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Alex Baratta

ALEX BARATTA  

 Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a


Alex received the Best Musician award twice in high school in the 1980s, fuelling a growing interest in this area. He wrote his first song at 17, entitled I Wonder, and joined ASCAP in 1991 based on signing his song, One Day in Christmastime, with a local music publisher. From 1989 - 1992 there was a great deal of musical composition output in several areas: musicals, instrumentals and dedication songs. The musicals include a collection of Broadway-esque melodies (Love Doesn't Have to Be a Stranger, The Love That I've Been Waiting For), jazz (I'm Having an Affair, The Greatest Director You've Ever Seen), ballads (The Angel's Song), rock (Four Play) and country (Back to Where I Came from). Alex's first musical, Love from Above, was performed on December 1st 1991 at The Mayflower Club in North Hollywood, California, and again at the club on December 6th, 1998 (www.mayflowerclub.com). The dedication songs largely revolve around two main entries: The Man Everybody Wants and Dear Mr. Sellers. The former song is a 007 theme tune and the latter a dedication song to the late, great actor, Peter Sellers. Desmond Llewelyn, the actor who portrayed the character of 'Q' in the Bond series from 1963 - 1999, said that the 007 song was "very much in the Bond tradition" and Philip Lisa and Lee Pfeiffer, authors of The Incredible World of 007, said that the song had "good potential" and was definitely in the style of the early Bond songs. The song's music video was also performed at several Bond conventions, in locations such as New Orleans (2000), London (2000) and Long Beach, California (2003). The Sellers song was adopted by the Peter Sellers Appreciation Society in 2000, with an interview between Alex and society chairperson Dimitris Verionis published in the September 2002 issue of the society magazine (www.petersellersappreciationsociety.com). Sellers biographer Ed Sikov described the song as "accurate. . .touching and sweet-tempered" and Burt Kwouk, who played Cato in the Pink Panther series, further described the song as "very nice".

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below is a list of Alex Baratta's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Between Two Wars         Love From Above         Only in LA

Between Two Wars

Synopsis:
an African-American GI, on the run from the Nazis in World War II Germany, is taken in by a young German widow. She agrees to help the GI and against all odds, they fall in love and plan to escape the country together. However, the GI realizes that he is trapped between two enemies: the Nazis, and racism within the ranks of his own army, hence the title of the musical. Sample songs include Who Is This Man?, The Hometown I Remember and The GI Song.

Notes:
Music and lyrics by Alex Baratta. This musical was conceived and written out of a burning desire to bring a World War II romance, in the style of Hanover Street (1978) or Yanks (1979), to the musical theater. Sample lyrics include: 'We're over here in this war to teach those Nazis a lesson, and they'll never know what our next move is, we have to keep them guessin' 'the falling leaves, in old September - this is the hometown I remember' '&I am between two wars - back home I am the enemy, and here I'm yours'

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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Genre:
Broadway-esque romantic musical

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  American GIs, German soldiers, German villagers, war orphans, Paul's son and grandson

Further Reference:
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Love From Above

Synopsis:
a lonely man and woman are brought together by an angel, who appears in a dream they share, urging them to write love letters which describe their perfect love. The letters are then delivered by the angel to both of them. Sample songs include The angel's Song, What a Time We'll Have and If Only He Knew Me. The show was videotaped at both its performances.

Notes:
Music and lyrics by Alex Baratta. The musical was performed at The Mayflower Club in North Hollywood, California in 1991 and 1998. The tagline reads 'A Lesson in Love'. Sample lyrics include: 'I played those silly games, pretending to feel no pain' 'Love doesn't have to be a stranger to me - the pain is gone, I'm finally free' 'Sarah, you must trust and Daniel, don't give too much'

1st Produced:
Mayflower Club, North Hollywood    1991

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Romantic musical fantasy

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  1

Further Reference:
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Only in LA

Synopsis:
Various inhabitants of Los Angeles take to the stage to sing about their own unique 'La experience', to include the New age spiritual guru (I'm Starting a New Religion), the Beverly Hills socialite (I'm Having an affair), the aspiring high school garage band (Four Play) and the big shot movie director (The Greatest Director You've ever Seen), to name a few.

Notes:
Music and lyrics by Alex Baratta. With the exception of Leonard Goldberg the movie director, the characters are mostly without names, to reflect a certain anonymous and 'faceless' quality to them. Sample lyrics include: 'The whole thing is one big lie, did you ever see Christ in a suit and a tie?' '...and when these people have their affairs, I always ask who's doing the catering' '&selling crack by Cadillacs'

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Satire with eclectic music (jazz, rock, country, ballads)

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  various

Further Reference:
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