MONOTONY THE MUSICAL Will Celebrate One Year Anniversary This Month

MONOTONY: The Musical, the inspiring original full-length podcast musical that made its debut before the pandemic and is a prime example of the successful rise of the podcast musical in 2020, is approaching its one-year anniversary on tax day, Thursday, April 15, 2021.

The musical features 25 original songs with book and lyrics by Sarah Luery, music by Jared Chance Taylor and was always intended to be experienced outside of a theater - primarily in the workplace. In the time since its launch, the podcast has been downloaded all over the globe, including across the US and Canada, Central and South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, India and Vietnam, Europe, Scandinavia, England and the UK. To date, MONOTONY has had over 1,500 unique downloads and has charted in South Africa and Greece on the Apple Podcasts charts. MONOTONY has a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Apple Podcasts' customer reviews.

"When we decided to record as a podcast back in 2019, we were excited to be able to bring a shared theater experience to anyone who was interested, no matter their age or location in the world", says Luery. "We saw the podcast medium as being the perfect way to reduce typical barriers to entry, such as location and cost; and to democratize theater, such that people could experience MONOTONY wherever and whenever they wanted, and as many times as they wanted, at no cost. We planned our release date for MONOTONY to be April 15, 2020; we thought Tax Day in the US would be a perfect day to release a musical about an accounting firm. Of course, when this day finally came around, the world had been plunged into the unique darkness that is the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything that we knew to be true was now in flux. The days we set our calendars by - graduations, weddings, holidays, even Tax Day - were unpeeled from their typical slots in time and pasted elsewhere in previously unrecognizable forms. But for MONOTONY, the show was to go on. And all of those decisions that we made years before - to make a musical for podcast, to take theater to a virtual form, to create free entertainment that could be consumed at any time and from any place - suddenly took on an even deeper relevance."

The show centers on Herbert Handler III, a timid accountant who longs to be free of his day job but is terrified to quit for fear of disappointing his deceased father. Accounting was his dad's dream and he owes it to his dad to keep the dream alive -- even if it means being a little bit (ok, a lot) miserable for the rest of his life. Still, he can't help but admire the bravery of his boss's cute son, Theo, who lives life on his own terms. Could Herbert ever just -- stop caring what his dead dad thinks!?

The idea for MONOTONY initially came to Sarah while she was bogged down at her own desk job. "'This monotony will be the death of me', is something I jotted it down in a moment of frustration. I then went back to what I was doing, but I kept thinking about it, and chipping away at it, and then one day I realized I had a song. More than just a song, really. It felt like an opening number."

Sarah Luery (book, lyrics) is a writer, producer and academic. Her writing can be found in a number of journalistic, academic and scientific publications, including: Journal of the American College of Radiology, Social Sciences, and The UCLA BEAT.

Jared Chance Taylor (music) is a composer & music producer whose music can be heard in films, ads, TV shows, news outlets, documentaries, and podcasts around the world. He has most recently completed music for a Mitsubishi ad, a VICE documentary, and a series of educational cartoons for Adventure Academy. His work has additionally been showcased at a number of film festivals including DC Shorts Film Festival, Oaxaca Film Fest, Manifest Showcase, QFest NJ LBGT Film & Digital Media Festival, and the Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival.

MONOTONY dramaturg Kathleen Coombs is a playwright, director, composer, and performer with an affinity for queer musical theatre and a mission to create even more of it. Pre-pandemic, Kathleen served as Resident Director of Drunk Shakespeare Chicago, where she curated debauchery nightly. Kathleen co-wrote 8, the Play with Dustin Lance Black, which has been seen in hundreds of cities nationally.

The MONOTONY podcast features the voices of Alden Bettencourt as Herbert Handler III, Jon Gibson as Theodore McGiver, Kelsey Ann Sutton as Marnee McDougal, Tod Macofskyas Mr. McGiver and The Bear, Alixandree Antoine as Ms. McDougal and Kyle, Ahamed Weinberg as Herbert Handler Sr. and Bode, David Castillo as Frank Collins and Trey, Pat Regan as Deacon, Evan Allgood as Thomas and Karen Trachtenberg as Lucinda.

Featured art, logos and social media designs by Karen Sori. Karen is a Los Angeles-based graphic designer for film and television. Her latest work will soon be seen in the upcoming release of Marvel Studios "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier".

A portion of the earnings from merch sold on the show's website go to support healthcare and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ communities. MONOTONY is available on all podcast networks including Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/monotony-the-musical/id1501310421

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