KATIE THOMPSON, NIC ROULEAU, JAY ARMSTRONG JOHNSON AND MORE SING WE FOXES AND ROPE IN CONCERT

February 19, 2016

March 14, 2016 7pm & 9:30pm AT FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW

RSO54-WEFOXES-GREENFEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW, Broadway’s Supper Club, presents the music of Ryan Scott Oliver in We Foxes and Rope on March 14, 2016. We Foxes and Rope represent two of three musicals in a trilogy of musical folk operas Oliver is writing about American desperation in war-time.

RSO is returning to 54 Below with a concert show featuring the music of his next two major works. Vocal powerhouse Katie Thompson (Giant) is joined by Jay Armstrong Johnson (On the Town, upcoming Quantico) Nic Rouleau (Book of Mormon), Alex Wyse (Spring Awakening), Kerstin Anderson (The Sound of Music), and F. Michael Haynie (Wicked, Dogfight) in presenting audiences a first-look at two works on the same stage. We Foxes is a musical tale of salvation in the face of murderous manipulation set in small town Missouri, 1945. Set against the Civil War, Rope explores the bonds of brotherhood when a blind boy, Shy, becomes tied to the gang-thief, Clay, and they embark on a  quest through war-torn America.

Jill Abramovitz (Cinderella), Andi Alhadeff (Jasper in Deadland), Will Erat (Catch Me If You Can), Victoria Huston-Elem (Addams Family), and Cory Jeacoma (Fan Girl) are also confirmed to perform with more to be announced.

Matthew J. Schneider will serve as the Director of the evening with Music Direction provided by Joshua Zecher-Ross who will play piano along with a five-piece folk band.

RSO at 54: We Foxes and Rope plays Feinstein’s/54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on March 14, 2016, at 7pm and 9:30pm. There is a $30-$40 cover charge and $25 food and beverage minimum. Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com.  Tickets on the day of performance after 4:00 are only available by calling (646) 476-3551.

RSO LIVE AT LINCOLN CENTER

January 8, 2016

DEREK KLENA, LINDSAY MENDEZ, KATIE THOMPSON, AND MORE JOIN RYAN SCOTT OLIVER TO OPEN LINCOLN CENTER’S AMERICAN SONGBOOK SERIES

12489894_10153183943696246_1931776842_oAward-winning composer Ryan Scott Oliver will open the 2016 season of Lincoln Center’s acclaimed AMERICAN SONGBOOK series with a free concert on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:30 pm in the David Rubenstein Atrium. Now in its 17th season, American Songbook celebrates the best of American singing and songwriting as interpreted by top performers and rising stars.  Admission is free; no tickets required; seating is first-come; first-served.

The concert will star Kerstin Anderson, Nick Blaemire, Ben Crawford, Jason Gotay, John-Michael Lyles, Julia Mattison, Derek Klena, Lindsay Mendez, Katie Thompson, Betsy Wolfe, and more to be announced.

It will also feature Ethan Carlson, Jessica Crouch, Ian Fairlee, Mary Claire Miskell, Tatiana Lofton, Daniel Yearwood, and the cast of Pace University’s Pace New Musicals developmental workshop of Oliver’s latest musical, ROPE. The concert will feature a dynamic range of songs spanning Oliver’s career.

For the third year, through Lincoln Center’s partnership with PGIM, the global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Songbook’s “Invest in the Future of American Song,” gave members of the public the opportunity to select the artist to open the Songbook season with a free concert at the Atrium. Oliver received the most votes, earning him the opening spot on January 19.

The Larson Grant Award-winning composer’s work has been presented at the Kennedy Center and Joe’s Pub, among other notable venues. Oliver created the music and lyrics for Jasper in Deadland premiered Off-Broadway and remounted at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre); 35mm: A Musical Exhibition (licensed by Samuel French, with original cast recording on Ghostlight Records); Darling, Mrs. Sharp, Out of My Head (licensed through Steele Spring Stage Rights) as well as the commission We Foxes (Broadway Across America). Additional career highlights include a commission for Disney Theatricals, projects for Rosie O’Donnell’s Theater Kids and Theatreworks USA’s We the People.

Oliver is the Director of New Musicals at Pace University in New York City and the Artistic Director of the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program. He is currently at work on the new musical Rope, a commission for Grove Entertainment. Visit RyanScottOliver.com and follow him on Twitter @ryanscottoliver.

American Songbook continues with performances in The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center from January 20 through February 27, followed by American Songbook in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse from March 16 through April 1. For more information and to purchase tickets to these performances go to AmericanSongbook.org, call CenterCharge at 212.721.6500, or visit the Alice Tully Hall and David Geffen Hall Box Offices, or Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office.

Since its launch in 1998, American Songbook has been dedicated to celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the popular American songwriter from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. Spanning all styles and genres from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway to the eclecticism of today’s songwriters working in pop, cabaret, rock, folk, and country, American Songbook traces the history and charts the course of the American song from its past and current forms to its future direction. For a list of artists that have performed in American Songbook over the years, as well as the composers that have been honored by evenings of their music, click here.

