Mark Baratelli's Improv Cabaret at the 2006 Orlando Fringe Festival

Friday, March 31, 2006

Lisa Jolley did in 2001

--Check out this Wall Street Journal review of Lisa jolley's one-woman improvised cabaret show. It's from 2001. I don't know if she's still doing it or not. But how cool that we had the same idea...but she had it first. Props to Jolley. I am a bit taken back though. I know I am not in the improv world very deep, so i guess I shouldn't have thought this, but I seriously thought I had come up with something original. I am a little dissappointed. However, if you read the article you will see she does something totally different from me. She gets info from the audience and sings about their lives. Then she does a musical using those characters. I am talking to the audience and singing songs out of whatever we talk about. Mine is less structured. So I guess it's the same idea, different execution.

--The magazine called Tuesday night. They wanted to check if I indeed lived in orlando because the phone number I gave them was not an Orlando number. I still use my NYC number. I could change it, but why? If this day job pans out and I actually end up staying here long-term, I'll change it.

--The Crane's Comedy event went well for me and the show. I sat on the edge of the stage and just talked about whatever came into my head. The audience was very old and didn't laugh much, but the people backstage did. The people backstage are more like the regular fringe crowd, so I call it a success.

--I volunteered to perform for the Fringe volunteers May 3. Chase and his guitar will be there. I also sent out a bulletin on myspace asking for more opportunities to perform the show before Fringe. If you need some wacky entertainment, email me. I want to do my show.

-Mark

Improv Cabaret:
blog ** myspace ** website

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

This is like me leaving you a voice mail, giving you an update as to how rehearsals are going, what I am working on at the moment and any late developments having to do with the show. Take a listen, partner!

-Mark


MP3 File

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Rehearsal take 2 (3-26-06)

After I tried the first go-round, I noticed I was not incorporating things I'd already said as I went along. I would just keep coming up with new stuff and never revisiting the stuff I'd set up already. He asked why, and I said I couldn't remember it. So, to prove I can remember, he did a monologue. I was supposed to listen to it and then get up and recite what I remembered, and add my own take on it. This is his monologue and my take:

MP3 File

Rehearsal take 1 (3-26-06)

Here's the first stab at doing the show today during rehearsals. I know this sounds weak, but I did one after this that kicked ass. My phone battery died right before I started (unbeknownst to me) so nothing got recorded. But ask Francisco- it was good!

firststab.mp3

Final Version the article

This is the final version of the article I wrote for the Orlando Lifestyles Magazine. I just realized that if people read the magazine, then come to the blog, they will find out that I wrote the article and tht I was not interviewed. The style of the article is as if I was being interviewed. I wonder if that's a bad thing that they find out otherwise. Well, I guess I will find out. :) I doubt any anger will come from it. I hope they understand that t was just a format choice.

Improv Cabaret (Improvcabaret.com), a show being produced first for the 2006
Orlando Fringe Festival May 19-29, is not your typical Fringe show says creator
and performer Mark Baratelli. "I am not aware of an improv format anywhere that
resembles Improv Cabaret, though I could be wrong. I don't get out much. In the
show you'll see a very self-indulgent actor (the character, not me) share his
life story through monologue, scenes and songs. The scenes and songs come from
shows he's been in and the monologues are about his travels through life."

Beyond creating a unique show, Baratelli has created a unique marketing plan.
He's kept a blog (an online diary) since November, detailing the highs and lows
of creating this show (improvcabaret.blogspot.com).

"The blog lets the audience in on the behind the scenes drama: the good and
bad. I thought people might be curious, so I started way back in November and
have kept a fairly good record of the whole process. Everything is there. It's
pretty revealing. Not scandalous, but honest."

The blog also contains video and audio clips of Baratelli singing some of his
improvised songs. "I tape every rehearsal and put those songs on the blog. I
also record scenes as well. It's an archive of the whole rehearsal experience
really.

Those songs and scenes can also be found on his podcast, available on Itunes
for free. just search for "Improv cabaret" on Itunes (itunes.com). "

The podcast cost me nothing but time to create, same as the blog. But, it was
yet another way to get the product out there." Mark used myspace
(myspace.com/improvcabaret) once the blog and podcast were created, to get the
word about about each effort.

"Myspace is great. It's a community. I send out weekly notes trying to engage
people in what's going on with the show. And at the bottom of each note I put
links to the blog and podcast. It's just about raising awareness. Another way I
get the word out about the myspace page is through SAK. I perform at SAK Comedy
Lab (sak.com) and several audience members have gotten in touch with me through
myspace. I in turn tell them about this new show. if they liked me at SAK, they
might be interested in some other show I am in. That was my thinking anyway."

