‘NOTES FROM NOW’ premieres Off-Broadway feat. RSO music

The new musical anthology Notes From Now, bringing together songwriters from Broadway and beyond—including the premiere of a new RSO song, “Mount Beacon”—will begin previews March 2 at 59E59 Theaters with an official opening March 10.

Directed and choreographed by Billy Bustamante, the limited engagement will continue Off-Broadway through March 20.

Prospect Theater Company Announces 'Notes From Now' Show Dates - Variety

Also contributing newly commissioned original songs are Jay Adana, Troy Anthony, Masi AsareJeff Blumenkrantz, Georgie Castilla and Jaime Lozano, Gretchen Cryer, Tia DeShazor and Derrick Byars, Alexandra Elle and Stephen SchwartzAdam GwonDouglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar, Peter Mills, Michelle Rodriguez, Angela Sclafani, Paulo K Tiról, and Amanda Yesnowitz and Deborah Abramson. Casting will be announced at a later date.

Sean Peter Forte serves as music director for the production, which offers a musical reflection of our contemporary world. Macy Schmidt is the orchestrator.

“In these continued challenging times for the theatre community, Prospect is excited and grateful to return to 59E59 Theaters with a new, collectively-written show,” said Notes From Now curator and creative producer Cara Reichel. “Connecting so many powerful, artistic voices with audiences—and engaging around the times we are living through—feels especially meaningful.”

 Visit 59e59.org.

RSO: MONDAY THE 13TH feat. DRAG RACE’S JACKIE COX, BEN CRAWFORD, JAY ARMSTRONG JOHNSON, BONNIE MILLIGAN and MORE

Very Intense Productions is pleased to present RSO: MONDAY THE 13TH, an intimate evening of songs by multi-award-winning composer-lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Show time will be 7:00pm on Monday, September 13, 2021. The show will also be livestreamed.

Rounding out the cast is Kerstin Anderson, Heath Saunders, Bandits on the Run, and Arielle Jacobs, with Kathryn Allison, Kae Bragg, Ethan Carlson, Lillian Andrea De León, Nicole DeLuca, Caitlin Doak, Alina Fontanilla, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Michael Lowney, Miranda Luze, Adam Magnacca, Milo Marami, Kim Onah, The acoustic stylings of Eleri Ward, Donté Wilder, and Daniel Yearwood

It’ll be a scary good time.

Joshua Zecher-Ross music directs Allison Seidner on cello, Hiroko Taguchi on Violin, Yuka Tadano on basses, 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 from Heart and Souls, Hugo, and Shirley Jackson’s Demons.

RSO: MONDAY THE 13TH plays Feinstein’s/54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on September 13, 2021 at 7:00pm.  Seats for the show are currently sold out, but seats may come available closer to the show date. A live stream is available for $15 plus fees. Tickets and information for both are available at www.54Below.com. Tickets on the day of performance after 4:00 are only available by calling (646) 476-3551.

RSO returns to NYC with RSO: MIDSUMMER

Very Intense Productions is pleased to present RSO: MIDSUMMER, an intimate evening of songs by RSO at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Show time will be 9:45pm on July 6, 2021.

The show will star Kerstin Anderson, Caitlin Doak, Ben Fankhauser, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Kim Onah, and Dontè Wilder.

Joshua Zecher-Ross music directs Allison Seidner on cello, Hiroko Taguchi on Violin, Yuka Tanada on basses, Rosa Avila on drums, and Micah Burgess on guitars. Orchestrations are by Ryan Scott Oliver.

Audience members can expect to hear tunes 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.

RSO: MIDSUMMER plays Feinstein’s/54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on July 6, 2021.  There is a $35-$45 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.

’35MM: IN FOCUS’ NOW STREAMING

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

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!