NYC's composer-lyricist fashioning Gothic thrillers, queer poperettas, and high-octane rock into exhilarating new musicals
December 4, 2014
On Friday and Saturday, December 5th and 6th at 7:30pm, Girls’ Night Out will be performed at Rider University’s Yvonne Theater in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Admission is free.
Girl’s Night Out is a work of devised Theatre based on the compositions of Contemporary Musical Theatre composer, Ryan Scott Oliver. Each young performer has been presented a musical piece composed by Mr.Oliver that informed their character. The relationships that grow between each character have developed out of their improvisational work within the rehearsal process. The audience will follow each young person’s journey, observing each character’s discoveries that effect not only themselves, but everyone around them as well.
Directed by Rider Musical Theater Faculty Mariann Cook, with musical direction by Wendy Feaver, and choreography by Colby Dezelick, Girls’ Night Out features Maria Garvey, Samantha Ricchuti, Sarah Catherine Carter, Patricia Curley, Sarah Davis, Kailee Graham, Madeline Chandler, Leanne Gallati, Chelsea Delgado, Jessica Phipps, Katherine Tennenbaum, and Amy Hine.
November 21, 2014
Most of these recordings are live, from concerts and developmental readings, and sung by some of Broadway’s rising stars.
See the full list of songs and start downloading HERE!
September 21, 2014
In a new post on Backstage.com’s Backstage Experts, RSO was named one of the top composers of audition-friendly contemporary musical theatre songs. Andrew Byrne writes: “Oliver is an exciting writer who finds a way to combine a pop/rock sensibility with the formal structural discipline of great classical music. His lyrics employ haunting imagery and engaging specificity, and his musical language is unique and consistent.”
You can purchase RSO sheet music on the online store, including favorites like “Lost Boy,” “Crayon Girl,” “On Monday,” and “The View From Here.” You can also visit NewMusicalTheatre.com.
To see the whole list and to read more, visit Backstage.com.
September 15, 2014
RSO’s new show We Foxes, which recently had a reading at the York Theatre, was selected to have selections performed at the New Music Theatre concert at Truman State University, on October 25, 2014. We Foxes was selected from 130+ submissions from 11 different countries.
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.
The epic period musical is mostly sung-through, combining bluegrass, country, big band and concert music of the 1940s, infused with the contemporary folk-rock of today. We Foxes is a commission from Broadway Across America, and has been in residence at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s Writer’s Retreat, CAP 21, and the Weston Playhouse.
The New Horizons Music Festival is a day of contemporary music featuring performers from the university and the surrounding region. The Festival includes music from most of the major genres in modern performance: chamber groups, multimedia, solo performers, large ensembles, and theatrical performance. The concerts and ongoing curated exhibition provide a substantive slice of contemporary music focusing on music that leverages the techniques of the classical musician and looks to the future.
As the sixteenth edition of Truman’s festival of contemporary and experimental music, this year’s Festival features six concerts on the beautiful Truman State University campus in Kirksville, Missouri. The New Horizons Music Festival will be held on the Truman campus on Saturday, October 25th.
For more information, email newhorizonsmusicfestival@gmail.com.
August 25, 2014
Read the Playbill.com press release HERE.
The York Theatre will produce a reading of Ryan Scott Oliver’s new show We Foxes as part of its NEO Reading Series on September 12th at 3:00pm. Directed by Mike Donahue, with music direction by Rich Silverstein, the cast includes Katie Thompson, Ben Platt, Forrest McClendon, Anne L. Nathan, with Andie Alhadeff, Alex Brightman, Jon Ellison Conlee, Natalie Charle Ellis, Will Erat, F. Michael Haynie, Erik Liberman, Ellyn Marsh, and introducing Emily Rogers.
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.
The epic period musical is mostly sung-through, combining bluegrass, country, big band and concert music of the 1940s, infused with the contemporary folk-rock of today. We Foxes is a commission from Broadway Across America, and has been in residence at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s Writer’s Retreat, CAP 21, and the Weston Playhouse.
The band features Allison Seidner on cello, Charlie Rosen on bass, Jeremy Yaddaw on percussion and Coco Taguchi on violin. Other members of the creative team include stage manager Ashley Rodbro and assistant stage manager Nessie Nankivell.
The presentation is on September 12 at the York Theatre at 3:00pm. There are a limited number of seats open to the public. Visit www.YorkTheatre.org for more info and to reserve seats.
Ryan Scott Oliver has written eight musicals including Jasper in Deadland which completed a sold out off-Broadway run earlier this year, and is a 2011 Lucille Lortel Award nominee, a 2009 Jonathan Larson grant recipient and the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre recipient. His work has been featured at the Kennedy Center, Off-Broadway and on television.
NEO (an acronym for “New, Emerging, Outstanding”) celebrates songwriters primed to pen the next generation of musicals. The York Theatre Company recently embarked on a new year-long mentoring program that brings together established writers and upcoming producing partners to help encourage the growth of new works.
The York Theatre Company is under the producing artistic direction of James Morgan and executive direction of Andrew Levine. The York Theatre Company in Saint Peter’s is located at East 54th Street (just east of Lexington Avenue). The reading is free and open to the public with a reservation. For more information and reservations, visit www.YorkTheatre.org.