The real monsters, dragons, and basilisks are back! More than 60 live lizards and snakes from five continents are now displayed in exquisitely prepared habitats. In addition to the live animals, the exhibit uses interactive stations, significant fossils, and an award-winning video to acquaint visitors with the world of the Squamata, the group that includes lizards and snakes.

Join Darrel Frost, curator of Lizards & Snakes: Alive!, as he walks through the exhibit and describes some of the fascinating traits these creatures possess.

Produced for the American Museum of Natural History on March 10, 2010.

With Madagascar containing nearly two-third’s of the world’s chameleon species, Christopher Raxworthy, Associate Curator of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, recently embarked on an expedition to the island in search of these special lizards. His hope was to track down the lined-chameleon in order to further study speciation on Madagascar.

Having recently returned from Madagascar, Raxworthy brought back video footage of his research trip to give everyone a glimpse into his studies and what life is like for scientists in the field, including camping in remote villages, searching for specimens in the jungle and traversing the varied island landscape.

While Raxworthy’s recent findings must remain in Madagascar until the end of this current collection season, once he has the chameleon specimens at the Museum his work to classify and study the DNA will begin.

I produced this video for the American Museum of Natural History on March 5, 2010.

It was called the Golden Age of Broadway — a period of time between the 1940s and 1960s that is often recalled by theatrical historians and Broadway devotees. Sadly, nostalgia does not pay the bills, nor does the current exposure Broadway musicals have been getting these past few years.

While the average twenty-something isn’t dying for another Gershwin-like hit, innovative musicals have been offering up songs that could strike a chord with the iTunes and YouTube generation. If only someone in the marketing community would hurry up and figure out a way to reach these unaware future fans.

The musical ‘Next to Normal’ uses a contemporary sound to deal with themes of depression and emotional crisis — dark themes reminiscent of Emo rock. ‘In the Heights,’ another currently running show, takes soft-rap music and combines it with Latin flair, making it an easy fit for contemporary hit radio playlists. And the soon-to-open ‘American Idiot’ is, well, full of music by the already hit mainstream band Green Day.

It is the latter musical, ‘American Idiot,’ that’s making the biggest strides in Broadway marketing, thanks in major part to Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and his push to get the Broadway actors on stage at this year’s Grammy Awards telecast. Musicians joining Broadway shows as producers isn’t a new concept, and this season has a few big names joining the crowd, including ‘Fela,’ which boasts an affiliation with Jay-Z. It’s time to take advantage of that relationship.

While the concept of a music video getting major airplay on a channel like MTV is dead — MTV seemingly gave up on music television a decade or so ago, opting instead to push for mindless reality TV programming — music videos continue to live online.

Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group joined forces late last year with Abu Dhabi Media to launch the online music video site Vevo.com, a site offering official music videos without all of the white noise usually associated with YouTube. The site had more than 35 million users logging on within its first month, according to comScore. Yahoo hosts music videos, as do sites including MTV.com, AOL.com and Facebook.

Broadway marketing agencies need to take advantage of this growing new media audience and start pushing music in their direction. A step in the right direction would be to produce glossy music videos that can bridge the gap between music fans and Broadway aficionados. Diverting funds usually set aside for a full-page color ad in The New York Times Sunday section to new media campaigns, like music videos, is the future of Broadway marketing. Between 2008 and 2009, the Times saw its Sunday electronic edition go from 6,385 to 34,435 views, while the print edition lost nearly 22,000 home delivery readers.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, the man behind such pop culture phenomena as ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Cats’ has been hyperactive in promoting his upcoming musicals. In 2006 Webber headlined a BBC One reality program, ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria,’ geared towards finding a leading lady for his London production of ‘The Sound of Music’ — the program was merely a glossy commercial airing on TV every week. This model was copied by NBC in 2007 in hopes of boosting ticket sales for Broadway’s revival of ‘Grease.’ While the show was a ratings loser and the stage production was a critical disaster, ticket sales were reportedly high, according to the New York Post.

Now, Webber is at it again, only this time it is in the form of a music video for ‘Love Never Dies,’ the sequel to ‘Phantom’ set to open in London next month before transferring to Broadway later this year. Rather than slapping together production video clips and packaging it as a TV spot, the creative team behind ‘Love Never Dies’ produced an MTV-style music video.

