Maren sits down with composer and coach, Jennifer Rosenfeld, to talk about vulnerability, the creative process, and her new podcast musical, The White Rose.
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Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of a vulnerable artist.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, you’ll hear me down with composer and coach, Jennifer Rosenfeld, to talk about vulnerability, the creative process, and her new podcast musical, The White Rose.
So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Welcome, welcome, welcome, and thank you so much for pressing play!
So here we are at the end of season three. This is going to be my final episode. I’m not sure if there’s going to be a season four, but what I do know is that I really need to take a break from podcasting at least for a little while, so I can concentrate on building up my coaching business, getting recording gigs, and also working on my own solo projects, which are coming up this spring.
I’ve been really happy with all the stuff that I’ve learned creating this podcast.
I kind of jumped into it with both feet, thinking this is just going to be some fun, silly stories that I tell, and it’s really blossomed into something else that I’m very happy with. I’m, I’ve met all these wonderful people, I’ve been able to introduce them and their work to you. And in the process, I really started thinking about all of the challenges that artists of all kinds face when creating something new.
And for myself, as a coach, I’ve really been thinking a lot about like, how can I help people? What can I do? What, what is my superpower that I can bring to the world? And I know I, I have a unique perspective after having created some of my own work. Certainly talking to other artists is very helpful, but the biggest thing that I feel like I want to delve into is just concentrating on the clients that I have, bringing new clients in, and working with them one-on-one.
And I think that, through that experience, I will be able to better help people at large because I’m going to have a much deeper understanding of the emotional path that we all take. And the obstacles we face when we’re trying to birth our own creation into the world.
So that’s why I’m really focusing, I really, really want to focus specifically on my one-on-one clients. And maybe, after a little while, I will have gathered up a lot of information and have more things to talk about, and maybe that will be what season four will be. I don’t know.
In case there is no season four, I want to just say this has been so much fun and I’m not really going anywhere. I’m just maybe leaving the podcast world for a while. But you can always find me on Instagram or Facebook or any of your favorite social media platforms. Or in person. That’s always nice, too.
Now about this interview. I recorded this interview with Jennifer actually back in January of this year, 2021. Right now it is September. So, I’m airing it now because I wasn’t really sure when her podcast musical was going to be released. And right now there has been some movement on that front.
You’re going to hear us talking about rehearsals just starting. That’s because when we recorded the interview, we originally thought the whole podcast was going to be launched in the spring of 2021. But what ended up happening was, we had a reading in the spring of 2021, and Jennifer has been making a bunch of edits since then. And tightening up the storytelling. She changed directions.
You know, writing music is hard, especially musicals and operas, where not only do you have to write pretty music, but you have to actually tell a story and have character arcs and really weave things together. It’s complex. And I think for anybody who is thinking about putting together a large scale work like that, I would say definitely expect it to take longer than you think it’s going to.
But I will include a little demo at the end of this interview, to give a tiny taste of what the music sounds like. I recorded it right here in this studio. So let’s get on with the interview.
Interview
Maren: I am incredibly delighted to talk to Jennifer Rosenfeld today. This is really just such a wonderful treat. Thank you so much for joining us, Jennifer.
Jennifer: Thank you, Maren, for having me. What an honor.
Maren: I just want to dive right in. I have a ton of questions. We probably won’t even get to all of them. I know you mostly as a business coach. You have been my coach and I’m extremely grateful for that. But in this capacity I’m talking to you as a composer. So I want to find out a little bit about how you got into composing. Tell us about your story.
Jennifer: Wow. So I actually have kind of a funny story about how I got into composing. My first exposure to writing music was as a kid I had a piano teacher, and she was great, except I was not the model student. Where I would constantly like try to distract her and use our lesson time to ask her stories, and basically avoid playing the piano. Not ideal, but she had written a musical and I remember her telling me about it. And I thought that was so cool, and I wanted to hear all about it. It turns out I think the subject matter was not exactly PG, so she didn’t give me all the details, but she encouraged me to write some songs. And so I was maybe nine or 10 years old and I wrote a few songs and that was really fun. And then I sort of forgot about that.
