The Violet Hour at the Ferguson

How collaboration led to a beautiful studio cast album

FIONA SULLIVAN FIONA.SULLIVAN.20@CNU.EDU

This past Friday, Broadway actor Santino Fontana visited The Ferguson Center for the Arts as part of a residency for the weekend since he stars in the original studio album of the new musical The Violet Hour with music written by Will Reynolds and book and lyrics by Eric Price.

This musical duo has had ties to the Ferguson for several years so when they decided to pursue this project in quarantine back in 2020, Bruce Bronstein, the director of the Ferguson, was happy to support their endeavors and the arts as a whole.

Based on Richard Greenberg’s play, the official website describes the musical as such:

“The story is set on April 1, 1919, when John Pace Seavering, a young publisher, comes to possess a machine that inexplicably begins printing pages from books. Books from the future. Page by page, John pieces together a vision of what the next century has in store for himself, his friends, and the world at large. And once he decides to change the future, the clock is ticking.”

The Violet Hour is unique in that it is a full studio cast recording with an orchestra and a stellar cast such as Santino Fontana, Jeremy Jordan, and Erika Henningson but it has not been transferred to Broadway yet. Reynolds and Price’s hope is that by exposing the story and album first, it will gain attention and enough traction for a possible transfer to the world’s greatest stage.

This was one of the main reasons to bring Santino Fontana to Newport News so he, in addition to Reynolds and Price, could speak about his experience working on the show, why it’s such an important work of art, and just his experience working in the business in general and how he achieved success. Of course he also sang a couple of songs as well.

Best known for voicing Prince Hans in Frozen, Fontana also won a Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Tootsie and he also originated Prince Topher in Cinderella on Broadway. Musical theater students got the opportunity to have a masterclass with him on Saturday and were able to sing for him and get meaningful feedback while also receiving advice on how to make a living out of performing. One student even got to sing Love Is An Open Door from Frozen with Fontana as well. Overall, it was an enriching two days and be sure to check out The VIolet Hour now streaming on all music platforms.