Baratelli also used traditional means of spreading word about his blog and
podcast. "I sent out a press releases to local newspapers and magazines telling
them 'Hey, I'm doing this unique show and using new creative ways to market it.
Wanna write about it?' I thought it might make for an interesting story. The
reaction was instant. In one week Elizabeth Maupin, theater critic for the
Orlando Sentinel, wrote a very nice post on her blog about the show and the
marketing around it, and I was contacted by this fine magazine. I also placed
an ad in Jester Theater's program for 'Musical of Musicals' with links to the
blog. That show was a sell-out."

Mark Baratelli concedes that all this marketing could add come to nothing if
his show is anything less than top notch.

"My first priority is the quality of the show, then marketing. The buzz will
hopefully build and people will hopefully come out. But ultimately it's up to
me to deliver a quality show. Nothing creates word of mouth better than a good
show."

Improv Cabaret plays at the Orlando Fringe Festival in the Blue Venue at the
Orlando Shakespeare Center on the following dates: 5/20-2:25pm, 5/21-5pm,
5/22-8:25pm, 5/24-6:15pm, 5/25-9:45pm, 5/27-3:45pm, 5/28-12noon

Hold on- let me go back

powered by Audioblog.com


MP3 File

Links:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Audio Update: Crane's Comedy

The Crane's Comedy Event is coming up and the act is absolutely not ready, to me. It's a great advertising event to et the word out about the show, but I am worried. I have 15 minutes, a guitar player and have not made a decision as to what I will be doing. Listen:

worryingaboutcranes.mp3

Myspace bulletin Header


This is the header I made for the bulletin I sent out on myspace yesterday.

Links:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Rehearsal Recording: Crane's Comedy

This is a recording made friday night while Chase and I rehearsed for the Crane's Comedy Event. We try the babbling-and-avoiding-the-song gag, the Chase-that's-a-real-song gag. And we leave scratching our heads going, "Hmmm....hope something comes to us Tuesday night." Or at least I did. I don't know what Chase thought. He's usually positive, so he's probably like "Oh this is gona ROCK!" Meanwhile, I am blogging about it going "Shit!" But listen to the rehearsal I recorded with my phone:


cranesrehearsal.mp3

Driving to the Crane's Comedy Rehearsal

There are a couple ideas I have for the event, but nothing set in stone.


cranesideas.mp3

Links:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Saturday, March 18, 2006

PHOTOS- The 10pm SAK show tonight

This post has nothing to do with the show, but it has everything to do with how I spend my weekends: performing at SAK.

My crap tonight was a bushel of flowers I stole from a young blonde blind girl.

Something was happening during the show. I was there.

The players offering their crap up to the contestant.

Human Prop scene: churning butter

Pimped into stripping.

Mark, Charles and I, the winning team.

Singing about milk in "Jump Jive and Wail". I got through the first two lines, but when I got to the payoff line about "jugs," I cracked up and got killed. In the scene before that, I'd asked a man who'd gotten man-boob surgery to slap a woman with them. That's why I couldn't finish the lines.

Benji, playing a sea hag aboard a small dingy with a sea captain in love with her, is sent off the ship by the captain into the water to save her life from the impending doom of the rocks ahead. I had already eaten the fish she threw off the ship at the top of the scene as a shark, so when benji got thrown off the ship, I ate him/her as well.

The blind girl from the top of the show makes an appearance at the very end of the musical at the end of the show. She wanders onto the monkey butter making farm, becomes part of the farm family, regains aher sight at the tail end of the finale ballad...

...and gets taken off by a hawk into the air.

Links:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Friday, March 17, 2006

Second Draft of Article

(This is an article for the magazine "Orlando Lifestyles" I have to write due March 20)


SECOND DRAFT:
(Thanks Ed!)


"I just thought there was a better way to get the word out."

Mark Baratelli (markbaratelli.com) gives this as the main reason for creating what he calls a "marketing web" for his entry into the 2006 Orlando Fringe Festival, Improv Cabaret. "Fringe shows usually have a poster, some handbills and word of mouth. I wanted to build the word of mouth before the festival through viral and nontraditional marketing," says Baratelli. The web he refers to includes a blog, podcast and myspace profile, all relatively new and inexpensive ways for a Fringe producer to spread the word about his show.

The show's eponymous blog (improvcabaret.blogspot.com) is a fun, weekly-updated site featuring all the ins-and-outs of constructing a one-man musical show in which Baratelli improvises all the characters, plots and songs, all to a professional pianist's accompaniment.