Growing up I played the piano. I got involved with choir in high school and had a really wonderful choir director when I was in high school. And one day when I was I think a junior, first or second day of school he passed me in the hall and he stopped me and he said, “You will write a piece for choir and then you will conduct it,” and then he walked away. And I was just sort of deer in headlights. What just happened?
And it was a really odd process because on the one hand it was an amazing opportunity, but my teacher would pretty much give me no help at all, which I think was part of the lesson he wanted to teach me because I tend to be a very good student type personality. I kept on asking him for advice around like, I don’t know how to do this. And eventually he said, “Why don’t you find a poem that you like, and start with that.” And somehow I just, I knew exactly what poem I wanted to use, and I turned it into a piece.
I went to an all girls high school so it was for, you know, three-part women’s choir. And I wrote that piece. It took me a few months, but we had a small practice room at my high school and I would just go there during lunch. Anytime I had a few minutes between classes I would just go there. I never experienced anything like it. It was just such a joy to play around with different notes and hear different combinations, and then ultimately hearing it sung by the choir was such a thrill. So that’s sort of where it began for me.
Maren: That’s so amazing. So do you think that being a pianist has helped you in your composition?
Jennifer: Yeah, a hundred percent. You know, one of the things about my journey to composing now, what’s been challenging is I don’t have a lot of formal training. I don’t have a music degree. I didn’t study music in college, even though I continued to study piano for most of my life. I think my lack of certain fundamentals, on the one hand it’s true that I do lack them, but on the other hand I think I’ve made it a bigger mountain in my mind than necessarily it is that I never formally studied theory or analysis or whatnot.
But especially as I have made an effort to learn those things over the last few years I’ve come to see what an asset my piano background is. In part because I can read music, because I know how it’s supposed to feel. A lot of my writing now is for voice and piano fundamentally, and I have a lot of experience in those two categories. And also just, you know, I know a lot of repertoire I’ve experienced a lot of it that way. So yeah, I’m super grateful.
And in fact, for a long time I have felt kind of insecure about my abilities as a pianist and as a singer. I have a lot of training in both categories, but I’ve never thought of myself as the best or trying to be that or even capable of necessarily. But now I just see those as functional skills that are super useful and I’m so grateful to have them.
Maren: That’s awesome. See, I’ve written a couple of songs, like not a lot, and I am not a pianist. So this is something that I’ve been very I don’t know, a little envious of. Like people with piano skills who can just work out chords really easily with their fingers.
You know, for me it’s all about just the way it sounds and like, how I feel like I would sing them. And I love hearing that story about you as a kid writing songs, cause I remember doing that too. Like, when I was a violinist, when I was a kid violinist, I would just start writing. I think I wrote like two or three string quartets.
Jennifer: That’s amazing.
Maren: But like, I don’t think they were very good. But I was really inspired by the fact that Mozart was writing string quartets at my age, so.
Jennifer: That’s incredible. I love that.
Maren: So it’s really great to hear that even though you didn’t go and study music you are immersed in it, and you’re stepping into that role as a composer. And I absolutely love hearing that because I really feel like there are so many people who let the lack of a degree stop them, or a lack of some sort of certification stop them from doing something that they really love.
Jennifer: Yeah, well it did stop me for a really long time. I had some challenging experiences in college that sort of rattled my confidence as a musician. And I also just never thought that this could be a thing that I did seriously or professionally in my life because I was going in different directions.
I graduated from college in 2009, and it wasn’t until I think 2015 or something like that, where I realized the only thing that is standing in the way of me doing this is me making the choice to do it. You know, for several years I just kind of felt mopey and sad that I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have the training. And then I was like, wait, I could change that. I could literally change that. And I started doing that and it’s been an interesting journey. It hasn’t been an easy one. But yeah, I’m glad I had that realization one day.
