What has the post Festival response to Mythic been like?
Honestly, the Festival is the best thing that could have happened for this project! We received a lot of interest from so many great organizations and producers. One of those was Charing Cross Theatre in London, who couldn’t wait to produce the show. We’ve kept in contact with many of the NAMT members who were fans of our presentation, and continue to grow these relationships—both with an eye to
Mythic’s next steps, as well as for future Stevens and Eldor projects down the road.
What did you discover about the show after presenting it in last year’s Festival, and what work have you done on the show since then?
We discovered that we needed a new title!
Seriously though, the challenge of presenting only 45 minutes of our show for NAMT audiences turned out to be a really helpful exercise. Culling down the libretto to its most essential moments revealed a lot about the story—what was necessary, what was not, and what was missing. In subsequent drafts, we have worked diligently on fleshing out the arcs of our principals to give a richer context for their actions.
We also discovered a lot about the tone of the show from seeing it presented for an industry audience. The off-beat comedic moments in our presentation garnered a huge positive response, so a lot of the work we did in London was to make sure that element of fun existed throughout the whole show.
And we did end up changing the title.
An extended run of Mythic just closed in London—how did the production go, and what was the most exciting part of getting to put the show on its feet?
The Charing Cross production was a big hit! We played to some very enthusiastic houses, received a slew of incredibly glowing reviews, got extended, and even developed a group of Mythic super fans!
The most exciting part was finally seeing the show fully realized. Up to this point, Mythic had only had readings and developmental workshops, and there’s only so far you can go without seeing the story play out in three dimensions. Although we have always had a picture in our heads of how it might look, it was a blurry one—the world of the show is so fanciful (classical Greek gods re-envisioned as pop stars) that the possibilities are endless. Finally seeing the musical numbers choreographed, under lights, and with fabulous costumes taught us so much about the play! We were able to realize, “Oh! We wrote that line so that you would know what was happening in a reading—but now you can see it!” The staging influenced the writing in a really exciting way.
You also have a London cast album scheduled to drop in January! Why did you make the decision to produce the album, and what did the production process look like?
One of the other really exciting things about our London production is that we got to hear the songs fully orchestrated with a live band. Oran did an incredible job with the arrangements and the cast we assembled had amazing voices. We often talked during rehearsals about how we wanted to capture the sound so that anyone who wasn’t able to get to the UK could hear what we’d created. Then when the show opened, one critic finished his review with “Release the album, release the album, release the album!” And we knew we had to do it. It allows momentum to continue growing and gives fans and potential producers something tangible to get excited about.
Oran music produced the album together with Hamilton London’s conductor Chris Hatt. They really wanted the album to sound more like a pop recording than a typical cast album, and this vision informed our musical approach as well as how we recorded and mixed it. We hired the mastering team that worked on the most recent Radiohead album, and recorded the band and cast separately to give us more control in post-production. About 20 hours of editing went into each track! The album is now in the last stages of production and will be released in January.
Why should everyone buy the Mythic cast album, and how can members interested in Mythic’s next steps get involved with the show now?
The album captures the fun contemporary spirit of Mythic, and since the show is mostly sung-through, you can really follow the story as you listen along. If you’re a fan of new musicals, pop music, Greek mythology or all three, you can pre-order at BroadwayRecords.com.
We’re currently exploring opportunities for a US premiere of Mythic, so if you want to get involved with the show, please contact us at StevensEldor@gmail.com!
For more information about Mythic, email the writing team at StevensEldor@gmail.com. To purchase the London Cast Album, visit BroadwayRecords.com.
