NYC's composer-lyricist fashioning Gothic thrillers, queer poperettas, and high-octane rock into exhilarating new musicals
September 28, 2016
From press notes: “While on campus, Oliver and Mendez will also hold two master classes presented by Learning From Performers, a program of the Office for the Arts at Harvard. The first is a seminar led by Oliver focused on creativity in art-making and the second is a workshop based on Oliver and Mendez’s Actor Therapy program in which selected musical theatre students will perform for and receive feedback from Oliver and Mendez.
“The cast includes Ashley LaLonde, Brooke Sweeney, Brian Cami, Geoffrey Binney, and Jacob Rienstra. The production is directed by Missy Dreier, music directed by Liz Kantor, and stage managed by Kira Telgen. The production team also includes Kara Roberts, the producer, and Lindsey Ruggles, the production advisor.
“The show will be performed in the Adams Pool Theatre at Harvard University on October 7th at 7:30pm, October 8th at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm, and October 9th at 2:30pm. Please visit www.hrdctheater.com/35mm for tickets and more details.”
May 20, 2016
The music portrayed at the event spanned the spectrum of contemporary and classic theater talent that has earned Sh-K-Boom records three Grammy Awards, twelve Grammy nominations, and a Drama Desk “Special Award.” Among these was RSO’s ‘35 MM.’
In ‘35MM,’ each photo creates a unique song, moments frozen in time; a glimmer of a life unfolding, a glimpse of something happening. The multimedia musical explores a groundbreaking new concept in musical theatre through a series of vivid, imaginative songs. This show was represented at the Sh-K-Boom Birthday Concert with Grace McLean singing “The Ballad of Sara Berry” with Ethan Carlson, Mary Claire Miskell, David Park, and John-Michael Lyles.
“I’m proud of the range of music our label has preserved and highlighted over the last 16 years,” says Kurt Deutsch, founder and producer. “We are thrilled to have all this musical creativity together on one stage with such stellar performing talent to celebrate the records that are treasured within the community and around the world.”
February 19, 2016
FEINSTEIN’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.
January 8, 2016
Award-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
November 18, 2015
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.
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.