Maren: That’s awesome. So who are your top three, or like one to three favorite creators? They could be living your dead. I know you have some favorite authors, you studied Russian literature. But it can be anybody; composers, performers, writers, any kind of creative.
Jennifer: Wow, okay. That’s a hard question. I think as far as composers go I would say Fauré is probably my favorite composer. I studied a lot of his art songs. I love his piano music. I love his piano trio but just the first movement, go figure. I also, I sang a lot. So I was in a wonderful choir for eight years and we sang a lot of stuff that I would never have had access to or never would have encountered, like a lot of the British choral repertoire. I did a ton of that. I gained a real appreciation for Vaughan Williams and, who else? Harris, and Howells, and like I loved that kind of stuff. It was so great.
As far as other creators, people who are living, Rachel Bloom, I’m a huge fan. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, love that.
And yeah, I studied Russian literature. I wrote my thesis on Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak which, you know, most people if they know anything about it, they know the movie. And I just feel like movies can never capture what is really going on in books in general, but especially in Russian literature where so much of it is about this dialogue with the canon of literary works that came before. And you just can’t really convey that in a movie. So that book has been really meaningful for me. I’ve read it many times. I’ve read it a few times even after I wrote my thesis on it. It just has a lot to say about the creative process, and art, and being the kind of person who has an expressive voice in difficult times. So, yeah, I love that.
Maren: So you mentioned Boris Pasternak. Is that any relation to Josephine Pasternak?
Jennifer: Yes. So, can I share a little bit about the…?
Maren: Yes. Yes. Yeah let’s just go ahead and dive into it.
Jennifer: Okay. So I’m writing a musical and it’s about The White Rose, which is a resistance movement in Nazi Germany. But I had learned about this in college sort of separately, but my way into wanting to turn it into a musical was because of this essay I found in the university archives where I was a student written by Josephine Pasternak.
When I was writing my thesis on Dr. Zhivago I was at Stanford and they happened to have the Pasternak family papers in the archives, which is really cool. And you know, I was also a History major. I love old things. I love going through hidden documents and sort of just wondering, “will I find something that no one else has found before? Or that’s a hidden gem that means something to me?” And I totally found that.
So I found this essay written by Boris Pasternak’s younger sister, Josephine. She wrote it in 1953, about The White Rose, because she happened to know two of the people involved. She didn’t know them in connection with each other even. It was just sort of this random coincidence that she happened to know these two people, and she felt called to write a commemoration of what had happened.
There were a few things that were really powerful about finding that essay. One was that the things she was saying about those people and that whole moment was exactly what had attracted me to it only put in much better words. You know, much more eloquent and poetic than I had been able to express. So that just felt like, perhaps we’ve all had that moment where you read something or someone says something where it’s like, “That’s exactly what I think, but you said it better.” So there was that moment.
And there was also I felt this incredible sadness at realizing that she put so much effort into writing this essay that to my knowledge was never published despite her effort. So, along with the essay there were a series of rejection letters that she had received from different journals. She really tried. And part of it has also been understanding trying to learn more about her coming from a family with a very famous brother, and her father was a famous artist. There in that family it was sort of like there were the big stars and then there were sort of like the secondary constellations. I think she actually put it that way in her memoir. And yet the talent, the potential, the brilliance was all there. It just didn’t get to be expressed and recognized. So when I—
Maren: Probably because she is a woman, right? In the 1950s, you know? Yeah, ‘40s and ‘50s.
Jennifer: Exactly, a hundred percent. It was so weird to find that, and I just had this feeling of like, I have to do something about this and help her get this out there. So that has become a part of the show, and I’m so grateful that that will be the role played by you.
Maren: Yay, I’m really grateful too.
Jennifer: Oh good.
