New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The holiday season just got a generous helping of second breakfast with the arrival of Christmas in Middle-Earth, a fan-made parody Christmas album by Brendan Dalton, adapted from the stage show by the same name. Originally performed in concert at The PIT (NYC) in 2017 (directed by Tom Costello, produced by Brendan Dalton, A.J. Ditty, and Costello), Dalton's intention for this year was to stage a more fully-realized version of a live show this December but due to the pandemic, it was reimagined as a fully orchestrated concept album, complete with two music videos. The ten song album, now available on Spotify or for purchase on Bandcamp, features contributions from musical virtuosos and LOTR fans alike: Brendan Dalton (piano, guitar, lead vocals, trumpet, accordion, keyboard, percussion), Alex Curran (violin), Mark Frankel (drums and percussion), Andrew Goebel (vocals), Evan Hall (guitar and vocals), Larry Heinemann (bass), Patrick Kapp (electric guitar), Philip Mayer (percussion), Ash McNair (vocals), and Rion Smith (drums, percussion and bass). The album was mixed by Brendan Dalton, and mastered by Mark Frankel at Nearfield. Album art by Evan Hall.
Dalton says, "Once live theater can resume, I can't wait to bring this back to the stage. In the meantime, I hope these digital offerings will bring some joy to all those who encounter it this holiday season."
Two of the tracks: "Christmas with Denethor (Faramir's Song)" and "Gollum's Christmas" also have music videos that you can check out right now! The former imagines the trials and tribulations of trying to celebrate Christmas when your dad's constantly trying to kill you, and the latter is a fully animated claymation video brought to thrilling life by
Thomas R. Smith (Robot Chicken), that follows the misadventures of a certain doomed creature's attempts to get the one thing he wants more than anything else this Christmas: a very powerful ring.
A project eight years in the making, Christmas in Middle-Earth asks the question that has been plaguing the LOTR fan community for decades: How would the characters of Middle-Earth celebrate Christmas? From the halflings, to the orcs, to a certain malevolent eyeball, everybody gets infected with the spirit of Christmas in this irreverent and strangely moving journey through the original trilogy and beyond. Crafted by actor/musician/former Blue Man Brendan Dalton, this fan-made parody will bring joy and mirth into the hearts of LOTR fans and non-fans alike.
Brendan Dalton is a New York-based actor/musician/composer from Upper Darby, PA. He holds a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Theatrically, he's worked with Clubbed Thumb, Atlantic Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, The Flea, and Blue Man Group. He's also the writer/creator/performer of Christmas in Middle-Earth.
Mark Frankel began his career in music studying drums with the late Gary Chester. After graduating from NYU with a degree in
Music Technology, Mark became the head recording engineer for NYC's Knitting Factory, at the famed Leonard Street location. In addition to his work as an audio engineer, he also taught advanced audio recording techniques at NYU. Fifteen years ago, his career took a left turn, and he began performing as a Blue Man at Blue Man Group's Astor Place Theater in NYC. His career with Blue Man has taken him to theaters, arenas and stadiums all around the world. Credits with BMG include the recorded concert performance, Blue Man Group, How To Be A Megastar: Live!, NBC's Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, the new Blue Man Group album: Three, and most bizarrely, as an answer on the game show, Jeopardy! After the closing of NYC theater in mid-March of 2020, Mark dove back into his previous career as an audio engineer, founding a new audio production company, Nearfield (www.nearfieldmultimedia.com). In his spare time, Mark works on restoring his very old house in Cornwall On Hudson, NY with his partner, Ania, and their beautiful daughter, Lyra.
Thomas R. Smith is an Emmy-winning stop-motion and clay animator and has over fifteen years experience in the animation field. For the last thirteen years he's been animating models and puppets for Adult Swim's ROBOT CHICKEN. He's also created stop-motion puppets and animation for SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, and has done stop-motion for Stoopid
Buddy Stoodios (THE SIMPSONS, SUPERMANSION), Dreamworks Animation (CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS), Starburn Industries (FRANKENHOLE, MORAL OREL, Screen Novelties (CHOWDER, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2), Bix Pix Animation (HOLIDAZE, PLAY DOH'S DOH-DOH ISLAND), Will Vinton Studios (THE PJ'S) and Animasaur productions among others. In addition, he was a staff CGI animator at Rhythm and Hues (DOCTOR DOLITTLE 2) and an assistant animator for Walt Disney Feature Animation (DINOSAUR).
