Ghostlight Records and Two River Theater have announced that Love in Hate Nation – Original Cast Recording, will be released in digital and streaming formats on Friday, February 11. Love in Hate Nation features book, music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and direction by John Simpkins. The recording is based on the show’s world premiere production at the Two River Theater in 2019.
The label is reuniting with Iconis and Two River after their viral success with the original cast recording of Be More Chill. The show has music direction and vocal arrangements by Annastasia Victory, and music supervision and orchestrations by Charlie Rosen. The album is produced by Joe Iconis, Ian Kagey, and Charlie Rosen, with Michael Hurst/Two River Theater and Kurt Deutsch serving as executive producers.
Love in Hate Nation is a 1960’s-set love story about two women caught between eras of a changing America. Sixteen-year old Susannah Son is carted off to the National Reformatory for Girls (a.k.a. Nation) to get her head put on straight. There she meets the aggressively incorrigible Sheila Nail, and a relationship forms which leads to an all-out “revolution in the institution” as they attempt to break out of the boxes society has created around them. Girl Group Wall of Sound harmonies are filtered through a punk rock spirit in this rebellious and romantic new musical.
The album is available to presave on Spotify now here. It includes two bonus “B-Side” tracks: the song “Jezebel” and a special new recording of the album cut “Masochist” by The Smith Twins.
Joe Iconis is the Tony Award-nominated composer/lyricist of the worldwide sensation Be More Chill. Iconis and Joe Tracz wrote Be More Chill as a commission for Two River Theater, where the show was developed and premiered in 2015 before going on to sold-out limited engagement Off-Broadway and Broadway runs. Director John Simpkins has worked with writer Joe Iconis on six projects prior to Love in Hate Nation, including Bloodsong of Love, The Black Suits and all 11 years of The Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza. He is Head of Musical Theatre at Penn State School of Theatre, where Love in Hate Nation was commissioned and developed.
“In terms of passion projects, they don’t get more passionate than Love in Hate Nation,” says Iconis. “I’m beyond proud of this badly-behaved original musical and I couldn’t be more ecstatic or grateful that Ghostlight and Two River Theater have given us the opportunity to record it. I think our chorus line of 8 ass-kickin’, diverse, powerhouse women is representative not only of the world we currently live in, but the world we should aspire to live in, and I can’t wait for them to be singing their bloody hearts out over speakers far and wide. Here’s to human beings and musicals and cast albums that don’t fit the mold and here’s to the institutions that support them.”
The cast of Love in Hate Nation includes Sydney Farley, Amina Faye, Jasmine Forsberg, Lauren Marcus, Kelly McIntyre, Lena Skeele, Emerson Mae Smith, Ryan Vona, and Tatiana Wechsler.
The work of Joe Iconis is also represented on Ghostlight Records with Be More Chill (Original Broadway Cast Recording and Original Cast Recording), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Original Cast Recording), Two-Player Game (George Salazar and Joe Iconis), The Joe Iconis Rock & Roll Jamboree, and Things to Ruin (Original CastRecording).
Ghostlight Records has become the leading independent force in Original Broadway Cast Recordings - building a library of over 200 records over the past 22 years, featuring some of the most successful Broadway musicals and solo albums by Broadway’s brightest stars. Founded by Grammy Award winner Kurt Deutsch, Ghostlight has won Grammy Awards for The Band’s Visit, The Book of Mormon, In the Heights and Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. Ghostlight has also released solo albums from Patti LuPone, Kelli O’Hara, Sutton Foster, Billy Porter, and more. The label continues to support the new generation of musical theater composers and has developed extensive relationships with Jason Robert Brown, Michael John LaChiusa, and David Yazbek, as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pasek & Paul, Tom Kitt, Joe Iconis, and Shaina Taub. Ghostlight Records is part of the Arts Music division at Warner Music Group.
Two River Theater produces a theatrical season that includes American and world classics, new plays and musicals, programs for young people, and festivals of new work. Each year, they also offer 40+ events that reflect the diverse community of Red Bank, New Jersey. Two River has commissioned and premiered original projects including Be More Chill by Tony Award-nominee Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz (the theater’s first Broadway production) and Hurricane Diane by Playwright-in-Residence Madeleine George (which won an Obie Award for its Off-Broadway run). Two River serves thousands of students and community members through arts and humanities programs at the theater, in schools, and throughout the region. Two River Theater is led by Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst.
Photos by Jenny Anderson
“LOVE IN HATE NATION: ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING” TRACK LIST
1. Opening
2. Susannah’s Song
3. Life in Hate Nation
4. I Fell in Love in Juvie Hall! (Snippet)
5. The Three Failed Escape Attempts of Sheila Nail
6. Doc Shock
7. Montage: This is the Way… / Miss Asp’s Song / Mother Mother
8. The Other One
9. Francis’s Song
10. Oh Well
11. I Hope
12. Solitary
13 Masochist
14. Miss Asp’s Song II
15. Revolution Song
16. Operation: Sha La La
17. I Fell in Love in Juvie Hall!
18. Finale
19. B-Side: Jezebel
20. B-Side: Masochist (The Smith Twins Version)
