Illustration by Gérard DuBois.
We’re only alive for a short amount of time - david cale
Music by David Cale & Matthew Dean Marsh
The Goodman Theater - Chicago - 2018
The Public Theater - New York City - 2019
Winner of 2019 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Best New Musical
“David Cale’s vivid We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time, is a musicalized memoir that starts off lyrical and charming, only to kick straight through your chest about two thirds of the way through. Stepping into the bodies of his parents — whose unhappy marriage ended in a shattering act of violence — Cale performs a delicate, funny, heart-twistingly generous combination of eulogy, seance, and exorcism. Most movingly, he searches for the essence and voice of his mother, a woman who might in her soul have been an artist, but whose life was kept small and cut devastatingly short….Cale’s play isn’t a tragedy, though — it’s a kind of passage. It’s unblinking and curious, vulnerable and open-hearted without being soppy…The songs, co-written by Matthew Dean Marsh, come when they have to; when someone is reaching, struggling to break out of themselves. They’re about longing, freedom, and glimpses of the weird and beautiful. They are the flight of wingless creatures.” - Sara Holdren, Vulture
let Me die - joseph keckler
Opera Philadelphia - Fringe Festival - 2019
Arrangements by Matthew Dean Marsh
Joseph Keckler brings his rich voice and vision to this world premiere, which combines death sequences drawn from the canon of tragic opera, along with original narratives and music. Absurd yet affecting, this ensemble performance collage is at once a festive meditation, strange ritual, and morbid medley of epic proportions. Using fragmentation as a poetic strategy, Let Me Die borrows its title from “Lasciatemi morire,” the Monteverdi aria which is itself a fragment—a death song from a lost opera. The second half of the piece includes a musical collage of death scenes arranged with Matthew Dean Marsh while in residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
The Wall Street Journal: Bringing Slapstick to Opera’s Classic Death Scenes
Photo by Johanna Austin
emergence collective
Emergence Collective is the passion project of songwriters Kate Douglas, Matthew Dean Marsh, Raina Sokolov Gonzalez, and Sylver Wallace. The four friends have developed a collaborative rehearsal and performance process that allows their individual material to be heard and discovered in new and unexpected ways.
LOST BOYS - Matthew Dean Marsh
Video by brian crandall
Lost Boys, a partnership with film director Brian Crandall, combines soulful pop with mesmerizing vocal harmonics. Drawing inspiration from three distinct cultural backgrounds (France, Philippines, and South Korea), Lost Boys seeks to highlight the universal longing for youth to possess meaningful relationships with their fathers. The “Lost Boys Project" connected Matthew Dean Marsh, a terrific New York musician with three talented directors from France, South Korea and the Philippines.
Crandall writes: “During the development of Lost Boys, a music video which I produced along with two other directors from France and the Philippines (Paul Marques Duarte and Raphael M. Ubales), we attempted to tell a story that would resonate across national borders. When Matthew Dean Marsh approached me with an idea to portray young men from all over the world sharing a common conflict of not having a father in their lives, I immediately offered my assistance. This project would be the fulfillment of a dream I had when I first moved to Korea, to produce something poetically transcultural, a work that might lack the visual spectacle of international blockbusters, but reincorporates the philosophical aspect of film that we may have drifted from with the advent of talkies. It makes sense that such a story would be told as a music video, but for me personally this only opens the doors artistically for what the future holds in store for transnational storytelling.”
theories - Kate Douglas & matthew dean marsh
Theories is a farcical exploration of mutable realities in contemporary society. It follows a group of truthers who gather to test out a new invention that could establish contact with extraterrestrials. They swap theories on bee paralysis, the moon landing and Princess Diana, and through a sprawling and strange pop score, Theories asks these strangers and the audience to reckon with the significance of their insignificance.
In development.
Theories has been developed at Drop Forge Tool.
Better to Live - Linda mills
Better to Live is an uplifting look at the travails of the college experience and the musical-sketch comedy performance that’s saving lives. In this short documentary, drama majors, lead by New York director Preston Martin, tackle complex issues including rape, anxiety, cutting and suicide as they build “The Reality Show” (conceived by downtown theater legend, Liz Swados) for 5000 freshmen at one of America’s most iconic theaters, Madison Square Garden. Raw and unscripted, young “superhero” artists remind us that it's better to live, far worse to waste it.
Romeo & Juliet - Pscitticus productions
Music by Matthew Dean Marsh
Lincoln Center Education - New York City - 2016
Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theater - Cape Cod - 2017
Originally commissioned by Lincoln Center Education, Psittacus Productions’ Romeo & Juliet is a brand new, hour-long, musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s masterwork. Featuring a nimble ensemble of five performers, the piece incorporates live music, intricate choreography, spare, inventive staging, and Shakespeare’s timeless poetry. The piece enjoyed multiple runs at Lincoln Center as well as Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theater and White Heron Theatre in Nantucket.
plastic angel of the month
Plastic Angel of the Month was the brainchild of Ada Westfall, Barrie Lobo McLain, and Matthew Dean Marsh. A songwriting incubator as well as a production house; the three singer-songwriters worked on an artist-to-fan subscription model, releasing between two and three songs by the end of each month. Bringing in special guests for each release, we compiled a brief discography that felt sonically unique and diverse in style. We also filmed one of the first 360 degree music videos when that technology became available, with the help of choreographer Tony Bordonaro.
