Audible, Mercury Studios partner on Crush Hour
November 3, 2022
Audible, a provider of spoken-word entertainment, has announced a collaboration with Mercury Studios, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG)Audible and Mercury Studios, for a scripted musical podcast, Crush Hour, launching globally this year.
Crush Hour is the first scripted musical podcast venture from Mercury Studios, and Audible’s first scripted musical podcast originating out of the UK. This will be the first time Audible, Mercury Studios and UMG have collaborated on a joint venture, bringing the best-in-class music and audio entertainment together.
Created and written by Freya Slipper, directed by Chris Foggin (Fisherman’s Friends, Traces), and Freya Slipper and composed by Chris Read, Crush Hour is a musical romantic comedy that presents a series of heart-warming and hilarious chance encounters between a group of connected strangers via London’s transport links. The musical podcast will be released in the run up to Christmas, with an all-star British cast to be announced soon.
The full original soundtrack to the series will also be released by UMG’s Decca Records in line with the podcast’s November 17th launch date, with the full cast singing the original soundtrack recorded from Audible’s state of the art studios in London.
Aurelie De Troyer, Head of Content UK & Canada at Audible, said: “It’s been a wonderful process to collaborate with the teams at Universal Music and Mercury Studios – combining both our expertise in this field has resulted in some exceptionally exciting audio entertainment, blending seamlessly music and spoken word. This is our first musical podcast originating out of the UK and will be is the perfect listen for the festive period. The cast is fantastic and the music is truly joyous.”
Marc Robinson, Co-President at Mercury Studios, said: “It has been brilliant working with Audible in premiering a new musical in the audio podcast space. Crush Hour comes from the storytelling, songs & vision of a very talented team. Working with them and everyone at Audible has been a fantastic and inspiring journey. We are thrilled to be bringing Crush Hour in all its musical glory to the world this Christmas.”