Alan Seidler

Theatre and Film Credits (Acting)

The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice. Role: Shrdlu- Presented by Buck’s Rock Playhouse, New Milford, CT, July 1968.

The Courageous One by Maxim Gorky. Role: Teterev- Presented by Buck’s Rock Playhouse, New Milford, CT, August 1968.

The Soldier’s Tale by C. F. Ramuz (music by Igor Stravinsky). Role: The Devil- Presented by the Light Fantastic Players at various locales in NYC, Nassau and Westchester Counties, New York, January-February, 1972.

Arrow Shot a short film produced by MD Productions. Written and Directed by Michael Dolan based on a story by Michael Griffith. Role: Uncle Dewey- Filmed Summer, 1996.
Shown at various film festivals but no motion picture theatre release. Shown occasionally on Independent Film Channel since 1999.

Theatrical Credits (Musical)

Pins and Needles by Harold Rome. Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company, NYC in 1967-68. Alan served as musical director.

Bye, Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart and Charles Strouse. Presented by Iona College Summer Theatre Institute for the Arts, 1970. Alan served as musical director.

Pigjazz, a revue conceived and directed by Michael Nee and seen at various off-Broadway venues in NYC. Some background music by Alan as well as his Never, Oh Never Whatever You Do, Sing a Gorilla Song (see The Duke of Ook page on this site) were interpolated into the show, which originally opened in 1972 and was revived in the early 1980′s.

All The Girls Came Out To Play by Richard T. Johnson and Daniel Hollywood. Produced on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, 1972. Background music by Alan Seidler and Max Nass.

Vaudeville at Town Hall, produced at Town Hall, NYC, December 1974 by Ook Ook Productions (Alan’s production company). Starring Nick Lucas, Chuck Green, Timmie Rodgers, Arlene Shaw, Jimmy Slyde. Alan acted as executive producer as well as musical director.

“R”, a murder mystery by C.V. Peters, produced at the Playwrights Horizons and Westbeth Theatres in NYC during the 1977-78 season. Alan composed the background score and also served as musical director for the Playwrights Horizons run.

Public Lives, a play by Julia Cameron, produced at the McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ in the Spring of 1983. Alan wrote the background score, which was realized on a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer and taped, so no written score exists.

Film Credits (Musical)

Nosferatu. In 1972, the Rhode Island School of Design Film Department commissioned a new background score from Alan for the F.W. Murnau 1922 silent classic. Alan has been known to call the score his “Dracula Music.” Shown at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI in 1972.

He Outta Be Committed. A feature film written and directed by Douglas Zimmerman in 1998-99. The film won the Audience Appreciation Award at the Louisville Film Festival in 2000, and is slated to be shown at the Sao Paolo Festival in Brazil in October 2001. Alan provided a background score, drawing heavily on his own Violin Sonata and Piano Quartet as well as classic rock and folk material.

TV Appearances

The Joe Franklin Show (in syndication)- several appearances between 1972-c.1982

WCBS-TV Evening News. Seidler was interviewed at rehearsal for his production Vaudeville at Town Hall. December 1974

Wonderama With Sonny Fox/Bob McAllister. WNEW-TV- Seidler appeared in 1966 and again in 1976, both times singing and playing piano on his original, “Never Oh Never Whatever You Do Sing A Gorilla Song” (written 1963). See The Duke of Ook page on this site.

90 Minutes Live (Canadian Broadcasting Company) – February 1977

The Merv Griffin Show (in syndication) – April 1977

Most Frequent Radio Play

Memory Lane With Joe Franklin-(in syndication)-many, 1971-? As far as is know, Franklin played no Seidler originals on this program; only Seidler’s recordings of songs written between 1890s-1930s.

The Dr. Demento Show-(in syndication)-regular play 1975-c.1984; occasional play 2001-present. Only Seidler originals from “The Duke of Ook” and “Funnies and Oldies”.

NOTE: Virtually all U.S. radio play of Seidler’s non-serious originals was suspended at his request by the mid-1980s after he, Dr. Demento and various other radio hosts nationwide received letters and phone calls containing death threats due to the perception of an overt or implied pro-drug message in several of Seidler’s originals on “The Duke Ook” during Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign. Some play on the airwaves has been restored gradually since the mid-1990s up to the present.