Lead Support for American Songbook provided by PGIM

 

‘WE FOXES’ WORKSHOPPED AT GOODSPEED IN JANUARY; CONCERT MARCH 14 AT 54 BELOW

November 18, 2015

The RSO show joins Goodspeed Opera House’s festival of new musicals IN JANUARY 2016, AND WILL BE PRESENTED IN CONCERT AT FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW ON MARCH 14.

RSO’s southern Gothic thriller We Foxes will receive a developmental workshop at Goodspeed Opera House as part of their festival of new musicals.  It will again be directed by Leigh Silverman (who presently directed during this summer’s reading at Playwrights Horizons), with dramaturgy by Matthew Schneider.  Rich Silverstein will music direct. The reading will be presented on the mainstage and open to the public.

The concert presentation on March 14 will be held at 7:00pm and 9:30pm.  Ticket buyers can receive 50% off tickets on Cyber Monday (Nov. 30).  CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS.

SLIDER for site-wfconcert

All casting will be announced soon.

We Foxes was commissioned by Broadway Across America and has been developed in readings or written in residence at the 5th Avenue in Seattle, Goodspeed, TheatreWorks, Silicon Valley’s Writer’s Retreat, Pace New Musicals (Pace University), CAP 21 and the Weston Playhouse.  The York Theatre Company presented the New York premiere Sept. 12, 2014, as part of its Developmental Reading Series, and the show is the winner of the New Horizons Award.

Goodspeed Opera House has produced over 250 musicals, including over 70 world premieres, and exported 20 productions to Broadway including Amazing Grace, 13, and Annie.  Goodspeed stands as the first regional theatre in America to earn two special Tony Awards, one in 1980 for outstanding contributions to the American musical and a second in 1995 for distinguished achievement for a regional theatre.

Goodspeed mounts both new and newly revived musicals each year on our main stage at the Opera House and on their second stage in Chester – a total of more than 400 performances during the April to December season attracting 130,000 patrons to the Connecticut River Valley. They stand at the forefront of producing and preserving the American musical, simultaneously reinventing the classics and inventing new ones. They attract well-known icons of the theatre world and foster emerging talent among composers, lyricists, and librettists. Each year, thousands of actors, directors, choreographers, and technicians aspire to come to Goodspeed to practice their craft. Among millions who know and love this art form – and those who appreciate its history and enduring appeal – Goodspeed is widely recognized as “The Home of the American Musical.”

See more at: http://www.goodspeed.org/about/all-about-goodspeed#sthash.M3x2XTMz.dpuf

The developmental cast will feature college students from the Hart School and Boston Conservatory.

Listen to the #FoxesTracks here

We Foxes is a southern Gothic thriller set in small-town Missouri, 1945. It’s the story of WILLA, a tough and unmannered orphan girl, and her adoption by the crafty Sheriff’s wife, VESTA QUIMBY. When Willa discovers the dark secrets beneath the floorboards, a war cuts them apart and Willa must fight to survive. After all, Vesta Quimby is the most beloved and powerful woman in town … Yet she’s less humanitarian socialite than she is Machiavellian sociopath… Can Willa discover her own salvation, deliver herself into courage, and sacrifice everything to escape Vesta? It is a story of intense human struggle, deliverance, and the great salvation found only through oneself.

Goodspeed Opera House

RSO Joins Lincoln Center Originals Line Up

October 23, 2015

RSO Songs at Lincoln Center this Tuesday.

Catch RSO tunes on Tuesday, October 27th at 7:30pm in Lincoln Center Originals: Songwriters, a FREE performance at the David Rubenstein Atrium.

Alice Ripley

Celebrated musical theater composers showcase original songs inspired by Lincoln Center. Don’t miss appearances by Tony Award-winner Robert L. Freedman (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Joe Iconis (NBC’s Smash), Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk (Henry and Mudge), Ryan Scott Oliver (Jasper in Deadland), Peter Millls (The Pursuit of Persephone), and Justin Levine (Pepper and Sam). The evening will be hosted by Lincoln Center Originals veteran Jeff Blumenkrantz and include special performances by Broadway stars including David Perlman (Baby, It’s You!), and Alice Ripley (Next to Normal, Side Show).

Get more information on the Lincoln Center Atrium website.

RSO IN LONDON VIDEO PLAYLIST

July 19, 2015

Videos from ‘RSO in London’ Released.

RSO in London took place at the St. James on March 23, 2015. The cast included: two time Oliver-nominee Emma Williams, current Kim in Miss Saigon on the West End, Eva Noblezada, BBC’s Any Dream Will Do Daniel Boys and Anton Zetterholm of European productions of Tarzan,Wicked, and Les Miz.:

RSO in London was directed by Katie Pesskin with music direction by Michael Riley and was produced by Susan Winter and Katie Pesskin for As Told By Productions.