LET'S MAKE AN ALBUM! by Jaden Alvaro Gines is Coming to Philadelphia Fringe

LET'S MAKE AN ALBUM! A new immersive musical performance series by Jaden Alvaro Gines and Philadelphia pop-punk outfit Happier Than Ever, will mark its world premiere this fall in the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The production is slated for a limited run, with evening performances set from September 17th-25th at the Asian Arts Initiative Black Box Theater. Opening night for press is Wednesday, September 17th at 5:30 PM. This production is being produced through the Cannonball Festival.

LET'S MAKE AN ALBUM! is a new immersive performance series by Philadelphia pop-punk outfit Happier Than Ever, attempting to break down the wall between artist and audience. Join the punk trio as they lead an evening of songwriting essentials, guiding the audience through the process of crafting a song from initial idea to the first draft. Featuring vocalist and guitarist Jaden Alvaro Gines, bassist Charlotte Horansky, and drummer Connor Gotham, the band will guide the audience through traditional songwriting structure, lyrical storytelling, and investigate the choices that are made behind each step of the songwriting process. Through audience suggestions and collaboration, the band will create a full length song from start to finish LIVE on stage each night, with the audience credited as songwriters! By the end of the performance series, the hope is to create a small album's worth of music to be released following the completion of performances, with the audience members being given writing credits. The goal is to erase the line between the artist and the musician, and begin the audience's participation in the work from the very beginning. Part performance, part workshop, part improv show- get your notebooks and pencils ready, because it's time to make an album!

"I believe that songwriting is one of the most solitary art forms." shared lead artist and vocalist Jaden Alvaro Gines, whose play DELIVERY BOY had performed in last year's Fringe Festival. "When you're writing a song, the audience is typically the final step in the process. You craft the idea by yourself, journal lyrics in your private notebooks, maybe work with your band if you're lucky, but it is only really when you have your final product that the audience gets introduced. And while this is a method that works, I believe that there is so much more that we can do when we have the people we are creating for actively involved in the process." Gines, who formed Happier Than Ever in their freshman year of college with friends Charlotte Horansky and Connor Gotham, had only worked in the theater industry prior to meeting their best friends and soon to be bandmates, with little experience working with other musicians. "The first time we got in a room together, it was like lightning. I didn't know that my worldview would be blown open by working with people who could inform my ideas and amplify them beyond what I thought was possible. That's exactly the feeling we want to give to the audience, regardless of musical experience. Together, we can all create!"

Philadelphia Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. CATS (Shawnee Playhouse)

17.2% of votes

2. INTO THE WOODS (The Milford Theater)

6% of votes

3. NEWSIES (Viviana Theatre)

3.9% of votes

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