Cast Albums Blog
Cast Album Formats Through the Years
REVIEW: The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Studio Cast
If you only know The Hunchback of Notre Dame from the 1996 Disney animated film, you're in for a surprise the first time you listen to the newly released Studio Cast Recording of Disney Theatrical's stage adaptation. Taking a more "adult" approach to the material by hewing closer to the Victor Hugo source, composer Alan Menken, lyricist Stephen Schwartz, and librettist Peter Parnell have given us a Hunchback that bleeds, lusts, and ultimately soars.
REVIEW: His Monkey Wife / Aladdin - Original London Casts
From Stage Door Records, here’s a real curiosity. His Monkey Wife and Aladdin are two all-but-forgotten minor works from opposite ends of the 1970s by the English composer/lyricist Sandy Wilson. Their relatively short scores are brought together and re-released on this single disc, and they both prove to be thoroughly charming – even if, like me, you find a little of ‘The Boy Friend’, Wilson’s best-known score, goes a (very) long way.