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.

‘THE SINGER’S MUSICAL THEATRE ANTHOLOGY’ WILL FEATURE RSO SONG

August 3, 2019

This fall, the ubiquitous musical theatre song collection series, The Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology, will release its seventh volume. RSO’s song “The View from Here” (from Darling), has been included.

Check out the rest of the song list in the screen grab below, and purchase the book when it comes available this fall!

‘WE FOXES’ E.P. RELEASED, ‘DARLING’ LATER THIS MONTH

May 3, 2019

Following the release of Three Points of Contact: A Conceptual Album, RSO has released an EP of five songs from his beloved southern Gothic thriller, We Foxes: Tracks.

Set in 1945 Missouri, We Foxes tells the story of Willa, a tough, unmannered orphan adopted by the wife of the Sheriff and the bloody domestic war that ensues between them when Willa uncovers the secrets lurking beneath the floorboards. It is the story of intense human struggle, deliverance, and salvation that can only be found from within.

The release includes fan-favorite Vesta, Katie Thompson, and Emily Rogers, as the Machiavellian sheriff’s wife and the hardscrabble tramp girl respectively. Also featured is Charlie Franklin singing the role of Eugene.

Listen to We Foxes: Tracks, only on Spotify.

Later this month, selections from Darling: Live in Concert will be released on Spotify featuring Kerstin Anderson, Nicholas Christopher, and many more. The highlights album was recorded in 2016 in association with WalkRunFly and The Score (Michael Kimmel, John DeLore and Allison Bressi).

You can hear the COMPLETE recording of Darling via The Score Podcast everywhere, including Apple Music and Stitcher.

Find a preview of the cover below.

GAVIN CREEL, LINDSAY MENDEZ AND MORE FEATURED ON ‘THREE POINTS OF CONTACT: A CONCEPTUAL ALBUM’

January 31, 2019

John Johnson and Very Intensive Productions have just announced the release of Three Points of Contact, a new conceptual album featuring songs from a musical of the same title by Ryan Scott Oliver. The new recording will be released February 8 via Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming platforms.

Three Points of Contact will feature an impressive line-up of theater stars including (in alphabetical order) Kerstin Anderson, Ben Crawford, Gavin Creel, Katie Rose Clarke, Jenn Colella, Ben Fankhauser, Drew Gehling, Cory Jeacoma, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Taylor Iman Jones, Jo Lampert, Lindsay Mendez, Bonnie Milligan, Eric William Morris, Solea Pfeiffer, Isaac Cole Powell, Ethan Slater, Wesley Taylor, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Ryan Scott Oliver, Emily Rogers, Colton Ryan, Ryan Vasquez, Jessica Vosk, and Daniel Yearwood – with Ian Fairlee, Adam Levy, Mary Claire Miskell, David Park, Bethany Perkins, and Josephine Spada.

BroadwayWorld exclusive: Listen to Gavin Creel sing “The Last Love Song”

And the check out Jenn Colella singing “Girl in Camouflage” over at BroadwayBox.com.

The track listing is as follows:

1: “Pooch and Amy” – Jay Armstrong Johnson, Taylor Iman Jones, Adam Levy and Ensemble
2: “Mama, Let’s Make a Porno” – Ben Crawford, with the Boys
3: “Girl in Camouflage” – Jenn Colella, with the Girls
4: “Recovery” – Emily Rogers
5: “Validation, as a Rule” – Ethan Slater, with the Ensemble
6: “When You Go” – Isaac Cole Powell, with the Ensemble
7: “Steps in the Snow” – Katie Rose Clarkeand Drew Gehling, with the Ensemble 8: “Brave Woman” – Eric William Morris, with the Boys
9: “Pleasure in the Desert” – Bonnie Milligan, with the Ensemble
10: “A Ball of Gold in Blood Sky” – Colton Ryan
11: “How We Grow” – Ben Fankhauser, Jessica Vosk, Emily Rogers, Daniel Yearwood
12: “Broken Machine” – Cory Jeacoma
13: “We Just Work Together” – Ryan Scott Oliver and Lindsay Mendez
14: “She Means to Bleed You Dry” – Emmy Raver-Lampman, with the Girls
15: “I Don’t Want to Be Sad Anymore” – Lindsay Mendez
16: “Tastes like Misery” – Wesley Taylor, Kerstin Anderson, with the Boys
17: “Good Love” – Solea Pfeiffer and Ryan Vasquez
18: “The Last Love Song” – Gavin Creel, with Jo Lampert

2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

December 30, 2018

Here’s a look back on 2018. 

RSO MUSIC HIT 1 MILLION STREAMS ON SPOTIFY

Thanks for listening!

¡HAVANA!, DIRECTED BY WARREN CARLYLE, PREMIERED

In the spring, the musical, which features RSO tunes and lyrics, set sail on Norwegian Cruise Lines brand new ship, the Bliss, and has since opened on a second ship — the Jade.  ¡HAVANA! also includes songs by Cuban pop sensation and Grammy Award winner Albita. Find out more

PLAYBILL GAVE ¡HAVANA! SOME LOVE WITH AN INTERVIEW AND PHOTO FLASH

Check out production stills here.

RSO INTRODUCED THE WORLD TO THREE POINTS OF CONTACT

RSO’s latest show, THREE POINTS OF CONTACT, was presented at 54 Below in April. The cast included Britney Coleman (Sunset Blvd.), Ben Fankhauser (Newsies), Katie Rose Clarke (Miss Saigon), Eric William Morris (King Kong) and more. Find out more

CRAZYTOWN CAME TO LONDON

In March, RSO returned to London with an evening of songs, directed by Adam Lenson and music directed by Joe Bunker (the three previously collaborated on an acclaimed run of 35mm: A Musical Exhibition at The Other Palace).  Find out more

crazytown scores

…and then in December, Britishtheatre.com critic Julian Eaves called it one of London’s theatrical highlights for 2018. Read the article

PLUS NEW SHEET MUSIC RELEASED

Music and Lyrics by RSO: Volume 4 was released (also featuring tons of gender-bending keys for old favorites), as well as the complete vocal score to Otherbody, a brief musical allegory. Find out more

AND HERE’S A LOOK AT WHAT’S COMING IN 2019 …

Keep your eyes peeled:

  • Gavin Creel, Lindsay Mendez, Jenn Colella, and so many more have recorded a conceptual album of RSO’s Three Points of Contact, from the producers of 35mm: A Musical Exhibition.
  • Universal Theatrical Group has commissioned RSO and his Mrs. Sharp collaborator, bookwriter Kirsten Guenther, to adapt a musical version of a popular 1990s film …
  • Pulitzer-prize winning opera librettist Royce Vavrek will team up with RSO for a musical adaptation of an Oscar-nominated film …
  • Playwright Chelsea Marcantel and RSO are musicalizing a brand new play set in Cajun country, Louisiana …
  • ¡Havana! will open on a third ship …

Plus —

  • The audio release (finally!) of Darling, live in concert, starring Nicholas Christopher (Hamilton, Miss Saigon) and Kerstin Anderson (LCT’s My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music) …
  • Jasper in Deadland will receive its German premiere …
  • One of RSO’s most beloved shows will be adapted as a novel …
  • And much more to be announced!

Coming at you, 2019.