Although the term “boy band” did not exist until the 1990s, Boston group New Edition is credited for starting the boy band trend in the 1980s. Maurice Starr was influenced by New Edition and popularised it with his protégé New Kids on the Block, the first commercially successful modern boy band. Starr’s idea was to take the traditional template from the R&B genre (in this case his teenage band New Edition) and apply it to a pop genre.

New Edition

New Edition is an American R&B male music group formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1978 that was most popular during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men.

At the height of their early popularity in 1983, the group consisted of Ronnie DeVoe, Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins, and Ricky Bell. Early hits included songs like 1983′s “Candy Girl” and 1984′s “Cool It Now”. Brown left in late 1985 to embark on a successful solo career. The group continued for a time with four members, but eventually recruited singer Johnny Gill to record their 1988 album Heart Break. The group went on hiatus in 1990, while its various members worked on side projects, such as the group Bell Biv Devoe. Gill and Tresvant also recorded successful solo albums.

New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block are an American boy band that enjoyed success in the late 1980s and early 1990s and went on to sell 80 million records worldwide. Assembled in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consist of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. They won two American Music Awards in 1990 for Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo, or Group and Favorite Pop/Rock Album. After having disbanded in 1994, several attempts were made to get the group back together, all of them unsuccessful. After secretly reuniting in 2007 and recording a new CD, the group released that new album and embarked on a concert tour in 2008. The album, entitled The Block was released on September 2, 2008.

Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. In 2006 Richardson left the group to pursue other interests leaving the band as a four-piece, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer.

They rose to fame with their debut album, Backstreet Boys (1996). The following album, Backstreet’s Back (1997) continued the group’s success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their album Millennium (1999) and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000). After a three-year hiatus, the band regrouped and have since released three albums: Never Gone (2005), Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009).

The band has sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time. According to Billboard, they are the first group since Sade to have their first seven albums reach the top 10 on the chart.

*NSYNC-

Formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, ‘N Sync consisted of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick and became the third highest selling boyband of all-time (behind the Backstreet Boys and the New Kids On The Block). After heavily publicized legal battles with their former manager Lou Pearlman and former record label Sony BMG, the group’s second album No Strings Attached sold over one million copies in one day and 2.42 million copies in one week, giving it the highest first week album sales ever. In addition to a host of Grammy nominations, ‘N Sync has performed at the Academy Awards, the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Olympics, and sang or recorded with the likes of Elton John, Mandy Moore, Aerosmith, Mary J Blige, Britney Spears, Nelly, Michael Jackson, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, and Gloria Estefan. The group also appeared as themselves on The Simpsons, in an episode entitled “New Kids on the Blecch”, which aired on February 25, 2001. The band are among the highest selling musical acts of the first decade of the 21st century, and have emerged as one of the most acclaimed boy bands.

While ‘N Sync announced a “temporary hiatus” in spring 2002, the band has not recorded new material since. The group’s official website shut down in summer of 2006, and in 2007, Lance Bass confirmed that the group has “definitely broken up.” In March 2010, the group’s website was relaunched to keep fans updated on the various members’ projects.

The Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brother gained popularity from the Disney Channel children’s television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II (Kevin Jonas), Joseph Adam Jonas (Joe Jonas), and Nicholas Jerry Jonas (Nick Jonas). In the summer of 2008, they starred in the Disney Channel Original Movies Camp Rock and it’s sequal, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The band has released four albums: It’s About Time, Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer, and Lines, Vines and Trying Times. In 2008, the group was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards and won the award for Breakthrough Artist at the American Music Awards. As of May 2009, before the release of Lines, Vines and Trying Times, they have sold over eight million albums worldwide.

This blog has moved to a new self hosted location. All of our old content is available at our new location; this page will stick around as an archive.

Come check out the new page, and while your at it, check out our new facebook page as well!.

A boy band (or boyband), in pop, rock, hip hop and R&B music, is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of about 3-6 male performers. Despite the term “band”, boy band members usually do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on stage, although exceptions do exist.

