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Since 1968, over 8 million people have seen The Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, Arkansas making it the "#1 Attended Outdoor Drama in America," according to the Institute of Outdoor Drama. For the 2025 season, The Great Passion Play is receiving a massive "audio" lift (similar to a facelift, but audio-style) with a new musical score and soundtrack composed and produced by John Stanley (Warner Global Entertainment, Netflix: Love is Blind, America's Got Talent Golden Buzzer Act "The Silhouettes", Multi-Emmy Award Winning Composer Team "CrimeSonics" writing for multiple television series on Hulu, CBS, ABC and many other networks).
The production team flew to Budapest in August 2024 and recorded the entire new musical score with the award winning Budapest Scoring Orchestra (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Kobra Kai, Megan, Wednesday and so many more) and is currently being mixed and mastered for theater by multi-Grammy Award winning mix engineer Rob Burrell (Disney - Marvel Avengers Entertainment Entity, Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood and many others). The next step is to replace the vocal performances of the Passion Play.
Alongside the new musical score and vocal performances, we are currently installing a state-of-the-art sound system from RCF to give a fully immersed surround sound experience. This will be comparable to watching a film with normal surround sound in a movie theater versus experiencing a movie in IMAX, but to a greater degree in sound engineering. This enhanced Dolby Atmos Surround sound experience will be the first of its kind in any live theater venue. When we demoed the speaker setup, the ground literally shook during the scene where Jesus died. This approach to live theater has never been attempted before.
You can listen to a few cues from the score below...
The production team flew to Budapest in August 2024 and recorded the entire new musical score with the award winning Budapest Scoring Orchestra (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Kobra Kai, Megan, Wednesday and so many more) and is currently being mixed and mastered for theater by multi-Grammy Award winning mix engineer Rob Burrell (Disney - Marvel Avengers Entertainment Entity, Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood and many others). The next step is to replace the vocal performances of the Passion Play.
Alongside the new musical score and vocal performances, we are currently installing a state-of-the-art sound system from RCF to give a fully immersed surround sound experience. This will be comparable to watching a film with normal surround sound in a movie theater versus experiencing a movie in IMAX, but to a greater degree in sound engineering. This enhanced Dolby Atmos Surround sound experience will be the first of its kind in any live theater venue. When we demoed the speaker setup, the ground literally shook during the scene where Jesus died. This approach to live theater has never been attempted before.
You can listen to a few cues from the score below...
Recording Schedule (4 Sessions)
Sunday, February 9 at Second Baptist Houston Recording Studio (2:30pm-10:30pm) (SESSIONS 1, 2 AND 4)
Please arrive at least 30 minutes early to your scheduled session, so we can stay on track!
Session 1: Sunday, February 9 (2:30pm-4:30pm) (primarily Jesus and Disciples)
Session 2: Sunday, February 9 (4:30pm-7:30) (Jesus, Priests, and Ladies)
Session 4: Sunday, February 9 (7:30pm-10:30pm) (Priests and Judas)
Session 1: Sunday, February 9 (2:30pm-4:30pm) (primarily Jesus and Disciples)
Session 2: Sunday, February 9 (4:30pm-7:30) (Jesus, Priests, and Ladies)
Session 4: Sunday, February 9 (7:30pm-10:30pm) (Priests and Judas)
Monday, February 10 at Second Baptist Houston Recording Studio 6:30pm-10:30pm (SESSION 3)
Session 3: Monday, February 10 (6:30pm-10:30pm) (Pilate, Herod, and Soldiers)
Pickup Sessions if needed: Tuesday, February 11 and Thursday, February 13 (6:30-10:30pm)
We will make every effort to be as efficient with your time as possible.
Pickup Sessions if needed: Tuesday, February 11 and Thursday, February 13 (6:30-10:30pm)
We will make every effort to be as efficient with your time as possible.
We have added over a quarter of a million dollars
in lighting and special effects to the Passion Play since 2021.
We have invested over a half a million dollars in investment to the Play's sound and lights in the past 3 years.
With the increased anticipated attendance, we are also on track to add projection mapping for 2026. With this last upgrade, the Play will become the most technologically advanced outdoor amphitheater in the world.
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Musical Score and Project Timeline
BUDAPEST: August 16-22 (completed)
SMALL ENSEMBLE TRACKING: September 8/9 (completed)
INSTRUMENTAL MIX DEADLINE: September 26 (completed)
SFX/FOLEY ADDS | SOUNDTRACK ARTWORK: February
SCRIPT TRACK TO MIX: January 23-25 (Nashville)
FINAL SCRIPT TRACKING: February 9-13 (Houston)
THEATER MIX: Mid-March
STREAMING MIX: Last week of February/First week of March
STREAMING SUBMISSION TO ALL PLATFORMS: First week of April
BUDAPEST: August 16-22 (completed)
SMALL ENSEMBLE TRACKING: September 8/9 (completed)
INSTRUMENTAL MIX DEADLINE: September 26 (completed)
SFX/FOLEY ADDS | SOUNDTRACK ARTWORK: February
SCRIPT TRACK TO MIX: January 23-25 (Nashville)
FINAL SCRIPT TRACKING: February 9-13 (Houston)
THEATER MIX: Mid-March
STREAMING MIX: Last week of February/First week of March
STREAMING SUBMISSION TO ALL PLATFORMS: First week of April
Executive Producer: Randall Christy
Project Lead, Composer, and Producer: John Stanley
Producers: Chandler Mann and Kent Butler
Sound Mixing and Mastering: Rob Burrell (4 Grammy wins (14 nominations) /Pensado's Place Preferred Mixer/Mixed Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Michael W. Smith, Little Big Town, Natalie Grant, Vince Gill, Marvel Avengers Video Game Soundtrack, and hundreds more label artists as well as thousands of independent releases.
Orchestrator: Tyler Williams
Project Lead, Composer, and Producer: John Stanley
Producers: Chandler Mann and Kent Butler
Sound Mixing and Mastering: Rob Burrell (4 Grammy wins (14 nominations) /Pensado's Place Preferred Mixer/Mixed Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Michael W. Smith, Little Big Town, Natalie Grant, Vince Gill, Marvel Avengers Video Game Soundtrack, and hundreds more label artists as well as thousands of independent releases.
Orchestrator: Tyler Williams
