Considering that the Off-Broadway show Old Hats consisted mainly of silent comedy from master clowns Bill Irwin and David Shiner, it may seem odd that the show is getting a cast album of sorts.
But anyone who saw the show remembers the darkly comic songs, by award-winning composer and performer Shaina Taub, that punctuated and augmented the comedy routines.
Songs From Old Hats is being released as a three-song digital EP April 29 by Ghostlight Records.
Production notes said the three-track set features 鈥漷he sardonically perky 鈥楲ighten Up,鈥� the slyly upbeat 鈥榊ou Never Get Old To Me鈥� and the charming love song 鈥楳ight As Well.鈥欌� The songs are produced by Dean Sharenow and arranged by Taub and Mike Brun, with horn arrangements by Mike Brun.
Old Hats played at the Off-Broadway Signature Theatre in 2013 and 2016.
鈥淭hese songs were totally inspired by the clowns,鈥� said Taub. 鈥淭hey work with the tension between dark and light, joy and suffering. They find their comedy in the duality of the human experience we all share. So, I chose darker lyrical topics鈥攄eath, sadness, global warming, wasted time 鈥� and juxtaposed them with sunny, catchy, feel-good music. I also wanted to marry an old-school throwback musical sensibility with a very contemporary voice, in the same way the clowns breathe fresh new life into classic forms.鈥�
Taub recently signed a publishing deal with Ghostlight/Sh-k-Boom Records and Razor & Tie, the first artist in their new joint venture to represent songwriters that fuse theatre and pop music. She earned a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for her portrayal of Princess Mary in the hit electropop opera, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.
As a songwriter, she won the 2014 Jonathan Larson Grant, and was Ars Nova鈥檚 2012 Composer-in-Residence. Her original soul-folk opera, The Daughters, has been developed by the Yale Institute of Music Theatre, CAP21 Theater Company, and was featured in NYU鈥檚 mainstage season. She is also currently writing a new musical about Alice Paul and the American women鈥檚 suffrage movement.