Some such bands can evolve out of church choral or Gospel music groups, but are often created by talent managers or record producers who hold auditions. Their general commercial orientation towards an audience of tweens and teenagers.

Early history

The earliest form of boy band music took place in the late 1800s with the use of a capella Barbershop quartets. They were usually a group of males and sing in four part harmonies. The popularity of Barbershop quartets had been prominent into the earlier part of the 20th century. A revival of the male vocal group took place in the 1950s with the use of Doo-wop music. Doo wop was a predecessor to the previous boy bands and they sung about topics such as love and other themes used in pop music. The earliest traces of boy bands were in the mid 1950s and the term boy band was not used. The term boy band was not established until the late 1980s. Before that times they were called male vocal groups or harmony singing groups.

The earliest predecessors of the boy band genre were groups such as The Osmonds and The Jackson 5, which helped form the template for boy bands. Both were family groups that established many musical conventions that boy bands follow. For instance, their music featured close harmonies from soul music and catchy pop hooks influenced as much as they were Motown acts like The Supremes. All members of the band sang, which is a common convention of boy band, as opposed to having a front man and the rest on instruments. This is effectively so that no one person dominated the stage. Even so, the members conveniently fitted into the convention of having stereotypical personality types (Michael Jackson being the “cute one”, to give an obvious example).

The Osmonds

The Jackson 5

Although not a manufactured band, The Beatles set a precedent for boy bands to follow both in terms of marketing to young girls and certain aesthetic and musical conventions. The merchandising, whether it was films like A Hard Day’s Night or novelty goods were possibly the first aimed at a certain demographic on a large scale for a group. This made them a proto-type for boy bands. Musical conventions that boy bands adopted from The Beatles were less their technical proficiency as musicians and more the catchy pop hooks, melodies and harmonies combined with their marketability. Their marketability was based the idea that there was something for everyone, whether it is the music or the personality of John Lennon or Paul McCartney or their sex appeal.

The Beatles

The Beatles were more directly an influence on boy bands that use rock band instrumentation. The precedent for this was when TV Producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson got four members to perform catchy pop tunes while also acting in a television series. The Monkees were a manufactured act who featured members with distinct (albeit fictional) personality types. They are often considered as the original pioneers among boy bands.  Formed in 1965 under the supervision of Don Kirshner, the group became dissatisfied with Kirshner’s control and became independent two years later, and worked on their own up to 1970.

The Monkees

Dominion Stage presents Altar Boys.
Book by Kevin Del Aguila
Music and Lyrics by Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker

Produced by Richard Isaacs , Directed & Choreographed by Patrick M. Doneghy, Music Direction by Keith Tittermary.

Altar Boyz is a musical comedy full of sharp parody, sinfully spectacular dancing, and irreverent humor about a fictitious Christian boy band. The show follows the five über-talented heartthrobs: Matthew (Patrick Kim), Mark (Mickey D DaGuiso), Luke (Rob White), Juan ( Aaron Alexander), and Abraham (Chase Maggiano) on the last night of their “Raise the Praise” tour. Throughout the show the boyz learn about brotherhood, facing tough decisions and how important they truly are to one another. With their angelic voices, sinfully spectacular dancing and a touching story, the Altar Boyz are destined to rock the masses of all denominations!

PERFORMANCE DATES: Friday, Oct. 01, Saturday, Oct. 02, Thursday, Oct. 07, Friday, Oct. 08, Saturday, Oct. 09, Sunday, Oct. 10, Thursday, Oct. 14, Friday, Oct. 15 and Saturday, Oct. 16

And Now Get Ready To Make Some Noise For The ALTAR BOYZ…

“Altar Boyz is a musical comedy full of sharp parody, sinfully spectacular dancing, and irreverent humor about a fictitious Christian boy band. The show follows the five über-talented heartthrobs: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham on the last night of their ‘Raise the Praise’ tour. Throughout the show the boyz learn about brotherhood, facing tough decisions and how important they truly are to one another.

