Frank Oden is a veteran stage performer, playwright, composer and lyricist whose career in theatre spans more than five decades. A multifaceted artist, he has written and/or directed and/or performed in hundreds of stage productions ranging from Shakespeare to Sondheim, from symphony hall to beer hall vaudeville and burlesque. --ChatGPT5
Theater Resumes
Acting, Writing, ProductionCURRENT AND UPCOMING PROJECTS
SHAKESPEARE IN CONCERT
Frank Oden will be appearing with The Newport Symphony Orchestra March 21-22, 2026, performing poetry and spoken word for symphonic repertoire based on Shakespeare's classic works. Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth.
RECENT PROJECTS
THEATRICAL COMEDIES
Book, Music and Lyrics
Holly, Alaska!
Zambrano & Oden
Easy Money
Frank Oden
The Winter Rose
Frank Oden
Gumshoe
Oden & Goodale
Secret Agent Guy
Oden & Goodale
The Pecos Pest
Oden & Goodale
The Fatal Glass
Frank Oden
Blackbeard
Oden & Goodale
Punch
Oden & GoodaleCONCERT THEATER
Lyrical Narratives for Classical Repertoire
"Perfect!" - Marvin Hamlisch
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 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 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
"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.
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"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'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.
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