Mr. Muldoon has clearly been an astute student of musical theater, and while his score carries echoes of masters like Stephen Sondheim, it never dissolves into the derivative. That Mr. Muldoon has created a buoyantly engaging musical from seemingly intractable material would be impressive at any age, but coming from someone who’s just 23, it seems almost miraculous.
Charles Isherwood, Wall Street Journal
CURRENT PROJECTS
PAST PROJECTS
MIDDLE SCHOOL ELECTION: THE MUSICAL!
An award winning 10 minute musical written with Sammy Grob.
Asher’s first work as a lyricist and bookwriter for musical theater emerged from collaborations with composer Sammy Grob, with whom he still frequently collaborates. Throughout high school, they co-wrote several short pieces; “Poesical: the Moesical” was a comedic revue of songs inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and “Dream Cream” was an 80’s horror-comedy gore fest inspired by the cult film “The Stuff.” By the end of high school, the pair had won FNAM’s ShowSearch competition for their short musical “Middle School Election,” and had staged a concert of their work, entitled “Magnum Op(ish)” at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
THE BUTCHER BOY
A new musical based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Patrick McCabe.
Asher’s first turn as a composer came about during his senior year of high school, when he decided to adapt Patrick McCabe’s novel The Butcher Boy for his senior project. A reading of the musical was presented in the summer of 2018 at the Irish Repertory Theater, helmed by Artistic Director Ciaran O’Reilly and featuring a cast of 12. The world premiere production was mounted at the Irish Rep in summer of 2022 and ran for 2 months.
At Princeton, Asher contributes sketches and songs to the Triangle Club. His song “Shark Ghosts” (written with Kevin Zou) was honored at the 2019 Princeton Writes Annual Celebration of Student Writing. In 2022, he won the Milton Lyon Award for outstanding work by a Triangle Writer. He has studied theater with such people as Jason Robert Brown, Sylvia Khoury, Georgia Stitt, Daisy Prince, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Peter Mills, Gabriel Kahane, Jane Cox, Mike Birbiglia, Stew, Seth Barrish, Christine Jones, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Jeremy Desmon, Ethan Heard, and John Doyle.