In fact, there is no Phantom mask in sight, only the leading actor sexed up in hopes of appealing to women everywhere. Packaging the Phantom as a heartthrob prone to belting love ballads might not sit well with theatre fans, but let’s face it, the theatre crowd is already aware of the new musical. This ‘Love Never Dies’ music video appeals to a completely different crowd, one that doesn’t troll Broadway websites and The Times for show listings.

Beyond the recent Grammy Awards appearance, Green Day released a new music video featuring the song “21 Guns,” a track from ‘American Idiot.’ The band joins the Broadway cast throughout the video, further solidifying the link between Green Day’s music and the theatrical production.

As traditional marketing methods prove incapable of creating enough buzz to sell out a new Broadway musical, now is the time for producers and marketing executives to get creative. Whether it’s big budget reality shows or viral music videos, there are options for any budget. With so much creativity coming to life on stage every night, there is no excuse for not pumping that same amount of thought into marketing campaigns.

Published by the Huffington Post on February 26, 2010.

Traveling the Silk Road brings to life one of the greatest trading routes in human history, showcasing the goods, cultures, and technologies from four representative cities: Xian, Chinas Tang Dynasty capital; Turfan, a verdant oasis and trading outpost; Samarkand, home of prosperous merchants who thrived on the caravan trade; and Baghdad, a fertile hub of commerce and scholarship that became the intellectual center of the era.

I produced, edited and narrated this Silk Road trailer for the American Museum of Natural History February 18, 2010.

Introducing the first official app from the American Museum of Natural History.  This app lets paleontologists of all ages explore the Museum’s famous fossil halls in depth.  DINOSAURS: American Museum of Natural History Collections contains more than 800 images from the Museum’s archive, woven together to create a striking image of the world’s most famous dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The app also features six detailed stories that take you even further into the Museum’s archives to explore the deep history of fossil collection. Keep an eye out for additional adventures coming soon.

I produced and edited this promo video for the Museum’s first iPhone app January 2010.

First hosted by comedian Steve Allen in 1954, “The Tonight Show” has seen many lead the talk show. From Allen and Jack Paar to the venerable Johnny Carson and now O’Brien, the program is full of comic history. Jay Leno reigned as king of “The Tonight Show” from 1992-2009 after nabbing, some would argue “stealing,” the show from David Letterman upon Carson’s retirement.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the show, with ratings dropping and that ill-fated format switch in 1957 to a news-type program. However, there has been a sense of dignity about hosting the legendary broadcast, until now. Who wants a washed up comedian, Leno, to return to late-night with his tail between his legs, besides Jeff Zucker?

With O’Brien departing and Leno set to return as host March 1, NBC is certain to face an uphill climb as it tries wooing back viewers and re-building the dignity of its storied program. Any TV viewer that ditched “Tonight” once O’Brien took over shouldn’t be that hard to get back, pending they haven’t died of old age. No, NBC shouldn’t be concerned about that demographic. It should, however, be nervous about the 18-to-49 demographic — a group O’Brien plays well to.

O’Brien has been the leader in late night with the 18-to-49 year-old viewers this season, according to BusinessWeek.com. Leno, on the other hand, has been struggling to garner any viewers for his prime-time show. And once O’Brien is able to return to the airwaves in September, Fox could prove a strong competitor to NBC should they snatch up O’Brien for its own late-night program. The network is the most-watched in prime time when it comes to youngsters.

Zucker recently told Charlie Rose he made a “mistake” regarding the whole late-night debacle. When the coveted 18-to-49 year olds follow O’Brien this fall, perhaps Triumph the Insult Comic Dog can interview the NBC executive and get him to admit something worse. After all, it appears the NBC higher-ups decided to lock up Triumph and most all of O’Brien’s comic creations so that they can’t be used on a competing network.

Perhaps Zucker’s master plan is to have Triumph the Insult Comic Dog co-host ‘The Tonight Show’ with Leno. Now that might be the only positive thing to come out of this late-night madness — a puppet upstaging Leno each and every night.

I’d definitely tune in.

Published by TheWrap.com on January 22, 2010.

With funding from a National Science Foundation grant, I traveled to Mojave National Preserve along the border of California and Nevada to profile Dr. Clinton Epps and his research on big horned sheep populations.  Dr. Epps has been focusing on the effects desert highways have on sheep populations, as road traffic decreases the amount of sheep crossing from one mountain range to another.