With their angelic voices, sinfully spectacular dancing and a touching story, the Altar Boyz are destined to rock the masses of all denominations!”

Altar Boyz is a musical comedy centering on a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio. The show satirizes, among other things, the phenomenon of boy bands and the popularity of Christian-themed music in contemporary American culture. It began an Off Broadway run on March 1, 2005 and closed on January 10, 2010, having played 16 previews and 2,032 regular performances making it the 9th longest running Off Broadway musical of all time.

The musical is presented in real time as the final concert of the national “Raise the Praise” tour staged by the five-member group the Altar Boyz. Four of the group’s members, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Juan, apparently are named after the authors of the four canonical Christian Gospels. The fifth member is Abraham, who, the group explains in the show’s opening number, is Jewish.

During the show, the Altar Boyz repeatedly turn to a machine on stage, the “Soul Sensor DX-12,” which has a display that they explain shows the number of burdened souls in the theatre. Their goal is to reduce the number on the machine to zero by the end of the concert.

Altar Boyz debuted in New York City as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival in September 2004. The NYMF cast included Cheyenne Jackson as Matthew, Tyler Maynard as Mark, Andy Karl as Luke, Ryan Duncan as Juan, and David Josefsberg as Abraham. Marc Kudisch performed the pre-recorded role of “G.O.D.” Due to the nature of the festival, the NYMF run was limited to 8 performances on an irregular schedule over the course of a few weeks.

After 16 preview performances, the show opened Off Broadway on March 1, 2005.^[1] The cast was the same as in the NYMF production, except Scott Porter played the part of Matthew and Shadoe Stevens played the pre-recorded role of “G.O.D.” The production closed on January 10, 2010 after 2,032 regular performances, making it the 9th longest running off-Broadway musical of all time.^[2].

There have been touring productions of Altar Boyz in the United States (in 2007, 2008 and 2009) and resident productions in Chicago (2007), and Korea, Hungary, Finland, Australia and the Philippines as well as numerous regional and amateur productions.

• Outer Critics Circle Award Best Off Broadway Musical- Winner
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical- Nominee
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical- Tyler Maynard- Nominee
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Choreography- Nominee
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Music- Nominee
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lyrics- Nominee
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical- Nominee
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Orchestrations- Nominee
• Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Musical- Nominee
• Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Choreography- Christopher Gattelli- Winner
• Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Actor- Tyler Maynard- Nominee
• Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Sound Design- Nominee
• Drama League Award Distinguished Production of a Musical- Nominee
• Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Award- Ryan Duncan, David Josefsberg, Andy Karl, Tyler Maynard, Scott Porter- Nominees
• Theatre World Award – Tyler Maynard- Winner

Don’t miss Altar Boyz presented by Dominion Stage start October 1st.  Click here for more details!

In order: Mickey D. DaGuiso, Rob White, Patrick Kim, Chase Maggiano, Aaron Alexander

Dominion Stage presents Altar Boys.
Book by Kevin Del Aguila
Music and Lyrics by Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker

Produced by Richard Isaacs , Directed & Choreographed by Patrick M. Doneghy, Music Direction by Keith Tittermary.

Altar Boyz is a musical comedy full of sharp parody, sinfully spectacular dancing, and irreverent humor about a fictitious Christian boy band. The show follows the five über-talented heartthrobs: Matthew (Patrick Kim), Mark (Mickey D DaGuiso), Luke (Rob White), Juan ( Aaron Alexander), and Abraham (Chase Maggiano) on the last night of their “Raise the Praise” tour. Throughout the show the boyz learn about brotherhood, facing tough decisions and how important they truly are to one another. With their angelic voices, sinfully spectacular dancing and a touching story, the Altar Boyz are destined to rock the masses of all denominations!

PERFORMANCE DATES: Friday, Oct. 01, Saturday, Oct. 02, Thursday, Oct. 07, Friday, Oct. 08, Saturday, Oct. 09, Sunday, Oct. 10, Thursday, Oct. 14, Friday, Oct. 15 and Saturday, Oct. 16

And Now Get Ready To Make Some Noise For The ALTAR BOYZ…

Announcing Auditions for Dominion Stage’s
Altar Boyz!

