THE OLDENBURG SUITE producers announced today that a companion podcast to the musical will be premiering on Saturday, April 11th, 2020.
The podcast, titled The Oldenburg Suite: Podcastiguide, will be hosted by composer Matthew Dylan Rose and book writer and lyricist James Feinberg. The podcast series will serve to deepen the understanding of the historical context of The Oldenburg Suite, as well as explore the history that did not make it into the musical. It will also incorporate the soundtrack and include guest interviews from those involved in various aspects of previous productions. Episodes will be released weekly and will be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more. The first episode will feature an interview with past cast members Bryan Freedman and Laura Jean Spineti.
THE OLDENBURG SUITE is a sung-through musical about twelve tumultuous years in the lives of the sculptor Claes Oldenburg; his wife, the artist and art historian Coosje van Bruggen; and his brother Richard, Director of the Museum of Modern Art. A saga of 1970s self-invention narrated by Andy Warhol, the show follows Claes as he struggles to overcome his audience's preconceptions, Coosje as she becomes an artist in her own right, and Richard as he fights to lend stability to the strike-rattled MoMA and invents the modern museum. THE OLDENBURG SUITE features a collage of '70s musical styles from funk to folk to disco.
The musical had its world premiere on July 27, 2019 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre in midtown Manhattan as an official selection of the 2019 New York Musical Festival, the premier musical theater event in the world, and a preeminent site for discovering new talent and exciting new works, many of which continue to productions on and off Broadway and in regional theaters. On August 6, 2019, the Festival announced that the 2019 NYMF Award for Excellence, Best Concert of the Festival, had been awarded to THE OLDENBURG SUITE. Most recently, it was presented in conjunction with The Montclair Theatre Project in January 2020. From those performances, an cast album was recorded and was released on January 23rd, 2020.
The original cast starred Bryan Freedman as Claes Oldenburg, Noah Virgile (The Royal Family of Broadway) as Richard Oldenburg, Laura Jean Spineti (Annie, national tour; Spirit of the Dance, international tour) as Coosje Van Bruggen, Cartreze Tucker (The Color Purple, national tour; HAIR, national tour) as Andy Warhol, Nicole Pietrangelo (The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking) as Hannah Wilke/Alicia Legg, Claire Melchert as Patty Mucha/Susan Bertram, Johna Miller (Jekyll & Hyde, national tour) as Mrs. Blanchette Rockefeller, Junior Gomez (Amadeus, Folger Theater) as John Hightower/Javier Tusell, Jacqueline Minogue as Superstar, and Julie Graham as Superstar.
The Montclair Theatre Project cast starred Bryan Freedman as Claes Oldenburg, Wesley Ian Cappiello (A Chorus Line, New York City Center, national, and international tours) as Richard Oldenburg, Taylor Leigh Bera (Little House on the Prairie, Paper Mill Playhouse) as Coosje van Bruggen, Donté Wilder (Lindsey Mendez & RSO's Actor Therapy, Feinstein's 54 Below) as Andy Warhol, Julie Graham as Hannah Wilke/Alicia Legg, Jordan Stam as Patty Mucha/Susan Bertram, Ray Fanara as John Hightower/Javier Tusell, Kristen Hoyt as Mrs. Blanchette Rockefeller, Caroline Graham as Superstar , and Sylvia Coopersmith as Superstar.
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