Ep. 30 David Friedman (Part 1)

The Mindful Musician

DAVID FRIEDMAN

David Friedman, composer of the award-winning hit musical, Desperate Measures, (Drama Desk for Music and Lyrics/Outer Critics and Off Broadway Alliance Awards for Best Musical) is one of this country's most beloved songwriters, best known for writing songs that touch our hearts and speak to our souls. He has written songs for everyone from Disney to Diana Ross, produced all of the late/great Nancy LaMott’s CD’s and wrote many of her best known songs, (Listen To My Heart/We Can Be Kind/We Live on Borrowed Time/I’ll Be Here With You/Just in Time For Christmas), conducted and vocal arranged 6 musicals on Broadway and numerous Disney Animated Films (including Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) wrote songs for The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Bambi II and Trick, scored 3 television series, performed his revue Listen To My Heart – The Songs of David Friedman to audiences Off Broadway, all over America and abroad, and is currently in his 10th year of co-writing (with Kathie Lee Gifford) and performing a song-a-month for the Today Show’s Everyone Has a Story Segment. (This month will be his hundredth song.) In addition to Desperate Measures, David has written 4 other musicals with Peter Kellogg: Chasing Nicolette played to rave reviews at The Westport Country Playhouse, the Prince theater in Philadelphia (where David was awarded the Barrymore Award for best score) and Village Theatre in Seattle, and recently had a backer’s presentation in New York with John Rando directing; Stunt Girl, about the life of Nellie Bly, the first woman investigative reporter in New York and the first woman to run a major corporation, was seen in a critically acclaimed production at the Village Theater in Seattle, which was followed by a staged reading at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York. (After seeing this reading, Gloria Steinem called it, “Altogether, the strongest female story I've ever seen on Broadway -- or pretty much anywhere”); Money Talks, a four-character musical that follows the path of a $100 bill as it passes from person to person, with Benjamin Franklin playing the $100 bill, was presented at the Davenport Theatre last year; and Lincoln in Love, a musical about Abe Lincoln’s early years, was presented at Goodspeed. David’s Christmas Oratorio, King Island Christmas, written with Deborah Brevoort, has had over 50 productions around the world. David is also a best-selling author with 5 books including We Can Be Kind - Healing Our World One Kindness at a Time, based on his song of the same name. (Currently in its Fifth printing.) His three books on his Metaphysical Method, The Thought Exchange, explore how to not only choose the thoughts we wish to hold, but how to stay with them and see them manifest in our lives. He is a sought after speaker, lecturer and teacher around the country. For more information, go to www.MIDDERMusic.com.

LINKS

Davids Website: www.MIDDERMusic.com

We Can Be Kind - book and song https://www.amazon.com/We-Can-Be-Kind-Kindness/dp/1633536750

Nancy LaMott singing We Can Be Kind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49m0--Wsk6E

Koga (animated children’s series): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvmrHk_ih2E

The Mindful Musician Podcast:

www.mattoestreicher.com