Composer Dave Malloy Launches Kickstarter to Record New Musical Three Houses

Composer Dave Malloy has launched a public driven Kickstarter campaign to record and release a concept album for his new musical, Three Houses.

The musical, which premiered Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre earlier this year, is penned by Malloy (Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812), with music direction and supervision by his longtime collaborator Or Matias. Extended multiple times, the production completed its Off-Broadway run June 16.

Malloy penned the following letter to accompany the campaign.

"Recordings remain one of the most vital parts of the musical theatre tradition," writes Malloy in a letter accompanying the campaign. "They are the way in which these shows live on forever, being accessible to all, sending out the music to a worldwide audience and preserving the work of all the incredible artists involved. ... The simple economic truth is that theatre recordings almost never recoup their costs. The expense is simply too great, and the audience, though passionate and wonderful, too small. Broadway productions have commercial producers funding the recordings, an asset they can use to promote the show both for its initial run and for touring; but for smaller, more intimate shows, the creators typically have to raise the money themselves. The actual total budget for the Three Houses album is about $70,000; we have a very generous commitment for about half of that, but we need to raise the rest, or $33,333... here on Kickstarter."

Malloy is offering a number of rewards for backers, including downloads of the album, signed posters and score, special thanks in the album credits, a visit to the recording studio, and more.

The new musical takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic, as three different people isolate in three different locations. Sequestered away from the world, they are forced to face personal demons (and some very inventive puppets). Annie Tippe, who also helmed Signature’s 2019 world premiere of Malloy’s Octet, directed and choreographed the Off-Broadway premiere. Read the reviews here.

The cast featured J.D. Mollison (Octet, Iphigenia 2.0) as Beckett, Mia Pak (Suffs, Your Own Personal Exegesis) as Sadie, Margo Seibert (Octet, Rocky) as Susan, Henry Stram (The Illusion, Network) as Grandfather, Scott Stangland (Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812; Shucked) as Wolf, and Ching Valdes-Aran (Home, Felix Starro) as Grandmother.

The production also featured scenic design by dots, costume design by Haydee Zelideth, lighting design by Christopher Bowser, sound design by Nick Kourtides, and puppet design and direction by James Ortiz.

Click here for more information.