Blake Allen

Blake Allen is an American Composer and Viola player who is most known for writing The shards of an honor code junkie, music directing the 2019 revival of Over Here!, writing the theme song for the talk show Doris Dear's Girl Talk, and appearing on Shade: Queens of NYC.
Allen was born in Tucson, Arizona but his family shortly thereafter moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Allen was born with Spherocytosis and had his spleen removed when he was four at St. Petersburg General Hospital. Allen's family then moved to Gainesville, Florida and ultimately El Paso, Texas, where Allen spent most of his formative years. Allen grew up a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was in the viola sections of both the Culture of El Paso Paso Symphony Orchestra and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Allen attended Brigham Young University where his friend Alan Taylor committed suicide, which led to the creation of his musical The shards of an honor code junkie, starring Tony Awards nominated actress Alison Fraser, Teal Wicks, Kristy Cates, Hannah Cruz, and Michael Lowney. 
As a performer, Allen has played with the New York Pops, Little Orchestra, and on Broadway in Tootsie (musical) and Misery (play) as well as many Off-Broadway productions including several shows and scores by Michael Friedman (composer). Allen has also been Tony Winner, Grammy and Emmy Nominee Rob Fisher (conductor) music assistant since 2012. 
In 2019, Allen won the 2019 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award for Best Recurring Series for his "An Evening With... Series" as well as the award for Best Special Event (Solo) for Marti Gould Cummings's Marti & The Cummers while also being nominated for Best Musical Director and Best Independent Album, for his An Evening With..., Vol. 1 That same year, Allen also won the 2019 GLAM Award for Best Cabaret for Tina Burner's Witch Perfect at Alan Cumming's Club Cumming along with fellow performers Bootsie Lefaris and Tammy Spenks. In 2020, Allen was nominated for Best New Arrangement for Mack the Knife and for My Funny Valentine, Best Musical Director, Best Recurring Series for An Evening With... Series, and Best Special Event - Multiple for OVER HERE!. Allen also performed, to rave reviews, at Birdland (New York jazz club) with Lortel Award and Drama Desk Award winner Kuhoo Verma in early 2020.
Allen produced and music directed the 2019 Off-Broadway, and first ever, revival of Over Here! at the Triad Theatre with Will Nunziata directing.. Smashing box office records at the Triad Theatre, the show starred Tony Awards Winner Debbie Gravitte, Jessica Hendy, Haley Swindal, and Nikka Graff Lanzarone. Allen also wrote a one-act play, Kelly [1955] based upon the Kelly-Hopkinsville aliens Encounter, which premiered at the Hudson Guild Theatre and starred Jessica Hendy. The score was featured on Allen's Sonatas.
In 2020, Allen released his album Sonatas featuring music which premiered at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The album debuted at #1 on the iTunes Classical Chart, where it stayed for two weeks, and debuted at #4 on the Billboard charts Classical, where it stayed in the top 10 for two weeks. 
At the height of the 2020 Pandemic, Allen wrote Livin' the Dreamboat with lyricist Claire Tran for the Astoria Performing Arts Center in Astoria, Queens. The show premiered on YouTube and was one of the very first theatrical shows to be written and presented in its entirety virtually. Also in 2020, Allen wrote the theme song and incidental music to Doris Dear Gurl Talk, a weekly lifestyle show on Broadway on Demand. Allen was also the music director for the Doris Dear Christmas Special, which featured Tony Nominee Karen Mason, Amra-Faye Wright, and more. 
Allen is currently developing his next theatrical piece, At KC's, with singer Kristina Nicole Miller and bassist Peter L. Powers. The show was partially developed at the Kimmel Nelson Harding Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, Nebraska as part of an artist residency.
===Shade: Queens of NYC===
Allen joined the cast of Shade: Queens of NYC at its inception in October 2017, as Blake Allen, the spouse to Marti Gould Cummings. The series documents the daily reality of lives as Manhattan drag queens. In the series, Allen also music directed, arranged, and performed in several episodes culminating in the album A Very Marti Holiday, an album of Christmas music featuring Daphne Rubin-Vega, Cady Huffman, and Lesli Margherita to raise money for The Ali Forney Center.
Allen moved to New York City in 2011 and married New York City Council candidate, and drag artist, Marti Gould Cummings in 2017. Together, they are politically active in their community of Hamilton Heights, Manhattan.
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2017	Shade: Queens of NYC 	Himself 	Supporting Role; music arranger
2018	Mozart in the Jungle 	Audition musician 	
2020	Doris Dear Gurl Talk 	Composer 	
2020	The Doris Dear Christmas Special	Music director; composer	
Year	Production 	Role 	Venue 		
2017	the shards of an honor code junkie	Composer; Lyricist; Book Writer	Metropolitan Baptist Church (New York City)		
2018	Folk Wandering 	Composer; Lyricist; Musician 	Pipeline Theatre Co. 		
2019	Kelly [1955] 	Playwright; Composer 	Hudson Guild Theatre 		
2019	Over Here! Revival 	Music Director; Arranger 	Triad Theatre 		
2020	Livin' the Dreamboat 	Composer; Orchestrator 	Astoria Performing Arts Center 		
====Albums====
Title 	Details 	Peak positions
Title 	Details 	Billboard Classical
Sonatas 	
* Release date: 2020
* Label: Traguna Productions & Blake Allen	4
An Evening With..., Vol. 1 	
* Release date: 2019
* Label: Traguna Productions & Blake Allen
* Nominated for Best Album at 2019 BroadwayWorld Awards.	—
A Very Marti Holiday 	
* Release date: 2017
* Label: Cowboy Bear Ninja & Blake Allen	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart	"—" denotes releases that did not chart	"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Category:American composers
Category:American violists
Category:Artists from Arizona