"I share everything, from the triumph of a really good rehearsal to the disaster of, say, failing to reserve a rehearsal space for a week."

But Baratelli doesn't just type up his weekly show updates, he also records audio versions. …In his car?

"I subscribe to a service that enables me to call in instant audio posts from my car. So whenever I get the itch to share, I can record an update. And yeah, it usually happens in the car. I hate driving."

Ok, so he has a blog with weekly written and recorded updates. But wait… there's more.

Baratelli also posts audio and video clips from his rehearsals on the blog. "The show is hard to explain, so I wanted to show people what it was about, rather than try to describe it." He generally uses a Mac Powerbook with an add-on microphone to make the recordings, but he has other methods to capture the magic.

"One day I didn't have my computer with me, so I improvised. I wore an earpiece connected to my phone, hid the phone in my pocket and recorded the entire scene with the service I mentioned earlier. When I got home I went to the blog and there was the audio!"

"And once you have the audio," Baratelli notes, "you can re-use it forever and everywhere." He turned it into a podcast. Not familiar with the medium? Baratelli: "A podcast is just another way to get audio. You subscribe to a show and receive updates automatically. Download iTunes and try it out. Most of the general population seems to have missed the podcast trend so far, but a growing number of techno-literate young people have embraced it. A large portion SAK's audience is high school and college age. I figured if they catch me at SAK and like what they see, they could go online and find the blog and all and give the podcast a listen."

When Baratelli refers to SAK, he means the Orlando institution known as the SAK Comedy Lab. (sak.com) "I love SAK. And the younger audience members go online after the shows and search for information about the performers. I realized this when I got messages from them on my myspace pages (myspace.com/improvcabaret and
myspace.com/markbaratelli).

Ahh, the ubiquitous myspace. "Myspace is an essential part of the Improv Cabaret marketing web—it's the absolute epicenter of internet life for that young demographic. I have the audio there as well as links to the blog and podcast. Users can place my songs on their myspace pages, and then their visitors can hear them. Total viral saturation."

The blog, the podcast, myspace, saturation...are you keeping up? With all this nontraditional marketing going on, it's surprising Baratelli pursued traditional outlets at all. He explains, "I needed traditional to get the word out beyond the online web I'd created. I sent press releases to newspapers and magazines and placed an ad in a local theater program for their March musical with links to my online presence. And that show is selling out most of its shows, which I expected after seeing the excellent original production in New York City. That was a smart investment for me."

Beyond marketing to potential audience members, Baratelli hopes to reach other improv performers like him. "I definitely want to connect with the national improv community. As far as I know, there isn't any improv show like mine around. There are musical improv shows with multiple cast members; there are one-man non-musical improv shows, but to my knowledge there are no one-man musical improv shows.

Mark Baratelli concedes that all this marketing could add come to nothing if his show is anything less than top notch.

"Beth Marshall, director of the Fringe, told me that in a workshop, and I believe it. My first priority is the quality of the show. The marketing, though important, comes second. But to be honest, the marketing is for me as much fun to create as is putting the show together."

Improv Cabaret plays at the Orlando Fringe Festival in the Blue Venue at the
Orlando Shakespeare Center on the following dates: 5/20-2:25pm, 5/21-5pm,
5/22-8:25pm, 5/24-6:15pm, 5/25-9:45pm, 5/27-3:45pm, 5/28-12noon

Thursday, March 16, 2006

3-16-06 Rehearsal Audio

Rehearsal Part One:

3_16_06_one.mp3


Rehearsal Part Two:

3_16_06_two.mp3


My Thoughts after Rehearsal:

3_16_06_thoughts.mp3

Rehearsal:
Here's tonight's rehearsal, recorded with my phone. No piano, just scenework. Francisco, the director, and I talk through our ideas and thoughts on format and audience expectations. I get a suggestion from Francisco and then just start riffing on the cabaret format, playing a hightened version of myself. Stories about my performing background (all untrue) come out. Scenes and songs from made-up shows come every now and then as they come out from the story. The first sound file cuts off about ten minutes in. Just click play on the next segment.

I had a fun time with this format. Stories and scenes flowed more naturally for me than in the full-musical format. And I like playing this type of character (because, well, it's me, just heightened). I think this direction is the best one for me. I can't wait to get the piano player in there and run it with him. I think he can add musicality to the monologues and scenes, as well as play for the actual songs.

I feel more confident about the format after tonight. When I have fun, the show is fun. THe format has a lot to do with me havin fun. If I feel confident with it, I feel the room to play.

