WALKING WITH BUBBLES Will Release Cast Album This Year

The award-winning and critically acclaimed off-Broadway musical, Walking with Bubbles, currently playing at the AMT Theater through Sept 10th, is heading into the recording studio. Jessica Hendy's autobiographical one-woman musical, which won the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Solo Performance, is set to release its original cast album later this summer on vinyl, CD, and will be available on all major streaming platforms.

 

With music and lyrics by Brianna Kothari Barnes, the cast album will feature the seven songs which weave in and out of monologues presented in their entirety, as well as several shortened “radio/concert edits”. A bonus track of the cut title song, “Walking With Bubbles” will also be recorded to round out the album.  Ms. Barnes is a multi-dimensional artist who works professionally as an actor, singer-songwriter, and composer/lyricist. She was a finalist for The American Theatre Wing's 2021 Jonathan Larson Grant and a graduate of the Musical Theater Program at The College-Conservatory of Music - The University of Cincinnati (CCM).  Her debut album of original music, Hierophanies: Manifestations of the Sacred, made the first round on the 2021 GRAMMY Awards ballot for consideration under Best Contemporary Christian Album and was also recorded at MONOLisa Studios. Her latest musical, Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir, is currently in development and will be presented this summer at the SheATL Summer Theater Festival.

 

Jessica Hendy, who stars in the show, wrote the book for the musical based on her own true story. Ms Hendy is a highly esteemed actress and writer and was last seen on Broadway as Grizabella in CATS.  Other Broadway credits include the final cast of the original Broadway run of CATS (the only actor to appear in both Broadway productions), Aida, and Amour.  

 

In Walking With Bubbles we meet Jessica - A Broadway actress and single mother. As she and her young son 'Bubbles' wait for their playdate in Central Park they are approached by a homeless man - Meet Bubbles' father. From the lights of Broadway to the depths of her husband's mental illness, Walking With Bubbles explores how far a mother will go to protect her son, her loved ones, and ultimately, herself. Expertly woven between the present and the past, “Walking With Bubbles” dares to examine the themes that have lived in the shadows for far too long and brings them into the light. 

 

The Drama Desk-nominated musical has been described by critics as “joyous”, “triumphant”, and “cathartic”, with “a performance not to be missed” – Peter Filichia, BroadwayRadio. 

 

The original cast album is being produced by Tom D'Angora, Michael D'Angora, Scott Coulter and Vibecke Dahle Dellapolla. The album is being recorded at MONOLisa Studios under 3x GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Denise Barbarita.   The band features Brianna Kothari Barnes on guitar and Alexandra Crosby on piano with Jacob Yates serving as music supervisor.

 

Crafted from the pages of Jessica Hendy's memoir, Walking With Bubbles had its theatrical debut in March of 2021 in Brooklyn, NY, at the Irondale Theatre's “On Woman” festival. Beginning as a one-act play with music, Walking With Bubbles was the festival's grand finale production and received critical acclaim. Wanting to elevate the storytelling, Jessica partnered with Brianna Kothari Barnes, to create an original score for her script. Enter: Walking With Bubbles,  a new musical. In April of 2022, Brianna and Jessica traveled to Ohio for a week-long incubation workshop at their Alma-Mater, CCM, with director Richard Hess.  This was in preparation for the first New York City industry reading which happened on May 19th, 2022, at Open Jar Studios. From that reading, Tom and Michael D'Angora were inspired to help Jessica and Brianna get the show to the next stage of development and the team was asked to bring Walking With Bubbles to the Forestburgh Playhouse for their “In The Works ~ In The Woods” festival, headed by artistic director Matt Lenz. Walking With Bubbles opened off-Broadway on April 10th under the direction of Richard Hess. 

For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.WalkingWithBubbles.com.  Walking With Bubbles is performed at the AMT Theater located at 354 W 45th Street between 8-9th Ave.  To purchase wheelchair accessible seating please contact the box office directly at 646-543-4385.  Walking With Bubbles is a 100 minute musical which currently plays Sundays at 3:00 pm and 7:30 pm and Mondays at 7:00 pm.    

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.