Maren: You guys, we’ve already started rehearsals and I’m just like, over the moon about this. It’s really, really, really beautiful music, and it’s such a great message. And I absolutely love the character Josephine Pasternak. I love learning about her, and I really identify with her very much and it’s so great to hear you talk about her Jennifer, for sure.
Jennifer: It’s so meaningful to me to have you do that role on so many levels. First of all, if you’re listening to this you probably know that Maren has like the most insane, amazing singing voice ever. So there’s that. But, I mean we talked about this awhile back, but I just, you know there are certain things about you that I felt like could really represent that character so beautifully.
But also what has been such a gift is that this is a new experience for me. I kind of have no idea what I’m doing, and it feels intimidating for me to work with really top notch professional artists. And to both have that and also to have the grace and love and care that I feel like you have towards me in my stage of this journey is really, really appreciated.
Maren: Oh, wow. Thank you so much. You know, honestly it just like comes naturally. And I feel that way about pretty much everybody that I’m working with, you know? It’s all about creating a piece of art and collaborating and making sure that everything is just gonna be able to shine. That’s really all it’s about. So tell us a little bit more about The White Rose, cause I think a lot of people don’t understand, they’ve never heard of The White Rose, all that kind of stuff.
Jennifer: Yeah. So I never heard about it before I took this class in college that was called Resistance Writing in Fascist Germany. At that point, you know I knew about World War II. I knew about the Holocaust, but I did not know that there was any resistance within Germany. I’d heard about the French resistance and I don’t know, there might’ve been some other instances. But I didn’t know anything beyond that.
There were not that many episodes of resistance in Nazi Germany, largely because the state was so controlling and so prepared to not allow any of that to happen. So it was very, very difficult. And they were just ruthless towards anyone who was discovered and engaging in those activities. So, there were a handful of resistance from different areas, but I think a lot of historians and scholars agree that there was something kind of different about The White Rose relative to resistance coming from the political branch or the military or more traditional places.
The White Rose was in sort of an organization, but mostly just kind of a pen name for an association of students. It was five students and one professor who wrote a series of leaflets protesting Hitler under the name The White Rose. They were all, aside from the professor, they were all in their early twenties. It was a brother and a sister at the core of it, Hans and Sophie Scholl, and three other friends of Hans Scholl. All the guys were medical students, and Sophie I think was studying philosophy and biology. They were all German. One of them was Russian.
What I found so fascinating about this story was a few things. One is that, first of all they had nothing to gain by doing any of this. They could have just totally kept their heads down, ridden out the war and been fine. But they couldn’t do that. And it’s sort of like, why? Why would they take this action that was so abnormal relative to most other people in Germany? What caused that? And in this class that I took where we sort of studied it we were really fascinated by, what were the influences and the inspiration? What were they reading? What were they talking about? What was going on in their minds? And they were all very connected to the arts, to literature, to music, to philosophy, ideas. It wasn’t just entertainment for them. It was really substantive and the foundation of how they saw themselves.
Part of what was so moving about learning about this for me when I was 18 in college was I felt like I was at this challenging point where I love music. I was just obsessed with it. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else, but on the other hand it just felt so selfish to go into music. Like, did the world need me to be in a practice room all day? Even if I liked it, it seemed like no. So I was really struggling with, I’m so drawn to this but on the other hand we have some really big problems in our world, and it’s kind of like all hands on deck, you know? Why should I not be a part of trying to do good? And I felt this big conflict. And part of learning about The White Rose for me was just really affirming about the importance of the arts and of the role of the artist, and that has played a huge role in my life and career. Giving myself permission, not just to write, but to support artists in their existence in our world.
Maren: That’s so beautiful. And you know, what better way to honor The White Rose then to create art around it? You know, like it just brings everything full circle. So that’s fantastic. I’m really excited about it.
Okay, now on to opera. Have you, you’ve been to the opera, I assume? What was the first opera you’ve ever been to, or that you ever saw?