This video profile of Dr. Epps is part of an ecology curriculum for teachers of grades 7-9.  Its goal is to advance understanding of basic science and fundamental ecological principles and support schools in achieving national and state ecology standards by using engaging media.

I produced/shot/edited this video November 2009.

With funding from a National Science Foundation grant, I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to profile Dr. Sujay Kaushal and his research on water pollution and road salt.  Dr. Kaushal has been focusing on the effects road salt and pollution have on urban streams around the Baltimore area.

This video profile of Dr. Kaushal is part of an ecology curriculum for teachers of grades 7-9.  Its goal is to advance understanding of basic science and fundamental ecological principles and support schools in achieving national and state ecology standards by using engaging media.

I produced/shot/edited this video January 2010.

All of these actors have names that transcend the stage — something producers surely hope will fill seats as tourists roll into town. While some of these recognizable names won over even the toughest of Broadway critics, and proved more than capable of handling a live production, it was name alone that won them the role.

The trend of casting Hollywood celebrities in Broadway shows is nothing new, and has been griped about by many a theatre columnist, however, with news of Ragtime, a completely star-less musical closing after a brief revival, the subject should once again be analyzed.

Broadway advertisements should cease saying a particular show is “starring” an actor if by actor it means movie star. Moving forward, it would be wonderful to see commercials and posters touting a Broadway show is “celebritying” a Hollywood actor and leave “starring” for the theatrical legends. Angela Lansbury is starring in A Little Night Music, while Catherine Zeta-Jones is celebritying in the Stephen Sondheim musical.

To be fair, Zeta-Jones is delightful in Night Music, and her singing and dancing abilities are on par with many a strong stage actor, however, Christiane Noll delivers a knockout performance (see video) in Ragtime, but it would be a cold day in hell before her name showed up on PerezHilton.com, so saying Noll is starring in a production means little money in the bank for producers.

In this time of economic uncertainty producers shouldn’t be blamed for trying everything in their power to fill seats. It was a brilliant move teaming up Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig on stage in A Steady Rain, as Jackman has proven an exception to the celebrity rule after making Broadway is second home. But, while A Steady Rain might have brought in the bucks it sacrificed cultural value — the production was a complete snore.

Ragtime’s lack of celebrity is one of many reasons why the musical failed to set box office records, as was pointed out by Patrick Healy in the New York Times last week. While that ultimately led to an early demise — the production is set to close on January 3rd — Ragtime should wear that as a badge of honor.

Set at the turn of the century, Ragtime is a sweeping story that follows three truly American stories, a Jewish immigrant and his daughter, a well-to-do white family and a Harlem musician (Coalhouse Walker, Jr.) dead set on attaining equal rights for African Americans. Not something light and mindless like White Christmas, but certainly more fulfilling.

The cast and crew of Ragtime should go their closing proudly and remember the words passionately sung by Coalhouse at the show’s end:

And say to those who blame us
for the way we chose to fight
that sometimes there are battles
which are more than black or white

Ragtime chose to stand up to the celebrity factor and prove a point, that actors and a strong story, not a celebrity, make a fulfilling show. So to Christiane Noll (Mother), Quentin Earl Darrington (Coalhouse), Bobby Steggert (Mother’s Younger Brother), Robert Petkoff (Tateh), Stephanie Umoh (Sarah), Ron Bohmer (Father) and the daring producers of Ragtime, thank you for a worthy revival of this important musical.

***Ragtime has been given a brief extension and will now play its final performance on January 10, 2010.

Published by The Huffington Post on December 29, 2009.

What strange new species lurk beneath? Join Museum Curator Melanie Stiassny, an ichthyologist who has been featured on The Colbert Report, as she answers this question and discusses her teams adventures and amazing discoveries in Africas Congo River, the deepest in the world.

Surrounded by magnificent geological specimens in the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, enjoy the Museum after hours with music, drinks, and thought-provoking conversation at the next installment of the popular new SciCafe series at the American Museum of Natural History. SciCafe features cutting-edge science, cocktails, and conversation and takes place on the first Wednesday of every month.

Produced for the American Museum of Natural History on December 28, 2009.