Robert Oriol is a composer and sound designer currently based in Los Angeles, California. In addtion to original music composition and theatrical sound design, he also provides music recording and production services, as well as editing and mixing.
The Grapes of Wrath – which figured prominently in Steinbeck winning the Nobel Prize in 1962 and for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award – chronicles the Joad family, who, driven out of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl by drought and hardship during the height of the Great Depression, journeys to California in search of jobs and a better future.
This play features music composed by Woody Guthrie and Michael Smith. Produced February 2013 at A Noise Within. Directed by Michael Michetti. Musical Direction and Sound Design by Robert Oriol. Set design by Melissa Ficociello. Live music provided during each performance by The Glory Rooftree (Robert Oriol, Stephen Rockwell, Korey Simeone, Matt Foyer and Guerin Barry). A massive undertaking, this play includes over 20 actors including Steve Coombs, Deborah Strang, Lindsey Ginter and Matt Gottlieb. Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography.
Closed May 11, 2013
"Doubling as musicians and actors are Matt Foyer, Robert Oriol, Stephen Rockwell, and Korey Simeone, whose songs of the Great American Plains enrich Steinbeck’s and Galati’s narrative and make this a Grapes Of Wrath unlike any other. Elizabeth Harper’s evocative lighting and Garry Lennon’s deliberately distressed costumes are superb design contributions as well, as is Oriol’s sound design and musical direction. (Note how the sound of an engine revving and stalling gets rendered via guitar for just a hint of Oriol’s ingenuity.)" - StageSceneLA.com, February 2013
"Sound designer Robert Oriol incorporates sound effects so seamlessly that it’s sometimes unclear whether they’re real or imagined. The musicians are a revelation, and save many a scene that might otherwise drag. Playing era-appropriate music on guitars, mandolins and fiddles, they often do double duty as both score and soundtrack, sometimes even standing behind the audience." - The Daily Trojan, March 2013