Jennifer: Probably Carmen.
Maren: Yeah? What did you think? Like, what was your first impression of opera?
Jennifer: Well, Carmen just has like one great tune after another. So I was like, this is good. I like it. My mom loves the opera. So I sort of grew up with that being relatively normal. I do appreciate opera. I’ve seen a lot of them, and I like many of them. But I sort of drifted into musical theater territory, yeah.
Maren: See, and the reason I ask these questions is really because my show is all about romance novels and opera.
Jennifer: Oh, we can talk opera all day.
Maren: What’s your favorite opera?
Jennifer: I would say, okay this is going to be not your normal one, but this connects to sort of my interests. I really like Boris Godunov. I might be the only person who would say that that’s my favorite opera. It’s a really bizarre opera but there’s a lot that I like about it. It’s also, speaking of romance, my husband took me to see that opera kind of for our first date. And it took a lot of effort for it to work out. There’s like a funny story there. But I really like that opera. I like Verdi a lot, but not all of them. Il trovatore is probably my favorite Verdi opera. What else? What else?
Maren: I want to hear the story about your husband.
Jennifer: Okay. So he knew that I was a Russian literature major. We were in college when we met, and he knew I studied Russian literature and he knew that I liked opera. And it turned out that San Francisco opera was doing Boris Godunov. And I think a friend of his was given some tickets or got an email saying we have a few tickets open for this dress rehearsal. So he passed on to Evan, we were not together at the time. And Evan was like, “oh this would be perfect. “So he invited me, and then I didn’t hear from him for like a week and a half, like nothing. I said, “yeah, that sounds great.” No response. It was getting closer to the date where I was wondering, is this happening? Is this not happening? And then I think a day or two before it was supposed to happen he was like, “Okay, the show is going on.” So later I learned that they had run out of tickets cause it was an educational thing, and he had to call the ticket office and beg her.
Maren: Oh, no.
Jennifer: And be like, “There’s this girl, I really want to bring her, can you please make an exception?” And then what was funny was that we describe it as not our official first date but like the pre date. Because the friend who had passed him the email was like, “wait, I want to go. “At that point Evan was like, I should maybe invite another person so that Jennifer’s not like, “Why am I going to the opera with Evan and his friend? This is weird.” It was hilarious, but it was great. And I think that was the second time I saw that opera. And then we saw a stage reading or a stage concert.
Maren: Concert version?
Jennifer: Concert version, yeah.
Maren: Yeah, well, it’s got some really beautiful music in it, for sure. Yeah.
Jennifer: And basically no female characters, depending on the version which is kinda…
Maren: Yeah, I know. This is like the curse of doing older opera, is that there are like tons and tons of male roles and not very many female roles. And so you know when you talk about the wage gap just in general, like corporate wage gap men and women, all that kind of stuff, it’s actually really, really significant in the opera world because literally men get more jobs than women because those are the roles that are available. Even with chorus actually, there are more operas that have men only choruses versus women only choruses or mixed. So there’s definitely an inequity, and I know that a lot of new operas that are being composed have that in mind, like are trying to create a little bit more balance. So yeah.
Jennifer: Yeah, that’s so important.
Maren: I mean, when you’re a composer do you think about gender? I mean, obviously this is your first large scale work, but when you were looking at roles and all that kind of thing, did that factor in? Or was it just sort of like, this is the story and I have to use the characters that are in the story?
Jennifer: Well, it is something that I’ve thought about because the story at its core does not have a lot of women in it. And also just my preferences and the state of my writing, I’m not looking to write pieces for an enormous cast or enormous instrumentation. It just makes more sense to do something smaller scale. And what we’re working on now is not my first draft or first version of the show. But part of it for me was why I felt so excited to bring in the character of Josephine, and also for this podcast version I am also sort of a character in it, is to sort of balance things out a little bit, because at The White Rose that group it was Sophie and then five men. Which is fine, but it feels cool to add in more women’s voices. And I sort of see that as kind of a separate thread across generations and time periods that sort of parallels the historical events of that movement.
