NEW RSO ALBUM, ‘OTHERBODY, A BRIEF MUSICAL ALLEGORY’ NOW AVAIL.

January 31, 2017

Without any fanfare, RSO’s written a brand new musical now available for you.

OTHERBODY is a brief musical allegory on otherness and survival in the new nation, written by Nessie Nankivell (book) and Ryan Scott Oliver (music and lyrics). It is suggested by the Gothic short story “The Outsider” by H. P. Lovecraft.

In the eerie, allegorical world of OTHERBODY, a nameless TELLER lives apart, never having seen his own face, heard his own voice, or even experienced daylight. He escapes into the world to find the truth, and discovers a raucous party — and the horrifying reality of his world.

Ours is a time when people and places are divided; when our families seem more than ever like strangers; and to find a community of allies is a desperate, essential quest. The world of OTHERBODY is our sordid past and our sudden, tragic present — and maybe hope for our future.

It was recorded on December 12, 2012, starring Nicholas Christopher and directed by Jen Bender.

Discover OTHERBODY, A BRIEF MUSICAL ALLEGORY anywhere music is streamed and sold, and find out more here.

(Photographs by Matthew Murphy.)

 

 

 

BROADWAYCON OPENS JAN. 27 WITH NEW RSO MUSICAL

January 26, 2017

On Friday, January 26, BroadwayCon will open at the Javits Center with a brand-new forty-five minute musical by RSO, featuring Alice Ripley, Carolee Carmello, Anthony Rapp, James Monroe Iglehart, LESLI MARGHERITA and more.

 

RSO wrote the script and an original song for the piece — which tells the story of Carl (Sam Tanabe) who must stop the hateful, corrupt politician @Mayoress (Lesli Margherita) from banning Broadway! Additional material is by Tessa Netting, David Alpert and Andrew Briedis.

Thousands of Broadway fans are expected to attend the second-ever BroadwayCon.  From celebrity talkbacks, to first-look performances and workshops, BroadwayCon 2017 will be packed with unforgettable experiences. BroadwayCon brings you through the stage door to be part of the excitement that happens onstage and behind-the-scenes. It is a place where Broadway fans come together to celebrate the shows they love with people who bring them to life. It’s co-presented by Playbill, Mischief Management, and Anthony Rapp.

RSO Returns to LA at Rockwell in Hollywood 11/21

November 7, 2016

From BroadwayWorld.com:

On November 21, acclaimed composer-lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver will return to Los Angeles with a concert at Rockwood in Hollywood. Show time is at 8:00pm.

Featured that evening will be: Kerstin Anderson(The Sound of Music National Tour), Jason Michael Snow (The Spongebob Musical, The Book of Mormon), Eric Krop (Godspell), Ben Davis (The Sound of Music National Tour), Jared Gertner(The Book of Mormon), Deborah S. Craig (25th Annual…Spelling Bee), Carly Jibson (Fat Camp, Cry-Baby), Andrew Samonsky (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Kate Reinders (Something Rotten!), Anna Grace Barlow (Scream Queens), Chris Meissner (Grease Live!), Kate Pazakis (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Katherine Washington, plus more to be announced – and the composer himself.

Attendees can expect to hear selections from RSO’s numerous musicals including Mrs. Sharp, Darling, 35mm: A Musical Exhibition, Jasper in Deadland, We Foxes, Rope, Out of My Head and many more. Emily Clark and the Unknown Artists will co-produce, and Rodney Bush will music direct the 5-piece band.

Oliver was called “the future of Broadway… a major new voice in musical theatre” (Entertainment Weekly) and is “shaking up musical theater with his dark, twisted and genius work … [Oliver] could very well be musical theater’s answer to an auteur filmmaker or a gothic novelist” (Huffington Post). He is the winner of a Larson Grant, Rodgers Award, ASCAP Harold Adamson Award, New Musicals Awards from Weston Playhouse, Pace University, and Lortel Award Nomination. He wrote 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, original cast recording avail. on Ghostlight Records), Darling, Mrs. Sharp, Out of My Head, and more. He is currently at work on a trilogy of new musicals beginning with We Foxes and continuing with Rope and Three Points of Contact, both currently in progress. More info can be found at ryanscottoliver.com, and his morbidly optimistic musings can be followed at @ryanscottoliver.

Rockwell Table & Stage is located at 1714 N. Vermont Ave. Tickets are on sale for $20/$30/$40 at Rockwell-la.com.

HARVARD BRINGS 35MM TO LIFE; LINDSAY MENDEZ AND RSO OFFER MASTER CLASS

September 28, 2016

35mm: A Musical Exhibition will be presented by students at Harvard University this fall on October 7th, 8th, and 9th. In preparation for the show, RSO and Lindsay Mendez, an original cast member, will come from New York, NY to Cambridge, MA to work with Harvard’s 35mm production team.

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.”

‘WE FOXES’ to be performed at Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals

July 11, 2016

This year, We Foxes by Ryan Scott Oliver will be among the five new musicals brought to life at the Village Theatre‘s Festival of New Musicals.  Through the creative collaboration of nearly 75 artists and writers, performed and directed by the region’s foremost theatre professionals and guest artists from across the country, it will be the first Festival of New Musicals led by newly appointed Associate Artistic Director Brandon Ivie.

The Festival of New Musicals provides an essential platform for writers to incorporate a key component of Live Theatre: the audience. Each new musical will be rehearsed throughout the week, then presented to the Festival’s audience in staged reading format, fully sung using scripts. Though readings are not open to the general public, audiences are partly comprised of Village Originals members who are asked to participate in moderated talkbacks and provide written feedback and constructive critiques of the work, thereby becoming an integral part of the developmental process.

Village Theatre will welcome to Issaquah the critically-acclaimed musical theatre writers at the helm of the new works, who will convene from across the country for the three-day event. “I’m so pleased with the five shows we will have in residence for the festival,” says Festival Producer and Associate Artistic Director Brandon Ivie. “While all are at different stages in their development and vastly varied in style, these writers are all incredibly sophisticated with exceedingly unique voices, and are an inspiring testament to the future of the American Musical.”

RSO’s WE FOXES takes place in the small town of Havoc, Missouri at the onset of World War II.  A tough, unmannered orphan girl is plucked up from her vagabond life and adopted into a world of style and social graces by the beloved wife of the local sheriff. But in her new, unfamiliar life, she begins to discover that there are sinister secrets beneath the shiny veneer of this small town. Her adopted mother is not who she seems to be, and people are lurking in the dark. This gothic musical thriller follows one girl’s struggle to summon courage and survive at all costs.

Other new musicals of the festival include COSTS OF LIVING (Book, Music, and Lyrics by Timothy Huang), HOW TO BREAK (Book and Lyrics by Aaron Gaffers), STRING (Book by Sarah Hammond, Music and Lyrics by Adam Gwon), WRITING Kevin Taylor (Music and Lyrics by Will Van Dyke, Book and Lyrics by Josh Halloway).