Broken Bride is a 2005 EP by the bandLudo. The EP is the second release from the band, and is a rock operaconcept album. Broken Bride was re-released on September 29, 2009. Ludo also completed a short tour to promote its re-release by playing the EP in its entirety. A video for "Save Our City" was released on October 6, 2009.
Starting in November 2006, Broken Bride was produced as a staged theater piece by University Theater at the University of Chicago. The 28 minute concept album was adapted for the stage by first time director Paul Bruton. Bruton received permission from the band to stage Broken Bride in spring 2006 and proposed a black box theater production for that fall. Broken Bride utilized a minimalistic, expressionist approach to stage design wherein a variety of complex locations can be implied within a limited setting. Music for the production was provided by the band in the form of a re-mixed version of the album, completely stripped of all primary and back-up vocals, with the exception of a few harmonies in "Save Our City" and "Part III: The Lamb and the Dragon". The melodies were arranged for the fifteen member cast by Tristan Cosino, who also coached and directed the ensemble.
NYMF/Chinese Mother Jewish Daughter Production
In 2013, Ludo's Broken Bride: A Rock Opera, a different stage adaptation created by Chinese Mother Jewish Daughter, premiered at ANT Fest 2013 in New York City. In 2014, an expanded concert version of the production consisting of 24 numbers, was presented at The Cutting Room. This modified version was presented at NYMF and ran for one week in August 2016. The expanded story told of Tommy, played by Carson Higgins, who attempts to return home to his lover, Oriel, while a flashback of himself falls in love with Oriel throughout the show. Other cast members included Brian Charles Rooney as King Simius, Marissa O'Donnell as Mena/Mayor, and Larry Hamilton as The Archangel Raguel. Reviews of the NYMF production were mixed, pointing out the "action-packed high fantasy" nature of the production and "the effect of an exploding piñata" in puppetry and projection design, despite flaws like the overabundance of plot lines, sound balance issues, and physically challenging material. The Ludo's Broken Bride: A Rock Opera website states that a production to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ludo album You're Awful, I Love You is in the works, but no further information has been given on the state of the production yet.