Maren: That’s great. Yeah, exactly. And so wonderful to be able to think about it in that multidimensional way. And I think that again, I think more and more people are thinking about that as they’re crafting pieces and productions and that kind of thing. It’s just that we as artists and we as just human beings need to be more vocal about like, where the inequities lie so that we’re aware.
So if you were gonna write an opera, what do you think that should be? Even if it wasn’t you, do you have any like ideas for new operas?
Jennifer: Yes, I do, okay, so two. And anyone feel free to take these because I’m not sure that I’m going to pursue them, but I think one would be about Elizabeth Holmes. I think that would make for a great opera.
Maren: Yeah, absolutely.
Jennifer: So, and certainly I know it’s being turned into films and whatever, but the dramatic potential of that story, I just think is operatic at its core.
And then the other idea I have is someone should write like a Tosca 2.0, where instead of it, you know, her like making sacrifices for her lover, what’s his name? Cavaradossi. Instead of for that, that it’s for her career.
Maren: Oh, I love that. I absolutely love that.
Jennifer: Right? Someone needs to do that.
Maren: Yes, I mean, get rid of the guy. I mean, why? Why?
Jennifer: It’s almost there in the original thing but I just feel like there’s a lot of timely things that can be done with that.
Maren: Totally. And he’s just a whiny painter anyway, honestly. Yeah, I mean, you know.
So then, you know, talk about bodice rippers, again. This time I want to talk about the bodice as a metaphor. It’s a metaphor for something that’s restricting us, and then we rip it open so that we can let our true selves out. What do you think is the bodice, the metaphorical bodice, that you are ripping open with this project or with, you know whatever, with your art?
Jennifer: Hmm, wow. Well, I feel like there’ve been so many phases to that. There’s like bodices within bodices.
Maren: Like a Russian doll, right?
Jennifer: Right, seriously, seriously. And I’m sure you think about this a lot. It’s awesome, and it’s terrifying, and vulnerable, and it’s not just one emotion or one thing. It’s kind of all of them. But for me like the first step around, I give myself permission to pursue this project. And now like, I give myself permission to find a teacher who can help me and open myself up to the possibility of judgment or rejection or, you know, things that I’ve experienced. Or asking for help or seeking collaboration.
You know, a big one for me is at this moment I do feel like I want to play the role of myself in this recording, including singing, and that feels really scary. And part of me feels like, “Oh, I shouldn’t do that. I should just hire someone better.” But I feel like so much of this project in general is about allowing myself to have a voice, which I think is you know, prime bodice ripping territory. And that’s been a journey that is hard and uncomfortable, but I think part of that is like, yeah, if I’m going to have a voice to just like, literally do that. So.
Maren: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know who better to play you than you? You know what’s in your head. If you had to hire somebody else to do it, they would just basically be asking you tons of questions all the time. Well, I’m really glad that you’re putting yourself into this piece and really giving your piece your own voice. And to that end I also want to let my listeners know that you have a little podcast, little itty-bitty podcast right now, called The White Rose Diaries. And you can find that just on iTunes, you can find that anywhere actually, right? Yeah. They’re like little three minute snippets. You want to talk about it a little bit?
Jennifer: Sure. So part of why I started it, there was a few reasons. One is that well, with my musical I conceived it as a stage production, but in the landscape that we’re currently in that is not on the horizon. So I decided I’ll do it as a podcast. And I want to kind of get used to the audio format and practice engaging with an audience that way. And also to let people in on my creative process and to have some form of accountability to just share updates. So yeah, I do three minute episodes. They’re very casual. They’re not edited. And I just share about what’s going on that day, what I’m working on, and it’s called The White Rose Diaries.
