Composing Projects
Music composed or performed by Duncan Pflaster
The Inside of His Severed Head
A new musical
Book by Lenny Schwartz
Score by Duncan Pflaster
In this comedic musical, Willy Loman is an aging vampire hunter who realizes his life is empty and he tries to fill it in the last 24 hours of his life.
Produced by Daydream Theatre Company in Woonsocket Rhode Island, and in New York City in the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity in 2018
Winner 2019 Motif Magazine Award
Nominated Best New Musical - Planet Connections Award
Excerpts from "The Farm Song" and "Once Upon a Time", music and lyrics by Duncan Pflaster. Performed by the original cast. Video by Sara Shwartz
Level Nivelo with "Song Fight!"
For some time, Duncan participated in Song Fight! a website for musicians to create a monthly song based on a title prompt, then an audience of one's peers voted on favorite song. Duncan's "band" was named Level Nivelo, as a reference to Red Dwarf.
Music was made with MIDI Programming, and Ukulele, and mostly featured Duncan on vocals, sometimes with special guests.
Highlights are "Moscow, Idaho", "Cold Sweat", "Block City", and the epic "Blueberry Hassle".
Level Nivelo has the distinction of participating the longest without actually winning the contest.
All the songs are available as MP3s.
Really Real Love
Book, Lyrics, and Music by Duncan Pflaster
When Peggy and her boyfriend Noah (a gay-for-pay porn star) meet William, a rich young gay man with months to live, they come up with the idea to have Noah pretend to be in love with him, in order to benefit from William's inheritance after he goes. But the lines between what is real and what is not begin to blur as the deception continues. A modern gay spin on "The Wings of the Dove" by Henry James.
2013 Workshop with Emerging Artists Theatre -
Directed by Duncan Pflaster
Musical Direction by Michael James Roy
Starring Paul Bellantoni, Joe Bettles, Colleen Harris, and Michael Putnam II
Duncan wrote book, music, and lyrics for Admit Impediments, a musical about gay marriage and its legalization, which premiered in 2017, and is now thankfully a period piece.
He also appeared in the show.
Ukulele
Duncan plays Ukulele, and for a while was a frequent guest on the monthly Ukulele Cabaret shows. He can be seen in many of the videos there.
They also featured him on an episode of their Midnight Ukulele Disco show.
He has written and performed a song called "My Cowboy Joe" for the upcoming film Pansyvision from Richard Griffin.
He also has performed with the ukulele in several stage shows, including a production of Martin Sherman's Messiah, with The Work Shop Theater in NYC, for which he also composed the incidental music. Other shows include Much Ado About Nothing with Hudson Shakespeare, as part of BritBits with Mind the Gap productions, and as an opener for Lenny Schwartz's play #MeThree.
He also did a number of #Covid19Ukulele recordings during lockdown on Facebook.
Other Musical Projects
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Duncan appears as "Duncan Disorderly" on the 2001 tribute to The Dead Milkmen - Flogging a Dead Cow, covering "The Guitar Song", and on 'Til Someone Loses an Eye, the Safety Tips Compilation with a cover of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", as well as an original short Safety Tip song "Don't Play With Matches". He's also the main vocalist on the Mailbox Track of "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon" on the They Might be Giants Tribute album "We Might be Giants, Too!"
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Duncan won a 2012 PCTF Award, for Outstanding Sound Design for his original music for his play The Taint of Equality
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Duncan wrote a couple of the songs from his musical Eskimo, in collaboration with Adam Rabin of Mailbox
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He appears on the album Elephino by Mailbox as a guest vocalist
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He wrote lyrics for the songs "Chasing the Dragon" and "East, West, or Cassandra" on the album What's in the Box? by Mailbox
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Duncan wrote the score for a now-defunct musical based on "Les Enfants du Paradis", called "The Lights of the City", which had a developmental reading with The Theatre Company in Hoboken, NJ
Duncan is currently working on a new musical called Love Gods, inspired by the folk tale "Grandfather Death", but with Cupid granting his powers to a young matchmaker in modern New York City