_____________________________________________________

Five emails came tonight from Fringe:
-they need high rez pics for publicity requests they're getting already from media
-date/time/directions confirmation for the event in Altamonte March 28 I am in (which I secured a musician for tonight!)
-another reminder about the wine event on April 10.
-the master fringe schedule has changed once since the final schedule came out
-I can't remember the last one :)

_____________________________________________________

SAK this weekend
-I'm in shows Friday and Saturday night, 8pm and 10pm
-perfomed tonight in a very fun show with a crazy audience. Have I told you love SAK? Well, I do.

-Mark

Links:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Show Update 3-16-06

Listen to an audio update of how things are going with the show:

update_3_16_06.mp3

Improv Cabaret:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Rough Draft of Article

Here's the first draft of the article for "Orlando Lifestyles" magazine. (They responded to my press release email Monday and offered me a 500 word article in their magazine that has a 100k circulation and an audience with incomes above $100k. Hello!?) The only thing is that I have to write the article! It's due March 20th. I've sent this first version to several people for review. I have no idea if it's good or not. I do know I've spent three hours on it. Impressed? Thank you. It's written as if i was interviewed by someone else. So, i will not recieve writing credit. Otherwise, it would make me sound like I am interviewing myself, which I did. But that's insane so I hope they just don't write an author's name, or make one up. Or put Oprah's name there.

"Yes, Oprah Winfrey wrote an article about me."


BEGIN ARTICLE:

"I just thought there was a better way to get the word out."

Mark Baratelli (markbaratelli.com) gives this as the main reason for creating what he calls a "marketing web" for his entry into the 2006 Orlando Fringe Festival, Improv Cabaret. "Fringe shows usually have a poster, some handbills and word of mouth. I wanted to build the word of mouth before the festival through viral and nontraditional marketing," says Mark. This web includes a blog, podcast and myspace profile, all three relatively new and inexpensive ways for a Fringe show producer to get the word out about his show.

The blog, (improvcabaret.blogspot.com) a fun, weekly-updated site featuring all the ins and outs of putting together a one-man improvised musical show in which Mark makes up all the characters, all the plots and all the songs along with a professional pianist. "I share everything. The triumphs of having really good rehearsals and the complete failures of, maybe, not getting a rehearsal space that week." Not only does he do weekly posts about the process, he records audio versions...in his car? "I have a service that enables me to make recordings over the phone and post them to my blog instantly. So whenever I get the itch to share, I can record an update. And yeah, it usually happens in the car. I hate driving."

Ok, so he has a blog with weekly written and recorded updates. But there's more.

The blog has audio and video clips taped during rehearsals. "The show is hard to explain, so I wanted to show people what it was about, rather than try to describe it." He uses a Mac Powerbook he bought while working for Disney Cruise Line in 2003 and a microphone to do the recording, but has other methods as well. "One day I didn't have my computer with me, so I improvised. I wore an earpiece connected to my phone, hid the phone in my pocket and recorded the entire scene with that service I mentioned earlier. When I got home I went to the blog and there was the audio!"

But there's more. "Once you make audio, you can use it forever and everywhere." Mark turned it into a podcast. You know you've heard the word podcast, but you're probably like most everyone, unfamiliar with the medium. Not Mark. "A podcast is just another way to get audio. You subscribe to a show and get updates automatically. Download itunes and try it out. I know people aren't really up to speed on the whole podcast thing, but some young people are, and a large portion of the SAK audience is high school and college age. I figured if they see me at SAK and like me, they'd find me online with the blog and all and maybe give the podcast a listen." We forgot to mention besides being on the cutting edge of marketing and putting together his own one-man show, he is part of the professional ensemble at the Orlando institution SAK Comedy Lab. (sak.com) "I love SAK. And the younger audience members go online after the shows and try to find information on the performers. I know because they contact me on Myspace (myspace.com/improvcabaret and myspace.com/markbaratelli).

Myspace. You know you've heard the word, but you're probably like most everyone, unfamiliar with the medium. Not Mark. "Myspace is another part of the Improv Cabaret marketing web and the absolute center of everything right now for that young demographic. I have the audio there as well as links to the blog and podcast. Users can place my songs on their myspace pages and then visitors to their page can hear it. Total viral saturation."

The blog, the podcast, the myspace, the saturation...are you keeping up? With all this nontraditional marketing going on, it's surprising Mark pursued traditional outlets as well. "I needed traditional to get the word out beyond the web I'd created. I emailed press releases to newspapers and magazines and placed an ad in a local theater program for their March musical with links to my web. And that show (as I knew it would because I saw the original production in New York City) is selling out most of it's shows. That was a smart investment for me."

