Cast Recordings & AlbumsEXCLUSIVE: Get a First Listen to 2 Songs From Upcoming Oscar at the Crown Concept AlbumThe high-energy show converts a Brooklyn club space into an apocalyptic bunker, where Oscar Wilde and the Real Housewives are treated as idols.
By
Ryan McPhee
June 20, 2019
When shunned and sequestered to a bunker, why not belt about it?
That’s just what The Neon Coven does in OSCAR at the Crown, the new club experience-musical hybrid playing an open-ended engagement at Brooklyn’s 3 Dollar Bill. Before the show releases its full concept album (out later this summer), get an exclusive first listen to two tracks.
The show brings audiences directly into a hideout for queer castaways in a fascist regime. To pass the time and preserve their vibrant identities, the group routinely feasts on the limited media available to them, including the complete works of Oscar Wilde and The Real Housewives.
In “Julie,” the exiles lay out their theoretical original story of the events that led to the dystopian present—beginning with Julie Cooper, the West Coast socialite portrayed by Melinda Clarke on The O.C. The group hypothesizes that her wealth and extravagance inspired Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchise, leading to the downfall of humanity at the hands of reality television. For the culture mavens, Julie becomes a prophet worth idolizing via pop anthems. Listen to their gospel, as led by Kelly McIntyre, above.
Amidst the partying, Constance, a fellow outcast, enters, and is quickly roped into the group’s ritual retelling of Oscar Wilde’s life. However, the new arrival sees through the pageantry, and calls out the group for blindly worshiping the literary figure without acknowledging those he mistreated on the road to notoriety—including his wife (also named Constance). Check out Constance’s anthemic “Glimmer of Light,” as performed by Kerri George, below.
Beyond The O.C., The Real Housewives, and Oscar Wilde, attendees can brace for nods to the likes of Tony winner Stephanie J. Block, Tyra Banks, and Ally Maine.
OSCAR at the Crown hails from The Neon Coven, a queer theatre collective whose members include Mark Mauriello (starring in the title role), director Shira Milikowsky, and composer-choreographer and album producer Andrew Barret Cox. The cast also includes Zofia Weretka, Michelle Martinelli, Brandon Looney, Jada Temple, Brandon Alberto, Kayla Brock, Samara Cohen “Princess Lockerooo,” Brendan Henderson, Kimberly Hudman, Sarah Lewandowski, Bessie D. Smith, and Deon Shotwell.
Performances are currently scheduled through August 25.
