Rogue Stage Releases First Music From QUEEN OF SWORDS

Rogue Stage, located in Central Florida, is releasing a 6 song EP of music from its upcoming original rock musical "Queen Of Swords". The music will be available October 12th on all streaming platforms.

The musical written by Thom Mesrobian (Book, lyrics and music) and Ben Shepler (music) has been in the works since 2016 and was set to receive its world premier in November of 2020 with plans to take the show all the way to Broadway. "Queen Of Swords" tells the true story of Julie D'Aubigny, a queer icon from 17th century France who was an accomplished sword fighter and a superstar in the Paris opera scene.

"We were all set to go", Mesrobian says, "but then, of course, the world shut down and so did our chances of producing the show at that time." Undeterred by the setback, the creative team set to reworking the entire piece. "Every lyric went through a major revision and we cut entire scenes to make sure the show was as tight as it could be", Mesrobian recounts. "Then it occurred to us that we should record some of the songs and release them to the public."  Primary composer, Ben Shepler of Orlando, FL went to work and began programming and performing the six tracks to get them ready for the world. According to Shepler, "The challenge was to get these songs up to par with something you'd hear on the radio or in a Spotify mix. The existing demo recordings needed to be completely reworked, with new instrumentation, edits done with closer attention to detail, and final mixes and masters that let the instruments and vocals shine."

Mesrobian, currently residing in Lakeland, FL, went to work recruiting vocal talent. "We wanted a wide representation of talent to appear on the record so I swung for the fences and reached out to some of the strongest singers out there, some of which I had worked with before and others that I hadn't even met". Mesrobian was successful in garnering a who's who of vocal powerhouses from the central Florida area. Crystal Lizardo and Eduardo A. Rivera had appeared in Mesrobian and Shepler's "Simpleton: The Legend of President Trump" at the Orlando Fringe in 2016. Charles Stevens, McKenzie Jo Frazer and Melissa Vasquez had worked with Mesrobian and Shepler at the Holy Land Experience. Lauren Culver had appeared in the title role in the first workshop of the musical and Matt Stevens in the second. Ema Pava is a vocal powerhouse that Mesrobian had seen in shows in Orlando as were Cathy Colburn and Cara Langston whom he had first seen in the 2021 Orlando Fringe show, "Hexed: A Femme Rock Musical" produced by the Celebration Theatre Company.

Rogue Stage is expecting to produce the full show in November of 2022 on the MainStage of Polk State College in Winter Haven, Florida. The EP is available on all streaming platforms and features the songs "Burn It All Down", "This Is What You Do", "We Are Here", "Possible", "Challenged" and "Thrust, Thrust, Touche'" all written by Shepler and Mesrobian.

For more information about the musical and how you can support their work, go to roguestage.com.