Sly wit, silky pipes and some deliciously twisted lyrical ideas make J-Fo an Orphanage favorite that we start to jones for like morning coffee if she's been away too long and its been TOO LONG
LISTED AS ONE OF THE TOP 21 TRACKS to COLLECT (along with songs from Wall-E, Milk, Cadillac Records, other blockbusters):
"Were the World Mine." Another film centered on teenage romantic angst (albeit of a much different stripe) is this gay, musical fantasy variation on Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream." Chicagoan Jessica Fogle's pop songs (with lyrics adapted from Shakespeare by Cory James Krueckeberg), a cross between Erasure, Abba and Sister Scissors, are immediately infectious, especially this title track sung by the film's two young leading actors, Tanner Cohen and Nathaniel David Becker."
"the magnificent Jessica Fogle (jessicafogle.com),...swing(s) her knifeblade of song, one edge dripping acid, the other honey, the reflected light burning lost blueprints and indelible sigils on the sensitive retinas of your inner vision – the knife is a distraction, the light is the weapon, as you’ll realize when it’s far too late. I sure don’t know what any of that means, but her music is too good for it not to be true somehow."
Hedwig has better move over...The film's biggest asset is Jessica Fogle's beautiful score. Don't be surprised if at the end, audiences stand up and applaud.
A NEW YORK TIMES "CRITICS PICK": This small, endearing film, directed by Tom Gustafson from a screenplay he wrote with Cory James Krueckeberg, has already won a number of awards, including outstanding narrative feature at Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. ...With original music by Jessica Fogle, and lyrics (some original and others adapted from Shakespeare) by Mr. Krueckeberg, it is an enchanting, mildly subversive fantasia that reconciles sassy teenage argot with Elizabethan. One moment it is this, the next that. Ms. Fogle’s most striking music, especially the title song, sets Shakespearean dialogue in an ethereal Minimalist style that has the entranced intensity of centuries-old sacred music."
The movie is strongest when in musical mode...Singing voices are strong, and composer Jessica Fogle shifts styles smoothly from Elizabethan to modern, blending faux-madrigals, Celtic rock and Erasure-style pop.
"The musical numbers, filled with old-fashioned melodic singing and choreography that wittily references classical Hollywood musicals, put the prefab High School Musical series to shame."
Gustafson's feature comes from his short film "Fairies," and it's most effective when it's fully invested in composer Jessica Fogle's music—when it's a full-on musical, in other words.
"A true treasure to behold, this women packs nuclear sized energy in a
teeny frame.Hear her great chops, awesome wit and angelic voice, We at the
Orphanage are at her service, you will be too."
Excerpts from his review: "Jessica Fogle, who wrote the music ( an exuberant cross between Erasure, Abba and Scissor Sisters )...One wants more of the incredibly infectious pop tunes Fogle has composed ( although the soundtrack helps to satisfy this craving to some degree )."
the lyrics, edited from Shakespeare [are] surprisingly effective paired with Jessica Fogle's pleasant tunes, reminiscent of late 20th-century Broadway and nicely sung by the appealing young cast.
regarding the song moments in WTWM: "For it's these moments, with their Pierre et Gilles-esque images of shirtless, nubile young men in gaudily classical tableaux and their unexpectedly lovely chords and harmonies from composer Jessica Fogle, that resonate the most."
RE: WTWM: "The farcical aspects of the plot never get too far out of hand, thanks primarily to the score (original music by Jessica Fogle and Tim Sandusky, lyrics by Krueckeberg and Shakespeare), which is beautiful and eerie and anything but farcical. (Soundtrack is available from PS Classics and on iTunes.)"
Re: music for the film "Were the World Mine" (collaboration w/ Tim Sandusky & Cory James Krueckeberg):
"Closing out the festival was Tom Gustafson's musical "Were the World Mine," which I would specifically like to discuss in depth for one reason: I loved it. A lot. It's a retelling of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" set in high school, in which the hero turns everybody gay for awhile with a magic potion, but it's the sort of movie in which the plot is almost irrelevant, because the mood, the characters, and especially the music are so strong they supercede all of the other aspects of the film. "I really liked the idea of doing a new kind of musical, not the standard," said Gustafson when I talked to him a few months ago. "Music can touch a lot of emotions that nothing else can."
Audiences have been loving it; the Newfest audience was moved to cheers, and the film has been picking up audience awards left and right. But myself and the people with whom I saw it - festival veterans, programmers, and industry - all expressed shocked that it had not premiered at one of the world's major festivals. Not only did it surpass in quality almost any competition film from Sundance this year, festivals the world over were really scrounging for queer content specifically. It's a mystery to me; there are creaky elements, yes, and while it is not a flawless film, it made my heart soar, and gave me more pure enjoyment than anything I've seen in ages. I can only hope (perhaps against the odds) that it gets some sort of theatrical distribution; it plays like gangbusters with an audience.
From an article about the 50 songs in 90 days challenge
"...Sometimes the resulting jewel is discovering an entire new genre. Jessica Fogle, a singer-songwriter in Chicago, would describe her style as anything but mainstream, but during 50/90 she suddenly found her inner Top 40, which helped her grow as a musician. “There’s a reason to bother to write 50 songs.” Fogle says. “If I hadn’t signed up for this, I would’ve only written three or four. There would have been all these songs in me that I wouldn’t have bothered to find.”
"Whoa!!!! Millie,
the night was a smashhhhhhhhhhhhh HIT! ...Ms.Jessica Fogle kicked it off by making 45 people fall in love with her, in two songs - Goddess Queen!!! So tasty--and she quotes super mario bros. Her Spirit remains with ussssssssssss."
re: WTWM (to be fair, he wrote this from a character POV, best to read the full thing): "See, Kruekenberg retooled a lot of the play’s lines as song lyrics, and they’ve put them to music by Jessica Fogle. Hadn’t heard of her before this, but she’s fucking good. Seriously, you’d love it, mate, the Shakespeare-as-lyrics stuff especially — all that hintertextuality malarky."
After the pair completed the script (working in conjunction with talented Chicago composer Jessica Fogle on the songs), Gustafson and Krueckeberg then methodically set out to acquire financing for the feature film. ...In addition to the fine acting performances, the musical numbers really knocked my socks off (and I’m not generally a fan of contemporary musicals). Cory Krueckeberg seamlessly melded Shakespeare’s words with his own clever lyrics, Jessica Fogle’s melodies were excellent (catchy without being cloying or fluffy), and Tim Sandusky’s work on the score, arrangements and production was absolutely first rate (of course, he has a reputation for that in Chicago).