Cast Albums Blog
REVIEW: On the Twentieth Century - 2015 Broadway Cast
There are two words that sum up why the new Broadway cast recording of On the Twentieth Century is a welcome new release: Kristin Chenoweth. As Lily Garland, the scene-stealing comic soprano diva, Chenoweth, in a role she was born to play, tears up the stage and this recording of the 1978 musical in its first-ever Broadway revival. Whether happily chewing on scenery or casting off high notes as effortlessly as breathing, Chenoweth is the main reason why this frothy revival works.
REVIEW: Fun Home - Original Broadway Cast
It’s pretty rare for a cast recording to get an update; sometimes it happens when a major new star takes over a show like Pearl Bailey and the all-black company in Hello, Dolly! or Vanessa Williams in Kiss of the Spider Woman, but a new Broadway recording for this season’s critically acclaimed Fun Home? That was a surprise. PS Classics recorded the autobiographical memory show, based on the graphic novel by lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel about her coming of age and her relationship with her closeted gay father, shortly after its lauded 2013 off-Broadway run at the Public Theater. With a terrific score by Jeanine Tesori (music) and Lisa Kron (lyrics), Fun Home was rightly hailed as one of the best new musicals in recent years and quickly went on to be shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2014.
REVIEW: Marin Mazzie: Make Your Own Kind of Music - Live at 54 Below
For years, when you polled Broadway fans for their choices of singers they wished would record a solo album, Marin Mazzie's name would always top that list. Thanks to the good people at Broadway Records, the wait is over, and once you hear Make Your Own Kind of Music, recorded live at 54 Below, I'm sure you'll agree it was worth the wait.
REVIEW: Stages - Josh Groban
Popera superstar Josh Groban is out with a new album - his seventh solo release - devoted to classics of the musical theatre world. His first album to feature only showtunes is sure to excite his fan base and some musical theatre fans, but theatre purists and the uninitiated will likely find that Stages grows weary after more than one listen.
REVIEW: Dames at Sea - Original London Cast Recording
Dames at Sea is the quintessential "little show that could," growing from a sketch to a nightclub show to a proper off-Broadway musical to an international hit that's spawned multiple cast recordings, a television production, rumors of a forthcoming Broadway revival, and, oh, it helped launch the career of an ingenue by the name of Bernadette Peters. Originally performed with two pianos and percussion, the original off-Broadway cast recording featured sumptuous new orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
Ironically, the presence of those gorgeous charts and the unmistakable Peters are two of the best arguments for adding the London Cast Recording to your collection. The London production, which opened a year after its off-Broadway progenitor, features no such breakout performance, enabling the entire ensemble to shine. (Sheila White, who plays the part originated by Peters, does a fine job, but her biggest credit was Brigitta in The Sound of Music.) The London cast recording doesn't return to the show's two-pianos-plus-drums orchestrations, but the new charts by Bill Shepherd are closer to the "let's put on a show" aesthetic of the show.