and European tours of Rent, We Will Rock You and Grease).
This live concert presentation is the brainchild of Dani Davis and Jason Howland, who, in the time-honored tradition of composers like Mozart, have taken the text and music for the Messiah and contemporized it for modern audiences. The power and majesty of the score are still there, enhanced by a powerful rock band.
HMS worked closely with the creative team to capture the stage production for broadcast television. This striking new HD special will also be available as a Sony home video DVD release, containing over 40 minutes of special features produced by HMS. A national tour of the concert launches this fall.
Chicagoland viewers – don't forget to tune into WTTW for the broadcast premiere June 3, and national viewers should watch for PBS broadcasts in your city later this summer. Visit handelsmessiahrocks.com for more information.
Show Time: HMS Footage To Be Featured During the Tony Awards
HMS just wrapped up its busiest Broadway season ever, shooting more than a third of the shows that opened on the Great White Way during the 2008-2009 season, and a sizeable number of national tours.
You'll be able to see numerous clips from our work, plus live performances from many of the nominated shows, on Sunday's broadcast of The Tony Awards starting at 8pm Eastern on CBS.
It's the first HD broadcast for the Tonys, which will give viewers a chance to watch the live awards ceremony in HD, and also all of HMS' Broadway work for such shows as 33 Variations, 9 to 5, Desire Under the Elms (in its pre-Broadway engagement at Chicago's Goodman Theater), Equus, Exit The King, God of Carnage, Guys and Dolls, Hair, Impressionism, Mary Stuart, Next to Normal, The Norman Conquests, Rock of Ages, The Seagull, Shrek The Musical, West Side Story and White Christmas.
HMS also hit the road this year to work with national tours of Mamma Mia!, The Color Purple, Legally Blonde, Grease, Sweeney Todd, Frost/Nixon, Dirty Dancing, The Drowsy Chaperone, Jersey Boys and RENT, and you'll catch a few glimpses of some of the tours on the Tony broadcast as well. See you on CBS-HD June 7!
Web Savvy
Broadway shows and tours are creating exclusive original content for the online community and are relying on HMS Media's extensive experience creating Emmy-winning behind-the-scenes arts documentaries to help produce and deliver new media. These podcasts and webisodes are essentially mini-documentaries taking viewers onstage, behind the scenes, and into the lives of the creative teams and performers who are bringing new shows to Broadway and the road. Our first three such ventures are now available online.
Dirty Dancing Podcasts
We began with the North American tour of Dirty Dancing, which premiered in Chicago. HMS was there to capture the rehearsal process, press openings, special events and the excitement of opening night in a series of podcasts that were unveiled via the show's website and iTunes.
Mary Poppins Takes Flight
Next up, the folks at Disney called on us to create Mary Poppins Takes Flight, an online video that take viewers behind the scenes of the national tour of Mary Poppins, meeting stars Gavin Lee and Ashley Brown, and featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes tours.
We Are Billy Elliot
And most recently, Situation Interactive tapped us for an ambitious series of podcasts featuring the hit show Billy Elliot. The series, called We Are Billy Elliot, introduces online viewers to the cast and crew as they share why this show is so special to them and features performance clips, intimate conversations and exclusive peeks at backstage life.
More exciting online projects are on the way, and we will keep you updated here at Uptime.
Join HMS Media on Facebook!
HMS Media has a Facebook group and we'd love for you all to join. It's the place where we can share with you clips from our broadcast projects, recent shoots with Broadway shows and tours, and podcast and webisodes from our online projects.
Starting this summer we also hope to be posting content from Chicago dance, music and theater companies, in addition to videos we're creating for nonprofit social service organizations.
Anyone from Facebook can join, and anyone online can visit. Check out our Facebook page and join the more than 650 members who have signed up already!
Send us your email and we'll send you updates.