­­He’s performed for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Gerald Ford and any USC student lucky enough to be in any of his classes. He’s written scores for 20 films, television show episodes, symphonies, a ballet, an opera, two musical comedies, choral and chamber work and a blues tune about failing classes at USC.

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When Parmer Fuller is in a room, it’s impossible not to be entertained. Still, his works stand strong and speak loud and clear on their own, as evidenced by his two L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation nominations, announced recently. Fuller’s nominations for Book for an Original Musical and Lyrics/Music for an Original Musical (which he is nominated with Michael Kramer, a film graduate from USC) come from what he describes as a “musical without people talking,” called “Stations: A Los Angeles Holiday Story.”

To bring the “mixture of film music and dance groove and musical theater” to life, he worked with Boom Kat, a dance theater company, which includes many USC graduates Joe Sofranko, a USC graduate, nabbed the musical a nomination for Sound Design. Fuller’s daughter, Lilli Fuller, is amongst the five choreographers credited in the musical’s Choreography nomination.

The Ovations, the Los Angeles equivalent to a Tony Award, will be awarded on November 12.

Q: Were you surprised to be nominated?

Parmer Fuller: I was. I thought it was a very good show but it was a fairly small venue, and you know, you’re competing with the big, big theatre companies.
I think it’s because it was very original, something you don’t see very often, extremely energetic. It never stops. You can’t get bored and I think the ending and various parts were very moving. I was very pleased.

Q: How do you think you compare with the field? Do you think you have a good chance of taking it home?  

PF: Having spent a lot of time in the Hollywood movie world as a film composer and just living in Hollywood, one develops a fairly cynical way of viewing things. I know I’m competing against big established theatres. I think at some point in the process, the bigger fish, more publicity, more Ovation voters, who knows!

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PF: When I got the nominations, I actually felt tension. Like, oh God, I’ve been good at something, now I’ve got to do it again. It was interesting. I’ve been doing a lot of Eastern philosophy for these past few years, just about enjoying every moment of life, rather than going from peak to peak. I’ve conducted 8 musicals a year. You’re always shooting for the top, for the performance, and then you’re down until you perform again. It sounds like heeby-jeeby type of stuff. I mean… Yeah, you want to do your thing, but it’s not the be-all-that-ends-all, and that’s something that’s hard to explain.

Q: How do you feel it ranks in terms of your other achievements?

PF: One answer is to say I love all my children. (long pause) It certainly ranks up there. This is [one of] the longest pieces I’ve written. It was 45 minute halves with a 15 minute intermission. It was an entire evening of my story, my music, so it… it’s cool. It ranks up there.

The transcript for this interview, which occurred on September 25, has been edited for length.

Reach Staff Reporter Kathy Le here.