This episode of A Concert Pitch features two interviews. The first is with St. Louis born and raised actress, Natalie Wisdom who is currently touring with the musical theater production Matilda at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. She began the interview describing the story which is about a little girl who wasn’t appreciate by her parents but thrived when she connected with her school teacher who became her friend and mother-figure.
Regarding her role in Matilda, Natalie explains that she is a swing, an understudy of all the women in the ensemble, filling in for others adult female actors on personal and sick days.
Natalie graduated from Webster University in 2007 with BFA in Musical Theater. Since then moved to New York and started auditioning and acting in regional theaters. The eventually joined the cast of Billy Elliot the musical for a few years, and had other regional acting jobs before starting on the current Matilda tour.
In the interview we also discussed her dream of opening her own theater company some day, what it means to return to perform in the Fox Theater, and some memories of her experience acting as a child and youth at The Muny.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical runs at the Fox Theater from October 21st to November 1st. Tickets are available on the Fox Theater website.
The second interview segment in this episode features a conversation with Stan Gill, keyboard player with St. Louis-based blues band Kingdom Brothers.
The interview begins with Stan introducing the members of the band, and then describes his development as a musician and how he got started playing in bands right after high school. Then he takes us through his early college years when he spent more time playing music than studying, and ending up being a roadie for seventies rock band Head East. He describes his six years with the band when he eventually had the important responsibilities of stage manager, including interesting points about what takes place behind-the-scenes with a touring band.
The interview continues with Stan recalling bands he played with after his time with Head East, his return to college to graduate and his career as a school teacher. The remainder of the conversation includes a more in-depth look at Kingdom Brothers, their participation and the 2015 International Blues Challenge and his views on St. Louis as a blues town.
More information about Kingdom Brothers:
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Singer/Songwriter Javier Mendoza was born in Virginia and raised in Spain, but started his career as a musician in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon after began he focusing on writing and performing, he was playing small venues with a fellow musician, Tony Brinkworth. Eventually, Ken Hensley, a founding member of Uriah Heep, discovered Javier while listing to Tony’s demo tape which included songs featuring Javier. When Ken heard Javier on the tape, he wanted to meet him. That led to Javier being signed to a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. His career was off and running and he walks us through it in this episode of A Concert Pitch.
Singer/songwriter Pat Liston is best known as founding member of Mama’s Pride, a band that recorded two popular albums in the seventies and toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, and other groups of that genre. Mama’s Pride reunited and recorded a CD in 1992. These days, Pat plays frequent solo shows in the St. Louis area. He took a few minutes out of a busy day of performing to do an interview for A Concert Pitch.
To kick off A Concert Pitch, we feature an interview with Steve Hoover, founder, bassist and arranger for local Beatle cover band, Abbey Road Warriors.
