ROBERT ORIOL
All Things Audio for Theater
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.A Tale of Two Cities
This bold, fast-paced adaptation deftly streamlines Dickens’ epic story into a taut political thriller, giving a new sense of urgency to the intertwined fates of two men at the bloody, turbulent end of the French Revolution. Called “startlingly relevant” (Live Theatre UK), Tony®-nominee Poulton delivers a roller coaster ride of romance and adventure that still embodies the rich characterizations and eloquent language of the original novel.Opened February 10, 2018. Opened September 9, 2017
Director: Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott. Scenic Design: Fred Kinney. Lighting Design: Ken Booth. Costume Design: Jenny Foldenauer Original Music Composition/Sound Design: Robert Oriol. Projection Design: Kristin Campbell. Stage Manager: Samantha Sintef. Wig/Makeup Design: Liz Sowles. Props Master: Sydney Russell. Music Direction: Dr. Melissa Sky-Eagle. Fight Choreography: Kenneth R. Merckx, Jr. Dialect Coach: Nike Doukas. Assistant Stage Manager: Kayla Hammett. Assistant Lighting Design: Briana Pattillo. Costume Design Intern: Kaja Sondergaard. Scenic Construction: Sets to Go. Scenic Painter: Sets to Go & Dani Maupin.
Music from A Tale of Two Cities
Click the PLAY button below to stream all the music from this production, or click HERE to go to the BandCamp page for track listings and details.Press Quotes
"From the onset the incidental music (by Robert Oriol) sets the mood with music reminiscent of a contemporary film score, thrusting audiences into this world and keeping them there for the whole production. The music that ranges from rhythmic minimalist ostinatos, dramatic sustained tones, to brief songs, functions to reinforce emotional tension and express what characters are feeling. Add to this the lighting by Ken Booth that utilizes stark shadows and ambient lighting against the well-crafted set pieces and it’s like watching a rich dramatic period film on stage—The Girl With the Pearl Earring (2003), The Queen (2006) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) come to mind." - Ryan M. Luevano, September 2017"Directors Elliott and Rodriguez-Elliott lift the veil of history and clearly demonstrate how humans repeat the same mistakes over and over. In both Darnay's British and French trials, witnesses shout out their patriotism with no regard for the truth. Characters remark that if slaughtering blameless people is for the good of the republic, then so be it. Set designer Fred Kinney and projection designer Kristin Campbell turn a stack of grids into cities and transportation to give the small stage heft. Composer Robert Oriol borrows motifs from French music and hints enough at Les Misérables's splendor without stealing any of the elements. Costume designer Jenny Foldenauer juxtaposes the overindulgent dresses of the aristocracy with the rags of the newly empowered citizens of Paris." - TheaterMania, September 2017
"In the same way that Downton Abbey made Upstairs/Downstairs seem stodgy and slow-moving by comparison, Poulton’s A Tale Of Two Cities trims away the fat of earlier adaptations, and with composer-sound designer Robert Oriol’s pulsating original soundtrack keeping energy levels high even during transitions, audiences are guaranteed edge-of-your-seat excitement from gripping start to tears-and-cheers-inducing finish." - StageSceneLA, September 2017
"Co-directors Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott have a distinguishable voice – when you see their work, it’s easy to recognize as theirs. As Producing Artistic Directors of A Noise Within, and having personally directed over 50 plays there, it is clear that they know the space well and how to use it creatively. The transitions particularly impressed, wrapping up each scene and moving into the next effortlessly and with texture (the troubled murmuring of a crowd, the traveling of lantern light) to help an audience through in less than twenty seconds. All design aspects of the production are a delight to see and hear, from Jenny Foldenauer’s sharp costumes to Robert Oriol’s evocative music. However, the star of the show is Fred Kinney’s set design and its centerpiece, a sturdy yet adjustable wooden apparatus which frames each locale and provides various degrees of elegant utility." - Stage Raw, September 2017
"A Tale of Two Cities bristles with action and humanity, broadly displayed against the violent backdrop of a French Revolution derailed by infighting and the stench of blood and indiscriminate slaughter. Poulton’s adaptation is a marvel of condensation, at once pugnacious, swift, tender and vivid. Its pace is punctuated by Fred Kinney’s transformable block set, consisting mostly of rough-hewn blocks that become anything from horse-drawn carriages to tribunals — and by Robert Oriol’s sweeping original music." - Cultural Weekley, November 2017