Beyond marketing to potential audience members, Mark hopes to reach other improv performers like him. "I definitely want to communicate with the national improv community. As far as I know, there isn't an improv show like this around. There are musical improv shows multiple people in the cast, there are one-man improv shows, but there is no one-man musical improv show.

He admits all this marketing could mean nothing if the show is not top notch. "Beth Marshall, director of the Fringe, said that in a workshop, and I believe it. My first priority is the quality of the show. The marketing, though important, comes second. But to be honest, the marketing is as fun to work on as putting the show together."

Improv Cabaret plays at the Orlando Fringe Festival in the Blue Venue at the Orlando Shakespeare Center on the following dates: 5/20-2:25pm, 5/21-5pm, 5/22-8:25pm, 5/24-6:15pm, 5/25-9:45pm, 5/27-3:45pm, 5/28-12noon

Improv Cabaret
The Podcast
Myspace
Website

Monday, March 13, 2006

Show Update: Magazine

Orlando Lifestyles magazine responded to my press release and offered me a 500 word article. Listen to this recording I made minutes after calling him:

magazine.mp3


Links:
Elizabeth Maupin's blog post about the show
podcast
website
blog
myspace

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Show Update 3-12-06

Subscribe to the Improv Cabaret podcast to hear all the songs from rehearsals!

I had a meeting with Rob, the new producer of the show, and Angie march 8 at the Colonial Barns & Noble. We're no longer going to look for a sponsor or have a program in which to sell ads. Makes life simpler for us and really, I cannot offer sponsors or advertisers guaranteed bang for their buck since this is my first show and I haven't proven myself. Also, I am not performing in the Kid's Fringe because of time. I am, however, applying to perform on the outdoor stage. If you are doing a Fringe show and you want to perform on the outdoor stage, you can do so for free ONLY if you are performing material from your show. If you perform something else, they want $50. I am sure they have a good reason for this, so once I hear it I'll be like "Ohhh!" but right now I am like "Huuuh?" I have to get hopping on making flyers for the show. I have a few events coming up that need them. Ugh. I don't like doing flyers for my own show. There's a creative block there for some reason.

Francisco (Slothco Productions) has accepted my offer to be the director of Improv Cabaret. More of a formality than anything as he has been helping me in this capacity all along. I just want to give him credit.

An expense I have put off for far too long is the purchasing of a video camera. Ugh. $300-$400. I hate buying this stuff. But, I think I need it to tape rehearsals for my blog and to tape the show as well. I guess I could just keep doing audio posts on the blog and not worry about vido, but, hmmm....there's a thought. :)

I am already in planning for the Fringe preview show. I figure I should start now and then if I get in I am that much further ahead of the game.

One of my action points taken from the meeting last wednesday (with Rob and Angie) was to email newpaper people and tell them about this blog. I will be doing that shortly.

I am playing at SAK all next weekend so if you haven't seen me perform and want a lil "taste," come out and pay $8 for parking, $10 for the show and $1 to buy me a cookie.

Beth just emailed the show times for the blue venue. She says to not put the dates out "to the world" until we receive the Fringe master schedule and make sure the times match up. I am puttig them out there anyway with the caveat that they might change.

May
19- off
20- 2:25pm
21- 5:00pm
22- 8:25pm
23- off
24- 6:15pm
25- 9:45pm
26- off
27- 3:45pm
28- off

-Mark


Improv Cabaret
podcast, myspace, website

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Performance at Fabulous Fringe!

--I performed at the funraiser called "Fabulous Fringe" at the Orlando Rep Feb 27th with Robyn, Rob and Christian from SAK. We played three improv games and then I sang a song to a person selected (not by me) from the audience. It turned out to be the girl who's face was on last year's Fringe show. The song was brief but cute. No, I did not tape it. Dangit.

--My ad appeared in the Jester Theater program for their hit show "Musical of Musicals." It's on the very last page of the program, so you have to hunt for it. But it's there.

--I have some bad news. Rehearsal space with a piano is hard to come by here. So, rehearsals have stopped for the past few weeks. I hate this. Rob, Angie and I have a meeting Wednesday so we will figure it out then and get back on track.

--I got chosen by Beth Marshall to perform at the 2006 CRANES COMEDY in Altamonte March 28th. I get ten minutes to do something. There's no piano, so who knows what I'll do. It's another chance to plug the show with performance and flyers. The show is free and open to the public so come! When I find out where it is, I will post it here.

Improv Cabaret:
podcast
website
blog
myspace