Book by Kevin Del Aguila
Music and Lyrics by Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker

Produced by Richard Isaacs
Directed and Choreographed by Patrick M. Doneghy

Music Direction by Keith Tittermary

Audition Dates:

Monday, July 26th

Tuesday, July 27th

Wesday, July 28th

Callbacks: Monday, August 2nd

Beginning at 7:30 PM; Last Sign in at 9:00 PM

Arlington Cultural Affairs/Theater on the Run
3700 South Four Mile Run Drive
Arlington, VA 22206

All parts require strong singing, dancing and acting.
Looking for FIVE TRIPLE THREATS. So that’s fifteen threats in all…

Prepare a comedic monologue. No longer than two minutes please. Nothing from the show.

Sing a POP SONG to show off your range and voice. No Musical Theater songs. Accompanist will be provided (bring sheet music or lead sheets) – feel free to accompany yourself on guitar or piano. A cappella singing OK! No singing to CDs.

You will be taught a short dance combination please come prepared to move.

Character Breakdown and Requirements:

Matthew - “the leader” who started the group – (Tenor 2) Needs to be able to consistently sing As and Bs in falsetto, a few times of full voice. Same range as Mark, but takes the 2 line on split tenors.

Mark – “the sensitive one” with a secret and a deep faith…in Cher – (Tenor 1) – needs to have a “comfortable” not strained high Bb in full voice, also a solid Bb in falsetto.

Luke – “the bad boy” with a heart of gold and an affection for communion wine – (Bari 2) – normal bari part, occasional tenor notes, but most of the normal bari music.

Juan – “the Latin Lover” an orphaned boy with an eye for the ladies – (Bari 1 or really Tenor 3) – has a big range from low stuff solid to above the staff in harmonies. Most solo work is in the normal bari range with occasional high hits.

Abraham – “the Jewish one” who isn’t entirely sure how he got there but he wrote the lyrics. – (Bari/Bass) – has to be a solid bottom singer, with a bass sounding voice, but can also sing high in group singing.

No appointment necessary. All roles are open and unpaid.

Auditions, call backs, and rehearsals will be held at Arlington Cultural Affairs/Theater on the Run 3700 South Four Mile Run Drive Arlington, VA 22206

For more information, please visit the Dominion Stage website!

Also honored at the event was Dominion Stage, which received the Elizabeth Campbell Award for Outstanding Community-Arts Group.

Of the award, he said, “It really helps to validate the fact that we are on the right path.”

Sun Gazette Article

Dominon Stage Love! Valour! Compassion!

by Jose Pineda

Dominon Stage brings Terrence McNally’s 1994 play Love! Valour! Compassion! to the Gunston Arts Center in Arlington, VA. Their interpretation of the Tony winning play, turned featured film, was compelling and quite enjoyable.

“Anyway…”

This production of Love! Valour! Compassion! is a must see! It satisfies all of the cravings a theater fanatic might have, and leaves you wanting more. Luckily for those that have yet to catch the performance, one more set of performances will run from Wednesday, June 2 to Saturday, June 5 at 8 PM and Sunday, June 6, at 2 PM. Don’t miss out!

http://www.showbizradio.net/2010/05/31/review-ds-love-valour-compassion/

Play Shows Gay Men Coping With AIDS
Dominion Stage Tackles McNally’s 1994 Play.

By Brad Hathaway
Thursday, May 27, 2010

As Memorial Day Weekend approaches this is an appropriate time for Dominion Stage to open its production of Terrence McNally’s “Love! Valour! Compassion!” After all, the first act takes place over a Memorial Day Weekend at a lake-side summer home about two hours’ drive north of New York City where a group of gay men have gathered for a weekend of skinny dipping and other forms of “R and R.”

