While completing her memoir with Chuck Taylor and working on the new album for 2011/2012 release, Tinatin is also actively engaged in screenwriting sessions and rehearsals for her one-woman theatrical debut – “West/East” with Broadway maestro, Timothy Graphenreed.
Here’s what Timothy has to say about their remarkable show in the making and the upcoming world tour of “West/East”:
“I met a fascinating 16-year-old Georgian girl from Russia one summer’s evening in June of 2000 before her scheduled return to her home in Moscow. Her name was most unusual – Tinatin Japaridze. She had been on a fact-finding mission to find herself in the midst of the industry she has always wanted to be a part of. Right then and there, I simply asked her who she was? She sang ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ and I instantly heard the talent. I heard possibilities.
And I also heard her musical self calling from inside, asking to be released. I was so enthralled and inspired by her gift that I wrote a song overnight called ‘Knight In Shining Armor’ – a song about a young girl coming of age when she finds love for the first time. When she heard it the next day and began to sing it almost immediately, a match made in heaven was cemented at that very moment.
That was nearly 10 years ago, and now, many accolades and years later, we have reunited to write a show. A show about West meeting East, and vice versa. A show about the exchange of ideas covering various intertwined grounds – musical, cultural diplomatic and social. Tinatin’s fascinating story is highly relevant for many reasons. First of all, it is the nature, history and importance of the relationship between USA and Russia that bears resemblance to no other. I strongly feel that because of the nature and a larger than life concept of two superpowers – USA and former USSR – united by the universal language of music, art and a great journey of an artist, Tinatin’s memoir and her one-woman stage show will be an international sensation.”
TIMOTHY GRAPHENREED, multi-award winning Broadway composer/arranger/music director (The Wiz, Yo, Alice!, musical director for Lillias White)
