Frank Oden Performance Poet

LIBRETTIST • LYRICIST • PERFORMANCE POET

Frank Oden is a theater professional with over 40 years experience as an actor, director, playwright, lyricist, composer and producer. He has written and directed several award-winning musical comedies for long running theatrical productions and receives frequent commissions to create and perform his concert length lyrical narratives with symphony orchestras across the US and Canada. He lives in Denver, Colorado

Full Bio & Resume

POETRY IN CONCERT
Lyrical Narratives for Classical Repertoire

Frank Oden Song of the Earth

"Song of the Earth" merges lyrical humor and verbal acrobatics with stunning visual images and evocative orchestral music to explore the grandeur and frailties of our little blue planet, and the timely need for effective stewardship. Hosted by a whimsical "Earthropologist," embark on an entertaining and educational tour of earth's essential systems and wonders, including a literally breathtaking feat of recitation, a rhymed catalog of the entire animal kingdom in under three minutes.

Details & Media

"Oden performs with linguistic bravado, he is a verbal stunt man with a uniquely theatrical style —
combining the power of a Shakespearean actor, the presence of a great magician
and the physicality of a Warner Brothers cartoon." -- G. William Oakley

A funny thing happened on the way to the podium ... a cellular biology professor and mucus expert turns out to be the wrong person to host an educational concert about music, but the mixup isn't discovered until the show is underway. Refusing to accept defeat (or leave the stage) he takes command of the orchestra and recruits the antagonized conductor as reluctant assistant in a ridiculous yet perfectly apt explanation of all things musical.

Frank Oden Song of the Earth

"Frank Oden is a vivid presence in front of an orchestra...laugh out loud funny...
a great melding of music, story, comedy, tragedy, verse and character."
-- Adam Flatt, Music Director, Colorado Ballet

Frank Oden Cowboy Jamboree

A life-long Westerner with family roots to four generations of cattle folk and characters on both sides of the law,   Oden was raised on their stories as well as his own generation's TV and Hollywood version of the Wild West, from the Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers to Gunsmoke and Clint Eastwood.   "Cowboy Jamboree" is a collection of old west character stories told through performance poetry bringing humor, narrative arc and theatrical values to symphonic repertoire of the American West and the Hollywood Western.
 Details & Media

Frank Oden's performance was brilliant, he captured the ridiculous, elegant, sublime and slapstick.
He is a rare actor who effortlessly connects with with a complex symphonic score."
-- Dan Kellogg, Composer, "Pyramus and Thisbe"

Modern Halloween events may emphasize violence and gore, but Frank Oden's vision is classic spooky fun by way of Poe, Karloff, EC Comics and 1960's trick-or-treating.  In "The Haunted Symphony" G(host) character, Ezekiel McCobb welcomes you late-night visitors on a haunted house adventure told by multiple characters through performance poetry bringing humor, narrative arc and theatrical production values to powerfully dramatic classical repertoire.

 Details & Media

Frank Oden Haunted Symphony

THEATRICAL COMEDIES
Book, Music & Lyrics

" Oden has a real talent for unself-conscious characters with big egos but good hearts.
You laugh at the characters, but you like them, too." -- Westword

COLORADO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BRECKENRIDGE MUSIC FESTIVAL DALLAS SYMPHONY DETROIT SYMPHONY HERITAGE SQUARE MUSIC HALL VAIL BRAVO FESTIVAL LUBBOCK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IOWA NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA PHILHARMONIC UTAH SYMPHONY GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT TEXARKANA SYMPHONY TUSCALOOSA SYMPHONY IDAHO FALLS SYMPHONY BROOMFIELD ORCHESTRA AVENUE THEATER JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY PRESERVATION PLAYHOUSE DENVER PHILHARMONIC SUPERDOME NEW ORLEANS SIERRA WIND ENSEMBLE HERITAGE OPERA HOUSE WALDEN PLAYHOUSE THE PALACE THEATER WINNIPEG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

"Perfect!" -- Marvin Hamlisch