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Oliver Houser

@oliverhouser

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Soulful Musical Theater • Inaugural Stephen Schwartz Award • Dramatists Guild Fellowship • Music n more 👇🏻

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I still can’t get over @thebethmalone’s breathtaking performance of my song “she reached for heaven” at my debut @54below concert last week! It was one of those rare theater experiences when time stands still and everything comes together in a magical moment of connection. Check out the whole song and more highlights on my YouTube channel, link in bio! ✨

#nyc #54below #musical #theatre #cabaret #broadway #musicaltheatre #musicals #addiction #sobriety #connection #newmusic #songwriter #singersongwriter #funhomemusical by @oliverhouser

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5 years ago

This is one of my all-time favorite performances of this special song from my original musical #XY.

I wrote ChrisBecca Land while at the @goodspeedmusicals Writers Grove with @hunter_bird. (“You can’t bring strangers dogs back home with you” is direct from Hunter’s mouth, and may or may not be connected to his own childhood experience. Hunter had a very high fever that day and was doped up on cough medicine, so all bets are off.)

This song is about childhood. It’s about innocence. It’s about who we used to be, and who we all still are inside: Kids. I think our world could use that remembrance now more than ever.

@serena__parrish and @patrickscottmcdermott are two of the most talented actors I've ever worked with. Thank you both for bringing this song to life with so much soul and humanity. It is such an honor to get to collaborate with you.

You can watch the rest of “ChrisBecca Land” on my YouTube channel. Link in my bio.

Video by @famousinnyvideo

#musical #musicaltheatre #theatre #intersex #lgbtqia #newyork #nyc #newmusic #54below #broadway #newyorkcity taken in 54 Below by @oliverhouser

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4 years ago

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5 years ago

The world’s in chaos. Musical projects are delayed. Coming here to spread some love. Don’t forget to be kind, first to yourself.

#musicalimprov #musical #theater #newmusic taken in New York, New York by @oliverhouser

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9 months ago

Thanks everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes! I feel so blessed and loved. by @oliverhouser

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a year ago

Bill Finn, a legend, a hero, a friend.

I grew up listening to A New Brain with my family every time we were in the car. I had every word memorized by eleven years old.

While shredding documents at my college internship at the Public Theater, I found Bill’s address and learned he lived a block from me on the Upper West Side. I was so excited to learn he was my neighbor. After getting the chance to share my music with him a few years later, Bill became my champion, mentor and friend.

Like so many others have expressed, he’s one of the first people who really saw me as a theater writer. And given my history listening to and being shaped by his music and hilarious, irreverent, wide-open-heart sensibility, this meant all the more. It’s what I needed to believe in myself and start pursuing a career as a writer.

I still can’t believe I got to know him and be his friend. When I heard the news, I couldn’t stop crying because Bill is one of the main reasons I fell in love with musicals, and why I love writing them.

Bill’s passing comes as the buds in New York begin to blossom, the weather starts changing and the birds sing of new beginnings. As Gordon does at the end of A New Brain, I sing “I Feel So Much Spring” and feel Bill still here, in the heart and music he has given us all.

Thank you Bill. Rest in peace. by @oliverhouser

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2 years ago

A big thanks to this incredible group of humans who came together to help bring WUNDERKIND to life so beautifully at @goodspeedmusicals this weekend.

Getting to make theater when the world around us seems broken is some of the best medicine I know, and a reminder of what is possible for humanity. And with people like these, it’s so damn fun.

Not pictured: @michaelfling who ran this festival like nobody’s business.

Can’t wait to share more of WUNDERKIND with you soon. taken in Norma Terris Theatre by @oliverhouser

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2 years ago

I am proud and deeply fulfilled after presenting XY yesterday for the first time in over four years, and for the first time since publicly coming out as intersex three years ago. Thank you to this extraordinary team of artists who created a show family in less than a week, and brought the piece to life with such richness, complexity and unbelievable depth and soul. This is one for the books and I am so hopeful it is the beginning of a new chapter for this piece, and a marker of many good things to come. Gratitude to everyone who came, and to @jacob_stuckelman and @elihusiak for hosting us at the @eastvillagebasement. Watch this space for updates!

With love and excitement,
Oliver

#musical #musicaltheatre #newmusical #xy by @oliverhouser

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2 years ago

With so much happening in the world that can feel devastating and scary, I wrote this song to make sense of it all, and to offer another perspective. This is “Look Deeply.” Thanks to @ansel.cello for accompanying me on the cello at @54below

#newmusic #music #54below taken in 54 Below by @oliverhouser

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2 years ago

I am moved and beyond thrilled to have presented She Reached for Heaven with @hunter_bird at @somastage / @sopacnow this weekend.

Huge thanks to @danaspialter for this opportunity, and to our incredible cast and team who brought the show to life with more heart, depth and talent than I ever could have imagined.

Only after this weekend can I see just how personal this show is for me—an original story inspired by the premise that the opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety, it’s connection. I’m proud to have been on my own journey of choosing life in its myriad experiences rather than self-abandoning for the sake of a false sense of belonging or escape.

Seeing this stunning group of humans bring this story to life so viscerally, with such profound impact and with so much honesty and heart, helps me reflect on my endeavor to embrace life in all its complexity, and how committed I am to spreading the message of how we can collectively heal when we open to one another, and to life in all its imperfect glory.

I’m hopeful this is only the beginning for She Reached for Heaven. Stay tuned for what’s next!!

✨Oliver taken in SOPAC (South Orange Performing Arts Center) by @oliverhouser

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2 years ago

Thrilled to share this incredible cast that will be bringing She Reached for Heaven to life next week at @somastage @sopacnow!

We started rehearsals this week, and I can already feel what a moving, memorable and powerful experience this will be. Join us next weekend for the unveiling of this new musical, a timely celebration of human resilience and the healing power of human connection.

Link in bio ✨ taken in SOPAC (South Orange Performing Arts Center) by @oliverhouser

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2 years ago

Thrilled to share @elsie_johns and @jesseaweil singing “Oxygen” from She Reached for Heaven at @54below!

This original musical follows high school junior Jes Holt, who feels disconnected from her friends and dad following the death of her mom. When Jes sprains her arm at cheer practice she gets prescribed the opioid hydrocodone. Jes takes a few pills, and then meets Cody, the most charming guy she’s ever met, and who seems to give Jes all the connection she needs. But we soon learn Cody is the personification of the drug, and as his and Jes’s relationship deepens, Jes’s life begins to fall apart. Set against the backdrop of the greatest dug crisis in our country’s history, She Reached for Heaven follows one woman’s journey to choose life in all its heartbreak and joy rather than escape it.

In this scene, Jes has just run out of pills for the first time. Over the course of the song, we see Jes lie and steal in hopes of being reunited with Cody again.

@hunter_bird and I are presenting She Reached for Heaven at @sopacnow @somastage June 1 and 2. Join us for what is sure to be a moving experience, inspiring faith in the human spirit, and the healing power of connection. Link in bio ✨

#musical #musicaltheatre #theater #theatre #musicaltheater #newmusical #addiction #recovery #connection taken in 54 Below by @oliverhouser

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