’35MM: IN FOCUS’ NOW STREAMING

March 18, 2021

John Johnson and Very Intensive Productions are pleased to announce the release of 35MM: A Musical Exhibition in Focus, an album of commentary, original cast interviews, and track-by-track song breakdowns. The album is available now (March 9) via Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming platforms.

  • Did you know that the song “Crazytown” is structured around the 20 most common nightmares of college students?
  • Or that “The Ballad of Sara Berry” was written in 2 days before its world premiere?
  • Hear how the guitar riff of “Good Lady” was pulled straight out of “Giants in the Sky,”
  • The first line of “Party Goes with You” was recorded with the wrong lyric … and no one caught it,
  • And learn the tragically true story that inspired “Cut You a Piece.”
  • Plus so much more.

35MM: A Musical Exhibition is a cult-hit musical written by Ryan Scott Oliver that has been performed hundreds of times all over the world, including Japan, Australia, Scotland, England, Canada and across the US. With a cast recording (by Ghostlight Records) that has been experienced more than 20 million times, the show is song cycle based on photographs by world-renowned Broadway photographer Matthew Murphy (Murphymade.com).

The podcast-style album is narrated by Ryan Scott Oliver and features interviews with original cast members Alex Brightman, Ben Crawford, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Lindsay Mendez and Betsy Wolfe, with additional commentary by Murphy. Every song (including transitions) receives a track-by-track breakdown, analyzing music and lyrics and digging deep into their origins and inspirations.

A comprehensive deep dive perfect for actors, directors, writers, and creatives of any kind, 35MM: A Musical Exhibition in Focus also includes Oliver and Murphy reflecting on the decade-old songs and photographs respectively (“Matt and Ryan Grade 35MM”), a discussion with the original cast about the show’s legacy (“Parting Shots”), and a TedTalk-style tutorial guiding young creatives on how to develop and produce their own work by the writer himself (“RSO’s Thoughts on Making Stuff Happen”).

SPRING UPDATES FROM RSO

June 30, 2020

This spring has been incredibly challenging (the pandemic), changing (#BLM!), and finally prideful for us all. Here are a few RSO updates.

Applications Are Open for Rhinebeck Writers Retreat's NEA and ...

THE RHINEBECK WRITER’S RETREAT SELECTS RSO & ADAM CHANLER-BERAT

The new collaborators are at work revising Rope together during a digital retreat this summer. Find out more, including who the other recipients are, here.

SIGNAL CONCERT

RSO was thrilled to join Duncan Sheik and an incredible roster of writers for SIGNAL IV, a concert on YouTube presented by Adam Lenson (who directed RSO’s 35MM at the Other Palace in London in 2017). Kerstin Anderson performed “Bleed You Dry” from Three Points of Contact. Check out more about the event here, and watch Kerstin’s performance below at the 2’00″00 (2 hour) mark.

BROADWAY RECORDS RELEASED ‘ARTIST IN RESIDENCE’

RSO, Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Adam Gwon, and many others wrote songs for Artists in Residence, songs by writers during the quarantine. RSO penned “What a Thought” for his upcoming EP based on tales by the queen of classic horror Shirley Jackson, and the shocking, murderous comedy song was performed by Jay Armstrong Johnson. You can listen to it here on Spotify (and stay tuned for upcoming news about the Jackson project).

Artists in Residence [MP3] — Broadway Records

Here’s to Summer 2020 during a global pandemic!

JAMES, MENDEZ, AND MILES STAR IN ‘RSO AT F/54’

February 16, 2020

Tony Award-winners Nikki M. James, Lindsay Mendez, and Ruthie Ann Miles star in RSO AT F/54, an evening retrospective of musicals by multi-award-winning composer-lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Show time will be 7:00pm on March 31, 2020. 

The evening will also feature Tony nominee Kate Baldwin, plus Christy Altomare, Kerstin Anderson, Katie Rose Clarke, Ben Fankhauser, Drew Gehling, Jason Gotay, Troy Iwata, Jay Armstrong Johnson, John-Michael Lyles, Katie Thompson, and Natalie Walker.

Also featured during the evening are Ethan Carlson, Caitlin Doak, Ian Fairlee, Mary Claire Miskell, David Park, Bethany Perkins, and Donté Wilder.

Joshua Zecher-Ross music directs Max Grossman on Keyboard 2, Allison Seidner on cello, Coco Taguchi on Violin, Joseph Wallace on basses, Jeremy Yaddaw on drums, and Andrew Zinsmeister on guitars. Orchestrations are by Ryan Scott Oliver.

Audience members can expect to hear tunes from the prolific list of Oliver’s work, from Mrs. Sharp; Darling; 35mm: A Musical Exhibition; Jasper in Deadland; We Foxes; Rope; Otherbody, a brief musical allegory; Three Points of Contact, and world premieres from Oliver’s latest work.

You can purchase tickets at Feinstein’s/54 Below’s website.

RSO RELEASES ‘ROPE: FIBERS’ WITH FANKHAUSER, IWATA AND MORE

January 19, 2020

Very Intensive Productions is pleased to announce the release of Rope: Fibers, a new E.P. featuring songs from RSO’s musical, ROPE. The new recording is available now via Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming platforms.

Rope: Fibers features Ethan Carlson, Ben Fankhauser, Troy Iwata, Cory Jeacoma, Max Kumangai, John-Michael Lyles, Mary Claire Miskell, David Park, and Daniel Yearwood, with Devon Chandler, Caitlin Doak, Ian Fairlee, and Byron Martin Turk.

The band features Joshua Zecher-Ross on keyboards and additional instruments, Virginia Luke on violins, Tom Jorgensen on percussion, and Andrew Zinsmeister on guitar, mandolin, and banjo. Joshua-Zecher Ross served as music director and co-producer, and orchestrations are by RSO and Solomon Hoffman.

The track list is as follows:

1: “My Lass, She Tied Her Lace to Me” — Cory Jeacoma, David Park, John-Michael Lyles and Daniel Yearwood

2: “The Stranger” — Ethan Carlson and Cory Jeacoma

3: “All Men are Tied Together” — Max Kumangai

4: “What You Call Freedom” — Mary Claire Miskell

5: “I Have Seen the After” — John-Michael Lyles

6: “I Go on with You” — Ben Fankhauser and Troy Iwata

Check out the liner notes below.

RSO returns to Feinstein’s/54 Below this March

December 15, 2019

On March 31, 2020 — after two years away — RSO returns to Feinstein’s/54 Below for his most awesome evening of song to date. With a cast of Broadway stars and fan favorites (to be announced), audiences can expect to hear some of RSO’s best-loved songs from 35MM: A Musical Exhibition, Jasper in Deadland, We Foxes, Darling, Mrs. Sharp, and more — plus a few brand-new tunes!

The cast for the evening will be announced soon, but tickets are already on sale at the venue’s site.