Acts two and three take place over the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends, as the men’s relationships evolve in the wake of indiscretions and events during that first weekend. Over it all hangs the specter of a plague that, at that moment appeared both unstoppable and incurable. It was the plague known as AIDS.

That was the mid-1990s. It may be a bit hard to recall just how terrible the epidemic appeared just then. As bad as the AIDS crisis is today, then it seemed even worse because of the factor of the unknown. The gay community in the United States was reeling from the shock of an apparently unstoppable onslaught. The new disease was taking thousands of lives a month and the rate was increasing. Today the trend is down. Where AIDS would take over 50,000 American lives a year then, today it is closer to 10,000 — and treatments have been devised. It is still a scourge and the international as well as domestic implications are staggering. But in 1994 it seemed an unstoppable terror, at least to those in the identified high risk groups.

Terrence McNally, author of such powerful plays as “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” and “Lips Together, Teeth Apart” (and later “Master Class” and “Corpus Christie”) created this eight-character play that won the Tony Award for Best New Play of 1994. McNally wasn’t just writing about AIDS. He was writing about people. Specifically, male people. In particular, gay male people. Each is a definable individual with strengths, weaknesses, virtues, vices, hopes and fears. The AIDS crisis permeates those fears, but isn’t the only fact of life in their lives.

That Dominion Stage was able to attract seven actors both capable of bringing those characteristics to life and willing to bare all in the process is something of a testament to the strength of the talent pool in our community. The on-stage nudity is treated here, as the play requires, as a simple fact of life among the men in the play. How different characters display or disguise their bodies is but one tool the playwright uses to reveal their personalities.

There’s Buzz, an AIDS victim who flaunts his gayness but not his body. Mario Font handles the role with appropriate flair (it is a role that featured Nathan Lane on Broadway and Jason Alexander in the film adaptation) as a show tune queen. When it came to nudity, however, the character opts for a front-covering barbecue chef’s apron.

On the opposite side of the issue is Ramon, given a vibrant performance by Shawn g. Byers. He’s an openly gay dancer who revels in his body and enjoys showing it off either to shocking effect or simply as an object of beauty. He spends a good deal of the play sunbathing in the nude on a platform at the rear of the stage.

The most touching performance of the evening comes from Luke Morris as the blind young lover of the host of the weekends. He’s vulnerable on so many different levels and Morris gets each of them right. Patrick M. Doneghy is strong and compelling as his lover, the owner of the house and a middle-aged choreographer who fears he may be running out of inspiration for new dances and his body may be getting too battered to execute what dances he does devise.

Matthew Randall doubles as both a British pianist and his AIDS infected brother while Jeffrey Stevenson brings an empathetic tone to the role of one half of a long-term relationship and Richard Isaacs adds the acerbic edge to that of his partner.

As with other productions of the play, the costumes tell about as much about each character as the absence of costumes does. Ceci Albert does a fine job of giving each character a wardrobe that bespeaks personality without overdoing it. That is, until the finale which sees six of the seven don tutus for a bit of “Swan Lake” at an AIDS benefit show.

Director Rick Hayes brings it all together in a well-paced presentation that emphasizes the camaraderie of the group while giving each member a chance to make his reactions to events clear. It is a full evening of emotion with, as is almost always the case with a Terrence McNally play, a good deal of humor.

***

Brad Hathaway reviews theater in Virginia, Washington and Maryland and writes about theater for a number of national magazines. He can be reached at Brad@PotomacStages.com.  http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=341011&paper=59&cat=226

Love! Valour! Compassion! contains full frontal male nudity and mature situations. www.dominionstage.org

Love! Valour! Compassion! will run selected dates from May 21 – June 30, 2010, with evening performances (May 21, 22, 27, 28, June 2, 3, 4, and 5) at 8 p.m., and a Sunday matinee on June 6, at 2 p.m. All performances will be held at the Gunston Arts Center – Theater One, located at 2700 S. Lang Street in Arlington. Seating is General Admission; Tickets are available online for pre-purchase at www.DominionStage.org. Group Discounts available. Reservations can be made online or by calling (703) 683-0502.