Musical Theater
Gayla is an emeritus composer/lyricist in the BMI
Lehman Engel Musical Theater Advanced Workshop. Her
first full-length musical, Mary-A Musical, about the life of Mary Magdalene (with
co-librettist Jean Mornard), is a finalist in the 2010 Eugene
O'Neill Natl. Music Theater Conference competition. Her
one-act musical
comedy, Barry Gets It (Chris Widney, book/addl. lyrics), was written
as a result of her participation in the Workshop. Barry Gets
It has received staged full readings as part of the Moving
Arts Theater festival in CA and in
NYC as part of the Donnell
Library Songbook Series (John Znidarsic, artistic dir.), and
partial readings have been presented by NYC’s Golden
Fleece/Square One series and in the Duke Ellington Music
Festival. Her cabaret
of original pop/jazz songs, The Adventure of Dating, was presented
as part of Golden Fleece's Square One on Sunday Nights series. Her
one-woman show, Reflections on Being Single, was lauded by The Denver
Post as “a combination of Laura
Nyro, James Taylor, and Andrew Lloyd Webber” (Jeff Bradley, The
Denver Post, March 22, 1993).
Choral Arrangements
Since
Gayla’s
first commission as an arranger in 1983, her vocal and string
arrangements have been sung and played by ensembles ranging from
rock bands to professional choirs. She was recently commissioned
by the Nebraska-Wesleyan
University choirs (Bill Wyman, dir.) to add brass quartet,
organ, and children’s choir to her popular a cappella version
of Angels We Have Heard--the a cappella version is performed
annually as part of The
Western Wind Vocal Ensemble's Christmas concert, and has
been featured on NYC's esteemed
St. Ignatius Loyola concert series, Kent
Tritle, dir.). Other commissions include instrumental/vocal arrangements
for NYC’s Ensemble Champlain, and vocal arrangements for various
children’s and adult choral ensembles, including the unique
six voices of Grammy-nominated a cappella ensemble The
Western Wind and NYC’s St.
Jean-Baptiste Church.
Jazz/Pop & Spiritual - Film Scores
Gayla has released one CD of original songs, pictures, which was reviewed
by Westword in Denver, CO as “Broadway-quality songs delivered
by a vocalist with a Broadway-quality voice and a gift for arranging” (Michael
Roberts, Feedback, Westword, June 1-7, 1994). Her original work
was performed in concert from 1991-1993 by the Denver-based jazz group,
Choice.
Other composer/arranger credits in NYC include soundtracks for three
short films by Michael
P. Kelly (Sheep; The
Payoff; Only
Joking); and serving as composer-in-residence for
one evening service (writing new tunes on a weekly basis for
a professional vocal quartet and piano/bass/drums combo) at St.
Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue.
Web design by
Sue Eskridge, all contents © Gayla Morgan
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