Press
"Holland’s jazzy music is whip-crack smart. It's smartly realized by conductor and musical director Jenny Kim-Godfrey, and her sizzling six-piece band. As to Holland’s songs, this lyricist/composer is skilled at both jobs. His lyrics serve the musical’s story; his music matches its mood. "
"To “Twelve Angry Men: The Musical” at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. The idea seems audacious or ridiculous to present “Twelve Angry Men” as a musical. But I saw it, and it worked. The score isn’t typical theater show tunes, but more 1950’s late nightclub jazz-inflected songs. The show premiered in Minneapolis with Theatre Latté Da, with book by David Simpatico and music and lyrics by Michael Holland. New Asolo Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, who directed the premiere when he was founding artistic director of Theatre Latté Da, brought it to the Asolo and directed it here. It was strong, it was bold, it was a fresh retelling of this play by Reginald Rose. The show also added nuance to the story by adding some actors of color in the cast of 12. Powerful and moving."
"The musical features Michael Holland’s wonderfully appropriate, cool, 1950s-style jazz and bebop score set to a book by David Simpatico that closely hews to Rose’s original story. Under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, who staged the 2022 world premiere at Minneapolis’ Theatre Latté Da, the overall effect is a smooth-flowing, taut story that is refreshingly different as musical theater."
Michael Holland’s jazzy, vocalese score feels like it’s about to step up to a bar and order a Tom Collins…Often driven by a walking bass line, often chorus-less, the tunes are syncopated and don’t resolve in the tidy way that most musical theater songs conclude. Appropriately, they create a tension not released until the jury decides the unseen defendant’s fate.
Holland takes for inspiration the bebop-inspired flights of fancy once navigated by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross...
…some sizzling cool jazz...
…adaptation done right....
...always [Holland’s] songs expand our understanding of the complexity of issues raised within the play...
...Holland’s score takes its cues from the jazz one might hear in louche supper clubs back in the 1950s, rife with scat vocalizing and twisty melodies. I thought of the theme a young Henry Mancini wrote for the 1950s TV series “Peter Gunn” and vocals by the likes of Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day, and Louis Prima...
"A couple of scenes incorporate dance or stylized movement, adding pizazz to the show, and Michael Holland's musical score provides a faux mystery vibe"
"They’re seamlessly handled, as are Ryan O’Gara’s evocative lighting design and Michael Holland’s jauntily creepy musical cues. All these elements work together to make sure that Clue is as visually entertaining as it is well-acted and written."
"Composer Michael Holland, and sound designer Jeff Human keep things hilariously spooky and kooky from start to finish."
"The actors themselves transform into living exclamation points as the action accelerates, often to music in sequences that have the appeal of dance numbers. (Composer and music supervisor Michael Holland puts wind in the production’s madcap sails.)"
"...musical director Michael Holland - a wonder with a piano and guitar, providing background vocals and stunning arrangements."
"In an acoustic, more reflective moment, “Wichita Lineman,” in a new arrangement by Michael Holland, was haunting, Farah’s vocals floating as though she were truly up there on the line."
"The original score by Michael Holland grabs the visual audience and tells that epic story of literary legendary characters."
"The new instrumental and vocal arrangements by music director Michael Holland add much to the theatrically and coolness of this production."
"The Playhouse’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a tour-de-force, not only for the co-conceivers and musical arranger, Michael Holland, but also for each and every actor and musician that graces the stage."
It’s difficult to believe that Holland didn’t grow up during the Roaring Twenties, because his compositions are indistinguishable from the classic music of the Jazz Age.
“Michael Holland’s orchestrations and vocal arrangements lend muscle and nuance, garnishing Schwartz’s scrumptious soft-rock score with contemporary flourishes.”
“In a way, the most surprising thing about ‘Godspell’ is that Mr. Schwartz’s score still sounds so fresh, partly because of Michael Holland’s up-to-the-second arrangements”
“Playing underneath it all is a comically Gothic musical score composed by Michael Holland.”
“[Scott] Schwartz locates intent here that outstrips Simon’s rich but overwritten script, composer Michael Holland’s underscoring even more evocative than in “Brighton.”
“The show is moody, evocative and full-voiced…Michael Holland and Eric Bernat have given us a show very much worth seeing.”
“The 1938 hurricane is all but forgotten today, but this show shouldn’t be. Hopefully, it will haunt audiences long after the New York Musical Theatre Festival has closed.”
