Independent Arts News Reporting Hit Off-Broadway Show "Picking Up Speed" Releases New Cast Album
Reported on Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Pictured Above: Album Art for “Picking Up Speed.” Photo Credit: Contributed.
NEWSROOM POST: NEW YORK, NEW YORK
“Picking Up Speed,” began as a letter to a long-lost friend that eventually snowballed into a full length solo-musical. Now it is a cast album, a story-slam, and a solo record all in one." said creator Wyse.
New York, NY – Picking Up Speed, a new solo musical written and performed by Alex Wyse, has recorded a cast album that is being released today by Rialto Records and is now available on all major streaming services and digital music retailers.
Picking Up Speed, which had a sold-out run at the Royal Family Performing Arts Center in December, is a deeply moving and hilarious solo musical about infidelity between friends and the whirlwind relationships that define us.
Pictured Above: Alex Wyse. Photo Credit: Contributed.
“Picking Up Speed,” began as a letter to a long-lost friend that eventually snowballed into a full length solo-musical. Now it is a cast album, a story-slam, and a solo record all in one.” said creator Wyse. “But despite the word “solo,” this show represents a small village of collaborators who allowed their passions to meet mine. Chiefly, the brilliant trio of director Marlo Hunter, music director/orchestrator Kyle Brenn, and producer Cody Lassen, who each had a major hand in helping me deepen and expand it into a full evening (never a matinee, God save me if it’s a matinee.) I am grateful to have assembled the entire original cast (it’s just me) and the masterful band (Kyle Brenn, Myrna Conn, David Mayers, Amanda Ruzza, Ana Lei, Andrew Golub, Michael Golub, and Blake Carey) for this new album with Rialto Records. And whether or not that long-lost friend ever hears it, it now belongs to you, the listener, and I hope it inspires you to sing your own stories as well.”
Kyle Brenn serves as orchestrator and music director. The album also features Myrna Conn (piano/keyboard), David Mayers (guitars), Ana Lei (cello), Amanda Ruzza (bass), Andrew Golub (saxophone), Michael Golub (trumpet), Blake Carey (trombone), and Kyle Brenn (drums/percussion).
The album is produced by Cody Lassen and Alex Wyse, co-produced by Kyle Brenn and James Forbes Sheehan, executive produced by Jesse Stalnaker, Peter McKown, and Sean Cocchia, and associate produced by Matthew D’Arrigo. It was recorded at The Cutting Room Studios NYC and was engineered and mixed by Zoltan Sindhu.
Pictured Above: Picking Up Speed cast in studio. Photo Credit: Contributed.
Writer and performer Alex Wyse has appeared on Broadway in Good Night Oscar, Waitress, Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, and Lysistrata Jones, on tour in Wicked, and Off-Broadway in A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet (which he also co-wrote), Ride the Cyclone, Bare, and Triassic Parq. His feature film writing and directing debut, Summoning Sylvia, was recently seen in theaters and is now streaming on Starz. His screen acting credits include Elsbeth, Marvel’s Iron Fist, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Other Two, Masters of Sex, and the Emmy-nominated Indoor Boys (which he also co-created, co-wrote and co-directed). This summer, he co-directed Cellino v. Barnes Off-Broadway.
Pictured Above: Alex Wyse. Photo Credit: Contributed.
The world premiere production played a sold-out run in December 2023 at the Royal Family Performing Arts Center, directed by Marlo Hunter (Ever After, American Reject, Mystic Christmas) and produced by Cody Lassen, Jesse Stalnaker, Peter McKown, and Sean Cocchia.
Learn more about the album HERE.
