Artwork by Matt Sherman
HAIL OBLIVION
A Pirate Fantasia by Joshua William Gelb and Orion Stephanie Johnstone.
Hail Oblivion is a surreal pirate adventure that unfurls across the globe and across centuries. From the Golden Age of Piracy (1717), where Major Stede Bonnet deserts his estate and family for a boat and crew, to the Golden Age of Hollywood (1943), where swashbuckling matinee idol Errol Flynn is arrested and exonerated in a very public statutory rape case, to the Golden Age of Venture Capitalism (present day), where a young advertising executive attempts to sell a luxury cruise in light of a recent Somali-Pirate hostage crisis. This propulsive fantasia is driven by a wild roller coaster of a score that carries us through these worlds with sea-shanties, jazz, rock, and beyond. An outlandish and provocative new piece of music theater, HAIL OBLIVION takes a hard look at our cultural infatuation with piracy, exposing the toxic heart of a hedonist fantasy drenched in violence, greed, and the relentless pursuit of individual freedom.
Hail Oblivion is available for purchase at hailoblivion.bandcamp.com as performed in a live concert at JACK on October 12th, 2015. Recorded and mixed by Jeremy Mage. Mastered by Slade Templeton. Artwork by Matt Sherman. Featuring Rick Burkhardt, Bryce Pinkham, Ato Blankson-Wood, Amber Gray, Eliza Poehlman, Nicole Weiss, Alex Birnie, Dan Safer, Julian Fleisher, Jabari Brisport, Brian DeCaluwe, Joshua Hinck, Elias Spector-Zabusky, and Leo Slattery. With Beau Edmonson (Guitar), John Murchison (Bass), Blake Allen (Violin/Viola), Katrina Yaukey (Accordion), Dennis Sullivan (Percussion) and also Andrew Butler, Ben Beckley, Merlin Whitehawk, Joshua Isaacs, Joie Bauer, Clayton Howe, Brooks Brantley, and Joshua William Gelb. "Follow Me" was mixed and recorded in 2009 by Owen O’Malley with Alexandra Bernard, Beth Kirkpatrick, and Eliza Poehlman as Sirens, and Emma Leinhass (violin), Catherine O’Malley (bass), Christopher Clark (percussion), and Andrew Butler (guitar)
Hail Oblivion was originally devised in 2009 in a workshop featuring Owen O'Malley, Catherine O'Malley, Judd Hardy, Justin Nestor, Evan Jay Newman, Doug Paulson, Adam Laupus, Michael Bauer, Raffi Sacks, Jabari Brisport, Ricardo Perez Gonzalez, Andrew Butler, Dorian Shorts, Omar Perez, Eliza Poehlman, Beth Kirkpatrick, Geoff Murphy, Emma Leinhaas, Shawn Shafner, Alexandra Bernard and Chris Clark. A revised version was workshopped in 2012 featuring Blake Allen, Joie Bauer, Michael Bauer, Alex Birnie, Andrew Broaddus, Rick Burkhardt, Andrew Butler, Brian DeCaluwe, Beau Edmonson, Dustin Fontaine, Titus Gandy, Johannes Heger, Ian Lassiter, Charley Layton, Chris Nolan, Omar Perez, Leah Goldstein, Jenni Lawton, and Eliza Poehlman