How To Make A Musical For The Deaf

Via Buzzfeed:

Deaf West Theatre is a premiere deaf theater company based in Los Angeles. Their recent production of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Spring Awakening, performed simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken English, is headed to Broadway this fall.

Sign Language Guy Steals Storm Presser

Bill De Blasio's super-emotive sign language interpreter stole the show at yesterday's conference on the blizzard, spawning a mini-meme on Twitter.

Mayor de Blasio took the impending blizzard seriously Monday — and so did his expressive sign language interpreter. Interpreter Jonathan Lamberton’s animated gestures and facial expressions got rave reviews on social media. “The sign language interpreter is incredibly animated . . . to the point where I am not really listening to de Blasio,” wrote Twitter user Laura Bedrossian. “De Blasio's sign language interpreter wins this press conference w/the best facial expressions ever.” Katie Halper chimed in: “You know who's NOT phoning it in? The sign language interpreter at @BilldeBlasio's Blizzard presser."

He's rather hypnotic.

SOUTH AFRICA: "Fake" Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Memorial

Deaf people around the world took to social media yesterday to declare that the sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial was speaking gibberish. Many wondered if the man was using a sign language unique to South Africa, but that was not the case.

Paul Breckell, chief executive of the U.K.-based charity Action on Hearing Loss, said: "We are shocked by the quality of sign language interpretation at Nelson Mandela’s memorial -- if it could be called interpretation at all." He added that "the limited number of signs, the amount of repetition, lack of facial expressions and huge gaps in translation meant that deaf or hard of hearing people across the world were completely excluded from one of the biggest events in recent history." Among the first to express their dissatisfaction was Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, the first deaf woman to be elected to the South African parliament, who tweeted that the signing was "rubbish," adding: "He cannot sign. Please get him off."

And the YouTube parodies have already arrived.

Deaf Association For Marriage

From the National Association of the Deaf.

Iris Leonardo - Let Me Be

Coproduced by Jeff Crerie, who did Matt Alber's last album. That's Jeff's husband Mykel signing the lyrics. Lovely.

Speaking of ASL...

Going viral this week is a clip in which President Obama signs back "thank you" to a deaf supporter, who writes: "The moment I will never forget was when he looked at me. He gave me a chance to talk to him. It was like he was waiting for me to say something. I took the moment and signed 'I am proud of you,' and his response was 'Thank u' in sign language back! Oh my gosh! I was like wow! He understood me after I said I was proud of him. It was so amazing."

Mister Chase - Fuck You Very Much

An ASL take on one of my favorite tunes.

Interpretive Dance

On the BBC's Fast And Loose, panelists wearing noise-blocking headphones must discern the title of the song being acted out by comedian David Armand. Sort of like ASL for the hearing. Previous installments of this bit are here.

Signing Britney Spears

Chase - Falldown

This is Michael DiMartino, whose sign language dance clips I've posted here several times, performing original music under the stage name, Chase. Here's his site. You may spot him at Joan Rivers, Jackie Beat, and Lady Gaga shows this summer, where he'll be working as an onstage ASL interpreter. And he'll be performing in a NYC concert of his own on June 20th:

Pop singer Chase makes his Times Square debut with an intimate performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on Sunday, June 20, at 8 PM. Combining his passions of performance, music and sign language, Chase breaks down barriers between the hearing and deaf communities through choreographed sign-language dance and hit-worthy vocals. Tickets are $10, and may be purchased at www.SpinCycleNYC.com or at 212-352-3101.

Sign Language Gaga

You might remember adorkable ASL interpreter Michael DiMartino's take on Britney Spears' Womanizer, which I posted last March. Here's his very twisted take on Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Possibly NSFW.

(Tipped by JMG reader Peanut Logic)

Britney Spears In Sign Language

An adorkable deaf dude gives us a sexy ASL version of Britney Spears' Womanizer. This has been floating around YouTube for a few weeks, but for some reason a dozen of you sent this yesterday. I live to serve.