South by South Death

Toby Singer and Jared Saltiel are a musical theatre writing duo, who at first glance seem to share a biography.  They grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, studying jazz, creating and dissolving rock bands, and restlessly hopping from instrument to instrument.  After attending the University of Michigan, they moved to Brooklyn to pursue indie rock stardom, made a bunch of heartfelt records, did some legendary tours in tiny cars with friends, and finally found their way into New York’s theatre scene.  
Look closer, however, and the differences emerge. Toby is a lifelong musical theatre fan; Jared still hasn’t seen The Lion King.  Toby is a gregarious extrovert and a spontaneous melody-maker; Jared is a notorious perfectionist who agonizes over every lyric.  Toby has a big happy dog; Jared writes inscrutable songs about cats.  Taken separately, Toby and Jared are yet another pair of Brooklyn artists with unchecked ambition and unruly iced coffee habits.  But together, Singer & Saltiel are one of the most liberated, hilarious and goddamn catchy writing teams around.  

Toby Singer is a University of Michigan-trained, Brooklyn-based composer and playwright.  Selected recent work includes: Wicked Frozen, a mash-up of Wicked and Frozen presented as global warming parable, named a 2014 Time Out New York Critic’s Pick and currently in commercial development; Debate Team, a campy, satirical reimagining of Voltaire’s Candide, through the lens of tech-worshipping Silicon Valley, and a trilogy of musicals in collaboration with physical theatre company Doppelskope, entitled Gruff, Grimm, and Growl, which were premiered for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Muhlenberg College Summer Theatre Festival.  For more information, visit www.tobysinger.com.

Jared Saltiel is a singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Brooklyn.  With a penchant for narrative concept albums and cinematic orchestrations, it was a short (albeit unexpected) leap to writing musical theatre; aside from SXSD, he is currently developing a jazz-inflected musical adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, set in 1960s New York.  As a songwriter, Saltiel released his full-length solo debut The Light Within in 2013, and is currently finishing the follow-up, Out of Clay, due in early 2017.  As a producer, he has worked with Charlene Kaye, Lee Reit, Jason Saltiel, Bell the Band, Cassidy Andrews and Maryanna Sokol.  Saltiel also works as a session musician and string arranger.  jaredsaltielmusic.com / http://jaredsaltiel.bandcamp.com