Maren: It’s really fascinating. Honestly, it’s like a really wonderful sneak peek into the creative process because there are like ups and downs, and this is the thing that everybody deals with. And you’re really extremely open about the fears that are coming up and also your wins when you’re like, “Yes, this went really well.” You know, that’s wonderful and it’s so great to be taken along that journey. And then of course this show is going to be a podcast, and that will be called just The White Rose?
Jennifer: I think so, probably. Yes, it will be called The White Rose. I should be declarative. I’m pretty sure that’s what it will be, yeah.
Maren: Great. Well if you follow along The White Rose Diaries you will definitely know when the actual launch date is going to happen. So um, anything else that you want to share about what you’re doing? Even non-composery stuff?
Jennifer: Hmm. Well, I guess I’ll share this. So you know, in my other life I’m a coach. I work with musicians and creatives mostly to help them turn their expertise into a business. I’ve been doing this sort of work for not so long, about two years now. I’ve been coaching musicians for a long time. But, what I want to say about it is that it has played such an instrumental role in my creative life, and has been such a gift to me. You know, I wouldn’t know you if it weren’t for that work. There are so many incredible musicians, teachers, mentors, colleagues, collaborators, who are in my world only because of that path that I was on and who are playing a hugely instrumental role in bringing this podcast to life.
So, I try to be a voice for musicians and creatives getting to be more than just one thing. In many ways I’m taking the opposite journey that a lot of my clients take where they’ve been great artists and they’re sort of adding on new dimensions to their careers, and I’ve you know, not really been a professional creator but like have always wanted, and now I’m sort of crossing that divide. So yeah, that’s sort of what I try to embody in my life and want to see more of for creators, is to just not be held back by the bodice or put in a box of what we are allowed to be.
Maren: Yes, exactly. And if you haven’t done so already, you should definitely follow Jennifer Rosenfeld on all of the things. I will put various different links in my show notes. Is there a specific way that people should get in touch with you if they want to learn more about either your coaching or your composing?
Jennifer: Yeah. I mean, you can find me on my website, Jenniferrosenfeld.com. I actually do have a page where I talk more about The White Rose if you’d like to get updates on when it’s released. I don’t know, Maren, if I can just share that with you and you can include it. But yeah, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. Like wherever people are, I’m probably there.
Maren: Great. Well, this has been just such a fantastic and wonderful and enriching conversation, Jennifer, and I really, really, really appreciate you coming out and- coming out; getting on the internets- and having this chat with me. I really appreciate it.
Jennifer: Thank you so much.
And I will leave it there. The White Rose musical is in a finishing phase right now. Jennifer is recording the instrumental tracks in LA, and she just sent some of those tracks to me, to create more demos for the storytelling part of it.
And in a few weeks, I’m going to go up to New York and record the vocals with the rest of the cast. Some of whom are Broadway singers. So I’m very excited about that.
Now here’s a clip of one of the demos that I’ve been putting together for her. The podcast version will be much, much more polished. This is just a taste, but I really want to get you excited for this, because I really am excited.
As I said at the top of the show, this will very likely be the final episode of this podcast. I’m not sure if there’s going to be a season four, and if there is going to be a season four, it probably won’t come up for some time. So I just want to say goodbye and thank you. Maybe au revoir is a better way of saying it.
Keep me on that subscribed list because you never know, I might drop something if the mood strikes!
But I do love hearing from you guys. So, if there was anything that struck you about this interview, this episode, any of the other episodes, the podcast in general, please, please reach out to me.
I am easily reachable on Instagram @supermaren.
The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived and written by me, Maren Montalbano. It was edited by me and Andrew Carlson. The clip you heard at the end was an excerpt from The White Rose by Jennifer Rosenfeld, performed by me and concert pianist Robert Thies. The theme music to this podcast was written by – you guessed it! – yours truly. If you liked what you heard, I invite you to give this podcast a 5-star rating wherever you can rate podcasts these days. And I’ll see you around.